Tuesday, April 01, 2008

I’ll bite on Wright

“Okay, I gotta ask,” says Mom this morning. “How come you haven’t written about Obama and that Wright minister?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’ve been trying to stay clear of writing on anything religious lately.”

Neil Steinberg wrote a short piece on it yesterday in the Sun-Times and acquitted Obama quite nicely as we’ve come to expect. You can read it here.

My man Steinberg is always good for leveling the playing field by drawing comparisons to similar situations throughout history. It works most of the time.

However, as Mom is quick to point out, Obama is a member of Wright’s church and has been for 20 years. We also know that, at least since Harvard and possibly much earlier, Obama has wanted to run for president.

So if this preacher spent every single Sunday spewing the kind of hateful crap YouTube has made him famous for, I’m guessing Obama would’ve left a long time ago – simply to avoid any kind of major political fallout.

The fact is, these are sound bites. Offered up by the media. And we know that no one in the media ever, ever has an agenda, right?
~~~~~~~~~
This is what’s most ironic and interesting about Wright: This golden-robe wearin' dude is a hardcore, rolling-around-the-aisles, speaking-in-tongues Evangelical Christian.

Where are all the right wing-nuts who proclaimed Obama is secretly a radical Muslim set to destroy our fragile Christian nation if elected?

If anything, this silly non-scandal was orchestrated by the Obamites themselves to crush any last vestige of the Muslim rumors.

Can I get an amen here? Hallelujah!
~~~~~~~~~
I know you’re not running for office. But indulge me.

There’s at least one person you know and love who says crazy-ass, embarrassing shit once in a while.

If you were running for office, would you abandon this friend or relative because of their views? Of course not.

“Is it true, Ms. W_______, that your husband Jim believes Jesus Christ was an alien and will eventually return to take all the half-human/half-aliens back home in the Mother Ship? And don’t you think this is a problem with you running for Queen of the Neighborhood?”

“Yes, it’s true. My husband believes he is descended from aliens. What does that have to do with Gort! Klaatu barada niktu!”

Listen. Obama’s doing everything he can – more than any candidate in history quite frankly – to make sure we know where he stands on the issues.

So he’s got at least one freaky acquaintance.

So what? This makes him like the rest of us. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
~~~~~~~~~
I am listening to: Ghost Riders in the Sky – Johnny Cash
I am reading: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
And I am: Gort!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jesus and aliens... I just laughed again while remembering the spaceship so nicely integrated into the Christmas village. What would Christmas be without a silver saucer hovering over the general store with the little green guys stepping out for a snack?

Hedy said...

Phatdoggy is referring to the Dickens Christmas village we set up every year in the living room. Among other shoppes and cottages, it has a chocolate factory. Two pubs. And one church. But it always felt like something was missing. So last year, I purchased the Dept. 56 "2001 Space Oddity" complete with a spaceship and two little green men. The village is now complete.

Anonymous said...

I loved your April fools column on the famous Rev Wright and his sidekick Obama. Either you wrote it tongue in cheek or I have been transitioned into a dumb back woods Tennessee hillbilly in only one month. Hate is hate-is hate-and on and on. auntie s

Susan's Snippets said...

“So he’s got at least one freaky acquaintance.” Not trying to pick on your guy Obama – but he has had at least ONE other freak in his camp – Tony Rezko.

On to the “Wright” issue or should that be the “Right” issue -

In my dealings with an after school program – where mostly young black males gather once a week to play basketball, eat pizza and hear some of The Word – the people that run it have told me that maybe out of the 30+ guys that I have met – they hope that one will end up going on to college and making a good life for himself.

1 out of 30+.

Part of the overall problem is the sense of entitlement and lack of caring among the generation behind us – a sense that is within most of that generation, regardless of the color of their skin - a problem that we have never seen the likes of.

There have been over 20 Chicago students killed by their peers so far this year and it is my belief those numbers will continue to rise with each year that passes – with things left unchanged.

So in these times to have a Pastor preach angrily about being held down by the white man – instead of preaching about being responsible for your own actions and being loving and caring and also addressing the parents about being unselfish and setting good examples and boundaries for their children……is something that I would not want to listen to or have my children listen to once – let alone many times and then embrace him as family and possibly hold him up as a mentor in our lives.

divides

CRUSTY MOM-E said...

naaNuuu NaaNuuu..

If Mork and Mindy could be friends, then why the heck can't Obama have an odd Pastor?

EXCELLENT post!
I'm keeping this should anyone forward me anything negatory on President OBam-er, I mean, just Obama.

Always,
E

Hedy said...

Hey Susan -- Good points, as usual. I think the difference is, as you said, a generation apart. Obama is most definitely NOT about entitlement and that's what makes his "relationship" with Wright even more incongruous. I would beg everyone to review Wright's comments in context on YouTube to get a different perspective on his preaching. The main issue I have with any type of generalization about any group of people is that it is usually based on one or two personal experiences. As white people, have most of us really had enough experience living and working closely with blacks and Hispanics? Nope. And when the only experiences we have reinforce the negative stereotypes, I'm sure it's a challenge to NOT categorize these people and hold them accountable for the bad things a minority of them do. As for Wright, again, I'd say we all have one or two "Wrights" in our lives - and let's try to remember when it comes to spewing hatred, us white folks have more of a "colored" past than any other race.

Dave said...

I've not watched the abridged or extended versions of Wright.

Having read the post, I was ready to do a "perfectly put" comment and say something humorous about me and my friends and the fact that we are friends because no one else will have us because of our quirks.

Then I read Susan's comment. She makes a perfectly good case, that misses your point. She says the same thing that Bill Cosby has been saying for a few years; and, she misses the fact that you can have no influence over people you shun.

I have friends that think quite differently than I do about a lot of things. I'm thinking that Dilf and I would be fast friends.

Tolerance is something that is in short supply in our public and private lives. Obama, though I waver back and forth and back and forth over what he wants to do (and probably can't in my view), seems to genuinely be tolerant, in contrast to Senators Clinton and McCain. It is his most attractive attribute.

Hedy said...

Dave: You nailed it. And before you Christians go off the deep end and say "tolerance is what's wrong with society today" please remember that Christ chose to hang with the people who needed the most help.

Anonymous said...

I love listening to Obama....LOVE IT....but, he's promised everything to everyone. And he wants to (will have to) raise taxes substantially to pay for his promises. I believe that high taxes destroy everything. Re-distributing wealth is the ultimate evil in economics. If he taxes me $20k additional, I stop spending and I also stop investing, which destroys economies. I just will never believe that the Gov't is smarter with MY money, than I am.
And I'm also tired of Gov't attacking Big Oil (which I despise also), but Big Oil profits are OUR fault. If you hate Big Oil, do your bitching by getting a fuel efficient vehicle. End of story!