This time it is the comments he made to a Philly radio station when asked about the reference he made about his Grandmother in Tuesday's speech about race. The transcribed text of the that comment is as follows:
"The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity...But she is a typical white person. If she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know...there's a reaction that's been bred into her experiences that doesn't go away and it comes out in the wrong way."
There has been a lot of uproar about this statement. It seems to be focused on his comment of "typical white person" that is contained within that statement. Usually, it centers around the fact that if a white person had said "a typical black person", all hell would have broken lose. The assumption is that Jesse and Al would be getting on the first and fastest plane flight so that they could be in-the-face of any white person that would have made a similar comment about Blacks. Well, for me, it isn't those words so much as another set of words that are even more offensive in Obama's statement. For me, it is his comment of "bred into" that that I find even more offensive. "Bred into" implies that racism is a genetic thing. It is like having no choice because it was deemed that way by nature. Is this what Obama really thinks? This might be another insight into his belief system. It certainly is somewhat consistent with the rantings of his Pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Also, embedded in both the word "typical" and the phrase "bred into" is the concept of "totality"; as if, "all" white people are like this from birth. It is painting one race of people with a broad brush of racism. And, we all know how black people would react if a white person had made similar statement.
It just seems like the more Obama talks, the higher he hoists himself up on his own petard. And, those who speak for Obama and try to defend him, ultimately wind up hoisting him up even farther on that petard. That's because, in an effort to defend both Obama and the "words' of his pastor, you get statements from those supporters that Jeremiah Wright and his beliefs are no different for any other Black Pastor or any other Black Church across America. Now, this kind of talk takes the debate beyond Obama/Wright and extends the issue to all Black churches in America. Nice going!
To me, the damage to Obama has been done. His speech of Tuesday just opened more doors than to close the "one door" he needed to close on the Wright issue. Going forward, there is bound to be more questions. There will be a lot more investigations. This is not over by any stretch of the imagination. I really think it was Barack Obama's Waterloo.
One last comment. Barack Obama has yet to really address, I think, a core issue of Wright's anti-American, anti-Jewish, and anti-White comments. He continues to try an skirt around issues by making this whole thing a White against Black, issue. He says nothing about the reverse discrimination exposed in Wright's hate speech. He is simply using a political tactic to divert attention to real problem with Wright.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment