Obama and Wright: It's Not About His Views
Andrew Sullivan has been blogging like crazy about the Obama/Wright debacle. Sullivan's a very bright guy, but he's got Obama Fever and has been vaguely apologetic about this whole thing. He does this not by defending Wright, but by misinterpreting the uproar. For example:
Andrew Sullivan - March 16th, 2008 The relevant - the only relevant - question is: are Obama's beliefs represented by the handful of video clips of the most incendiary of Wright's sermons? Or to unpack it a little further: Does Obama believe that black people should damn America? Does he believe that racial separatism is a viable option? Is he a black liberation theologian?
This is absolutely, positively not the "only relevant" question. No serious individual can claim with any authority that Obama agrees with Wright's ridiculous statements. Even his critics aren't doing so, for the most part. That's not the issue.
The issue is why Obama chose to overlook Wright's behavior. Why did he continue to attend a church with a bigot at its head? Why did he look to a man like Wright for guidance and mentorship? Obama clearly doesn't believe many of the crazy things Wright has spewed forth, but there's a real question about whether or not he turned a blind eye to them for the sake of political expediency. Did he feel that being near Wright would help offset his privileged upbringing, and increase his credentials as a bonafide crusader for the African-Americans community? Or did he just not want to make waves so early in his political career?
All of these things are possibilities, and until Obama gives a full, candid confession about why he chose to stay with the church, we won't know which is true, if any of them are. We can certainly assume that Obama is not a bigot, as Wright appears to be. But that doesn't mean he did not implicitly tolerate bigotry for political reasons. That's a serious thing to do, especially for a candidate who has professed a desire to transcend racial divisions.
These are the real questions of the debate; not the straw men that Sullivan is knocking down.
» March 17th, 2008
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