Published on TheHill.com on March 18, 2008.
Will the Gospel According to Jeremiah Wright sink the Obama candidacy? Not very likely.
Let’s start with two basic facts:
(a) Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) has already won the Democratic nomination. It’s over. Regardless of how the remaining primaries and caucuses go, including Michigan and even Florida, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) can never catch Obama in elected delegates. His current lead of 170 pledged delegates will not be overcome no matter what happens. Even if Clinton beats him by 10 points in each of these primaries, he will still lead among elected delegates by over 100. The superdelegates will not override the will of the voters unless Obama is in jail. They will not let themselves in for a civil war by overruling a black man who is beloved by the young by going over the heads of the electorate and naming the candidate that lost the primaries as the nominee. Regardless of how damaged Obama may be by the Wright tapes, it will not provide sufficient cover or cause for them to do so.
(b) Wright’s rantings are not reflective of Obama’s views on anything. Why did he stay in the church? Because he’s a black Chicago politician who comes from a mixed marriage and went to Columbia and Harvard. Suspected of not being black enough or sufficiently tied to the minority community, he needed the networking opportunities Wright afforded him in his church to get elected. If he had not risen to the top of Chicago black politics, we would never have heard of him. But obviously, he can’t say that. So what should he say?
He needs to get out of this mess with subtlety, the kind Bill Clinton should have used to escape the Monica Lewinsky scandal — but didn’t. As the controversy continues, Americans will gradually realize that Obama stuck by Wright as part of a need to get ahead. They will chalk up to pragmatism why he was so close to such a preacher. As they come to realize that Obama doesn’t agree with Wright but used him to get started, they will be more forgiving.
While he lets this fact sink in, he needs to continue to distance himself from Wright by characterizing that kind of anger and animosity as a thing of a generation past. He needs to compare the progress of which whites are proud in discarding the racism of our forebears with his own pride at being a post-racial candidate. He needs, again and again, to reject what Wright says and emphasize his belief in America and the validity and morality of the American Dream.
As the controversy matures, he can increasingly depict those who fan its flames as trying to live in the past and re-fight the civil wars of race that have divided America.
All these themes were evident and articulately presented in Obama’s Tuesday speech on race.
What Obama needs not to do is to resort to the kind of Clintonian fudging that animated his interview with Keith Olbermann. By saying “I wasn’t there” and “I didn’t know” and “I didn’t hear him say it,” he will invite contempt and derision. If he were to continue in that vein, he would buy himself a controversy akin to that which drowned John Kerry in the facts and allegations of his service in Vietnam. People will surface to say, “I sat next to him, and Wright said such and such,” and Obama will be hostage to everybody’s subjective memory.
But if he handles the situation with subtlety and lets what he cannot say — that it was opportunism that led him to stay in that church — sink in among the electorate, he can and will survive this battle.
And let’s remember one other thing: The Democrats will increasingly realize that he will be their nominee and, in continuing this battle, they are eating their own.
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Comments
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Your article is not very romantic but it hits some inescapable points. In all this fuss about the pastor’s surmon Obama picked up nine delegates out of Iowa. Now, Florida has left the realm of re-voting. Clinton will never be able to catch Obama in either pledged delegates or the popular vote. I hear the fat lady singing.
Regarding the Pastor’s comments, frankly,who cares about an old dude Pastor feeling a bit much spirit and saying some outrageous things on the pulpit to make his spiritual points. I thought we were in America…you know the United States of America and not Hannity’s America.
The odd thing for me was that if you went point for point there was truth to what he was saying. He used the shock and awe technique to make his points and they came off way too harsh on the Twin Towers attack for the average Americans because we all lost big on that one and we are still awaiting delivery of Bin Laden in shackles or his head in a basket. Yet, if you get past the shocking harshness of the comment and the intense body language used to deliver it, his point is well taken because we really do need to re-examine our Foreign Policy.
If we had a better Foreign policy Bin Laden would be in custody awaiting trial for war crimes.
Brilliant and poignant speech. Final erasure of the rumors about Obama’s being a secret Muslim, grace under fire of a dimension we rarely see in politics, and an honest look at ourselves. Who among us does not have the relative with biases and narrow-minded views - forgivable, though frequently deplorable, yet we strive to be better. Altogether unifying and inspiring, and now time to move ahead with the campaign.
(And fortunately, the speech eclipsed that pathetic “press conference” play-acting by HRC today.)
Damn, I am a conservative, old(er), white guy and I am going to vote for Obama. Four or five months ago I saw him as a bit “lite” and perhaps rehearsing for 2012 or 2016. It is now clear to me we have before us a person with an intellect and depth of character rarely seen in modern politics. He presents a stark contrast to those who seek power but without conscience. The standard political playbook, and all the pundits, told him to ditch his friend and pastor. “Throw him under the bus” as they say and as we have seen Clinton and McCain do to their newly embarrassing friends. Obama, at considerable risk to his candidacy, chose a better path and challenged all of us to reflect on close friends in our own lives. I believe he has shown us the rock solid character and confidence that backs up his strategy to meet directly with America’s enemies without fear and without the need to use simplistic labels, such as “evil”, to describe complex situations. The same rock solid character that will keep him from the divisive partisan politics that has brought us down in so many ways. Yesterday, he had the guts to do what few politicians ever attempt. He challenged us as adults to pause and dig deep in our thoughts and our own lives to examine our own personal history with respect to race, anger and hatred. He had the audacity to talk to each of us in whole sentences while winding through complex and difficult thoughts instead of the usual soundbites. I sincerely hope a sufficient number of us take the time to truly listen to this man and seize the opportunity before us elect someone with the potential to be a great leader and to truly work with us to travel down a better path than the one we have taken for the last decade.
