The Obama campaign’s decision to distribute a photo of Rev. Wright with Bill Clinton is one of the lowpoints of his campaign, IMHO. First of all, it’s a Hillary-esque move, trying to spin an insignificant fact (i.e., Bill Clinton met some guy and had his picture taken) into a major talking point (i.e., the Clintons are clearly hypocrites for criticizing Obama’s Wright connection, because they like Rev. Wright too! Just look at the photo! And they even wrote him a thank-you note! A THANK-YOU NOTE!!). In that sense, it’s reminiscent of the kindergarten essay nonsense from a few months ago. Like I said: Hillary-esque. And, as Jay Carson says, "pathetic."
Secondly, and for much the same reason, it invites ridicule. Whatever point Obama is trying to make here, it’s implausible on the facts presented. Nobody can possibly believe that Bill Clinton shaking hands with Rev. Wright, and having a picture taken (one of "tens of thousands" of such pictures taken over the course of eight years, the Clinton campaign plausibly asserts), somehow establishes that Hillary has anything approaching the level of connection that Obama has with the man. The notion is frankly just laughable. And when you’re the front-runner for the presidential nomination, you don’t want people laughing at you. As Howard Wolfson e-mailed when asked for comment about the photo, "Urgent indeed  a picture  oooooooo!"
Thirdly, it’s strategically idiotic. As NBC’s First Read says, "Doesn’t [the photo] just give cable networks another excuse to run the video of Wright? How does that turn the page? It was an odd decision to say the least." Whatever infinitesimal gains the photo might reap for Obama by pointing out the Clintons’, uh, hypocrisy, or whatever, they’re wiped out ten times over by the fact that the photo gives the Wright story fresh legs.
All in all, a terrible move by Obama.
P.S. This "typical white person" thing isn’t so hot, either.
On the bright side, Obama has just picked up the coveted Richardson endorsement. And it’s nice to see a hard-hitting memo on Hillary’s history of deception. Though, with March Madness going on, I’m not sure your average voter will notice any of this weekend’s developments.
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Categories: Election 2008
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March 21st, 2008 at 10:59:20 am
JOSUA: Greetings Professor Obama. . . .
OBAMA: Hello, Joshua.
JOSHUA: “Race,” . . . an interesting game . . . the only winning move is not to play.
. . .
how about a nice game of chess . . . ?
CROWD: Hurrah !!!!!
March 21st, 2008 at 11:01:25 am
I thought I had lost my Loy boy back to Obama after the big speech. Phew. That was close. Mwahahahaha.
March 21st, 2008 at 11:02:08 am
how about we talk about march madness instead. and ignore my candidate falling apart.
its killing me inside to watch obama get destroyed like this. that “typical white person” comment was idiotic and will bite him in the ass.
i still think hes far and away the best candidate for this country but hes starting to struggle a bit. i guess its better now than in october, but it still hurts to watch.
March 21st, 2008 at 11:56:40 am
You do hate to see this happening to the guy - he seems to have so much sincerity and authenticity. I don’t agree with his politics one bit, but a nice guy. He truly is caught in between the old world and the new, and his problem is that a lot of his supporters are old world and it’s hard to confront that.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:02:18 pm
its killing me inside to watch obama get destroyed like this
It didn’t take all that long for Obama to start showing his true colors. You can’t run from your past and his is starting to rear it’s ugly head.
The sad thing is, if anyone else had made a comment like “a typical black person” the press would have gone absolutely ape-shit.
Hillary, Obama, McCain? That’s the best this country can put up for the leader of the free world?? Are you friggin kidding me??
March 21st, 2008 at 12:18:19 pm
Let’s be honest here. If you are a white person walking down a dark street at night, what would concern you more…seeing a white guy walking in a business suit or a black guy wearing a dew rag? There could be just as much chance that the white guy is a Ted Bundy and the black guy is a Christian Youth Minister, but what would your first reaction be?
While Obama’s comment was hardly nuanced, there is a certain amount of truth to it, especially with the older generations of white folks (like his grandmother).
March 21st, 2008 at 12:29:26 pm
i can’t stand “gotcha” politics. it sucks when its against obama and it sucks when they bring out photos like that to go after billary.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:30:55 pm
Maxy. More nuance please. How about the following question - How would you feel if you are a white person walking down the street at night and a black man in a suit comes walking by versus a white guy in a dew rag ?
I think most people are going to be more afraid of the dew rag guy again. How much is Race a factor ? Maybe it’s the clothes that make the man.
It would be unfortunate to hang race conscious policy when the real offender is hood-ish attire.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:38:29 pm
He SEEMS to have so much sincerity and authenticity!! Yeah, that’s the point. Looks can…and are…deceiving.
