Obama's Chickens Come Home To Roost

by Robert Tracinski - April 30th, 2008 - Real Clear Politics

To the National Press Club, Wright reiterated his claim that AIDS was created by the United States government as a racist plot to kill blacks; he explained that Obama's "distancing" himself from Wright was only a political calculation "based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls"; and he also repeated his praise for Louis Farrakhan--the anti-Semitic, quasi-fascist, dictator-loving leader of the Nation of Islam--as "one of the most important voices in the 20th and 21st century." This part of his message was reinforced by the entourage he brought with him to the event. The Washington Post explains that the audience included Marion Barry--the crack-smoking former mayor of Washington, DC--Malik Zulu Shabazz of the New Black Panther Party, and Jamil Muhammad of the Nation of Islam. And adds: "a member of the head table, American Urban Radio's April Ryan, confirmed that Wright's security was provided by bodyguards from Farrakhan's Nation of Islam."

All of this is the polar opposite of the image Obama has projected to the world--except in one respect. Wright's main defense against criticism of his views was taken directly from Obama's March 18 speech on the subject of race in America. In this celebrated speech, Obama tried to make the Reverend Wright's views seem reasonable, to put him into an excusable "context"--and in doing so, he [Obama] is the one who unleashed Wright.

I am distressed at the direction this provocation seems to be taking. In trying to keep this socialist and pacifist amateur from becoming President, we are letting his naive embrace of the most racist elements of the black community tar the black community with an image that will hurt race relations for years. There are a huge number of black Americans who have resisted this element of their community and who are fighting for the American dream. How do we uphold the dream of Martin Luther King and continue to treat them as individuals when it is so clear that a large number in the black community are harboring feelings of hate for all whites? To date, no moderate blacks have walked away from the dream that Obama might be President and denounced his duplicity. He is still getting 90% support.

Are there really that few in the black community who understand the damage this is doing to their chances for King's dream to become reality? This is not good for America. This is unleashing the hate mongers on both sides.