Illinois Senator Barack Obama is fast gaining on Hillary Clinton as a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for president. In fact, the results from the "money primary"—the contest among candidates to see how much money they can raise from their donors, a key indication of the strength of their organizations—show that Obama just matched Clinton in the first quarter of this year.
Given that her fund-raising network is the only advantage Hillary Clinton had to bring to her candidacy—since she has neither a consistent ideology nor her husband's smarmy, used-car-salesman charm—this was a disastrous result for her, and even at this early date, I would put my money on Obama as the next Democratic candidate for president.
An enormous part of Obama's appeal is the fact that he is a black man who seems to be the exact opposite of the recent black political leadership offered by the left: the Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton type of "race hustler." Obama, by contrast, speaks the standard American English of a well-educated man—rather than sing-songy ethnic slang—and he seems like such a reasonable, respectable young man.
You cannot imagine what a relief this is to millions of people on the American left and center-left. For years, they have wanted to be able to vote for a black man for president, as a way of demonstrating their anti-racism bone fides, but they have not been able to bring themselves to vote for Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, the race-baiting con men who have been offered as candidates.
These same people will ecstatically cast their votes for Barack Obama.
In doing so, it turns out that they will be voting for Al Sharpton, after all. The revealing report linked to below reveals Obama's secret soul. Beneath the respectable cover is a man who fell under the influence of a rabble-rousing "Afrocentric" preacher.
Obama's connection to the Reverend Wright, as described in the New York Times report below, is more than just an incidental association. Obama resisted religious conversion for years, until he was moved by one of Rev. Wright's sermons, and he has subsequently maintained a close, decades-long friendship—with a man who promotes conspiracy theories about white racism, blames September 11 on America's foreign policy, has made pilgrimages to Cuba and Lybia, and who rails against the "selfish individualism" of the prosperous black middle class.
This is who Barack Obama really is, beneath the respectable cover, in his hidden soul. Some people are perhaps beginning to sense this fact, which may be why a new poll shows that voters say they favor Democrats in the abstract, but when they are asked about specific candidates, they favor the Republicans.
Note also in this report the appearance of Jim Wallis, a leading figure of the religious left, as well as references to Obama's belief in "the centrality of faith in public life." If you don't like the religious right—boy, are you going to hate the religious left, which represents a synthesis of every bad trend in America's current political culture.
"A Candidate, His Minister, and the Search for Faith," Jodi Kantor, New York Times, April 30 Members of Trinity United Church of Christ squeezed into a downtown hotel ballroom in early March to celebrate the long service of their pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. One congregant stood out amid the flowers and finery: Senator Barack Obama, there to honor the man who led him from skeptic to self-described Christian.
Twenty years ago at Trinity, Mr. Obama…had sampled various faiths but adopted none until he met Mr. Wright, a dynamic pastor who preached Afrocentric theology, dabbled in radical politics, and delivered music-and-profanity-spiked sermons….
Mr. Wright's assertions of widespread white racism and his scorching remarks about American government have drawn criticism, and prompted the senator to cancel his delivery of the invocation when he formally announced his candidacy in February….
It is hard to imagine, though, how Mr. Obama can truly distance himself from Mr. Wright. The Christianity that Mr. Obama adopted at Trinity has infused not only his life, but also his campaign. He began his presidential announcement with the phrase "Giving all praise and honor to God," a salutation common in the black church. He titled his second book, "The Audacity of Hope," after one of Mr. Wright's sermons, and often talks about biblical underdogs, the mutual interests of religious and secular America, and the centrality of faith in public life….
Mr. Obama was entranced by Mr. Wright, whose sermons fused analysis of the Bible with outrage at what he saw as the racism of everything from daily life in Chicago to American foreign policy…. [I]n 1984, he traveled to Cuba to teach Christians about the value of nonviolent protest and to Libya to visit Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, along with the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan….
Mr. Wright preached black liberation theology, which interprets the Bible as the story of the struggles of black people, who by virtue of their oppression are better able to understand Scripture than those who have suffered less….
But he developed a tone very different from his pastor's. In contrast with Mr. Wright—the kind of speaker who could make a grocery list sound like a jeremiad—Mr. Obama speaks with cool intellect and on-the-one-hand reasoning. He tends to emphasize the reasonableness of all people; Mr. Wright rallies his parishioners against oppressors.
While Mr. Obama stated his opposition to the Iraq war in conventional terms, Mr. Wright issued a "War on Iraq IQ Test," with questions like, "Which country do you think poses the greatest threat to global peace: Iraq or the US?"
In the 16 years since Mr. Obama returned to Chicago from Harvard, Mr. Wright has presided over his wedding ceremony, baptized his two daughters, and dedicated his house, while Mr. Obama has often spoken at Trinity's panels and debates. Though the Obamas drop in on other congregations, they treat Trinity as their spiritual home, attending services frequently….
To the many members who, like the Obamas, are the first generation in their families to achieve financial success, the church warns against "middleclassness," its term for selfish individualism….
On the Sunday after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Mr. Wright said the attacks were a consequence of violent American policies. Four years later he wrote that the attacks had proved that "people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just 'disappeared' as the Great White West went on its merry way of ignoring Black concerns."
The Best News Stories of May 2, 2007 by Winston Smith
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