Donuts And Politics

The whole point of what I am about to write is that Barack Obama is not Jeremiah Wright, nor has he ever done or said anything that would lead one to believe he agrees in any way with any of the controversial remarks made by his former pastor. In fact, he has repudiated and condemned those remarks time and again. That should be the basis for any conversation on this issue. (Here is a great interactive video of his Tuesday speech where you can go through it by subject)

Have you ever heard Obama utter anything even closely related to the snippets of sermon that have been played over and over for the past few days? No.

Does the Obama campaign and its message resemble anything like the statements or tone that Mr. Wright used in some of his sermon? No.

Has Obama taken a position directly opposed to the controversial remarks of Mr. Wright and publicly rejected those comments as wrong and not shared by him? Yes.

Did he demonstrate with his speech on Tuesday that his views on race and America are starkly different from Mr. Wrights and that his entire life has been based on trying to heal the racial divide and united the country with honest and forthright discussion of the real and underlying issues of race? YES.

So, honestly, what’s the big deal? This hyped up story boils down to the facts that Obama attended a church whose pastor made some controversial statements about race and American policies during a few of his thousands of sermons. You can’t just morph Wright’s statements onto Obama somehow and pretend that because Obama went to that church he agreed with every single thing his pastor said. You just can’t honestly do that. Its completely disingenuous to do so (though some are trying-Limbaugh, etc…). As I stated previously, I don’t agree with everything my pastor says so don’t try to tell me I do.

Some of these right-wingers want Obama to disown and renounce the man, the person that Wright is and completely reject all that this man has done for Obama. He refused to disown him, and rightly so I say. Bravo Obama for standing up and having the courage and integrity to stand by a person who’s had such a positive impact on his life and faith and not throw him under the bus.

Hey, I have friends who say crazy things about US policies and race and other issues all the time that I wholeheartedly disagree with (you know who you are). And I’ll stand up and reject and denounce their words but I would never disown them if it was politically convenient to do so because of the bonds we have that go beyond politics. I think that was the same for Obama and I am proud he did what he did and especially the way he did it.

Racial tensions are real in this country. What Obama said about what black or white people talk about when they are at home is so true. On the outside, people today tend to shy away from discussing problems they have with other races in public, but Obama hit the nail on the head when he spoke of what whites and blacks do say in private. Everyone knows its true.

Basically, one has to put these feelings in context and understand where people are coming from with their racial views. Each side has legitimate complaints or concerns that should be talked about.  But to use an issue like this and to take snippets of sermons to simply try to shift one man’s radical view to somebody else as if he were not a free-thinking person, is ludicrous.

What do white people know about a black church anyways? Its completely true that the most segregated hour in America is on Sunday mornings. I’ve never personally attended a black church (though I think I’d like to) but I have attended services where a black preacher spoke. Its different and exciting. Its not what white people are really used to though. And so to look at the videos you might think the Reverend was crazy, but that is generally how black preachers ARE every week. They get excited and they get their congregations excited. They say provocative things to get people to think and discuss issues based on the bible, and I think that is great!

I would encourage people, and perhaps I will do this as I have time, to actually go and look at the full context of Wright’s speeches and see maybe what the actual point was he may have been making.  Now, I don’t agree with the language he used, but there might well have been a valid point he was making.

I believe in looking at the facts in full context and coming to a conclusion based on critical thought and common sense. In doing so, I don’t think anyone can justifiably and logically shift Reverend Wright’s views, words or tone onto Obama.

It would be my hope that everyone in America gets to hear Obama’s speech because I believe if they do, they will understand what a great service he is doing for this country and what a hopeful, intelligent, patriotic, presidential man he is.  Republicans will try to use this against him of course, and though it may further convince those who already don’t like Obama to continue to not like him, I don’t believe it will significantly hurt his chances of winning in the fall. There are too many real issues to discuss this time around.