Say goodbye to the Glowbama mystique
Unlike Chris Matthews’ leg, I didn’t tingle upon hearing Barack Obama’s speech yesterday. My syndicated column today addresses his same old, same old talk.
What we call B.S. the MSM calls “bold.” What we call self-serving the NYTimes calls “eloquent.”
Thomas Sowell delivers straight talk: “There was no way that he didn’t know about Jeremiah Wright’s anti-American and racist diatribes from the pulpit.”
Milblogger Herschel Smith takes on Obama and the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps.
There’s a black preacher I’ll never forget, a black preacher who lived racial reconciliation. Read about the Rev. Bennie Newton here.
More about Obama’s poor grandmother from Jim Hoft.
***
Say goodbye to the Glowbama mystique
Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate 2008
Barack Obama—the self-anointed soul-fixing, nation-healing political Messiah—has lost his glow. That is the takeaway from the beleaguered Democrat presidential candidate’s “major” speech in Philadelphia yesterday.
For all of his supposedly unique and transcendent understanding of race in America, Obama’s talk amounted to the same old, same old. The Glowbama mystique has gone the way of the Emperor’s clothes. Instead of accountability, we got excuses. Instead of disavowal of demagoguery, we got whacked with the moral equivalence card. Instead of rejecting the Blame America mantra of left-wing black nationalism, we got more Blame Whitey. Same old, same old.
For two decades, Obama tethered himself to a fire-breathing pastor peddling bitter, Marxist “black liberation theology” in the name of God. Behind the “audacity of hope” was a grievance-mongering preacher animated by the voracity of hate. And understand this: The Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama were not merely passing “associates.” They were mentor and mentee, guru and student, with fates and fortunes intertwined.
For two decades, while using the church to build his Chicago power base and credibility in the black community, Obama turned a deaf ear to Wright’s AIDS conspiracy theories, class warfare rants, anti-Israel, anti-white raves, and “God damn America” diatribes. These weren’t occasional outbursts. They were the bread and butter of the Trinity United Church of Christ. Now, Obama blames “talk show hosts and conservative commentators” for exposing Wright’s race-based rancor. Audacious, indeed.
On Friday, Obama attempted to minimize the extent to which he had been exposed to Wright’s poisonous politicking on the pulpit. “None of these statement were ones that I had heard myself personally in the pews,” he told Major Garrett of Fox News. “The other statements were ones that that I just heard about while we were — when they started being run on FOX and some of the other stations. And so they weren’t things that I was familiar with.”
Yesterday, Obama changed his tune: “I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes.”
The clever Sen. Obama has attempted to erect a firewall of protection from probing questions about which remarks he heard and tolerated and failed to object to while sitting in the pews. Dwelling on what he knew and where and when, he argued yesterday, would be “to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.”
But it is Obama’s pastor (“former” pastor, he is so quick to point out now, though he is a two-decade-long mentor) who holds a warped view of reality. And it is Obama who distorts the truth by likening this Ward Churchill of the United Church of Christ to an avuncular, yet lovable, family member who cannot easily be renounced:
“I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.”
Glad to know something made Obama cringe.
Even as he denied that he was justifying and excusing Wright’s demagoguery, Obama was doing just that by invoking slavery, Jim Crow, segregated schools, violence in the inner city, and yes, denial of access to FHA mortgages, to explain how we get to Wright spewing “God damn America” on Sunday morning.
“These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love,” Obama declared rather stiffly as he stood self-consciously in front of more American flags that he has ever been placed in front of this campaign season.
Well, you can’t pick your grandma, but you can pick your pastor. And Obama picked the wrong one if he aspires to be the president of all America—an America that includes citizens of all colors who cringe at self-serving racial rationalizations masquerading as moral salvation.
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Trackbacks
- Barack’s Speech « The View from Alexandria
- Neocon News » Just when I thought that I was out Obama pulls me back in.
- Barack - Picture Of His Ailing White Racist Grandmother & Grandfather : BigMouthFrog
- Say goodbye to the Glowbama mystique « Thoughts Of A Conservative Christian
- Stuck On Stupid
- BigMouthFrog
- Michelle Malkin on the Obamination « Firearms & Freedom
- Obama’s glib gimmickry « Seeing Red AZ
- The Radio Patriot
- Red_State_Blue
- Blue Grass, Red State
- thinklets
- FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » links for 2008-03-20
- Tel-Chai Nation
- Michelle Malkin » Tuzla and truth deprivation
- Michelle Malkin » Groan: Not another Obama book!
- Slide Show Of Barack’s Family And Aunti Zeituni Onyango | BigMouthFrog
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If you’re going to pretend like you’re smarter than us and make insulting comments, at least spell them correctly.
lgm said:
Where’ve ya been, lgm? Under a troll bridge? I guess you missed all those wonderful sermons describing some of the most useful ideas to ever come from the black community:
1. The federal government invented the HIV/AIDS virus.
2. 9/11 was an inside job and that the US deserved it
3. The US is run by white men.
I could go on but if you’re so enterprising find the links yourself, lgm. I don’t think you’d know a fact if it hit you in the behind. You’re an academic. What’s your excuse?
I think when you’ve been trolling for as long as you have, lgm, you start to get intellectually lazy. You don’t seek to understand jack…. only to rebut any criticism of the “good preacher man” and in a broader context, Obama.
We all know you’re an America hater and that it hasn’t done much for you. You might even be suffering from white guilt (judging by your recent profile pic). I think you’ve been hanging out in the Troll Liberation Front too long.
LGM #92
So you’re saying that when Wright talks about the USA inventing AIDS that it’s not a lie. I guess that would have to mean that you think that too. Otherwise, it would be lie.
Mister P said (#95):
I attribute to myself things I believe. I believe AIDS evolved without US help and that there were no WMDs in Iraq when we invaded. Still, it is widely believed that US scientists created the AIDS virus, and (mostly by diferent people) that there were WMDs.
As for Obama contradicting himself, he said admits that Wright had nutty views in certain areas and says he didn’t hear the “God damn America” sermon. The report on Newsmax that Obama had heard the sermon turned out to be as accurate as Fox News.
Well said. That really is the perfect analogy.
21″You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. –Matt 5:21-22
I’d say that the “pastor” has a bigger problem. Most of Jesus’ anger was directed at the Pharisees for being hypocrites. I doubt God looks favorably upon sinning from the pulpit…
Actually he said he didn’t hear anything like that “while sitting in a pew” of the church. Obama studied Wright and his sermons intently. He had a close relationship with the “Reverend” and in his own words describes Wright as “his mentor, his moral compass, and as the man who had the most profound impact on his life”. For BO to say that he had no idea of what this man stood for and what his agenda was after having such close ties to him for 20 years is insulting to the American people.
Judgment to lead??
This is true.
Why do you come to this site and lie to us lgm? Why do you come here and attempt to change the subject to WMDs in Iraq when we are talking about Wright’s claims that the US created AIDS to kill black people?
You are clearly wasting our time. There are other sites that would welcome you and your views with open arms. Please feel free to take advantage of them.
Here’s a question I’d like to ask both Obummer and Wright regarding “liberation theology” and the black ethics system: if Blacks really want to be “liberated” and free from “white oppression” then why feel the need to do the following:
1. Avail themselves of Affirmative Action
2. Use welfare
3. Use food stamps
4. Live in the public housing otherwise known as low-income housing or the “ghetto”
I’m also a little “confused” as to why Cone or Wright do not favor blacks becoming part of the socioeconomic middle class. In their view, if blacks become “economically competitive” they are uncle Tom sellouts trying to take care of themselves. I also don’t understand how remaining in poverty is “liberating” either.
So, my conclusion based on Jim M.’s digging up of Cone’s liberation theology is the following: blacks who become “economically competitive” are still selling out to white society and thereby not doing anything to advance the cause of black liberation or helping their fellow black man/woman. Those blacks who remain in poverty are still embracing their “liberation” but also not giving into white society’s edicts regarding economic self-sufficiency, success, or making something of one’s self.
Isn’t there a contradiction in this whole excuse-making exercise? I live in a predominantly black neighborhood and I hear/see nothing but blacks killing each other, stealing others’ stuff, fatherless black families with multiple baby daddies. Does Cone or even Wright really believe that whites are responsible for the black community’s lack of personal responsibility?
