Foxfyre wrote:
Then you haven't read my take on it. I don't see it as a matter of fear at all. I see it as a matter of what one aesthetically wants in a President.
I think a lot of Americans don't want a BLACK president who sees America as Jeremiah Wright seems to see it and who apparently condoned that for more than 20 years. They don't want an angry black man for President.
I think that is accurate. However, we must also recognize that the Wright issue itself has been distorted and overplayed by partisan politicians and a media always eager to jump on a "good story".
Wright appears to be a serious man who probably reflects the attitudes of a substantial fraction of our Black population. Though I don't pretend to fully understand his ideas and his motivation for them, I doubt seriously that he is a revolutionary, bent on the destruction of our system and way of life. There really is enough of a gulf between the life experiences of Blacks & Whites in this country to make it difficult for either group to fully understand the perspective of the other. I also believe that gulf is disappearing fast enough so that there are real generational gaps among both Blacks and Whites in their perceptions of these issues. It is noteworthy that Obama and Wright are of decidedly different generations and backgrounds. It isn't hard for me to believe that Obama might have valued his experience at the Trinity church, and, at the same time, discounted some of the perceptions of older leaders in it, including Wright. In fact, Obama has already said as much himself.
I come from a background of first generation Irish immigrants, intensely Catholic in their religion and world view and preoccupied with old injustices. There too was found a generational effect with significant differences between the perceptions and life expectations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters. I can recall many things said among my elders that, taken out of context and broadcast loudly, would appear decidedly anti American, even revolutionary to the WASP society that we despised so much (and imitated so assiduously). I don't think it ever amounted to a danger and subsequent events have absolutely confirmed the wonderfulness of the Irish and everything about them. :wink:
These aren't the only such stories. and there is something central to the human condition about them. I believe that, seen in this context, the Obama - Wright matter is easily understood, and not at all representative of anything dangerous to our system of governance, values or traditions.
Foxfyre wrote:
I think a lot of Americans want a president who loves his country, sees it as basically good, and intends to build from that point of view to make it better. I think very few Americans have any problem with that President being a black man.
I think Obama has yet to convince some folks which one of these he actually is.
I don't see anything in Obama, or the Wright story, that violates any of these assumed attributes. Seeing America as "basically good" doesn't require rose colored glasses. All of our elections are about improving things and correcting issues that have gone wrong. The habit of finding such defects in political opponents has a long association with the worst forms of demagoguery in our politics.
