Obama's Grandmother
Two of America's leading black intellectuals, John McWhorter and Glenn Loury, recently had the best conversation I've yet seen about Barack Obama's race speech, one that's worth watching in full, but that struck me as particularly interesting when it turned to the question of the candidate's grandmother.
Obama's critics have seized on the following passage, which refers to Reverend Jeremiah Wright:
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
These words inspired Rich Lowry, Ann Coulter and Powerline to dub the oration "the throw grandma under the bus" speech.
Said Dinesh D'Souza: "So what is the explanation for the bizarre moral equivalence that he seeks to create between his pastor and his grandmother?"
Discussing such critiques, Glenn Loury gives the most eloquent summation I've seen of why Obama isn't drawing a moral equivalence between his grandmother and Rev. Wright. It's worth giving a listen.
But I want to offer a separate observation that I haven't seen elsewhere.
Let's look again at the first bit of that passage from the speech: "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother..."
Obama juxtaposes Rev. Wright and the black community; using the same construction, he then juxtaposes Rev. Wright and his grandmother. If looking at that language you imagine that Obama is drawing a moral equivalence between Rev. Wright and his grandmother, mustn't you also conclude that Obama is drawing a moral equivalence between Rev. Wright and the whole black community? After all, Obama's grandmother and the black community occupy the same spots in the parallel construction.
Personally, I don't think Obama is drawing any moral equivalences here -- I can no more divine Obama's thoughts than I can divine God's thoughts, yet I don't think Obama and God are equally mysterious.
It is weird, however, that the people who do think Obama's construction implies moral equivalence are outraged that he is comparing his grandmother to a bigot like Wright... and apparently totally untroubled by the fact that -- by their logic -- he is meanwhile drawing a moral equivalence between all blacks and a bigot.
If they really buy into their own logic shouldn't they be outraged by that, too?
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What he was trying to say, in a not so explicit way, is:
1) His relationship with this man is real and meaningful - that is hard to understand in an age where personal ambition trumps relationships - this guy is largely responsible for his acceptance of Christ and that means something to him - he is close to him because of that - remember when he said a couple of months ago that the Rev was like an uncle who occasionally says crazy things. 2) Rev. Wright, like most people, is neither all good nor all bad - the man has preached for many, many years and went off on a occasional rant - I wonder how many hours of tape they listened to find the 3.5 minutes played on tv - you really can't reduce his whole career to those clips - even though they are disturbing - you keep hearing people say "he listened to that for 20 years" - he didn't - while some sermons were controversial, he didn't get that crazy often - he has said that. 3) People use the phrase 'put it in context' so much to justify lies, that we forget that things to sometimes have to be put into context - Obama disavowed the statements, but used the grandmother and black american analogy to mean that people and institutions close to me are not perfect, but I can't throw them under the bus.
Yes, it is rather discouraging to realize how purposely ignorant and blind some Americans are.
I know it might sound corney, but I have been crying in the inside because of the sad state that we Americans are in. I pray that God heals the disease of racism and diminish the fear that causes it.....for only God can do it.
Obama'08!!...it's time to turn the chapter. Hopefully a rainbow will appear in the next chapter if we allow it to. You know, rainbows are beautiful and if we start desiring what God wants for this nation, I believe he'll give us one.
To all the misguided people who seem to think that Sen. Obama was calling his Grandmother racist. Obviously you have not looked at the definition of the word in a dictionary. He was stating that BOTH Rev. Wright and his Grandmother and by extension people of their generation have PREJUDICES, racism is a system where a government denies rights to another race of people(I.E. apartheid, Jim Crow), being prejudiced is where an individual has preconceived ideas of another that are not based on fact or prior experience.
AnotherTry in my opinion he has done these things that say to me why he should win.
I'm sick of this topic. Just tell me what he's done to deserve to be president. Just one thing. And don't direct me to his website or tell me to read his book or listen to his speeches. Just tell me why the guy deserves to win?