It’s easy for some blacks to just say… okay I don’t need to better myself, I can have babies and not marry those babies’ daddies, I can live in the projects. It’s harder to actually think for myself, make good choices, think about my future instead of having to worry about what the likes of Cone or Wright or Obummer have to say about “black liberation.”
You are ignoring my comments about Malaria, DDT and the United Nations.
As far as WMDs. If there was a Bush conspiracy, don’t you think he would have planted some WMDs? Don’t you think Iraq used WMDs to kill Kurds, or was that a fabric of our imagination? Don’t you think the suicide bombing that kills scores of innocent people qualify as using WMDs and terrorism? I think you Bush hatred clouds your own judgment.
Thomas:
The man (like Rusty and other members of the Troll Liberation Front) is only interested in one thing: mocking conservatives or those he disagrees with. Unfortunately, if we disagree with lgm or other trolls, then we’re being mean or not embracing their viewpoint.
Lgm will never substantiate his claims. It’s quite intriguing why he even bothers to pay Michelle’s blog a visit. Is he actually interested in the truth or out to prove something to his fellow liberals such as he can take on conservatives and run. In this neck of the woods it’s called a “troll and run.”
emjem, your consistent tendency to make sweeping generalizations about “blacks” and the “black community” reveals quite a bit about you. The constant stereotyping and disparagement is obnoxious.
I’ve been fortunate enough to be exposed to folks of all sorts of ethnic and racial backgrounds in my life (the military and sports providing much diversity and being the great equalizers), and 99% of the “blacks” that I’ve met have been hard working, honest, law abiding, tax paying, patriotic citizens.
BTW, the whole “troll” thing is lame. lgm and Rusty come strong with takes on a regular basis, and do so with humor and a thick skin.
Dakine:
Yet, people like Cone and Wright should be able to make “sweeping generalizations” about their “white oppressors.” Your constant appologist style is grating and disengenuous in the extreme. I don’t “disparage” black people or their community, I criticize their choices and how they blame white society for their own mistakes. I’ll leave said “disparagement” to you, Dakine.
By the way, since I myself am a military spouse and have been exposed to all sorts of different people, I know that not all blacks fall into the “blame whitey” category. Too bad you can’t account for the reason that there are race pimps like Wright, Cone, Jackson, and Sharpton around to tell white society that they’re to blame for the misdeeds and mistakes of the black community.
One more point: lgm and Rusty aren’t here for conversation. Neither are you. You’re hear to mock, to decry what you feel is wrong with conservatives in general. You, lgm, and Rusty do nothing but generalize conservatives like me all the time. Perhaps you need to take your own advice and bark up someone else’s tree.
Stick your troll grudge where the sun don’t shine, honey…
Actually Michelle, it sounds like you have drank to much Republican “talking points” kool-aid. Obama took his pastor’s racism and OWNED it. Unlike weasels like every white Republican who has said something non-offensive, but yet when the race police cried, they apologized profusely and quit. Sorry, cowarding to cries of “I am offended” and quitting are not attributes I want in any of my leaders.
Contrary to popular opinion, Rev. Wrights comments are proven by FACTS to be wrong yet. The war, it will be decades before we really know all the facts (just like every war in the past). Drugs in the inner city… well sorry, it’s hard to deny that their government turned a blind eye while drugs were rampant in the “hood” until their precious white children came strolling into those same “hoods” to buy them. God’s wrath on America? Not for the reason that Rev. Wright says, but if you are a bible believing Christian, God’s wrath is on America (a peak a Romans 1:18-32 will tell you why and in detail). So for all the hypocritical sanctimonious write ups coming out of the media and blog sphere, Obama did something that no one, white, black, conservative, liberal or anything in between has done in decades… he confronted America with the big elephant in the room, that everyone has ignored for decades… and more power to him for it.
