Why Jeremiah Wright Is Willing To Destroy Barack Obama; This Campaign Really Is Generational

Remember when Barack first put himself forward? The Obama's not black enough kerfuffle among the old guard civil rights activists? Most of them slowly came around, driven partly by the Clintons' willingness to marginalize Barack after South Carolina but mostly because -- it was just crazy not to. After Iowa the impossible had become possible.

But still. At some level there was this feeling, and it didn't go away. A feeling of -- this isn't fair. It fell into his lucky lap. Look at him, swanning around in front of all those adoring white kids, reaping all the props. And he never paid his dues.

Jeremiah Wright is like the return of the repressed, a last desperate lunge of the undead 60s toward center stage. Wright represents a longing for enduring relevance so deep that it is willing to sabotage the very possibility of setting out on the long road that runs past race in order to preserve the claims of a certain righteousness, a certain rhetoric, a certain stance -- a familiar and heroic sense of self-in-the-world.

It's so hard to get old. It's so hard to watch history pass you by. It's so hard to look out across a public landscape in which your style of being once loomed so large and to realize that somehow -- you are suddenly yesterday.

People who say Obama needs to confront Wright are correct. But he needs to do it simply, he needs to tell the truth. He needs to say, kindly but firmly: old man, I love you and I thank you for your service -- but your day is done.

Comments

[SADbutTRUEsidd]

The Wright Legacy

If Obama can't recover, Rev Wright is poised to go down in history, as the man who did what neither Hillary, Fox, Hannity, Mc Cain or Bill'O could do, Ruin the chance for real change. What a legacy. After all of the wonderful things he has done, after all of all of the lectures and sermons and saved souls, Wright will be remembered for what he did wrong.

[SADbutTRUEsidd]

If Obama can't recover, Rev Wright is poised to go down in history, as the man who did what neither Hillary, Fox, Hannity, Mc Cain or Bill'O could (NOT)do, Ruin the chance for real change. What a legacy. After all of the wonderful things he has done, after all of all of the lectures and sermons and saved souls, Wright will be remembered for what he did wrong.

[SADbutTRUEsidd]

Wright' Message. Wrong Time

Against the unique opportunity to play a major role in what is sizing up to be one of the most defining moments in history, the election of the first black president,­...He had to be Wright. Wright at the wrong time.

This was not the time to be Wright. We needed him to "Be" right.

Being so close to Obama, he has a responsibility and an opportunity to do things right. To explain his position without allowing it to be twisted. He has that ability.

To address the country, and deliver a clear palatable message to the nation. That was the right thing to do.

He had a unique opportunity to get his message across. He was given his chance.... The privileged opportunity to serve two different presidents in two unique ways. First in the military with ...(What's his name...Pre­sident....­Gallbladde­r surgery...­). and now as the pastor to what may have been the first African American President. A better historical wittiness than Forest Gump himself. As true as his message might have been, it wasn't delivered responsibly.

[SADbutTRUEsidd]

Irresponsibly Wright

I can't seem to find the words to describe my sad heart. Not only do I feel for Obama, but I feel for the country as a whole. Moreover, I feel for Rev. Wright. Personally, I was able to understand his points. I'm sad because against all reason it was the Wright message at the wrong time. That makes him-irresponsibly Wright, and for Obama thats just wrong.

Liberation Theology is not much different from the Jewish tradition. These ideas move from what has been done to a people to focus on what those people must do to move beyond what has been done to them. Of these people, the Jews have done better than most. Moving at a steady pace, African Americans, were poised to hit the next gear.

Under normal circumstances these ideas wouldn't be cause for any alarm. To those unfamiliar of the Black Liberation concept, some introduction and explanation may be needed in order to see and understand it's nuances. This is needed because there are some who can't imagine that African Americans would have anything to be upset about.

Enter Dr. Rev J. Wright. Loud and proud. Like I said, I agree with right, but his message was lost....

It was lost not because of Fox, or Sean Hanity, or Bill'O, and not because they didn't try. (Ray Charles could see the effort they put forth.) It was lost because the pastor, was.... irresponsibly Wright.

[Azjhutch]

The Rev is 59.

[YWC]

HILLARY CAN'T WIN!!!!

The Black community will stay home in Nov. if the Clintons continue to steal this nomition from Sen. Obama...Th­ey will pay her back in the general!!!

[syrupcore]

I think this is pretty serious. People need to pay attention to it. If whitey thinks Wright is a angry black man, wait until the army of ABM show up if Clinton gets the nod without any supporting metric.

[daddyG56]

wow, Obama took my advice. i hope he doesn't find out that I voted for Hillary.

[krissymax]

Wake up to reality! Thus far, Obama has only won more than 50% of the white democratic vote in nine states including Illinois (home state) and Utah, Idaho (RED state Heaven) and this was before WRIGHT! Obama's camp keeps telling Hillary to get out of the race because of Math - Well the white vote math actually shows that he cannot win in November against John McCain. Rev. Wright scares the living Hell out of middle White America and I can't see how Obama can ever overcome it!

[digoweli]

Yes, but if they took the accent away, they would hear much of the same stuff from their White ministers. You have the flag wavers who spout nothing but platitudes but the real preachers with fire and brimstone are not that different from Wright or any of the other preachers I've heard over the years. Digoweli

[writeaway]

That statement is patently absurd. I have heard a lot of white pastors in my lifetime and none ever came close.

[Dorraj]

"How can America say they respect blacks when they honor their slavery."

