blackandred

“The Content of His Character”
Or
“The Company He Keeps”
By: J. Thomas Hunter

Barack Obama is stumbling, crashing, and burning. The politician, who branded himself as the savior to deliver us from “politics as usual,” has crawled to a FOX News interview with Chris Wallace to defend himself against the slings and arrows of a hyper-vigilant, and sometimes petty media. The past month or so has been especially vexing for the leading Democratic presidential contender: Reverend Jeremiah Wright came out of hiding to embarrass himself and Obama before the NAACP and the National Press Club, conservative media figures like Sean Hannity and Hugh Hewitt have capitalized on Obama’s coziness with left-wing terrorist William Ayers, and North Carolina governor, Michael Easley endorsed Clinton a week before the state primary. According to Gallup polls, Obama has lost ground among undecided voters to Hillary Clinton; and Democratic voters identifying themselves as liberal, moderate, or conservative, prefer Clinton to the Jr. Senator from Illinois! Unfortunately for Democrats, their unbridled enthusiasm has all but cemented the wounded Obama to be their nominee for president. His Republican challenger, Senator John McCain enjoys a 6 point lead over him, according to Gallup’s most recent poll. Unless John McCain has a historically challenged, racist, showboat pastor we haven’t heard about; I’d say it’s time to get comfortable with the idea of a 12 year GOP presence in the White House!

This news is encouraging to Republicans who feared that the Democratic juggernaut would sweep into power and relegate the Republican Revolution to a mere wayward ideological flirtation with right-wing policies.

As well, though, I see Barack Obama’s descent (predicated primarily on his association with Jeremiah Wright) as a revelatory comment about mainstream black political ideology. Embarrassed by a history of enslavement, victimization, and social failures, black Americans see Obama as the perfect vessel through which their frustrations would be addressed, and their brilliance would be appreciated. This sentiment isn’t simply held by leftists; John McWhorter, of the conservative Manhattan Institute think tank, vows to support Obama, despite their differences, because of the powerful symbol a black president will be, both for America, and the World.

I, however, am in the camp with other black conservatives like Thomas Sowell, who prefer a president who holds better values to one who looks like me. My position is not without unique consequences. If Obama fails, which is my hope, black America will be psychologically and emotionally crushed—an end result that breaks my heart to predict.

But what of this metaphor of Obama, Wright, and black political thought?

As you recall, America met Barack Obama after he gave a powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention. In it, he said something that resonated with me and surely with a segment of black America that struggles with black identity. Obama said that “children can’t achieve unless we…eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.” That statement is incredibly important for black Americans to hear, because it means more than it says! Raised by two professional parents who valued education, and insisted that their children conduct themselves with dignity, I can recall my siblings and I being ridiculed for speaking good English. We didn’t go to the public schools, our parents thankfully provided for us to attend Catholic schools instead. Daily, we were ridiculed for “acting white” and were otherwise ostracized by fellow blacks.

Since then, black Americans have been dramatically closing achievement gaps and find themselves firmly ensconced in the American middle class. The sacrifices my parents made, and the values they instilled in us, once seen negatively as “white,” were adopted by other black Americans and perhaps unwittingly acknowledged as intrinsic to success. Strangely, though, the stereotype that called an articulate black “traitorous” survives.

That ridiculous stereotype is what drove Obama into the arms of Jeremiah Wright to begin with. Previously, Obama lost handily in a State Congressional Race against black South side Chicago icon, Bobby Rush. Rush spent his youth in the Black Panthers and was thusly pronounced “credibly black” by his constituents on Chicago’s South side. Obama, on the other hand, was characterized as an elitist. He was derided as “too white”—an Ivy League, half-white, Hawaiian-born, interloper. What else, but an association with a fiery black preacher, could shore up his black credentials, and put to rest any notion that he was out of touch with his own racial group?

