Obama Deepens His Problem

Barack Obama gave his big "racism" speech today (transcript here), which was billed as the equivalent of Mitt Romney's "religion" speech (my post here) of a few months ago. About the only thing similar between them was that they were speeches given about a specific topic in which the candidate was perceived to have a "problem" with voters.

No one doubts that Barack Obama is a smart guy. Intelligence and oratory both being his strong suits, I fully expected him to come out this morning and eliminate this problem from sight, moving forward with his campaign again. I knew it would be difficult but that he has a silver tongue and would recognize that by severing all connections with that church and its pastor, he could put out the fire, regroup, and continue on to the nomination. I expected all this, and yet he did almost the exact opposite, in my opinion making his situation actually worse. He did not divorce himself from the church or its pastor, and did not admit that he had done anything wrong or even made a mistake that could be forgiven. In fact, he actually re-asserted that he'd done nothing wrong and that he would maintain his relationship with both entities, moreover that he could not do so. By saying this so forcefully, Obama has actually deepened the hole he's in and simultaneously cut off his only escape route.

Obama again disavowed all the hateful vitriol spewed by Rev Wright. But he stopped there, moving into "dreamy" mode, where he hypnotizes his audience with eloquent statements full of lengthy platitudes about liberty and the meaning of life, etc., mesmerizing listeners. Here is one example, from the very beginning of Obama's speech today:

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.

He is setting the stage for more class warfare rhetoric, and he couches it in very flowery language that makes you think of the "American messiah" caricature that so many liberal media outlets have been publishing the last few weeks. Speechwriting like this strikes me, a former Toastmaster, as someone who likes to hear the sound of his own voice shouting from the proverbial mountaintop like the late great Martin Luther King, Jr. In Obama's case (not MLK's), more Style than Substance. He sounds like he believes his own press, that he's the savior of the country. Big talk from a man who has accomplished virtually nothing of note.

BO on the Reverend

After he acknowledged the controversy with Rev Wright, Obama had this to say about him:

As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect....I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother...These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

I'll give him points for honesty on this one. Here is a man who has been a close mentor for years and Obama refuses to walk away from him, despite the obvious fact that it's politically expedient to do so. Instead he stands by the man. That's impressive and gutsy. Unfortunately it's the wrong move because the reverend and his comments are too hate-filled and offensive to the vast majority of people who might vote for Obama. That kind of a stand, alongside that kind of pastor, might work when your target audience is Chicago South Side blacks, but when you have to appeal to whites from Oklahoma as well, it's a losing move.

I think it gets worse, though.

• Obama has admitted to knowing about Wright's rhetoric for nearly a year, as he said the other day that he addressed it with a press release at that time. He also said that it had been the first time he'd heard of any of this. But that is not at all a credible statement. In fact, Obama seems to be the only one in Chicago, to say nothing of the church's congregants, who had not heard of Rev Wright's insane sermons and beliefs. As I said before, he is a smart man; it's unbelievable - literally - that he had no knowledge of this. So he appears to be lying.
• BO has claimed that without exception (to back up his previous claim), he was not present when Rev Wright delivered any of his hate-filled and blasphemous rants from the pulpit. This is remarkable because if he's lying about this, too, it will not be long before someone will come forward and report how they saw him there, which will be followed by investigations by the media and new reporting. This will happen every time, re-opening this wound each time it starts to heal. And that's regardless of whether they're ever proven right or not. If they do prove to be credible reports, he will be outed as an obvious liar.
• He referred to Rev Wright twice today as his "former" pastor, also mentioning that he had given his last sermon as he is retiring. Isn't that convenient? One wonders when the Reverend made this decision to retire.
• Rev Wright has apparently disappeared. He has gone off on a trip to Africa, though no one is saying exactly where. Fox News has dispatched a reporting crew to try and track him down, but so far no luck. So no one can ask him the above question, or anything else.
• Obama has obviously said he will not disavow the pastor or the church, which means that whenever he visits Chicago, he will presumably be attending church at UCC. Every time he does this, cameras will follow him. And every time, people will again be talking about the vitriol from that pulpit.
• Speaking of the vitriol, even if Rev Wright is stepping down, his successor looks like a Nation of Islam member, complete with bow-tie. He's not afraid of the camera, either; last week they filmed him, from the pulpit, making aggressive gestures and saying simply, "Hannity!" several times, as though he was looking to brawl with Sean Hannity. Guess what kind of sermons those will be?
• The operative question is to what extent have the Obama's - Barack, Michelle, and their daughters - been influenced by Rev Wright. He claims he doesn't believe the vitriol that Wright spews, and I'm willing to believe him. But people are already digging around for signs of Wright's influence, and have pointed to issues like Obama's neglecting to wear an American flag lapel pin; and his wife Michelle's ridiculous comments of a few weeks ago in which she - a $300,000/yr attorney - has never in her adult life been proud of America until now. Barack's refusal to distance himself from Wright's rhetoric will permit pundits to suggest, whenever they see or hear something like this, that its root cause can be traced back to their pastor and his teachings. Like the other issues, this will come up again and again during the campaign.

Simply put, Obama is being foolish in this instance. I am surprised to sit here and say I think it may sink him.

The rest of Obama's speech this morning was pretty standard far-left victimhood rhetoric. Blacks are oppressed; poor people are oppressed; black schools don't get as much funding as white schools; black kids growing up don't have enough parks, cops, garbage collectors, etc. It goes on and on and on... He plays the race card a remarkable number of times, and can't get off the whole "victim" mentality:

...for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways.

Here was one particularly idiotic statement:

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning

This from a man who attends a "black liberation theology" church. I can guarantee you that I have more blacks, Indians, Phillipino's, Asians, and Hispanics in my church, all of whom attend with me every single Sunday morning, than Obama has whites in his church in Chicago.

He heads toward the home-stretch of his speech by informing whites that we need to do our part to help lift up black people:

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging
that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds
of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of
discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be
addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and
our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our
criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of
opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations

This is offensive because its speaker is refusing to acknowledge that this is already happening and has been for many many years. White racists are universally rejected whenever they are brought out into the light for even the slightest misstep. Careers are ended for uttering a single racist epithet (think Al Campanis; Jimmy the Greek; Imus; etc.). In fact, white people who actually are not racists are often dragged out into the light and accused of such -- Geraldine Ferrarro, for one -- while black racists like Reverend Al Sharpton run for President, and other black racists like Reverend Jeremiah Wright are defended by the front-running nominee for POTUS. So give it a rest, Obama.

He wrapped up his speech with a John Edwards-esque recounting of a nine-year-old girl who fought poverty when her mother lost her job, got cancer, and lost her health insurance. This girl, now 22, is a volunteer for Obama's campaign and is supposedly inspiring others around her to also volunteer for Mr. Obama. The message is, people from the grass roots are looking to the Obama-Messiah to become POTUS so that he can get them free health insurance, find them jobs, and make their lives better. And the socialist empty suit will be happy to oblige.