Posted by
beltway girl on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 3:48:45 AM
"When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it." -Bernard Bailey
We have had the election season of LBJ's nuts and bolts. We have had an election season of Jesse Jackson references. We have had an election season of NAFTA flip-flops, of imaginary sniper fire. We have had an election season of Jeremiah Wright, of the Baby Penalty, of unthinking grandmas and "typical white" people.
And just when you thought it was safe to turn on the television again, just when you thought it might be settling into a temporary state of equilibrium, now we have the mother of them all.
These small-town voters like you find in Pennsylvania. They are frustrated people. They are bitter people. And they are angry people.
And moreover, they are stupid people.
They don't vote in terms of their own economic self-interest. No, no, they are fools.
They cling to their racism and bigotry and, in the same breath, to their religion and their firearms. They hide in them. They find solace in them. While the true keys to real happiness, now held in the trusty hands of Barack Obama, rest securely in his grasp, this bunch embraces...
What?
Nothing.
Just nothing.
A few shots on the weekend at a deer, perhaps. A trip to the church, too.
The truly frightening thing about this comment is not the actual idea on the surface, or even the fact that Senator Obama was unwise enough to make the remarks at a public event.
No, it's the subtext. It's Rev. Wright.
Reverend Wright, who has clearly seen the benefits, indeed, the need to weave religious principle and political ends together in just such a way. Reverend Wright and his vicious slurs against whites, particularly those of the middle class. His blistering attacks on Condoleezza Rice and Clarence Thomas. Reverend Wright, the man who puts that special emphasis on "social" in "social gospel."
Reverend Wright who has been Barack Obama's conduit to his awesome God.
Barack Obama says his pastor was bitter. This bitterness led to the vitriolic statements that came out of his mouth. On a pulpit. In front of thousands of followers. While Obama stayed a member of that church, was married by Reverend Wright, and had his children baptized by Reverend Wright.
He understood Reverend Wright's bitter attitudes. He never had a serious public issue with the bitterness which voters would be aware of until it jeopardized his political aspirations.
Then, bitterness was a defense for the vitriolic Mr. Wright.
Now, bitterness is again being discussed by Senator Obama, this time in an unexpected and unsolicited quasi-attack on the typical white people of Pennsylvania. These gun-toting, church-doting, closet racists and bigots who don't know what is good for them.
And here, with this last item, is the critical difference that is ultimately at the bottom of what is so frightening about Obama's remarks.
Pennsylvania voters just haven't "gotten it" yet. They haven't started voting with their heads instead of their misled hearts. Should they be converted by Reverend Wright?
This is in no way intended to attack Rev. Wright's claim to religious authority. Rev. Wright is a minister. He does operate out of a church. Rev. Wright is a man of the cloth. But as we all know, men in such positions often still do commit grievous wrongs. They are not above God Himself.
Rev. Wright has made some mistakes by Barack Obama's own admission. His mistakes, like his successes, are a part of his ministry.
They are also clearly showing themselves to be too big a part of Barack Obama's campaign. Obama'a overarching arrogance is reflected sharply in this fresh set of remarks. It's looking as if Barack Obama has learned he is the center of the universe. Perhaps he learned it in college; maybe we will never know quite where he learned it.
But a recent Pennsylvania poll is showing Barack Obama trailing Hillary Clinton by twenty points. Even though pundits are hastening to give the backstory for the poll, one has to wonder whether a new dynamic, ironically introduced by Obama himself, is not at work.
Barack Obama may be on the verge of learning that he is not the center of the universe. A lot of people should be relieved if he does. For a long time, it looked as if nothing could be worse than the Bill and Hillary Show.
A first time for everything.