Everyday his connections to Rezko become more and more apparent. He began by admitting that he only recieved around $60,000 of money raise from Rezko, but now he admits $250,000. What, did he just FORGET about the other $190,000?!?
Oh, and we’re to believe that Obama really, truly believed that Rezko, a man well known for his shady political machinations, just helped Obama buy a house for $300,000 under the asking price out of the goodness of his heart?! The same man who had raised around $250,000 for Obama? The same man under FBI investigation?!? Uhm….yeah. Riiiight.
And, of course, this is the same Obama who one day tells the American people, and the people of Ohio in particular, that he would renegotiate NAFTA, but the next day tells Canada that he would NOT renegotiate NAFTA…that it was just political rhetoric. Oh yeah, and then he LIED about it, denying the meeting ever happend. That is, until he was faced with the hard evidence of a written memo.
I won’t even touch the Jeremiah Wright issue, other than to say that his speech in response to the issue was hardly historic. It will be forgotten in a month. Historic speeches don’t include partisan cheap-shots at the opposing candidate and they don’t provide excuses for the lunatic rantings of a paranoid race-monger.
Obama is not the messiah. He’s a typical politican…One with little experience, who can’t win the swing states or his party’s base states, like New York, Massachusetts, or California. He’s a politician, who everyday seems less and less capable of winning the general election.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:06:13 pm
4-7
I would think a white guy in a dew rag is a redneck. I certainly wouldn’t be scared of him.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:10:23 pm
So do you fear no dew rag then ?
March 21st, 2008 at 1:11:23 pm
How about a hoodie pulled over so much you can barely tell the race if at all - sort of like Kensei before he killed Sulu on heroes ? I would be scared of that guy.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:29:31 pm
It’s this level of understanding of basic probability that keeps casinos and state lotteries in business. A friend had a hairdresser who told him that your chance of winning the lottery is 50:50…because you either win or you don’t win.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:42:52 pm
Someone told me a story about a famous civil rights attorney that relates to this. During jury selection, this attorney would ask people if they were racist. Of course everyone would say no. He would then go on to explain that sometimes he would have gut reactions to seeing a black guy on the street that he knew weren’t rational but he still had them. He was sometimes ashamed of his reactions but he knew they were irrational impulses that any human being could have and as long as he realized they were irrational he could deal with his racist impulses. After that he once again asked if any of the jurors ever had similar reactions and of course most of the jurors would admit that they had similar feelings. If anyone still claimed they weren’t racist at all, he knew they were probably a closet racist and he didn’t want them on the jury.
I think people are making too much of what Obama said about the typical white woman thing. If you take it out of context it sounds bad, but taken in context I think he’s just describing a gut reaction that most white people have on occasion. Non-bigots can have racist impulses and most do.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:59:56 pm
people however can too quickly assume that their discomfort in a situation is racially influenced. This is what I was trying to get at with Maxy over the Common Denominator. Maybe, just maybe, sometimes people are scared of thuggish looking characters - hence the “dew rag”, late night, dark alley, image - regardless of their race. The question needs to be: are you MORE scared of a black person who is in a dew rag, hoodie, whatever, walking near you at night than a white person ? Then, and only then, if the answer is yes, should you be concerned that the perception is influenced by race consciousness, whether rational or irrational.
We had a counselor at Notre Dame just about start weeping like your civil rights attorney over an incident where “two black (or hispanic - can’t remember) guys” pulled up in a clunkety old jalopy of a car next to him at a stop light. The father quickly thought of his young daughter in the back seat and locked the doors. Supposedly, a man from the jalopy softly exclaimed - “Mister, what are you so worried about ?” With guily that must have equated with a former South African enforcer of Apartheid, the guy confessed to the law school class during diversity training that even HE, progressive though he was, could be guilty of such irrational prejudice.
Of course, isn’t it possible, and shouldn’t we entertain a doubt, that people lock their cars for safety anytime a clunkety old jalopy with someone other than Sherry Lewis and Lambchop appear in the front seats ? Note how after saying “typical white people”, Obama went nonracial and said “stranger” to describe the late night neighbor who causes fear. I think there’s a telling admission there. Maybe we are all a bit afraid of strangers, whether black or white. And maybe we are all a bit too race conscious these days, that we need to challenge a legitimate fear of strangers to counter the POSSIBILITY of political incorrectness.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:18:13 pm
There’s been about a billion studies on race that prove the white walker will demonstrate more fear of a black guy in any form, than a white guy in the most “intimidating”. I guess you missed 20/20 a couple weeks ago when they had 3 white kids vandalizing a car and one person called 911 on them, but 911 got 3 calls because a couple black kids were sleeping in a car at the other side of the same parking lot. And when they substituted 3 black kids in place of the 3 white kids, all hell broke loose. People that dismiss race are either incredibly naive or trying to fool themselves.
