I saw Philadelphia right-wing radio host Michael Smerconish on cable news the other day saying that Hillary Clinton’s campaign is leaving ‘no meat on the bone’ for the Republicans to work with in the fall. I think there is something to that. I also think the thoughtless nincompoops in the national punditry are grinding down all the potential negatives about Obama’s past associations. There is a half-life to all these types of stories and they don’t keep their resonance forever. It’s unpleasant to endure, but it’s better to go through it now than later.
That being said, Obama’s campaign needs to figure out a way to move off this story before the next election day. He really only needs to win North Carolina, but it will make things needlessly painful if he doesn’t perform well in Indiana and the margin in North Carolina isn’t impressive.
No one ever said it was going to be easy to get a man with a black father elected in this country. It’s somewhat of a national disgrace.
Well put. No part of the campaign will be harder than the past few weeks, and the next two weeks. Arrayed against him is the full force of the Clinton machine, the entire universe of Republicans, and the MSM. It will be a relief to get the Clintons off his back, if that ever really happens.
Yep. And look at this poll – Obama is losing. Please go vote!
http://news.aol.com/elections/story/_a/dean-says-a-democrat-must-quit-in-june/20080428105609990001?i
cid=100214839x1200952062x1200037986
Done!
dead heat at 7:05 MDT
I think that Obama should throw this man under the buss. There is something passive agressive about the way Wright talked about Obama. Another thing for Obama to do is to shell out bold policy initiatives.
This diarist on the big orange has a good perspective on why the Wright story will not go away. It goes beyond Obama and the presidential race.
Which is why Wright got aggressive with the media at the National Press Club.
And if Obama finds it easy to throw Wright under the bus, how easy will he find it to throw Americans under the bus when it starts getting tough? He does not abandon his commitments just because it gets tough, or that is the hope that drives a lot of his supporters.
He absolutely should NOT throw Wright under the bus. Terrible advice.
The only way that liberals (or so-called liberals, like Obama) are going to defeat these stupid media-contrived “controversies” is by standing up and fighting. Liberals always run away from these fights. And it works every time for the GOP and the media. They always peddle these cartoon characterizations that liberals are elitist, soft on defense, and wimpy, or whatever the negative “character” flaw of the day is for liberals. And when the Democrats inevitably cave-in and try to prove that they are tough too (“I’m John Kerry and I’m reporting for duty.” “I’m ) it always backfires.
For example. As soon as Obama threw Wright under the bus the media, the GOP and the GOP enablers (Clinton, Lieberman, Klein, et al.) would simply be emboldened. They will not be satisfied and will be even more aggressive and ridiculous at the next contrived outrage (let’s sanction the biggest anti-war grassroots group in the Senate! That will show America we’re not a bunch of girlie men!). No. As soon as Obama throws him under the bus they will move on and demand even more–they’ll have Obama apologizing for the race riots of the 60s before we know it (he’s already apologizing for every other misstep of the black community).
No. I’m sick and tired of the left being a bunch of pansies. Really. I am. Just. Stop. It. Stand up to these bullies for once. Call it like it is. McCain is race-baiting. Hillary is race-baiting. Obama doesn’t need to do it himself but where is the outrage? The courage? The fight?
The public is not going to start respecting liberals until liberals start respecting themselves. This Wright controversy crap is ridiculous and no one on the Left should treat it as a serious issue. Every Democratic politician should be giving a fiery speech about it and attacking the GOP for its dirty tricks. It’s race baiting and it is yet another example of the GOP trying to equate blacks and liberals with anti-Americanism. It’s low-down dirty politics and McCain and Hillary should be given a modern day lynching (you know, the political version).
If you buy into this stupid controversy you are a racist pig. Period. So let’s discuss why all these rascists are trying to tell black people that they should be thanking Master McCain and Master Hillary for freeing their people. Hillary Clinton and John McCain must have very low opinions of black people if they think they can tell black people how they should feel about their countries history of slavery and racism. I find it disgusting that our media is making a big spectacle of condemning black churches.
