My Way Or The Highway!

Dan Henninger wrote a column in last Thursday's Wall Street Journal asking where all the self-proclaimed supporters of Barack Obama were during the darkest hours of his ordeal with former Pastor Jeremiah Wright. You know, like Ted Kennedy, Patrick and Caroline, Oprah, Bill Richardson, Robert Reich, John Kerry and Jay Rockefeller. Just a few of the better known. Good question. Where were they? There was certainly no outcry of support for Obama!

A letter to the editor in today's Journal may have answered that question. They are afraid of the Clintons. There may be more than a little truth to that. Hub has had a theory for some time now that Bill is proficient with photoshop and has pictures of every single super delegate. Back Hillary or the press will get them.

Win at all costs is one of the Clinton family mantras it would seem. You've seen it in Hillary's treatment of Obama. You've seen it in James Carville's treatment of Bill Richardson.

I get nervous as I watch a man of the church exercise ego over judgement in the treatment of a one time friend, member of his congregation and presidential candidate and the voting public can't divorce the story of the pastor from the story of the candidate.

I get even more nervous when the desire to win is so egocentric that every state that has voted for the opposition is dismissed as not important; facts are twisted even with documentation staring them in the face; people across the board are summarily trashed for backing the opponent, sabres are rattled over a country that can be "obliterated" and the voting public looks at all this and says, "Wow! Look how strong she is! She can handle the job!"

It disappoints me that the character of the Clintons and their history has so little resonance with the voters. Vote gender. Vote race. Character doesn't matter. Honesty doesn't matter. The threat of retribution does on the delegate level.

You'd think the threat of an additional war would with the voting public.

The Honorable Can Fight Back

Barack Obama gave a press conference today. I watched with a heavy heart as an honorable man took leave of his former minister and quite possibly his church.

Angered, saddened and feeling betrayed by the spectacle his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, made of himself over the past few days, Obama finally cleared the air. Anyone who watched should have no doubt that what Jeremiah Wright has at times preached is in no way a reflection of what Barack Obama believes.

I had intended to do this post today before watching that news conference. I wanted to say to Obama that there comes a time when turning the other cheek is no longer enough. The question is asked if you're tough enough for the presidency. Even with a new, more thoughtful and civil style of politics there is a time when enough is enough. A time when striking back is called for. Necessary. And, yes, expected. This is such a time in regard to Reverend Wright.

Obama beat me to my post. The instant analysis following went through the usual drill. Will it help or hurt? Is it political? Is it personal?

I hope it helps - it clarified how Obama feels. Is it political? Yes, to the extent Wright's remarks and the timing of them were an insult to both Obama and his campaign. Is it personal? Absolutely. While he made it perfectly clear Wright was his pastor, no more, no less, how hurtful and astonishing is it when the leader of your own church defiles everything you stand for? A man of God? I'd look for every rationale possible too.

I listened to a black NBC reporter tell how she had attended the church while living in Chicago. She explained not all attend services every week and in her time there she had never heard a diatribe such as we've been witness to in sound bytes for weeks. If it's true for her I have no doubt is is true for Obama.

Did Obama turn a deaf ear for too long a time? I will take him at his word. I know for myself, however, I've turned a deaf ear when friends have pushed the envelope. I'm sure some will say the same about me. You continue the relationship hoping it will change or that you misjudged.

You know the saying, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. I've gone back for the third dose more than once and have been burned an equal number of times. It's the way I am. Aren't a lot of us the same?

I can understand dirty politics. It's ingrained in the way the process is carried out in this country. I don't have to like it nor the politicians who have no way of winning without it.

But for the leader of a church to do to a presidential candidate what the Reverend Wright has been doing to Obama is beyond excusable. It is not about "Black Liberation" theology. It is about Reverend Wright and his fifteen minutes of fame. What else could his motivation be?

I find the thought that a man of God might be purposely trying to bring down the Obama candidacy out of some twisted sense of jealousy is reprehensible. If it's merely for his own aggrandizement, it is beyond reprehensible.

Talk about a Judas!

The "Wright" Way

He's quick, his biblical knowledge is incredible, he's sometimes glib, sometimes funny and sometimes maybe just a bit angry. He's been all over television the past several days.

One hesitates to use the word "angry" or "bitter" but one or the other applies to how the Reverend Wright feels about how he and "liberation theology" have been portrayed by the media. He's also not too keen about how he perceives the government treating his people. He has every right to speak his piece. That's what America is all about. But with friends like this who needs enemies?

The media brought it to the fore, to be sure. Hillary and Bill and now even McCain have picked it up and are running full tilt with it. Why is it no one is listening to Obama? Is it because the media have now decided the nomination should be Hillary's?

I'm beginning to think so. Dirt sells. Scandal sells. Truth and reason are inconveniences that are to be ignored. By the media. I am so tired of the one dimensional talking heads trying to convince us how to think, their prejudices barely concealed as analysis.

The very people who urged Obama to run this cycle, because in another four or eight years he would have gathered too much baggage, seem to have done a complete about face. What baggage he didn't have they've created for him. Why is it every suggestion from his past is turned into a full blown accusation of naivety, elitism or out and out wrong doing while known issues with Clinton and McCain get a pass?

Today's polls indicate Hillary is beginning to pull ahead in Indiana and North Carolina. Are the new voters and the young going to be enough to pull Obama through or are hypocritical older voters going to turn the tide for Clinton or McCain?

Why do I say hypocritical? Because we say we want change but deep down in we're afraid of it. We're afraid to take a leap of faith. We say we're not racist. Is that true? We say Obama doesn't understand the common man. Do you really believe that? He was the one who rolled up his sleeves and worked with the people of the inner city. Hillary was the one who took the cushy jobs with high profile law firms and hitched her wagon to Bill Clinton's star. McCain is the one against an updated version of the GI bill because it might dissuade some to remain in the military. What kind of thinking is that?

With Wright denouncing everything governmental and Al Sharpton out there threatening to shut down New York City after an obvious miscarriage of justice, the African American community is once more making us feel uncomfortable.

If only we would keep in mind that Obama is also half white. The white side raised him with an insight into both. If ever we needed that it would seem to be now. If ever we needed someone to address it, it would seem to be now. If ever we didn't need someone to use it to tear down a person who just might be the unifying force this country so sorely needs, it would seem to be now.

Are we to be our own worst enemy because we fear those who preach it? Are we going to settle for the status quo because we haven't the courage to change it?

Do we want to live with the end result? Don't let the media make the decision for you.