In politics the dangers most acutely perceived by candidates usually fail to bring them down in a way they anticipate. Nixon did not resign because of a direct act of the liberal media that he so greatly feared, but because of overreaction to his fear. Congress did not impeach Clinton because he sexually harassed an employee, but because he lied about doing it. Barack Obama will not lose to either Clinton or McCain because Americans assume Obama holds the same racist and paranoid views as Jeremiah Wright, but because the saga so clearly highlights the absurdity of Obama’s constant claims on superior judgment.
Obama did not oppose the war in Iraq because of his “good judgment,” as he claims, but because he genuinely believes that America is an imperialist power that clumsily lurches around the world imposing its will out of an unjustified sense of democratic self-righteousness. Obama’s not anti-democratic, just not so much pro-democratic. Obama has the good judgment to know, for example, that the United States should engage ruthless dictators like Kim Jong il in dialogue that will no doubt lead to nothing, absolutely nothing, except perhaps a propaganda coup for the “Great Leader.”
Obama’s judgment does not represent his greatest strength, far from it. The Jeremiah Wright saga highlights this fact. Obama could not possibly have spent twenty years going to Trinity United Church of Christ without learning that Jeremiah Wright, the man who he thought enough about to use a sermon title as the title of his book, without knowing that Wright was a racist. Wright in recent days has made overtly racist statements. He suggested that Irish people are inherently flawed. The ease with which racist comments roll off Wright’s tongue suggests the possibility that he has made a habit of this in the past.
Not only should Obama have questioned his association with Wright over the racial question, but also because of his particular brand of liberation theology. Wright routinely slams corporations like any good socialist. Wright’s theology is born of antipathy for wealth as his constant contempt for the middle class demonstrates, despite his future multimillion dollar digs. Are these the views that Americans want their president to associate himself with? Moveon.org hopes so, but in the end Americans routinely reject such antipathy for capitalism.
Obama threw in with a radical left-wing preacher who harbors blazing contempt for the white man who distorts reality for his own self-interest in his view. Obama cannot simply say that he is not a theologian, as he did in yesterday’s press conference, and expect that to disassociate him with Wright’s anti-capitalistic brand of liberation theology. Obama knew that Wright was a radical leftist and he liked it. If he did not know then he was naive and inattentive. Either way, Obama displayed poor judgment.
Voters will not assign Wright’s racism to Obama, but they will question his judgment for loudly and openly associating himself with the minister. He titled his book after a Wright sermon. What greater tribute could Obama have paid to Jeremiah Wright? Obama’s basic decision making ability will now stand in disrepute by crucial swing voters and that puts into question the biggest rationale for his candidacy, his judgment. For those who think Obama is past this, you are falling prey to the same trap that politicos often fall into, that of assuming the obvious threat is the greatest threat. It's not the racism, it's the judgment that matters.
The Ref | 4/30/08 | Permalink