From Other Sites on the Line: 14 Mar 08

Barack Obama Leaves His Courage at the Church Door

by Shane Borgess. Cross posted from Political Vindication
http://politicalvindication.com/?p=1877


Barack Obama is not a courageous man. I know some will say that courage comes in many forms, and they’d be right, but the latest example of his friendship with the racist preacher Jeremiah Wright, Jr. ought to give us pause. It seems that Obama’s ’sister Souljah’ moment passed twenty years ago, and now his “old Uncle” defines Obama simply by the fact that the Illinois senator never was willing to defy him the first time he realized the preacher mimicked demons rather than angels.

By now we’ve all heard what the pastor has to say about America and Americans. Jeremiah Wright Jr. is a black nationalist who sees no reason to believe in a future where we all learn to live with each other. Instead all relationships are powerplays, all social problems are white conspiracies and all failure is the work of the hidden hand of white machination. If you’ve spent anytime talking to black nationalists you’ll know what it’s like to stew in a cloud of intellectual flatulence. It’s born of hatred and ignorance and the self fulfilling perspective of victimization. It certainly isn’t a philosophy to build any kind of future from because it embraces segregation and eschews personal responsibility. Movements like this are dependent upon wealthy, healthy countries to feed it. Jeremiah Wright is a bloated parasite feeding on the body he claims is starving him. Every decent person reflexively dismisses the preacher and those that celebrate him.

So why has Obama not done so? His supporters talk incessantly about his courage and his character, about his ability to bring change and a new day to a bitter and old America. But what in his history gives anyone reason to hope? At the very least we want our leaders to be courageous. Where has Obama been courageous? It takes simple courage to cross the political aisle and come to understand your ideological opponents, and even more courage to probe your own political beliefs for clarity, but anyone who has read his book ‘Audacity of Hope’ (a title Obama says was inspired by Jeremiah Wright,Jr. ) can attest that Obama is a proud liberal who sees dark motivations driving Republicans. Barack has no history of uniting parties or politicians, and judging from the company he keeps there’s no reason to expect anything different.

But most poignant is that when Barack found himself standing inside the Trinity United Church of Christ surrounded by hatred and antipathy, he stood fast. There is no inspiring story of Barack Obama standing up during a hateful tirade of Jeremiah Wright, Jr. and walking through the cheering crowd to crack open the double doors at the back of the church, drawing a spear of bright light piercing through the darkness toward the pulpit. For twenty years Obama chose to attend that church and have that man lead his wedding vows and baptize his children. Was there never a time in the hundreds of services Barack attended where he realized that what was being said offended his sensibilities? I’m willing to believe that he’s a decent man and that he recognizes hatred when he hears it, so I can only assume he had not the courage to stand up against the man and the church. Simply put, Barack Obama is either a racist or a coward.

What would a courageous Barack Obama look like? It would be a man who stood as strong against black racism as he does against white racism. What would a leader with courage look like? It would be one who not just stands against demagoguery, but leads the fight against it. So far the senator from Illinois rides a wave of political concoction, and it’s about time someone let the light in.