Contrary to popular opinion, Rev. Wrights comments are NOT proven by FACTS to be wrong yet. The war, it will be decades before we really know all the facts (just like every war in the past). Drugs in the inner city… well sorry, it’s hard to deny that their government turned a blind eye while drugs were rampant in the “hood” until their precious white children came strolling into those same “hoods” to buy them. God’s wrath on America? Not for the reason that Rev. Wright says, but if you are a bible believing Christian, God’s wrath is on America (a peak a Romans 1:18-32 will tell you why and in detail). So for all the hypocritical sanctimonious write ups coming out of the media and blog sphere, Obama did something that no one, white, black, conservative, liberal or anything in between has done in decades… he confronted America with the big elephant in the room, that everyone has ignored for decades… and more power to him for it.
Stop making excuses for these people who come here to insult us.
BTW…
our government and AIDS… who knows but time will tell the truth of that also, but not far fetched at all…
just ask the BLACK men of the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment who were used as guinea pigs.
Once your eyes are opened to the true sin nature of man, the sin that is capable in everyone… nothing will surprise you.
Renee, not sure I agree with you, but that’s some good, thought provoking stuff.
Thomas, please. Get over yourself.
emjem, sorry but you have no idea what it means to be a true conservative. You’re a wannabe lightweight with little or no depth of thought.
taylork said (#102):
LGM #92
A lie is a deliberate deception. If you say something that you believe to be true but is in fact false, you are not lying. Global warming and evolution deniers are not all liars (though some are). Those are deeply held (I believe incorrect) beliefs.
Believing secret US scientists invented AIDS to destroy black people makes you a nut, not a liar. Please keep your smears straight.
Renee:
Man sins…that’s a given but do we all need a biblical recitation for the reasons why?
What did Obummer confront, pray tell? What? He disavowed his white grandmother at the same time he made excuses for his bigot of a pastor.
As to the Tuskegee experiment, yes I’m aware of that, and back in those days that kind of behavior was excusable. It no longer is.
Since you’re good at making assertions, can you provide any proof that the government ignored drugs in the inner city? I don’t think anyone’s ignored it.
How has race been ignored for decades? Please explain. Really. Without biblical interludes or pretention. I’m not interested.
I think that there are many people who’ve come to terms with race while there are others who are uptight about it. The Native American ancestry on my mother’s side of the family was barely ever discussed while the British side of my father’s family ignored my Irish heritage because it was beneath their dignity to acknowledge.
You’d be really surprised as to people’s views on race and how it can devolve into the extreme and the petty.
Oh, so according to you there is a possibilty that the US did create the AIDS virus.
And I wasn’t aware that the Gov’t was forcing people to buy/sell/use drugs. It’s not some whitey in a suit out on the corner.
he confronted America with the big elephant in the room, that everyone has ignored for decades
Well pick your poison. Either Obama has been going to the church were the pastor was lying to his congregation, or he was going to a church where the pastor is a certifiable nut job. Neither seem to reflect well on his judgement.
Dakine, here’s a thought…. how do you know what a true conservative is? Is it by your definition or mine? I didn’t know that trolls suddenly knew the inner workings of conservatism.
Since you don’t know, how do you presume to tell me the following: You’re a wannabe lightweight with little or no depth of thought. I think not, dear. You really have no idea what you’re talking about and it really is the height of arrogance to even suggest such a thing.
I’m really having trouble believing you had the patience or the fortitude to serve in the military (was it just a stint or was it a career?). That requires putting up with a lot of differing opinions and viewpoints (just ask my husband). I don’t think you have that kind of “tolerance.”
Thanks for telling me who I am. Too bad, as always, you’re off the mark.
Oh, and one more thing: is this a competition between who is the most conservative? I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.
If you want to play that game with me, Dakine, go ahead. I didn’t know you cared.
Dakine:
Since you’re good at putting down other posters like Thomas, perhaps you need to follow your own advice:
GET OVER YOURSELF!
Barack: No soup for you!
You don’t say.
There you have it. Bush didn’t lie about WMD’s because Saddam had the world, his own people, his own generals convinced that he had, despite his lackluster claims that they were all gone *wink.*
So in the future, please don’t repeat the lie that “Bush lied” about WMD’s in Iraq, because now you have been informed.
You’re welcome.
That’s rich! emjem accusing me of not having the tolerance to “put up with differing opinions and viewpoints”. Not only are you a lightweight, but a hypocrite as well…nice.