My God. I don’t know what makes me more sick. The low-down dirty tricks of the GOP and the lazy media or the feckless Left that couldn’t even fight itself out of a paper bag.
Oh, you’ve looked at Daily Kos today! I’ve flipped past a couple of times and have been boggling at all the diaries screaming about how Obama’s suddenly lost the race and how the blogosphere needs to abandon him and find a new candidate. It’s… Puzzling, at best.
Puzzling at best? you’re being overly kind. Purity trolls writ large.
Hah! That sounds about right. I’m all for ideology, but Obama’s as good a candidate as we’re likely to get. Dropping him like a hot potato because his pastor’s a bit crazy and he actually talks to the Right Wing instead of treating them like SPECTRE and going all James Bond on them is insane.
I haven’t looked at any other political blogs today. I haven’t been looking at the cable news or anything recently and it shocked me when I checked in today that we’re still talking about some pastor in Chicago that is too angry for white peoples’ tastes. I’m shocked that we haven’t moved on to the next scandal (you know, the one where Obama hasn’t adequately criticized Wesley Snipes for breaking the law). Or maybe Obama lets his kids listen to that hippity hoppity music that will turn them into welfare queens–or something.
Heh, glad to see someone with an optimistic outlook on modern political discourse. Honestly, I think that if the Obama campaign’s on the ball, this won’t hurt him one bit. Give it a few days to develop, then use the grassroots machine to turn it into a narrative about the reliability of the national media. Bang! Instant karma!
Wright is a loose cannon, to be sure. And I both gained and lost respect for him, watching him this morning.
Some of what he said was just great, and needed to be said. But that was diminished by his obvious self-aggrandizement.
There’s nothing so unattractive to me as someone tooting their own horn, especially in such a context where it is wholly inappropriate.
I was just cringing, and I’m not even Obama. He must have felt spiders on his skin at some of that. I’ll bet he wishes he had thrown him under the bus, now. I’m glad he didn’t then, but he’s got every right to, going forward.
Ambinder notes: Obama is dealing with this:
On Wright
to his campaign people and On the mud slinging
let’s not get distracted. Nothing goes up in a straight line.
Hillary’s PA win was meaningless. The Wright/Ayers/and whatever are comfort blankets to those who will not vote for Obama.
Imho, what we have here is the trashing of Obama b/c he dares to speak the truth, is campaigning for change from the status quo and it’s the little joes and jills that funds his campaign. Lots to fear.
Yes, and beyond all that diversionary crap, for many in blogopolis (TPM, kos, Stoller, etc.) ’twas the FOX appearance that was Obama’s ultimate transgression against real progressivism.
Eyes on the ball, y’all.
Oh – I completely disagree. Believe it or not, there are liberals and Democrats who watch Fox throughout the country. That kind of holier than thou crap is what keeps progressives from getting elected.
Thanks for articulating what I’m thinking as I sit here tonight. I thought Wright did a good job, all things considered, on Bill Moyers, but after I read the full transcript of his speech from yesterday (I saw only bits and pieces on TV) I started to get a little nervous again.
I can’t blame Wright for trying to vindicate himself in the wake of how he’s been portrayed in the media, but the risk of him getting Obama in deeper is too great. There’s an election to win, and Obama has been joined to Wright at the hip by said media. Wright surely must suspect that he could very well create more unnecessary hurdles for Obama to clear by continuing to seek the spotlight so willingly. November may be more difficult for Obama than we may yet realize. Wright stands — correct though he is on many of the issues he’s addressed — to make it that much harder for Obama. It shouldn’t be that way, but it is.
Wright speaking out on his own and even mildly criticizing Obama will make it much easier to put the separation between the two in perspective without either having to throw the other under the bus.
Wright was justly critical of the media; too bad that they don’t like being called to task. That is their problem.
Obama is not depending on the media campaign as much as McCain and Hillary are.
Usually I agree with your comments. But he’s been savaged. Why is speaking out tooting his own horn? He’s defending himself.
