Now you know why Barack Obama has always been reluctant to talk about race during the campaign in all but the most controlled circumstances.
Race is just way too complex to keep from stirring a wasp’s nest of deep-rooted emotions. That’s not a good thing if you’re trying to keep things together during a political campaign.
Obama almost pulled it off when he first tried to quell the commotion from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright flap a few weeks back with that fabulous Philadelphia speech. What I call “The Speech On Race” was by far the most memorable thing Obama’s done all campaign, and should have been enough to end the Wright issue once and for all.
But feelings run deep — on all sides. And the reverend needed his say. Now in the wake of the reverend’s unrestrained remarks during his unofficial “Redemption Tour and Media Blitz” this week, it appears Wright’s free speech rights may come at a cost to the senator’s aspirations.
In the last week, I’ve heard more than a handful of Asian American supporters begin to shed their idolatry for Obama, enough to publicly doubt whether their candidate’s quest for the presidency is over.
He may be burnt egg roll, but it’s not because America isn’t ready for a black man to be president. If America can cheer for a dunking black man in his underwear (Lebron James), dance to his music (Jay-Z), and live through several seasons of black men playing presidents on 24, the country is ready for a real one in the White House.
What has blown up in Obama’s face isn’t derived from any perceived friction between black and white. Obama’s white support has been very strong throughout the primary season.
No, what Wright has revealed is something else: the very real generational differences within the black community — and minorities, in general — in terms of the approach and tone in identity politics going forward.
Hot Versus Cool, Old School Versus New School
Wright is definitely old-school, where red-hot anger is fueled by suspicion and cynicism of the establishment. It’s all given credibility by a moral certitude in the general belief of justice for all.
As a reverend, Wright is a man with a message from on high. The message is that the voice of the angry underclass will be heard and will overcome any oppression by the elite. Of course, the reverend says it a tad less diplomatically.
Obama, on the other hand, is part of the cool new school, the post-affirmative action world, where minorities are allowed to join the establishment and reform from within. Anger is tempered by a polished, measured rhetoric. That happens when you’ve got a stake in the action.
Asian Americans who’ve been scholarship winners and fast-trackers to elite colleges know what I’m speaking about. Like Obama, we were all young minorities in a hurry. Diamond lane, here we come. Obama’s the super-qualified minority, the smartest guy in the room, accepted to the finest schools, welcomed into the exclusive clubs. Is there any more exclusive club than the U.S. Senate? Hardly a victim, Obama’s a member of a growing new subset of establishment elites — the “Successful Ethnic Suitable for Framing.”
In Obama’s case, his unique position makes him the perfect bridge between old and new. But instead of using Obama to get to the other side, members of both old and new school have tugged hard at him for the hope and ambition he represents — or the guilt he assuages.
It’s turned the guy into a human wishbone. Something’s gotta give. This week, it did.
Wright’s Wrongs and Truths
I don’t like or believe in anything that Wright has said in public about the U.S., AIDS, 9/11 or Louis Farrakhan. I’ve denounced the anti-Semitism of Farrakhan since before the Million Man March.
But, of course, I’ll defend either Wright or Farrakhan’s right to say any crackpot thing they please. As one who is wont to go amok myself, I respect that in them. But we’re not running for office.
Of all the things Wright said this week, his most significant contribution was when he implied that Obama was dealing in a different kind of truth. “He’s a politician; I’m a pastor,” Wright told Bill Moyers. “We have different audiences.” As full as bull as Wright is on some topics, he’s correct on that score.
To see Obama this week re-denounce Wright much more forcefully than he already did in the Philadelphia speech was to see a traditional politician’s act of desperation. Gone was any conciliatory tone toward Wright. Obama’s statements this week were more than a harsh betrayal of the man who presided over his wedding and the baptisms of his kids. It was a severe rejection of the hot old style, as well as a put-down of his black church community. It was Obama’s redefining himself — as separate and apart from the traditional black community and other minorities, still a significant base of the Democratic Party.
So where does that leave the elite Obama? Increasingly less likely as our representative in the White House.
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