As you might recall, back in September of 1998 Bill Clinton was battling for his political life as the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the Ken Starr investigation threatened to derail his presidency. In his greatest moment of crisis, Clinton surrounded himself with his core African-American constituency even bringing in the Reverend Jesse Jackson for one-on-one "counseling" sessions (ironically Jackson would later admit to having an affair and fathering a child out of wedlock). Many analysts believe this strategy helped to stave off political disaster for Clinton as the country's African-American community rallied strongly behind him.
What this photo demonstrates is that mainstream Democrats have been kissing up to black activist preachers like Jeremiah Wright for decades with scarcely a consideration for the content of their sermons or the sometimes extreme and divisive nature of their rhetoric. It's simply a fact of life in the Democratic Party that you cannot possibly alienate these people and expect to be successful. It's a price you have to pay.
Especially for Barack Obama, given that he is half-black, there's no way he could realistically disassocate himself from the cadre of black activist religious figures like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Jermiah Wright and others without committing political suicide. They come with the territory. At the same time, I think it's abundantly clear that politicians like Obama and Bill Clinton can rub shoulders with these guys without supporting everything they say.
In many ways, Obama himself represents the antithesis of the kind of strident rhetoric we have heard in the past from people like Sharpton and Jackson. Obama is black, but he's not angry about it. He's well aware of the legacy of discrimination that his predecessors fought against, but he's not out to exact revenge for it. We can only hope that the black community starts to produce more leaders like Obama and fewer like Wright so we can finally move beyond the politics of racial polarization that seeks to divide us from one another for political gain.
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Filed under:
2008 Presidential Race
Tags: Barack Obama, Clinton meets Jeremiah Wright, Jeremiah Wright
Comments (6)
Obviously as a politician y... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Baggi | March 21, 2008 2:19 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Obviously as a politician you "rub shoulders" with lot's of folks and that does not at all endorse anything that they've said. You may not even be aware of a lot of the stuff that they've spewed forth from their mouths. So yeah, you're absolutely right, you can "rub shoulders" with these folks and not be endorsing them.
Attend their Church for 20 years, on the other hand.....
1. Posted by Baggi | March 21, 2008 2:19 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on March 21, 2008 14:19
2. Posted by Jim Addison | March 21, 2008 3:34 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Well, no wonder the Obama camp was pushing this picture on the press - a meeting of two minutes and a thank you note surely equal 20 years of listening to the guy prattle on about the evils of America and the white devils who run it . . .
Um, wait - no, they don't. But it is a sign of the utter desperation of the Obamaniacs as they circle the drain.
2. Posted by Jim Addison | March 21, 2008 3:34 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on March 21, 2008 15:34
3. Posted by mantis | March 21, 2008 3:43 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I don't think anyone's circling the drain just yet, but this picture doesn't really mean anything.
3. Posted by mantis | March 21, 2008 3:43 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 21, 2008 15:43
4. Posted by Larkin![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://wizbangpolitics.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| March 21, 2008 4:00 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Circling the drain? Yes, but Clinton not Obama:
4. Posted by Larkin![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://wizbangpolitics.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| March 21, 2008 4:00 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 21, 2008 16:00
5. Posted by Jim Addison | March 21, 2008 6:50 PM | Score: 1 (3 votes cast)
Wow, that sounds like a threat!
Hordes of angry Obama supporters burning down Denver . . . chanting "No justice, no peace!" all the while . . .
While Jim and Mike are "analyzing" the race, they throw in things like "Obama is almost certain to win NC," when the last poll I saw had it a dead heat (down from a double-digit Obama lead).
Frankly, this is big trouble for Democrats. They've spent decades exploiting black support, and now the chickens of entitlement have come home to roost. Obama is an all but certain loser in the fall. Even as the clear frontrunner, he only managed 24% of white DEMOCRATIC voters in Mississippi, less than a third in Ohio, and PA is likely to be the same story.
But try telling that to the Jew-hating, white-hating, America-hating supporters threatening to riot . . .
5. Posted by Jim Addison | March 21, 2008 6:50 PM |
Score: 1 (3 votes cast)
Posted on March 21, 2008 18:50
6. Posted by Carnival of Politics | March 23, 2008 10:15 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
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6. Posted by Carnival of Politics | March 23, 2008 10:15 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 23, 2008 22:15