oh, Archie!!
Barack Obama was prompted to deliver a speech today on racial issues in America, largely because of the furor over comments his longtime preacher Rev. Jeremiah Wright has made suggesting the US brought the 9/11 attacks on itself.
Right-wing radio was the first to start the harangue over this, and then the mainstream press picked it up, and suddenly comments made by Obama’s spiritual leader had become a pivotal campaign issue.
I listened to Sean Hannity spouting off about this on his radio show yesterday. Oh, the outrage, the fury, the pious indignation!! How can Obama’s judgment be trusted when someone close to him and presumably influential to him could say such things???
Faced with an escalating uproar, Obama chose to face it head on.
This whole thing seems rather odd when you look at it in context. After all, the Republicans have profited for years from the support of folks like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. When Pat Robertson blamed 9/11 on America’s tolerance of homosexuality, did Sean Hannity and his right-wing cohorts lead a drumbeat of outrage aimed at anyone associated with Robertson or his Regent University (including the Bush administration, which is heavily populated by Regent University grads?) No, of course not. When Jerry Falwell said “God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve,” did Republicans tied to him rush to the microphone to sternly disavow his comments? Pfffft.
How about John McCain? We all know about the anti-Semitic views of his supporter Pastor John Hagee. McCain also appeared in late February at a fundraiser with Ohio megachurch pastor Rod Parsley, who views Islam and Homosexuals as the greatest threats to America. McCain called Parsley a “spiritual guide.”
When is McCain going to give a speech about religion, and the importance of equality in this country?
The truth is that we’re used to white, conservative religious figures making incendiary remarks about gays, Muslims, immigrants, etc. It’s tolerated and accepted, and it in no way limits their ability to cozy up to Republican politicians. Hell, it was only this decade when the fundamentalist Bob Jones University (where a long list of Republicans have close ties, and where G.W. Bush spoke in 2000) halted its ban on interracial dating.
Why are Reverend Wright’s comments and his association with Obama so frightening to Sean Hannity and his ilk? Look at the color of the skin. It’s as easy as that. There is latent and sometimes not-so-latent racism among a large swath of population in this country, and Hannity and his allies are doing everything they can to take advantage of that fact. They are trying to paint Obama as a radical “black power” agent. They are trying to turn him into another Farrakhan. They are raising the specter of fanaticism and trying to preserve power through fear and ignorance. They know that many white, rural, conservative Christians have disdain and sometimes suspicion and hatred for the often charismatic black churches. They know that Obama already struggles with the so-called “Archie Bunker” vote. The right-wing-mouthpieces are trying to widen that gap.
The reality is this: going through life, there will be people you love, support and respect that say things and believe things you do not and can not agree with. An example - my maternal Grandfather was a blatant racist. When we were kids visiting my Grandparents, TV shows like “Cosby” and “Sanford & Son” were off-limits. Did I love my Grandfather? Did he influence my life? Was I sad when he died? Yeah. Am I racist because he was? Does my acceptance and love of him mean that I accepted and agreed with everything he believed in and stood for? My long-term partnership with a black man would seem to indicate, um, no.
While throwing their hands in the air in mock patriotic outrage over what Reverend Wright has said, the talk-show-circuit refuses to see the real anger and resentment over real inequality in this country that lies behind the type of comments he made (or, perhaps more accurately, they simply don’t care). Similarly, any talk of how America’s actions may have contributed to the hatred of America and the rise in fundamentalism that led to 9/11 and other terrorist incidents is strictly taboo. America is first and foremost inherently GOOD in whatever it decides to do, and to wonder if somehow our actions have created problems means that you, quite simply, hate America. There is a difference between wanting to explore whether or not America’s actions and policies have created an environment which helps foster anti-American hatred and violence, and deciding that such violence is justified because of America’s actions. The far right conveniently ignores this distinction while ranting and raving about how unpatriotic Liberals are because they dare question the actions of "America" under the leadership of the Bush regime.
So Obama had to get up and essentially defend himself for being black and try and calm folks down who might think he’s some frothing black-power lunatic. He had to show that he wouldn’t be dangerous to the majority-white status quo. He had to try and placate the frothing conservatives who, themselves, never have to placate anyone.
And what he did was deliver a brilliant speech that will hopefully allow reason and hope to eclipse the fear and hate being spread by the rightwingers in their pursuit of power.