Sister Act 3
For both the unaware citizen and the too-easily shocked broadcast pundit, I guess the few moments of Pastor Wright’s more extreme expressions caught them off guard. Apparently they expected black churches to be filled with white nuns and a black Las Vegas showgirl leading them in a a round of 1960s pop songs. Yet overall, it’s those who’ve tried to demonize Wright who have lost the most credibility.
Instead the American electorate got Jerry Falwell redux with darker skin. This was easy to exploit for Obama’s opponents, because for a number of people, angry evangelists are supposed to be white, speaking to white fears. After all, what’s the difference between saying the 9-11 attacks displayed God’s condemnation for the immorality of some Americans and saying God should damn America for its historic and immoral mistreatment of America’s black families?
Obama expressed his willingness to have an open discussion about race, racism and the different perspectives that exist in our country. And we’ve been discussing it ever since. When the discussion ends, I think the impact on Obama’s popularity will be minimal.
That’s usually the case when too much silliness is advanced on any topic. People start looking to see who’s acting rationally and who’s playing games.
Ultimately, too, it takes away a potential last-minute negative, that ace in the hole that only works when timed perfectly. Wright may never be as fun as Whoopi Goldberg, but he’s no Huey Newton, no Louis Farakkhan. And come November, Obama will still be part of the majority of elected Democrats who got the Iraq question right, and the guy offerring a calm discussion of controversial topics, more Mr. Rogers than Mister T.
March 27th, 2008 at 6:57 am
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March 27th, 2008 at 8:14 am
I may be the only American who wasn’t in the least shocked or dismayed by Wright’s statements, though I’ve been careful to listen to/read them in their full context having chucked my TV because it’s a big perception twister. It’s those perceptions which have turned Wright into a monster far more than statements made to his largely intellectual, middle-class congregation.
If you come from a (white) family of abolitionists and “conductors” along the Underground Railroad, you come from a family which has said (in effect) “god damn America for its treatment of America’s black families” countless times. Not to mention “god damn America for its economic disparities, its low-rated K-12 educational system, its gender inequality, its…” One could go on and on. All of those and more are hard enough on low-income whites. But poverty, abysmal education, and the further insult of gender inequality have made life just that much tougher for black families in a nation still tinged with racism. Even so, I heard a respected NPR host refer to the racism issue as a “side track” last Monday.
For a country which thinks it’s been blessed by God, we’ve done a lousy job of using that blessing as we should have. Perhaps that’s what gets up Reverend Wright’s nose, too.
March 27th, 2008 at 11:43 am
I think Digby, you, I, and millions of others take that view. Did I damn America when 58,000 troops died in Vietnam, while 1 to 2 million Vietnames were murdered? Absolutely. I can think of other occasions, too. I’ve grown more precise with my damning, over the years, for it’s usually a president or a small group of people who’ve done something heinous, worthy of my censure.
In that context, I well understand why Wright said what he said, for the most part. What I find more baffling is the unspoken attitude of his critics, which is approximately “America’s better than everywhere else (even though I’ve never visited anywhere else) so it doesn’t need to get any better.”
Apparently, they think their own birth and existence in this country is what makes it perfect.