Right now, I am up watching Newt Gingrinch and Sean Hannity pontificate and get their panties all bunched up about Dr. Jeremiah Wright's commentary about America. With "righteous" indignation, the two, and others of their ilk, are lambasting Obama for his supposed black separatist/nationalist pastor for divisive racist rhetoric. As I watch this assault and Obama's reaction to it, I am deeply saddened in several ways. In this note, I want to explore those points.

The faux outrage exhibited by the media is in response to several "Anti-American" comments made by Dr. Wright. The media then spins a dubious web, saying that Dr. Wright's "racist" comments make Obama a racist by proxy.

Obama, the snarling racist? The idea would be laughable if it were not for the sinister forces pushing it. His whole political being has been one of the political blank slate. He has artfully crafted himself as the anti Sharpton/Jackson. He, and the nascent black political generation that he represents (Fenty, Patrick, Booker) are all supposed to be post racialist politicians that are black, but not 'Marion Barry' black. You know, the kind that make white people feel all good in the inside and say '"Gee, I'm not racist. Not only do I have black friends, I even voted for one!" Now these type of "New Negro" leaders have there own issues, but I'll address them later. The issue at hand is that this episode illustrates vividly that black people and most certainly Obama aren't making race an issue in this campaign. That dubious honor goes to the white people. 

Yes, white people. On one hand, white liberals who both consciously and subconsciously look at Obama as a savior that will absolve them of the sins of their fathers and wash them of the stain of race, that 'monster' that is always in the room that they wish would just go away. On the other hand, white conservatives are scared shitless about the possibility of a black man ascending to this nation's highest political office. I can almost smell the putrid mix of jealously, fear, and disgust that is shared by Hillary Clinton and the commentators of Fox News. They have dragged up every accusation they can thing of that will remind white voters that Barack is 'black': drugs, not taking responsibility for his actions as Hillary noted in a debate, not ready, should wait his turn, is like Jesse Jackson, is a Muslim. All of these asperations have not borne fruit and so they have searched some more and feel they have hit the jackpot. Obama pastor says mean things about white people and America. However, let's look at these radical 'comments'. Closer analysis reveals them to be only controversial in the utter truth that reside in them.

Comment 1 : The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

We can agree to disagree about the government having a hand in funneling drugs into inner cities. However, the America that has the policy of building bigger jails, three-strike laws, killing innocent people, treating citizens as less than human and America acting like it is God? Damn that America on all of these marks.

Comment 2: We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye.

This is true. We did bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We have nuked far more than the thousands in NYC and the Pentagon. Outside of a few people, America never batted an eye. Instead, we celebrated the end of WWII and did not give two shits about the thousands of innocent lives we took. 

Comment 3: We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost.

Ever head of blowback? They don't "hate us for our freedom' as George Bush so stupidly said. One reason of why they hate us because we are in their backyard.

Comment 4: It just came to me within the past few weeks, y'all, why so many folks are hating on Barack Obama. He doesn't fit the model. He ain't white, he ain't rich, and he ain't privileged. Hillary fits the mold. Europeans fit the mold, Giuliani fits the mold. Rich white men fit the mold. Hillary never had a cab whiz past her and not pick her up because her skin was the wrong colour. Hillary never had to worry about being pulled over in her car as a black man driving in the wrong… I am sick of Negroes who just do not get it. Hillary was not a black boy raised in a single parent home, Barack was. Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people. Hillary can never know that. Hillary ain't never been called a nigger. Hillary has never had her people defined as non-persons.

Well Barack wasn't born white, rich, and privileged. Hillary never had a cab whiz past her, never had to worry about being pulled over, and wasn't raised by a single mother. In addition, I never thought that Hillary had to worry about being called a nigger and her humanity was never questioned.

Well now that the legitimacy and accuracy of Dr. Wright is asserted, we can move on determining what this attack really is. It is nothing but a neo 'Southern Strategy' that is being brewed up by the American conservative establishment and is tacitly endorsed by the Clinton campaign. It doesn't have a hill of beans to do with Obama being a racist. It has everything to do with making sure that Obama doesn't get anywhere near that White House, except as a guest.

I am not necessarily angry with the conservative establishment for appealing to racial sentiments to win. You don't get angry with a rooster that crows or a dog that barks. That is just what they do! However, I am mad at somebody and that somebody is Barack. This episode shows the spinelessness of Obama and his lack of political heart. To see Obama slither away from a man who he has known for sometime and a man that bought Obama to God is sickening. It shows the highest order of political cowardice in how he is caving to the Gingrich's and Hannity's of the world by denouncing a man whose prolific career has touched the lives of thousands of black people in a positive way. If Obama is going to cave in this easily to the rantings of a few political zealots who are taking Dr. Wright's comments out of context, then how is he going to fight for you when the going gets tough? To throw his pastor of over 20 years under the bus like that shows Obama for the punk ass politician he really is. 

The title of Obama's best-selling autobiography 'The Audacity of Hope' was actually taken from one of Dr. Wright's sermons. However, it ain't about hope, it's about votes. Obama is catering to the political right, instead of being right. I can't get down like that and neither should you.   Read More »