The Issue of the Day

The big issue of the day is Jeremiah Wright and his relationship with Barack Obama.

So some thoughts.

1. A lot of whites don't want to hear that racial justice hasn't yet been achieved; Republicans are counting on that. Limbaugh and Hannity are hyping this issue as much as possible, and it's somewhat hilarious to listen to them claim that Wright's thoughts on race are way off. In the wake of Barack Obama's speech yesterday, we see Michael Medved saying that even acknowledging race as an issue is going to to turn off American voters.

If the Obama campaign follows up on his over-praised speech and makes intensified race-talk into a new national priority, he may well destroy his chances of winning the presidency. The most “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party could celebrate prospect that a President Obama would get countless opportunities to deliver more lectures on slavery, Jim Crow, oppression, and race differences.

But less politically correct Americans may prove notably less eager to seize the chance for additional solemn scolding sessions like the one they just heard in Philadelphia. Most voters, black as well as white, feel weary and wary of the destructive cycle of accusation and apology, so that Obama’s new implied promise of a presidency of endless race-based agitation may well constitute an offer that we easily can refuse.

Kind of hilarious isn't it? Conservative Commentators make Jeremiah Wright a big issue, and when Obama response to their insinuations, he's attacked for making race an issue. He's a black man; just by running for office he's making race an issue.

I'm intrigued by what Tomas Sowell, another black man, said about the speech.

Like the Soviet show trials during their 1930s purges, Obama's speech was not supposed to convince critics but to reassure supporters and fellow-travelers, in order to keep the "useful idiots" useful.

Sowells article is pretty reprehensible altogether, but I find myself wondering what ideology are us "useful idiots" falling for? Marxism? Islam? Black Nationalism? What's clear, reading Sowells article, is that Obama is clearly a stealth candidate for someone, hiding his radicalism and tricking weak minded dopes (like myself). Pretty sad that Sowell feels he has to resurrect cold war paranoia to trash Obama.

I do have points 2 and 3, but will post them in a forthcoming post, since this one is already long.