[Marxism] Obama stiffens back, speaks for himself, stands by a friend, and gains ground in race

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

New York Times
March 19, 2008
Editorial
Mr. Obama's Profile in Courage 
There are moments - increasingly rare in risk-abhorrent modern campaigns -
when politicians are called upon to bare their fundamental beliefs. In the
best of these moments, the speaker does not just salve the current political
wound, but also illuminates larger, troubling issues that the nation is
wrestling with.

Inaugural addresses by Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt come to
mind, as does John F. Kennedy's 1960 speech on religion, with its enduring
vision of the separation between church and state. Senator Barack Obama, who
has not faced such tests of character this year, faced one on Tuesday. It is
hard to imagine how he could have handled it better.

Mr. Obama had to address race and religion, the two most toxic subjects in
politics. He was as powerful and frank as Mitt Romney was weak and
calculating earlier this year in his attempt to persuade the religious right
that his Mormonism is Christian enough for them.

It was not a moment to which Mr. Obama came easily. He hesitated
uncomfortably long in dealing with the controversial remarks of his
spiritual mentor and former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., who
denounced the United States as endemically racist, murderous and corrupt.

On Tuesday, Mr. Obama drew a bright line between his religious connection
with Mr. Wright, which should be none of the voters' business, and having a
political connection, which would be very much their business. The
distinction seems especially urgent after seven years of a president who has
worked to blur the line between church and state.

Mr. Obama acknowledged his strong ties to Mr. Wright. He embraced him as the
man "who helped introduce me to my Christian faith," and said that "as
imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me."

Wisely, he did not claim to be unaware of Mr. Wright's radicalism or
bitterness, disarming the speculation about whether he personally heard the
longtime pastor of his church speak the words being played and replayed on
YouTube. Mr. Obama said Mr. Wright's comments were not just potentially
offensive, as politicians are apt to do, but "rightly offend white and black
alike" and are wrong in their analysis of America. But, he said, many
Americans "have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with
which you strongly disagree."

Mr. Obama's eloquent speech should end the debate over his ties to Mr.
Wright since there is nothing to suggest that he would carry religion into
government. But he did not stop there. He put Mr. Wright, his beliefs and
the reaction to them into the larger context of race relations with an
honesty seldom heard in public life.

Mr. Obama spoke of the nation's ugly racial history, which started with
slavery and Jim Crow, and continues today in racial segregation, the school
achievement gap and discrimination in everything from banking services to
law enforcement.

He did not hide from the often-unspoken reality that people on both sides of
the color line are angry. "For the men and women of Reverend Wright's
generation," he said, "the memories of humiliation and fear have not gone
away, nor the anger and the bitterness of those years." 

At the same time, many white Americans, Mr. Obama noted, do not feel
privileged by their race. "In an era of stagnant wages and global
competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero-sum game," he said,
adding that both sides must acknowledge that the other's grievances are not
imaginary.

He made the powerful point that while these feelings are not always voiced
publicly, they are used in politics. "Anger over welfare and affirmative
action helped forge the Reagan coalition," he said.

Against this backdrop, he said, he could not repudiate his pastor. "I can no
more disown him than I can disown the black community," he said. "I can no
more disown him than I can my white grandmother." That woman whom he loves
deeply, he said, "once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on
the street" and more than once "uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that
made me cringe." 

There have been times when we wondered what Mr. Obama meant when he talked
about rising above traditional divides. This was not such a moment.

We can't know how effective Mr. Obama's words will be with those who will
not draw the distinctions between faith and politics that he drew, or who
will reject his frank talk about race. What is evident, though, is that he
not only cleared the air over a particular controversy - he raised the
discussion to a higher plane. 




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