"The comments of Don Imus were divisive, hurtful and offensive to Americans of all backgrounds," said the senator from Illinois. "With a public platform, comes a trust. As far as I'm concerned, he violated that trust."
When there is an elephant in the room, especially in politics, it is always best to acknowledge it rather than to hope that it will go away, or worse, pretend that it isn’t there at all. Such is the case of Barack Obama’s bid for the Democratic nomination for President. In case you didn’t know it, it may have crashed and burned on March 20th, when on a radio talk show, he said that his grandmother was a “typical white person” who was afraid of black men….for whatever reason. This statement hasn't sunk into the muck of the press yet. Give it a few days.
Here is the problem. If Obama is the Democratic nominee, he will be headed toward a McGovern style defeat. The Reagan Democrats won't go for this sort of stuff. And if John McCain picks who I think he is going to pick for his vice-presidental candidate, (Hint: he was with McCain whispering in his ear on this week's trip to Israel), it will give these voters a place to go. If Clinton is the nominee, there will be rioting in the streets by those who will claim white America stole the election. It is a dangerous situation, and has the potential to fragment and destroy the Democratic Party, no matter which way it goes. How did it come to this? No one would acknowledge the elephant in the room, the race issue.
The black community does not view the issue of race in a unified manner. There are those, such as Bill Cosby and Clarence Thomas, who have a "pull yourself up by the bootsrap" view of how blacks should handle these issues. Then there are the race baiters such as the likes Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Any candidate for office, white or black, is shaped by his or her background. Romney dealt with it because he was a Mormon. Kennedy because he was a Catholic. Clinton because he was a Baptist. Obama should have been scrutinized as to his religiosity to understand past influences on his view of the world.
Geraldine Ferraro was right. Obama, with next to no business, legislative or executive experience, rose to national prominence based on his race. He didn’t have a record to review. He continually didn’t show up for votes on various issues, or voted “present” when he did. The press was enamored with his black candidacy, and declared him to be “Kennedy-esque.” He was a clean slate. They could make him into anything they wanted him to be. And if you challenged him, or the press, on anything at all, you were a racist. There was an unspoken list of things those in opposition weren’t allowed to say or questions that weren’t allowed to be asked.
Obama built his success on themes of judgment and transcending race. Now that the spotlight of reality is finally focused on him, it turns out Obama is no better than the rest of us. For over 20 years he belonged to a church run by a black racist minister spewing forth from the pulpit the worst kind of hatred of whites and our country. How it has impacted Obama's view of the world and race relations is just beginning to surface.
Obama claims that he denounces those horrible statements, but defended Mr. Wright, who preached his venom to a congregation in excess of 4,000 people. For 20 years, Obama gave money to the church. He sent his kids into that church. He continued association with it can be explained in only two ways: 1) He agreed with the preaching; or more likely, 2) he was using it as a political base from which to launch his career, to firm up the black base. If it is the former, he is not fit to be President. If it is the latter, he is a politician no better than anyone else running for office, and it is time he climbed down off of his righteous pedestal.
His wife’s comments about her lack of pride in America, and the mean nature of the American people, may indicate that some of the preaching has rubbed off on at least his family members. Then in a speech clarifying his association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Senator Obama threw his white grandmother “under the bus.” But his comments on a radio talk show made March 20 are the most disturbing of all. He said that his grandmother was a “typical white person” who was afraid of black men. The public needs to know which view of race does he hold: the liberation theology of Rev. Wright, or the view of Martin Luther King and Bill Cosby.
These associations are not new. This information, as well as some other questionable relationships, has been around a long time. But the press, whose job is to vet out the dirty little secrets of our politicians, treated him as a saint rather than a candidate. We heard his silver tongue, now we are finally finding out what he is selling. I don’t think the American public will be in a buying mood.
In a campaign that needs to focus on issues such as war, health care, and the economy, Obama has turned it to race. Not this year, please. Too much is at stake for all Americans.
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