Is any of this bogus Rev. Wright issue being pushed on Fox going to convince any Obama voters that they like McCain or Hillary more? I can’t imagine that. I know what the polls say today, but it’s March, and in the polls not done by Rasmussen, Obama still leads McCain.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:28:50 pm
I DID miss 20/20! Is that show still on ? I also heard that NBC once sent muslims to a NASCAR race in full regalia and were surprisingly unsatisfied with the lack of event. Studies Schmuddies !
March 21st, 2008 at 2:45:20 pm
It’s more properly rendered Do-rag, fools. :} Protects your Do. / A Dew-rag I should think would be used to wipe the morning dew-drops from your Toesies. ;)
March 21st, 2008 at 4:01:38 pm
Thanks for the clarification, Joe. I guess my dew-rag is only worn by those extreme types who Do the Dew!
As for the responses to my post, I can’t disagree with people who take exception to my use of “do” rags, suits, etc, or my statistical assessments. But I think many agree with my basic premise that we all have fundamental biases, which I believe was Obama’s point.
I think any American who claims not to be biased in one form or another against another person due to race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc, isn’t being honest. I think most Americans who have these feelings endeavor to be accepting or at least tolerant of others. Those Americans who decide to act negatively on those impulses are the ones who cross the threshold into racism and bigotry.
March 21st, 2008 at 4:15:25 pm
I don’t think I denied biases exist. I just argued we should be cautious about identifying them as terrible phantoms influencing world and local events that must be slain. How about - I’m ok you’re ok. Is someone losing a job out there because hairs go up on Obama’s grandmother’s neck at night in alleyway encounters ?
March 21st, 2008 at 4:21:25 pm
Ugh. Just read the most recent Drudge headline. Obama really Really REALLY needs to put the violin away on this whole “Rev. Wright controversey means its time for a mature discussion about Race.” Why ? Why can’t people’s offense at Wright be an offense at Obama being associated with a wacko who believes crackpot theories and who can be vitriolically unpatriotic in verse. Where is the race ? Fine, defend it by saying this is Chicago ethnic religion representative of many black churches, but that’s not why it was offensive to people. Obama is AGGRAVATING the racial aspect of his candidacy to the nth degree, and he is slowly transforming his campaign from a-racial or nonracial to VERY RACIAL in his attempt to have the “mature discussion”. A “mature discussion” wasn’t necessary when he swept Iowa on white votes. Why is it necessary now, when he’s still the frontrunner ? So are we going to need mature discussions (or lectures) whenever a successful black candidate is criticized ?
March 21st, 2008 at 4:26:49 pm
“Obama is not the messiah. He’s a typical politican…”
the beef, of course he’s not the messiah and since you mention it, the fact is that Huckabee has dropped out :} so we’ll have to wait yet again a little for the Kingdom to Come.
As for Typical Politician, in many respects Barack may be That but he surely did Not give the typical Political Speech when he addressed the matter of Race in America.
I don’t claim it was Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural nor King’s Dream, nor that it was by any means Flawless nor Indisputable. But I DO assert that it was Historic, in the strict sense that it was the first time in our modern History that so major a national political figure had spoken about the subject in so candid, un-selfcensored, and indeed commonsensical a way.
And for the same reasons that it was historic, it was Brave. For far from being all carefully calculated & calibrated & choreographed to Safely repair, or at least contain, the Wright-inflicted damage to Obama’s political prospects, the speech was almost certain to Increase it. This is way too smart a man Not to know that talking to black & white people Directly about their respective racial prejudices ~ and telling the white folks why Some of the black folks’ Attitude is Understandable and telling the black folks the very same thing about Some of the white folks’ Attitude ~ is a very good way to cause one’s Support levels in Both demographics to drop significantly, which new polls show is Exactly what has happened in Pennsylvania, and probably elsewhere as well.
This is not what the typical politician Typically does. Obama was Supposed to delineate & amplify his Disagreements with Reverend Wright, remind people that it is Barack and not the retired Pastor who is running for president, and then get us all to refocus on the Real crises of the War and the Economy and the Healthcare and so forth and quit yammering about the distracting non-issue of Race. / So instead, he explicitly challenges us to Continue this conversation, in Candid terms, AND to carry it beyond our kitchentable & churchpew & barbershop & beautyparlor Safehouses and actually talk about it to each other across the Tribal lines! Oh now THAT’s a REAL good Votegetter, all right. :|
I actually believe that Obama ~ probably in the course of Rewriting the drafts his handlers had given him ~ came to a conscious decision to go for the Long View in that speech, at the probable Expense of the short-term political gain (or Stoploss).
