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Obama Speech: Reactions From Around the Web |
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 by Daniel Koffler, March 18, 2008 |
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TAGS:
From this Series
- Obama's Race Speech Shifts The Conversation
- Obama Silences His Critics
- Was The Obama Speech Solipsism or Condescension?
- Obama Just Threw on His Du-Rag! For Black Americans, This is the Moment of Truth
- Obama Speech: Reactions From Around the Web
- The Ethnic Particularism of Barack Obama
- Can Barack Obama be a Champion for Working-Class Whites?
Matthew Yglesias: "I'd say things are back on track. The Wright business had opened up a vague sliver of hope for Hillary Clinton's campaign -- if they could produce a result in Pennsylvania that looked like a Wright-induced collapse in Obama's white support, maybe they could convince superdelegates that he's unelectable. After this speech, I don't see it happening."
Andrew Sullivan: "[T]his searing, nuanced, gut-wrenching, loyal, and deeply, deeply
Audacious and hopeful enough?Christian speech is the most honest speech on race in America in my
adult lifetime. It is a speech we have all been waiting for for a
generation. Its ability to embrace both the legitimate fears and
resentments of whites and the understandable anger and dashed hopes of
many blacks was, in my view, unique in recent American history."
Sally Quinn: "This was the most important speech on race in America since the 'I have a dream' speech. [On MSNBC, from my notes--ed.]"
John Derbyshire: "Pah! It's just the old leftist shtick...Blame whitey, and raise high the red flag of socialism. This is a serious candidate for the Presidency? Toast, toast."
Stephen Schwartz: "My first and last thoughts about Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright are the same now as they were months ago: it is absurd, disturbing, and somewhat repellent to realize how long this went unexamined by media, how arrogantly Obama thought it could be avoided, how despicable Wright is, etc. etc. Does this insanity really require analysis? Obama should withdraw from the presidential race and should consider resigning from office. Nobody associated with a pseudo-religious race-baiting, Jew-baiting, America-hating nut like Jeremiah Wright has any business representing anybody in the U.S. but himself. A friend in Kosova recently pointed something out about Obama: he appropriates the legacy of Dr. King, but Dr. King never ran for any political office and would have nothing to do with the likes of Jeremiah Wright."
James Fallows: "This was as good a job as anyone could have done in these circumstances, and as impressive and intelligent a speech as I have heard in a very long time. People thought that Mitt Romney's speech would be the counterpart to John Kennedy's famous speech about his faith to the Houston ministers in 1960. No. This was."
John McWhorter: "Those who have found Obama's statements of dissociation from his pastor Jeremiah Wright's statements a tad studious must now be satisfied...For a light-skinned half-white Ivy League-educated black man to repudiate, in clear language and repeatedly, the take on race of people like Julian Bond and Nikki Giovanni is not only honest but truly bold...As of this morning's speech, any notions of the Obamas as having sat in their living room on 9/11 cheering as the Twin Towers fell is indefensible, and should be dismissed as recreational blather of no more weight than Jeremiah Wright's."
Charles Murray: "I read the various posts here on "The Corner," mostly pretty ho-hum or critical about Obama's speech. Then I figured I'd better read the text (I tried to find a video of it, but couldn't). I've just finished. Has any other major American politician ever made a speech on race that comes even close to this one? As far as I'm concerned, it is just plain flat out brilliant—rhetorically, but also in capturing a lot of nuance about race in America. It is so far above the standard we're used to from our pols.... But you know me. Starry-eyed Obama groupie."
Jesse Walker on Charles Murray: "I suppose it's only a matter of time before some Clinton surrogate pulls out The Bell Curve and demands that Obama distance himself from Murray."
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Daniel Koffler is a Clarendon Scholar and graduate student in philosophy at the University of Oxford. More... |
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zbird
what exactly did Wright say???
That's not meant as a rhetorical question. I've spent the past 10 minutes on Google trying to sort through all the spin to find the actual words Wright used that are a matter of such controversy, and I can't find anything so egregious that it would require any "explaining" on Obama's part beyond "we disagree."
