Back Talk

I find it hard to believe we have arrived at this point almost 150 years after the end of slavery and 44 years after the Civil Rights Act with so many American Blacks bitter and angry. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised; people who make a living off this stuff like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, relentlessly beat the drum of victimhood, turning every issue involving a Black American into a racial one. The leftist media, always there to make any situation worse, encourage the victimhood angle and amplify the blame-the-country syndrome at every opportunity. My first reaction to the hateful anti-White and anti-American rantings of Reverend Jeremiah Wright was that Black America would condemn them; however, a steady stream of Black American listeners have been calling the talk shows denying, rationalizing, and defending the preacher and justifying Obama’s long relationship with him. Except for a few radical Nation of Islam types, the calls invariably start with the usual disclaimer: “I don’t agree with everything Wright says…..but…. Then comes the justification routine of “our people were forcibly brought here as slaves, our rights were denied, we are victims, we need reparations, we deserve affirmative action, racial quotas over whites, and so you should understand and forgive Reverend Wright for saying America is evil and deserved to suffer 9/11.” The point is not whether there is justification for Wright and his followers’ feelings. The issue here is Obama’s inner feelings? How much of the Wright garbage does he agree with? Can he lead all of America? It is way too late for Obama to have much deniability after sitting in his mentor minister’s church listening to this hateful stuff for 20 years. Whether or not this ugly episode casts doubt upon Obama’s feelings toward white America, it casts plenty of doubt upon his judgment.