I'll try again since HuffPo is going the way of MSNBC and cutting off my replies. First, He stopped wearing the lapel pin. It has become a status symbol instead of an expression of ones true patriotism. If that is the only way to say you are a true patriot Hillary hasn't been wearing one either the last few times I saw her on TV. Second, He has honor, character and integrity. Compare and contrast his and Hillary's response after a loss in the primaries thus far. When Sen. Obama loses he starts his concession speeches by giving congrats to Hillary and her supporters and the people who voted for him. Hillary doesn't acknowledge anyone including her supporters let alone offer congrats to Sen. Obama. Thirdly, She would rather have McCain win than a Democrat.
Obama expressed the fear stated by his grandmother. She spoke out in honesty. He shared this example in honesty. How sad is it that many people cannot handle the truth. That we would rather people keep hidden their beliefs, feelings and to pretend not to have those thoughts or feelings (sounds like an addicted personality). Or we can begin the dialog and talk about these things, and to try to work through them.
I have never agreed with Ann Coulter in my life but I agree with her on this point: that Obama made the decision to throw grandma under the bus rather than distance himself from Rev Wright. TPO use your grandmother in this way, to make her seem like a "typical white person" (=thinly veiled racist) is just disgusting. It shows what kind of a person Obama is--someone who would run over his own grandmother to get out of a tight p.r. spot. That woman helped to raise him! Rev. Wright did not, yet Obama seems to feel more loyalty to Wright. Poor Grandma, to be used in this shameless way. She must be totally mortified to be publicly hung out to dry like this.
He didn't throw his grandmother under the bus because he wasn't calling her a racist. He was simply explaining that both Wright and his grandmother were born and raised in the same climate or condition of overt racism that permeated this society and that both have said things that were personally painful to HIM. However, because of the love that he had for BOTH of them he could not denounce them for holding views that were essentially not their fault.
This is ridiculous...of course he didn't use his grandmother, he was pointing out that there are areas of grey on BOTH sides when it comes to prejudice.
Somehow it seems mean-spirited to call your 86 year old grandmother who raised you a racist in front of millions of people. How terrible it must be for her when she has probably been so proud of her grandson and then he humiliates her like this. I just don't like it and I feel sorry for her.
He didn't call his grandmother a racist cause Rev. Wright isn't a racist.
Conor, Thanks very much for the article and the links. I listened to the entire conversation and it was well worth the hour. I agree with your argument that it is a (perhaps purposeful) misinterpretation of Obama's speech to suggest he sees Rev. Wright and his grandmother as morally equivalent. I would agree with the interpretation of John McWhorter and Glenn Loury: That intimacy, like that between Obama and his grandmother (and by extension others like her in "the white community") and that between him and Rev. Wright (and by extension others in "the black community"), transcends differences on specific issues, even painful differences (like having early-taught and entrenched fears of blacks, in the case of his grandmother, or making a few divisive statements in the case of his pastor). In other words, Obama is trying to say that he understands and loves both these people, despite their flaws, and furthermore because he understands these flaws can help the nation to move beyond them. And he asks the rest of us for our help...
Rev. Wright isn't a bigot!
The problem seems to be that the American electorate is not intelligent enough to understand Senator Obama. He uses so many dashes and semicolons and phrases that modify the nouns and verbs. He was speaking to the audience as if they were educated; as if they could listen and parse his statements, or read and parse the text. It is so sad to me that this would be considered a mistake.
I agree with you moodpost ... I am disappointed in Americans ... I am saddened that my fellow countrymen/women cannot discern fact from fiction, blindly follow leaders, cannot engage in critical thought, confuse debate with screaming loudly, suffer from historical amnesia, do not understand how much hegemony operates . I am angry that my fellow countrymen/women have allowed our nation to descend into a state of neo-fascism ... gladly gave up their rights with barely a whimper heard. I am appalled when I hear about "dittoheads" (and even the name implies a mindless automaton) engaging in things like "Operation Chaos." I am appalled when they cannot distinguish between morals and ethics or understand a speech ... I am shaken when they make conjectures from thirty second soundbytes ... Obama never threw his grandmother under the bus, he loves his grandmother --- to have people say something so absurd and disingenuous is like saying there is no such thing as gravity or the world is flat ...
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