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Editorial See other Editorial Articles Title: Claim Obama Hates The U.S.? No, You Can't Sunday, March 23, 2008 You can honestly oppose Barack Obama for president because of what he thinks about Iraq and health care. You can honestly oppose him because you consider him inexperienced. But you can't oppose him honestly because he's secretly an America-hating black nationalist. Based on new polls, some Americans have reached that conclusion about Sen. Obama. They can't reconcile the uplifting message of his campaign with video snippets of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his ex-pastor, railing against the country he hated so much that he joined the Marines. If guilt by association is all that matters for a candidate, though, what about John McCain? In 2000, Sen. McCain called televangelists Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell "agents of intolerance." Preparing for his 2008 presidential run, however, Sen. McCain embraced the Rev. Falwell, who said this on Mr. Robertson's network two days after 9/11: "God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve." Mr. Robertson gave an amen. Couldn't that be considered as anti-American as anything the Rev. Wright said? Similarly, another TV preacher who has endorsed Sen. McCain, John Hagee, said New Orleans deserved Hurricane Katrina because of sinful behavior. He called the Catholic Church "the great whore" and blamed it for the Holocaust. YouTube clips don't define a life Sen. Obama stands accused of disavowing hateful remarks by the Rev. Wright but not disowning his ex-pastor. How, people wonder, could he have heard such stuff for 20 years and done nothing? One reason is that the snippets, according to his parishioners, don't come close to representing the message the Rev. Wright delivered most Sundays: self-reliance. Also, one clip was from a speech at Howard University in Washington, D.C., not Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, and the Rev. Wright was quoting someone else. But these days, a single YouTube clip can define a person. The straight-A college student can lose that investment banking job because of one night at a keg party when someone had a video phone. Also, if it's a fair argument that Sen. Obama didn't have to keep attending Trinity United, isn't it a fair argument that John McCain didn't have to seek out and accept the Rev. Falwell's invitation to deliver last year's commencement address at Liberty University? And if Sen. Obama is supposed to reject the Rev. Wright, not just his remarks, what about Sen. McCain and John Hagee? After Catholics criticized the "great whore" comment, Sen. McCain issued this statement: "In no way did I intend for his endorsement to suggest that I agree with all of Pastor Hagee's views, which I obviously do not." So, Sen. McCain rejected some of the Rev. Hagee's views, but he did not disavow or otherwise reject the endorsement. Is that somehow more honorable, more American, than what Sen. Obama said about the Rev. Wright? Obama showed his best in speech America, as Sen. Obama noted in his Tuesday speech, has a remarkable ability to change. Still, a white woman or black man as president would be transformational change, and it's clear that America wants a certain kind of woman and a certain kind of black. To some people, Sen. Clinton stepped over the line years ago when she seemed, well, pushy. To some people, Sen. Obama is now running on white guilt. Actually, Sen. Obama spoke Tuesday of the weakness in all of us, including himself. It was the most spiritual public address in decades, maybe longer. The irony is that the speech showed those who now doubt Sen. Obama why he would make a good president. In a time of crisis, he was calm. Where he could have been expedient, like Mitt Romney begging for Protestant votes, he wasn't. Some white Americans still don't appreciate that black Americans don't want white Americans telling them what to think about black Americans. They don't want white Americans telling them who their leaders are. They don't want white Americans telling them that it's time to get over the past. Should Germans be able to ignore their past? The sad thing is that so much unites white and black America. We share all the important values. Some of us have more complicated relationships with our country, yet we arrive at the place where we love it just the same, separated by the journey, not the destination. If you now dislike Barack Obama because you now believe that he's un-American, I don't think you're a racist. But I do think you're wrong.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 4.
#3. To: Brian S (#0)
Whites are far behind in illegitimacy and broken homes. Progress has been made, but much work remains to be done.
Many generations w/o slavery and Jim Crow laws will do that.
#6. To: robin (#4)
MLK, Juneteenth, and now there's...
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