Brave.
March 21st, 2008 at 4:53:36 pm
4-7,
Obama made ONE speech on race thus far and it was solely because Foxnews made it impossible to ignore race any longer with their playing of the 6 or 7 clips of Rev. Wright’s 30 year career. That Obama ‘Race’ speech was seen by maybe 4 people, but the Reverend Wright clips are on non-stop recycle on Fox News, going into the 2nd week. Fox can keep playing them, but nobody but ultra-goofy Republicans looking for a reason to dislike Obama (other than his secret Muslim motivations) actually care, and they weren’t voting for Obama anyway.
March 21st, 2008 at 6:21:47 pm
Sorry Joe, i just don’t see it.
I agree that it was not carefully calculated and calibrated like a typical political speech. I’ll grant you that.
But I don’t find anything earth-shattering either. Not close. Indeed, some of what he said was absurd. For instance, it’s absurd to say that his disagreements with Wright are similar to the disagreements that many people have with their pastors, rabis, and priests. Please! Most rabis, priests and pastors don’t say things like “God Damn America,” that 9-11 was a wake up call to WHITE America, or that the United States government engineered HIV to wipe out blacks. Most people’s priests, rabis, and pastors are nothing like that at all!
Moreover, his shot at Ferraro seemed off the cuff to me, and badly miscued. It lowered the integrity of the speech.
But, of course, these are my opinions. But the facts emerging in regards to Rezko; Obama’s saying one thing to the electorate and another thing to a foreign government; this latest move of releasing a photograph with Bill and Wright…
…not brave at all.
March 21st, 2008 at 6:27:49 pm
4-7 - do you think that Sandy Underpants is a sock-puppet for Newsweek or for the NY Times ?
It’s all the fault of the eeeevil Fox News, is it ?
OY !
March 21st, 2008 at 6:53:22 pm
Considering how often you blame the liberal media i think its incredibly sad that you don’t think blaming Fox News might be an equally valid option Alasdair. A little honesty and logical consistency would be nice once and a while.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:31:49 pm
Sandy sandy. Ships passing in the night bud. You still don’t show why one had to respomd to wright in terms of race. Who on the critics side said obama-wright had anything to do with race? Sure its not obamas SU0pPORTERS who are assuming its a racial issue? I thonl he needs to clean his own house then of prejudice.
I put lives in danger writing this
March 21st, 2008 at 7:40:35 pm
Thing is. No one is arguing whether anything wright said has truth value. Mot the point! It was relevant not bc statements were racist, some were, but bc the man is insane.if he was an alex jones whcko the fallout would be judt as voluminously covered.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:49:49 pm
Never - not in a million years - would I have guessed that the conservative intellectual I would find making the most sense on this subject would be… Charles Murray. It makes me wonder if I have misjudged him. And why not? After all, it’s not as though my opinion of the man has been based on any kind of personal in-depth analysis of his work. No, it’s been based on the writing of other people, most of them liberal intellectuals, who have convinced me that Murray’s work is flawed and his motivation suspect. But these people may have blind-spots of their own when it comes to race.
This doesn’t mean I suddenly think that The Bell Curve is the work of a misunderstood genius. But it’s a lesson about keeping an open mind.
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:30:34 am
Thanks for that link, Aaron. And yes: spot on, Charles Murray.
And thanks also, thebeef. Let us civilly agree to Partly disagree. // On, e.g., our respective estimates of the Proportion of people’s Clergypersons who talk like pernicious crackpots, lunatics and Quacks when it comes to their learned :} Political analyses, as distinct (? :) from their formal Exegeses (if Any :) of their respective holy Writs :> ~ and, for Another ee gee :), on whether Obama’s Shot was aimed at Ferraro or rather, as I sighted-in its trajectory, dead-center ten-ring at those among Ferraro’s critics who instantaneously Leaped to the unsupported conclusion that Gerry’s Complaint was necessarily Racist in its meaning & motivation, to wit:
March 22nd, 2008 at 11:13:36 am
Blaming Obama’s pastor problem on Fox News is absolutely retarded.
March 22nd, 2008 at 6:17:52 pm
This one is off the main page, so I don’t guess anyone will see.
I still don’t get how dismissing Wright as a Crank (as he is), ignores the issue of Race. Someone, please help me. Does dismissing the idea that the CIA used AIDS as ethnic clensing as complete utter condemnable insanity ignore the issue of Race ? Let some one with a legitimate grievance come forward and open the discussion - not a wacko !