Reverend Jeremiah Wright was a popular preacher in Chicago’s black community. While he argues that his sermons damning America and blaming the government for inflicting AIDS on the black community were taken out of context, he has unwittingly acknowledged that the charge is a lie. In a typical rant, Wright chastised blacks who, like me, don’t share his world view, and won’t vote for Obama “I am sick of negroes who just do not get it,” he exclaimed. To this, he was met with an eruption of cheers and celebration. In the same sermon, Wright dishonestly tried to sell Obama to the congregation by saying that “he doesn’t fit the model: He ain’t white, he ain’t rich, and he ain’t privileged.” (On the contrary, Obama is half white, quite wealthy, and lived a privileged life of nannies and Ivy League education.) Wright is exactly the type of demagogue who foments black resentment for black achievement. What he preaches is a complete contradiction to what Obama claims to stand for.

Unfortunately, for the Democrat, America just isn’t sure anymore what he stands for. A Rasmussen poll released May 2nd says that 58% of Americans believe that Obama denounced Wright out of political expediency, and 56% believe that it is likely that Obama holds some of the beliefs Wright does! More than 25% believe that it is very likely that he shares the deluded views with Wright. With most Americans appalled and angry with Wright’s performances, this kind of news is poison for the Obama campaign.

What about black Americans—the very people Obama wanted acceptance from? Rasmussen reports that 50% of blacks were unaffected by Wright’s comments, while a shocking 29% said that Wright’s remarks made them more likely to vote for Barack Obama!

What a disappointment! The 2008 election stood the chance to teach America that the challenges facing the nation face us all equally. Obama was supposed to be the candidate to transcend race, and finally unite all people regardless of ascribed status toward a common goal. Unfortunately, it has served only to fortify a sad message: demagoguery wins with blacks. It should be obvious, really. Ray Nagin, the indolent, hapless mayor of New Orleans blamed his failure to evacuate his city on racism, and won re-election after claiming that the rebuilt New Orleans would be “a chocolate city,” and that “You can’t have New Orleans no other way.” The black crowd cheered uproariously when he said this. Embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, claims that the charges he faces, conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office, and perjury, stem from racism. His State of the City Address known for the presence of the N-word was cheered jubilantly, especially when he made the charge that he was the victim of a racist investigation. And Hillary Clinton, before a black audience at Howard University said that “if HIV-AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women…there would be an outraged, outcry in this country.” Again, the black audience roared with applause.

It’s only natural that Barack Obama would go down this treacherous path of black conspiracy theories in order to gain black support. Today, we see where that political calculation has left him: falling behind in polls, desperately working to distance himself from two intertwined fickle constituencies, and pleading to the intrusive media to just leave him alone for a moment to think and eat his waffles in peace.

My hope is that if Obama crashes, as I believe he will, blacks will take the opportunity to seriously examine the vitriolic characters who motivate them, and scrutinize their crackpot beliefs. It is high time that blacks recognize that we can sit at whatever lunch counter we’d like. The dogs are gone. The fire hoses are off. The church bombings are over. Now, we must be masters of our own destinies, and responsible for our own words and deeds.

In light of Obama’s collapse, and a primary election in two days, NPR ran a story about a “racist town” in Indiana—the next primary state—in order to prepare blacks a ready-made excuse for Obama’s impending loss.

I’m willing to bet that blacks will take the bait. I’m hoping that I’ll lose that bet someday.

Article Sources: http://www.gallup.com/poll/106822/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Clinton-Tied-48-47.aspx; http://www.gallup.com/poll/106960/Clintons-vs-Obamas-Strengths-General-Election.aspx; http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/04/nc_governor_end.html; http://www.gallup.com/poll/106966/Gallup-Daily-McCain-Moves-Point-Lead-Over-Obama.aspx; http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/convention2004/barackobama2004dnc.htm; http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/04/22/2008-04-22_barack_obama_just_wants_to_eat_his_waffl-3.html; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAYe7MT5BxM&feature=related; http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/58_say_obama_denounced_wright_for_political_convenience_not_outrage; http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/people2/just_8_have_favorable_opinion_of_pastor_jeremiah_wright; http://www.nowpublic.com/world/breaking-detroit-mayor-kwame-kilpatrick-charged-felonies; http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11596240; http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90074719&sc=emaf;
Photo Sources: “Barack Obama” from http://www.donkeydish.com/; “John McCain” from Associated Press; “Barack Obama (2) from http://www.hno.harvard.edu/; “Jeremiah Wright (1) & (2)” from http://www.reuters.com/; “

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