Dorraj,

You need lessons in logic (ever hear of a strawman?). WHO honors slavery? WHO is not offended by the display of confederate flags? I (and EVERYONE I KNOW) find these and other actions JUST AS REPREHENSIBLE as the rants of "pastor" Wrong. Anti-Americanism and racism are equally bad, no matter who practices them.

If everybody is against it why is the flag still flying at the state capital in South Carolina. Blacks have boycotted, protested and guess what? the flag is still there. What message do you think you are sending to blacks. I will tell you that those who saw fit to fight to keep you a slave deserve to be honored. And they are honored EVERYWHERE in the south. I am under thirty and I went to Jefferson Davis middle school! Secondly for you to compare the Confederacy with a pastor damning a country cause of slavery and oppressive and bad laws is stupid. The problem is not so much he is anti american as much america at times and different areas in this country was and still is anti black. From VA to TX they are everywhere. Lastly when you say who is not offended by the Confederate flag. Apparently not SC or the South or America for that matter.

[NABNYC]

I see this very differently. Rev. Wright is a highly educated, dedicated, and committed member of his own congregation in the southside of chicago where, if you read the papers, young people are slaughtered and sent off to drugs and early death on a daily basis. Why would anyone commit themselves to living their life attempting to help the helpless, to live among the most wretched of the earth? I guess Jesus had something to say about the "least of us," and Rev. Wright listened.

But the fact that he preaches to his own congregation does not mean he ever consented to have his sermons broadcast on national TV. He should sue for invasion of privacy, false light defamation by portraying him based on snippets and omitting the substance, and theft of his own intellectual property. How dare these people put him up on the media crucifix for some cheap laughs? Why do they think they have the right to steal our faces, our likeneess, our words, then ridicule and demean for profit and entertainment.

I hope Rev. Wright sues every TV station in the country and I hope he wins. And good for him for standing up in public and saying he will not be silenced, he will not hide just because some fat-assed big-mouthed corrupt corporate TV talking heads have led a national assault against him. All he was doing was preaching in his own church and minding his own business. Go get them, Rev. Wright.

[writeaway]

Rev.. Wright's sermons were available for sale. It didn't take long to find those sermons with those excerpted sound bites and some of them were quite recent since they mentioned candidate Obama.

[NABNYC]

Yeah, well, music is available for sale too, but that doesn't mean if you buy a CD you have the legal right to broadcast it for profit throughout the country or the world. The fact that they were for sale reaffirms the fact that the sermons are intellectual property, they belong to Wright (or his church), and any unauthorized use is prohibited. I hope he sues.

[Robert59]

Wright and Obama see the world through different prisms. I don't for a second believe Wright is trying to derail Obama's candidacy; what he is trying to do is to unsmear his reputation. In the end reputation matters and Wright feels he has been slandered.

This is all background noise.

[StillAmused]

Later, after you've taken a few extra curtain calls for your dutiful performance, you can turn your thoughts to the more salient question: Why is the brain-dead press and MSM willing to destroy Barack Obama?

Was the line getting too long at the Bill-and-Hill target range?

[writeaway]

Obama's destruction is self inflicted. He had the opportunity to distance himself from Wright a long time ago but chose not to do so. I guess a special commentary from Olbermann might have done the trick but KO wasn't as offended by Wright as he was Ferraro.

[ApolloSpeaks]

WRIGHT'S SURGE FOR POWER

Barack Obama's pastor is making a shambles of his candidacy. What's worse this pastor from hell knows what he's doing and doesn't give a damn. Why? Because the pastor is making a power play. While Obama is running for his party's nomination Wright is seizing the moment and running his own campaign to become a powerful figure in the black community-his last chance for superstardom. Obama is a God send for Wright. An answer to his prayers. Heaven's reward for years of serving the Cross.

In Wright's mind Obama is running for the presidency so that he can fulfill his destiny; a destiny more important than Obama's race for the White House because as president he will head an evil, white racist imperial government, a government that differs little from the Christ-killing Roman State of old. It's bad enough that Obama is a senator of this sinister, warmongering state; as president he would have crossed the great divide and joined the side of the anti-Christ-an enemy of the church, moral principle and black social justice.Th­is is what Wright meant when he said: "I will be just as hard and outspoken in criticizing a President Obama." In damaging his disciple's campaign and possibly destroying it Wright is doing Obama a huge favor and saving him from the infection of an evil government and crime of being president.

[SARGE1]

The Man Did Not Seem To Be Evil And Full Of Hate To Me. I Saw All 3 Of His Speeches.

-Sarge1

[jennbeez]

The filthy rich have messed up this country for generations to come. I feel sorry for any candidate, republican or democrat, who takes the reins now. Whoever is elected will get the blame for the fallout from Bush policies, and don't you believe for one minute that things have gotten as bad as they will get. Obama would be better off martyredas the black guy whose niomination was stolen by Hillary than to gain the white house and be spun out as the source of all things bad. Even if he wins, he will lose.

I'm voting for Obama anyway, but I see how badly the deck is stacked against him.

[YWC]

Obama over Clinton any day!

[avicenna]

I don't think it is so much as "you're day is done" angst the Reverand is smarting over - I think it was having Obama forced to renounce his support for Wright that has wounded the soul. Obama - to remain palatable to those who don't have a taste for anything but patriotic cheese - had to publicly distance himself from a man whose heart and mind are clearly with the community and had Obama's back up until now. I do believe that it was first hurt feelings - and then a bit of anger and moral indignation that has propelled the passionate preacher back up to the pulpit. I can't even disagree with much with what he says - he speaks the truth, and the truth is not something the majority of Americans are comfortable acknowledging.