Rev. Jeremiah Wright: Revelations

I've been puzzled by Rev. Wright and his relationship with Sen. Obama but think that I may have an explanation for the controversy. Of course, it has been blown up all out of proportion by TV “talking heads” who are mandated to talk, 24/7, about something -- anything. However, not until Rev. Wright was interviewed by Bill Moyers did I begin to 'see the light'!


The Rev. Wright is not one of the ubiquitous Bible thumping preachers of hellfire and damnation, but rather a man who knows American history and has concerns for his poor, mostly black congregation (including Oprah Winfrey?). I recognized this when he mentioned Crispus Attucks in the interview - an interesting patriot but a man little known by most Americans despite being mentioned in most 5th grade textbooks.


Those of us who are students of American history are well aware that we are very far from being a perfect people despite having an eloquent declaration of independence and revolutionary constitution to say nothing of many inspirational speeches such as Lincoln's Gettysburg Address or even Obama's keynote address to the Democratic National Convention in 2004 entitled “The Audacity of Hope” (and title of his 2nd book, BTW).


Our national warts go all the way back to Colonial days when King Philip, an Indian chief, fought a bloody war with the New England colonists over loss of hunting grounds. Then during the French and Indian wars because of mistreatment by the English colonists, the Indians sided with the French who paid bounty on English scalps – and were defeated. During the Revolutionary War, the Indians decided the English had treated them much better than the colonists and again rose up against Americans – and lost yet again. Aside from a short battle with the egomaniac Custer, American tribes have never won against their invaders.


Of course, we all know our nation, including our founding fathers, based our economy upon slave labor despite the fact that slavery had been abolished in England and most of Europe by the 1780's – before the Revolutionary War ended! It is interesting to note that widowed, Thomas Jefferson, who probably fathered several children by his slave mistress, Sally Hemings, took her (and her brother) with him to France in 1784 where they lived for the next five years. While in France, Sally and her brother could have chosen freedom in France since slavery had been outlawed. But they chose to return and live at Monticello with Jefferson – obviously a great man whose slaves had volunteered their servitude!


Nor have we Americans been kind to any of our 'melting pot' immigrants. Our treatment of the Irish, Italians, Jews, Chinese, Japanese, and now Mexicans, has been deplorable – yet they all have persisted and been assimilated, despite our hatreds and bigotry. In fact, many of them with short memories have become -- us.


This history, I think, is what Rev. Wright was reminding his congregation about since most of them live in a defunct industrial area, deserted by corporate America and left to rot and starve along with other workers throughout most of the 'rust belt' -- just as the orange glow from Pittsburgh's blast furnaces no longer light up the nighttime skies I remember many years ago.


But this doesn't explain Wrights timing and media-prompted embarrassment to Senator Obama.
First, I think we have to note that despite the fact that Obama appears to be black, it is not American blacks who have elected him to the position he enjoys in the U.S. Senate nor will he be elected President of the United States by anyone other than whites! Despite his appearance, he is at least as white, as black. In fact, although he was well received at last year' NAACP convention, many there questioned whether he was “black enough”!


And indeed, white's constitute three quarters of the American population while blacks are less than one in eight. One should consider also that of the two more or less equally populous groups, blacks and hispanics, there are more black people who prefer Sen. Clinton than there are Hispanics who prefer Obama! Thus, obviously, Obama's bread is buttered by white people, not any other ethnic group.


As a postscript -- after listening to Rev. Wright's speech tonight to the Michigan NAACP on CNN.... and after having already written my op-ed, above. Let me add it was a wonderful sermon on the subject of 'Difference is not Deficiency' -- certainly something that Barack Obama, would embrace – as do I.


It will be interesting what the spinsters put on – and invent about this. I understand that the Republicans are now promoting Hillery Clinton because they're scared to death of the phenomenon of Obama! Stay tuned!

Obama's latest

At last, there is a modicum of fireworks on the campaign trail with Obama telling it as it is and the "others" capitalizing on "political corectness"! I think that all of us who think must agree that Obama has spoken the truth and burst the bubble of political hypocracy which caters to the universal sensitivity of "the we".

Obama says some voters are angry, bitter

By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. In the midst of an assault from his rivals, a defensive Barack Obama said Friday that many working-class Americans are angry and bitter over economic inequalities and have lost faith in Washington — and, as a result, vote
on the basis of other issues such as gun protections or gay marriage.

The Illinois senator's analysis of what motivates working-class voters came after chief rival Hillary Rodham Clinton accused him of looking down on such voters. Clinton rebuked Obama on Friday for similar remarks he made privately last Sunday to a group of donors in San Francisco.

"People don't vote on economic issues because they don't expect anybody is going to help them," Obama told a crowd at a Terre Haute, Ind., high school Friday evening. "So people end up voting on issues like guns and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. They take refuge in their faith and their community, and their family, and the things they can count on. But they don't believe they can count on Washington."