From what I've seen, it appears Wright could be fairly characterized the same way Derbyshire (unfairly) characterized Obama: "Blame whitey, and raise high
the red flag of socialism." I don't agree with that philosophy. I find it to be paranoid, superficial, economically silly, and overly radical--but I also don't think it's "hate." From what I've seen, Wright doesn't seem so extreme that a politician should be vilified for simply associating with the man.
But as I already said, I haven't found many good primary sources. If anyone has a clip or transcript of Wright saying things that are truly hateful or racist--rather than merely too liberal for your taste--please leave a comment with a link (for God's sake, don't just copy paste without giving a source).
--Z
naftali
Youtube
I just did a quick search on Youtube. Should be plenty to see there if they haven't pulled the videos. That happens frequently, click on something to play and that little pink bar comes up--video is no longer available.
zbird
re: you tube
I appreciate the hint and did a search on Youtube, where I found the same two videos over and over again:
1. In one, which I had seen before posting my last comment, it is apparent that Wright blame white racism for most of the problems in the black community, opposes to US foreign policy, and thinks Jesus was a black man. In my opinion these views on the various issues mentioned in the speech range from correct (i.e.: his view of the war in Iraq) to overly simplified (blaming racism for everything) to patently ridiculous but harmless (that Jesus was black).
2. In the second video, Wright says "god damn America." Out of context the statement is obviously unpatriotic. In context--I'd say it's still unpatriotic, at least in the shallow, bumper-sticker-on-my Saudi-oil-guzzling-SUV sense of the word. But it's still not hateful--Wright is just saying (in very powerful terms) that he doesn't share patriotism for a country that so utterly fails to live up to his (and the country's own) values.
Once again--you wouldn't find me saying "god damn America." I believe America stands for some really amazing things and I don't see anything productive coming out of insulting America. That being said, it's still not hate speech.
You might not agree with Wright and might even have contempt for his views, but nothing I've seen is so awful that I would refuse to vote for anyone who associated with him. If the man were spreading the blood libel or calling for mass murder then I wouldn't want to have anything to do with him and would be suspicious of anyone who associated with him.
What I've seen of Wright does not rise to that level--what I've seen is material that Obama and Wright can agree to disagree about.
--Z
naftali
You Have a Good Point
What have you said about the Hagee articles?
zbird
that's a fair question, naftali
looking through my prior comments I can't find anything that contradicts what I'm saying here.
But the deeper question is whether I'd hold McCain and Obama to the same standard regarding Hagee/Wright. Unfortunately the two situations are not identical, as Hagee and Wright say different things and have different relationships with Obama. That being said I think McCain should distance himself from Hagee's outlandish statements but would not vote against McCain based solely on his relationship with Hagee (although I have plenty of other reasons for voting against him).
--Z
naftali
You Can See This Question Coming Down the Street
Can McCain just agree to disagree with Hagee?
zbird
yes.
But I'll add that given McCain's relationship with Hagee and the things McCain has said about Hagee before, I would expect that McCain "agree to disagree" publicly and in no uncertain terms, much like Obama has categorically denounced Wright's views.
--Z
naftali
Z...
Yeah, too bad both of them need these things called 'votes'. I mean if both of us began insisting on a world without blatant hypocrisy we might as well change our little icon thingy's to Sisyphus1 and Sisyphus2. TV networks would have to disavow their primetime schedules--and on and on. And on and on. And on and on.
That's why I don't get too worked up when a politician is hypocritical. Nor when chickens lay eggs.
zbird
hmmm....Sisyphus2
Not a bad idea for an icon. But you have to admit the little shin gets old. There must be an image somewhere on the internet that you could use instead, although I understand if Foghorn Leghorn is too Freudian for you.
--Z
naftali
I Can Barely Cut and Paste
It's that bad. Although, I wear the Shin frequently, so it ain't that far off the mark. I consider a smiley pretty good for me. :-).
A regular Charles Johnson I am.
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