Hey, I am a registered (older too !) republican and if nominated, Obama gets my vote! How refreshing to hear heartfelt words, not political retoric. I disagree with the pastor on every level but my hat is off to Obama for not throwing him under the bus as he was expected to do! Love it! Can someone tell me why HRC’s tax returns are not an issue yet? To me, that “tiny” little problem
is way more telling of a person’s character….what the heck is she hiding? Pretty scary to me. I intend to go to see Obama this weekend, he will be in our state! Can’t wait.
Wishful Thinking! If anyone thinks Clinton is not going to take full advantage of this unfortunate situation Obama faces, you are in full denial of her political viciousness. The adage of being between a rock and hard place has never been more accurate. Obama has obviously a strong connection to Pastor Wright which, with all respect to Dick’s point of political correctness opinion, far outweighs even his aspirations for the highest office in the land. While I respect Obama’s courage to not abandon a person who has become a mentor of his over the years, he had to know the consequences of attempting to distance himself from Pastor Wright’s hate speech while still embracing the man. You can’t have it both ways especially when the man in question is a person of faith preaching animosity.
Obama’s candidacy up until Wright went wrong had been an upbeat non race related celebration of diversity heading in the correct direction. Even those who oppose Obama’s views politically ( like myself) applauded his emergence as a victory to how far we have come as Americans. To see that beginning to shatter is very disheartening and certainly raises questions about Obama’s judgement in addressing sensitive issues. A President has to have the fortitude and determination to make decisions on what is best for our country as opposed to political opinions and polls. Despite all the negatives thrown on President George W. Bush and his polls at lowest level in his career, he continues to govern based on what he believes is best for the United States. He believes history will vindicate him which is more important in the long run for a true leader.
Barack Obama is not just a black man, but also a white man. He embodies a blending of race which should transend discrimination and become a dominant force of bringing everyone together. If he can’t overcome the temptation to only rebuke the message and not the messenger, he is sending the wrong signal to the electorate on how he will lead. We can not afford in this political climate to take any chances with those forces who likewise preach hate against our republic and our people.
Michigan is fading out into the distance and it appears that a re-vote there is not going to happen. If this is so, this primary is over. There is no way given the math that Clinton can catch Obama in pledged delegates or the popular vote without these re-votes. Hence, her visit to Michigan today. She appeared distraught and desperate. She knows its over. The only thing left is for the Super Delegates to decide when they will step forward and end this primary.
I thought she looked very tired when I saw the coverage today. Her challenge to Obama to support re-do’s in Florida and Michigan made no sense to me. She seemed to be implying that he was against a re-do which is not true. I don’t understand her trying to make a case that can be so easily turned back on her, which is exactly what Obama did later in the day during his interview with Anderson Cooper. Maybe the math is finally sinking in and we are seeing her last flailing attempts to gain some traction. Obama’s very well accepted speach on race, religion and Pastor Wright must have been devastating to her.
What Obama did not say peaks my interest more than what he did say. While he attempts to lay much of our nation’s racial discord at the feet of greedy corporations, self-serving lobbyists and bigotted non blacks; perhaps, a more powerful message would resonate were he to devote a few minutes of discussion to the current condition of the black family in America today.
Better yet, maybe Obama should attend Sunday church services with Bill Cosby. Cosby, in my view, has it right. The black family is in total dissaray. One could even say that the very suggestion of a “black family” is a oxymoron in today’s America.
For someone who spent so many years on Chicago’s mean streets, how could Obama miss the very essence of what is wrong in Black society in 2008.
But no, such an argument will not create the political drama Obama needs in his battle with HRC.
Obama is no leader. He is a “cool” politician. End of story!
jb
Obama will suffer a backlash from Wright, and Ferraro will help Obama suffer. Wright needs to apologize to the nation in the same way Jerry Fallwell had to apologize for his 9-11 remarks. Wright’s “damning of America” is disturbing. I realize there are those who are suffering, but for the pastor (leader of Church) to do this is more disturbing to me.
Did you see the picture of Bill and Wright on CNN websigte……what goes around comes around…..truly and American portrait……the Saint and the Sinner. I see Lenny Davis is on a “fishing expedition” for Hillary, feeding fuel to the race issue. I guess there is nothing sacred in politics. Dick; you are truly a watchable political warrior and enjoy your articles. Surely would like to see a network sponsor you with your own show. Continued success.
mc
I’m not convinced Obama doesn’t believe at least part of what Rev Wright spewed for the past 20 years, especially as he describes his grandmother as fearful of black men and a ‘typical white person’. That is clearly a racist view against his his very own… how much more will he be racist against others? A unifier and not a divider? I don’t think so.
Worst of all, if he attends a church for political position for almost 20 years without ANY REGARD for what the pastor espoused, what kind of depth of soul/character does he actually have? Frankly there is no difference between radical muslim views of American and Pastor Wrights. He may as well be a radical muslim, he certainly doesn’t espouse the faith of the Bible.
Brian
San Diego