The Huffington Post Web site reported Friday that Obama, speaking of some Pennsylvanians' economic anxieties, told supporters at the San Francisco fundraiser: "You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years.

... And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

In Terre Haute, Obama said he did describe some voters as bitter when a donor asked why working-class voters in Pennsylvania were not getting behind his campaign.

"Well, that's not my experience," Clinton told a Drexel University crowd, describing the state's residents as resilient, optimistic and hardworking."Pennsylvanians don't need a president who looks down on them," she said. "They need a president who stands up for them."

Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for Republican candidate John McCain, described Obama's comments as "condescending" and "out of touch."

In Terre Haute, Obama chided McCain for not responding promptly to the home mortgage crisis and criticized Clinton for voting for a bankruptcy bill supported by credit card companies."

No, I'm IN touch," he said. "I know exactly what's going on. People are fed up, they are angry, they're frustrated and they're bitter. And they want to see a change in Washington."

Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said Friday night, "Instead of apologizing for offending small-town America, Senator Obama chose to repeat and embrace the comments he made earlier this week."

Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for McCain, said Friday: "Only an elitist would say that people vote their values only out of frustration. ... You can't be more out of touch than that."

........................................................................

---- Oh tell me more Senator McCain, tell us what you know of or have ever known of middle class Americans... or you too, Hillary.... Neither of you had the luxury of being middle class!

A Note from Move-On

Dear MoveOn member,

For all the coverage this week of Senator John McCain's background, there are some important things you won't learn about him from the TV networks. His carefully crafted positive image relies on people not knowing this stuff—and you might be surprised by some of it.

Please check out the list below, and then forward it to your friends, family, and coworkers. We can't rely on the media to tell folks about the real John McCain—but if we all pass this along, we can reach as many people as CNN Headline News does on a good night.

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.

4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."

5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.

6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.

7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.

John McCain is not who the Washington press corps make him out to be. Please help get the word out—forward this email to your personal network.

And if you want us to keep you posted on MoveOn's work to get the truth out about John McCain, sign up here:
http://pol.moveon.org/mccaintruth/?id=12407-8309733-1f.JfE&t=232
Thank you for all you do.
–Eli, Justin, Noah, Laura, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team Saturday, April 5th, 2008
Sources: 1. "The Complicated History of John McCain and MLK Day," ABC News, April 3, 2008 http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-complicated.html
"McCain Facts," ColorOfChange.org, April 4, 2008 http://colorofchange.org/mccain_facts/
2. "McCain More Hawkish Than Bush on Russia, China, Iraq," Bloomberg News, March 12, 2008 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aF28rSCtk0ZM&refer=us
"Buchanan: John McCain 'Will Make Cheney Look Like Gandhi,'" ThinkProgress, February 6, 2008 http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/06/buchanan-gandhi-mccain/
3. "McCain Sides With Bush On Torture Again, Supports Veto Of Anti-Waterboarding Bill," ThinkProgress, February 20, 2008 http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/20/mccain-torture-veto/
4. "McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned," MSNBC, February 18, 2007 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17222147/
5. "2007 Children's Defense Fund Action Council® Nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard," February 2008 http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_learn_scorecard2007
"McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion," CNN, October 3, 2007 http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/03/mccain.interview/
6. "Beer Executive Could Be Next First Lady," Associated Press, April 3, 2008 http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-S1sWHm0tchtdMP5LcLywg5ZtMgD8VQ86M80
"McCain Says Bank Bailout Should End `Systemic Risk,'" Bloomberg News, March 25, 2008 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHMiDVYaXZFM&refer=home
7. "Will McCain's Temper Be a Liability?," Associated Press, February 16, 2008 http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=4301022
"Famed McCain temper is tamed," Boston Globe, January 27, 2008 http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/27/famed_mccain_temper_is_tamed/
8. "Black Claims McCain's Campaign Is Above Lobbyist Influence: 'I Don't Know What The Criticism Is,'" ThinkProgress, April 2, 2008 http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/02/mccain-black-lobbyist/
"McCain's Lobbyist Friends Rally 'Round Their Man," ABC News, January 29, 2008 http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4210251
9. "McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam," Mother Jones Magazine, March 12, 2008 http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/john-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html
"Will McCain Specifically 'Repudiate' Hagee's Anti-Gay Comments?," ThinkProgress, March 12, 2008 http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/12/mccain-hagee-anti-gay/
"McCain 'Very Honored' By Support Of Pastor Preaching 'End-Time Confrontation With Iran,'" ThinkProgress, February 28, 2008 http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/28/hagee-mccain-endorsement/ 10. "John McCain Gets a Zero Rating for His Environmental Record," Sierra Club, February 28, 2008 http://www.alternet.org/blogs/environment/77913/