FYI, father did a 25 year “stint” as a submariner in the USN. Father-in-law did a 27 year “stint” in the USAF. Brother-in-law is serving in Iraq as I type. I did a 5 year “stint” in the 80’s with the USN prior to law school. So what?
Also, just for you, as articulated by the late, great Sen. Goldwater, here are the bedrock principles of conservatism: (i) draw on the PROVEN wisdom of the past; (ii) do not debase the dignity of others; and (iii) maximize freedom consistent with necessary safety and order. Check out “The Conscience of a Conservative” and then get back to me.
LGM: the aids virus would vanish entirely from the human race if we all stopped having sex outside of marriage, actually got to know who we had sex with in the first place, used a little personal restraint (even in Africa), and stopped using drugs.
But even in our supposedly advanced society, we can’t even conquer basic human passions. In fact, the folks on your side of the aisle ENCOURAGE it.
Can the National Troll Liberation front answer a few questions? Number one.. Why does Reverend Wright concentrate his sermons on worldy things and not preach The True Gospel of Christ? Sharpton and Jackson are also ones that I never have preached that either. They call themselves Reverend but they seem so interested in worldy matters and not spiritial ones. Aids, wars, famine, injustice and all caused by sin and the Good Reverend should know that we are all sinners and there is Only one Who can save us from the punishment of sin.
Actually, given your past behavior, Dakine, and your championing of trolls, you have a tendency to mock those you disagree with. You don’t wish to engage me or others, you wish to defame my point of view because it suits you.
You brought your military service up… since you’ve been exposed to “so many different types of people.” I’m trying to get to the validity of your statement. Your family’s service has nothing to do with your personality or lack of understanding. You know… the understanding you seek for people like lgm and Rusty who “bring it.”
I think you need to reread “The Conscience of a Conservative” again. You already violated the second principle, “do not debase the dignity of others.” You call me a hypocrite all you want but when you’ve already broken one of your “golden rules of conservativism” you end up looking like a hypocrite and a schmuck. There’s a bridge I’ve heard where you can hang out under and discuss the topic with lgm if you want.
As to the first principle: “draw on the PROVEN wisdom of the past,” I guess this is why I’m an historian and learned the errors of liberals. I’ve had the opportunity to study the opposition being as I grew up in a college town full of left wing academics. I’ve learned that there are certain things I will never compromise on (such as the 2nd ammendment, a strong military, and freedom from taxation).
As to your third principle, “maximize freedom consistent with necessary safety and order,” I think I’ve fulfilled this by not only being exposed to the military as a military spouse but also having a father serve in the Navy in the 1960’s and a father-in-law and uncle-in-law serve in WWII as bombadiers. I think I’m pretty committed to the safety of our country. If you want to go one step further, losing 2 good college buddies to 9/11 and a friend in Iraq, opened my eyes to the intolerance of others. I’m sure you wouldn’t understand that.
Again, Dakine, you’d rather engage in insults or mock others rather than get the full picture. In your mind, there’s one picture of conservativism that I do not fulfill. I guess being a lawyer gives you “advance knowledge” of a person.
By the way, I’m more of a Reagan Conservative than the libertarian shade of conservativism Goldwater was and my parents (life-long conservatives who’ve always voted Republican)and I (even as a kid) identified with him. Reagan was a mainstay of my youth and even though I didn’t agree with him on everything such as trade and immigration, I took to heart the man behind the conservative message.
Please reevaluate your assumptions… you’re asking me (in more indirect language) to do the same, perhaps you should as well. If you cannot do that, dakine, then how can you call yourself a Goldwater conservative?
I hope you don’t think you are helping Obama with your obvious racism.
emjem, this is a fairly dead thread at this point, but just in case you skim back through it, let me say this. You make some fair points, and I think that was a good faith post. My problem with you since you started posting has been that you have a consistent habit of calling out anybody who remotely disagrees with the general consensus on a particular topic as a “troll” or a member of the “Troll Liberation Front”. I find it unoriginal and kind of childish. You also have a habit of making sweeping generalizations about a certain ethnic group which I find shallow and fairly offensive.
BTW, it’s pretty tough to have a “strong military” and “freedom from taxation” at the same time. Just saying.