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This page contains a single entry by Mark Willen
published on
March 14, 2008 2:31 PM.
Clinton vs. Obama -- Some Interesting Numbers was the previous entry.
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DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN
It's Time for Obama to Speak Out on Race
Race has always been a part of the 2008 presidential campaign, but this week it assumed a new prominence as a result of the flap over Geraldine Ferraro's remarks and new attention to the sermons of Barack Obama's pastor. It seems increasingly clear that Obama needs to speak to the issue more directly. And the sooner the better.
From the start, what made Obama different from other blacks who have run for president is that he didn't run as a black candidate, which is to say he didn't make it an issue in his speeches. But this week his efforts were sabatoged, in effect, when attention fell heavily on his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who in sermons prominently featured on the Internet and the Wall Street Journal, blamed the
I'm not suggesting race is suddenly a new issue in this campaign. Far from it. Let's face it, voters have always known that Obama is black and it has had an effect. Ferraro was off base only in suggesting that it worked entirely to his advantage, when in fact it's far more complicated than that. She's right that he gets overwhelming support from blacks, and some whites probably vote for him to prove they're not prejudiced. But many other whites will never vote for him because of their prejudice. In the
Given the furor over Wright's comments, Obama can no longer run as if his skin color was not an issue, much as he and many other Americans wish he could. If he is to survive as a candidate, he needs to address Wright's comments -- and the race issue in general -- directly and forthrightly. I wouldn't presume to suggest what he can or should say. But he needs to say something pretty direct and specific, much as George Romney had to address the Mormon issue, before the racial issue brings him down.
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"Obama can no longer run as if his skin color was not an issue, much as he and many other Americans wish he could ...."
The reason he cannot is because the media will not treat him as any other candidate. His feet should have been held to the fire long, long ago. If he were white and had a "spiritual advisor" who spewed such vitriolic hate-filled racist comment, that candidate would have been forced to withdraw, in embarassment, before the first primary. None of this information is new, people. It has been out there. Main stream media STILL does not want to treat this for what it is and dishes up apologies and excuses for Obama. I know if my pastor said such things, for one sermon, I'd have walked out. Obama continues going there for 20 years?!?!? Are you KIDDING ME? The guy is his "spiritual adviser"?!?!?
The media either has some agenda that precludes it treating Obama like any other candidate or it is simply afraid to do so. In either event, it is a tragic failure of the journalists in this country.
I agree with the previous comment. If this were a white candidate and you replaced the word "black" with "white" in Wright's speeches. There would be a movement to have everyone involved charged with some sort of hate crime and put in jail. Yet NYT,CNN, and MSNBC conveniently ignore the topic. This man that speaks hate is STILL Obama's spiritual advisor!!! How is this ok with America? Both the Left and Right?
Obama is toast! No way he can now ever get elected Pres. In fact, the question now is whether he will even stay in the race until the Dem Convention or be forced to drop out before then.
Obama's race is an advantage only in the primary contests. It will be a disadvantage in the general election, where he will lose by large margins. Ferraro simply pointed out the obvious.
The adults in the party need to sit down with the superdelegates and explain to them that an Obama candidacy means Democrats won't regain control over the White House.
The party needs to unite behind the candidate who can win the White House. Hillary Clinton is that candidate. It's time for everybody to realize this.
A couple of hours after this entry was posted, Obama issued a statement denouncing Wright's comments. The text can be found on Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barack-obama/on-my-faith-and-my-church_b_91623.html
A very, very interesting summary from an Obama supporter. He/she sounds truly shaken. Here's the link if you wanna sound-off:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/03/obamas-judgment-wright-or-wron.php
Obama should hang it up as he is no better then the company he keeps. He had his pastor marry him and his wife and baptize their children. We should not be fooled by his speach now.
Enough with the hypothetical racism.
If he were white blah blah...
McCain is White and so is spirtual advisor.
Yet they get a pass.
McCain Advisor - US Founded to Destroy Islam
Sen. John McCain's spiritual advisors with a violent past....keith olbermann john mccain rod parsley pastor world harvest church columbus ohio advisor allah muslim islam March 13: Washington Post's Dana Milbank talks about Rod Parsley, a televangelist and pastor of World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, who is another one of Sen. John McCain's spiritual advisors with a violent past. (more) (less)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HZl-SdZ__U
These are not new statements by Obama's minister and the press should have been all over them months ago. Obama's statement is a step in the right direction, but if he doesn't do a lot more to show he truly disagrees, he's going to lose
If Obama sat through twenty years of this guy's sermons, he either wasn't paying attention or he richly deserves the opprobium he now faces for the connection. He(Obama) 'disinvited' the good reverend from speaking at his presidential campaign announcement in Springfield over a year ago, so one must assume he was already acutely aware of the problem. He should have gone further to separate himself.
oh what a tangled web we weave
if first we rationalize, then believe