Because it’s the herd mentality. It’s like that one odd kid in elementary school that for some reason is mercilessly teased by the cool kids. You might not want to be mean to the poor odd-ball kid but many people just naturally pile-on the weak–even when they know it’s not fair. This is why many Democrats are caving in yet again to the Republicans and the media. It’s easier if they just throw Wright under the bus and call him un-American.
I predict the school yard pile-on will take the form of a Senate resolution condemning Rev. Wright. Many Democrats will pile-on.
And p.s., the Democratic party would kiss the black voting bloc goodbye in this scenario. Which I welcome. I welcome a new party where the true progressive Left and black Americans could join forces. The Democrats have no respect for the black community and simply use them for their votes anyway. So bring it on Hillary!
It was the way he did it. He had a kind of “nyah nyah” attitude during the question and answer session that just turned my stomach.
He made it about him, instead of making it about the church. I felt he put himself above his mission.
He started by defending his church, and its traditions. But joking about becoming Vice President? That was him, at his selfish worst.
Are you talking about the National Press Q and A? We didn’t see that, only portions of the NAACP speech which we found powerful. Did see a snippet of the Q and A, and it gave the impression he was grandstanding, but we didn’t see enough to know. We watch virtually no TV.
Thank you for the informative comment.
I love Jeremiah Wright, always have, but can’t someone slip him a 7-month sleeping pill? Get him an all-expense paid retirement cruise around the world or something? Right about now I’d settle for handing him a couple cups of STFU – he’s not helping. Maybe it’s a case of running this faux-issue into the ground now so that it has no impact in the fall, but I think that could be playing with fire. Less Wright is mo’ better in my book for the right here and the right now.
Put Bill back on the campaign trail and cut him loose. I guarantee you within 48 hours the media will be out chasing after whatever fool thing he said that popped into his head.
LOL and so true. Her biggest asset became her biggest liability. Who would have guessed?
Actually, her biggest liability is her discomfort with telling the truth. After that, not much else matters.
“No one ever said it was going to be easy to get a man with a black father elected in this country. It’s somewhat of a national disgrace.”
One drop over at Too Sense, Halfricanrevolution gets it.
the racist variety among us – will likely be ordering Depends… waiting to see who Obama names to his cabinet.
From Too Sense. [Warning:] what you’re about to read is intended to be sarcasm and satire. A joke: White folks nightmare.
That “White folks’ nightmare” bit is hilarious.
“White Folk’s Nightmare”:
Honest to God, I spit water into my keyboard at “Crenshaw Bloods” ! (not much, though.)
Thanks for the link!
What the Hell is going on? I go away for two days and there’s some new controversy about something. Could someone fill me in?
same old same old. Wright, racism. not the issues.
Oh, for Christ’s sake. If the little reporters are so scared of Wright, Obama needs to just drag them behind closed doors and tell them he’ll send Wright out to eat their families if they don’t shut the fuck up about it.
I’m so tired of dealing with this bullshit.
It is a national disgrace. There was a great political cartoon the other day on the race issue. Unfortunately, I read so much that the sources aren’t clear. In any case, this was the point: is Obama a black man with a white mother or a white man with a black father? He’s both. And no one can wrap themselves around it. One aspect of religion, especially Western religions based on Middle Eastern philosophies, is that you are right or wrong, in the light or the dark, with knowledge or ignorant. I am a professional scientist and the reason I have succeeded is that I view the world in shades of gray, not black and white. Be it ideas or skin color.
http://www.sitemason.com/newspub/fQKJvW?id=56117
During the questions at the Press Club someone asked Wright about AIDS and the government. He said, have you read Emerging Viruses by Horowitz?
Well, I doubt anyone else in the room had read it. But I’ve read it. It’s a good read and presents its argument well. I know, subsequently Horowitz has moved up to Idaho and written some more dubious tomes. His AIDS book is still available used at Amazon for 12 bucks. “Emerging Viruses: AIDS & Ebola” by Leonard Horowitz.
Actually, the biggest issue right now for America besides the completely manufactured Pastor Wright controversey appears to be Where in the World is Matt Lauer? The Miley Cyrus horror, and of course the all-purpose American Idol. Does anybody really give a rat’s ass?