Posted on 04/29/2008 3:16:59 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
THE JEREMIAH WRIGHT IMBROGLIO PROBABLY would have thrown even the most capable political movement for a loop. But the left's reaction to the still continuing crisis has drifted into high comedy. With one full-throated political primal scream, Obama defenders will insist that Reverend Wright doesn't matter, and suggest that Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos should be drummed out of the punditocracy for wasting precious debate time on such a frivolous distraction. Yet with the next breath, Obama supporters will champion Jeremiah Wright, noting his supreme form of patriotism (as David Gergen did) or comparing him to Frederick Douglas or Martin Luther King as numerous prominent bloggers have.
Obviously lost in the emotion of the political moment, the people making the latter case don't see that they're contradicting their earlier stance that Reverend Wright doesn't matter. By defending him, they implicitly concede that he matters. By defending him in such an over-the-top manner, they suggest that Obama should be embracing his connection with this angrily verbose hero among us rather than seeking distance from him.
Of course, even at the farthest reaches of the left, the denizens probably understand that Reverend Wright's rhetoric is a political loser. If a crude political calculus is too vulgar an exercise for the Obama supporting masses, there's also the fact that Wright's rhetoric is unspeakably ugly. So, it's worth asking, why do so many on the left feel the need to defend Wright when the proper political move would be to dismiss him as irrelevant and the proper moral move would be to decry his offensive comments?
In my ongoing effort to help WEEKLY STANDARD readers better understand the modern left, I'll offer a few theories:
1. THE FIGHTING NETROOTS! -- I bore witness when the Netroots became an influential political force. One of their distinguishing characteristics is to greet every challenge from the right as if it is of Biblical significance. Thus, the rather small potatoes issue of whether John Edwards should have retained his potty-mouthed bloggers became a virtual World War III for the progressive blogging community. It's important to remember that the Netroots came into being as an opposition movement. Their founding charter basically demanded that they oppose everything the right did, said, or thought.
Old habits die hard. Because the right will make an issue of Jeremiah Wright, the left feels the need to defend him. This is the kind of reactive politics they often practice. Even though there's nothing to be gained for them in defending Jeremiah Wright, they just can't help themselves.
2. THE KITCHEN SINK TENDENCY -- Over the last few years, the left has thrown everything it can think of at its political foes. Sometimes, their attacks are contradictory, but that seldom slows them down. Think about it--on some days the left dismisses George W. Bush as a moron. The next day, the very same critics may well posit that Bush is a conspiratorial genius, a fellow who effortlessly seized control of the government and now craftily manipulates its levers to benefit his friends at Big Oil, Halliburton, Blackwater, and the Carlyle Group. If Bush's critics have noticed that these lines of argument contradict each other, such awareness hasn't slowed them down.
The kitchen sink strategy is fine if you're blogging or hosting a poorly watched news show on an obscure cable channel. But campaigns need to stay on message, and determining the message has to be a matter of some precision. By trotting out contradictory defenses/explanations for Jeremiah Wright, the left will undermine its own intentions.
3. NOW A MATTER OF SOME SENSITIVITY -- In some quarters of the left, even Reverend Wright's most hysterical pronouncements fail to register shock. Indeed, proclamations such as, "What we are doing is the same thing al Qaeda is doing under a different color flag," almost certainly trigger a chorus of approving "Harrumphs" in faculty lounges across the land. At Hollywood soirees, stars are probably heaving an enormous sigh of relief that someone has finally found the courage to speak truth to power.
Of course, most people in America find Wright's comments repugnant. Obama's efforts to distance himself from Wright and his labeling Wright's comments offensive provide evidence that Wright and his baggage are a political loser. But some on the left like Wright and his baggage. Reverend Wright's moment in the media spotlight has given his fellow believers an occasion to rally around their strange flag.
Many in the Obama campaign would probably prefer a clear strategy on Reverend Wright's comments--disown and disavow. Obama himself broke with his trademark equivocation during his interview with Fox News's Chris Wallace on Sunday and was actually explicit that the issue does matter and made his displeasure over Wright's comments clear. The problem for Obama is that he's the candidate of the left, and prominent parts of the left just can't bear the thought of parting ways with Reverend Wright.
Too funny, the Netrooties raise money, they have little political moxie, and the more they lead people into defending Wright, the farther Average American is repulsed away from the Obamao Campaign.
Now they are in a quandry, they cannot dump Hilde, and they cannot Dump Obamao, one is dodging imaginery sniper fire, the other is taking Fratricidal Fire.
The more they accuse the American People of being racist or sexist, the less chance they have of winning over Mad John...
So, it's worth asking, why do so many on the left feel the need to defend Wright when the proper political move would be to dismiss him as irrelevant and the proper moral move would be to decry his offensive comments?Because they understand that it does matter. Obama himself has made his faith and his church central to his campaign.
The “Rev” Wright is by NO stretch of ANYone’s imagination a Frederick Douglas.
At some point when you find a spare moment or three, you really ought to take a deep breath and brave the fever swamps over at (say) DU, or the HuffPo. The ‘rat denizens therein are hysterically lauding their beloved, race-baiting Wright as some bizarre sort of amalgam between Martin Luther King, Moses and Prince. ;) TOO funny!
“... brave the fever swamps...”
That’s funny!
It's hard to put them in the same book, let alone the same sentence.
Reverend Wright my brutha! I love you!
Listen Up! Angry Black Man Here!
Make no mistake about it, the Rev. Wright "affair" is a vicious assault on Black America
Could Rev Wright hire an attorney and sue for defamation/libel/slander?
Read. Point. Giggle. Be grateful that -- unlike that of the typical DUer -- your fontanel sealed up properly, years ago. ;)
In order to have credibility in what passes for the Liberal Intellectual Elites, one must display one's ability to be open-minded and challenge the assumptions of society at large. The more outrageous the position, the more Intellectual Backflip Bonus Points (IBBPs) one can garner by defending them.
For instance, defending chocolate ice cream gets you no IBBPs at all, since everybody like chocolate ice cream. But saying you like dog poop flavored ice cream, eating it in public, and offering an impassioned argument why dog poop is superior to chocolate in every way gets you beaucoups IBBPs, since your position is clearly nonsense.
Thus going to the house of William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn and kissing their rings is an important step in the process of being accepted by the Liberal Elites, because the vast majority of Americans find these unrepentent terrorist arseholes to be repugnant. By cozying up to them, Barack Obama can demonstrate that he is superior to the clueless rubes who make up 99.9% of the American electorate, and he earns credibility with the Hyde Park/Cambridge/Berkeley set.
It is a similar process with the radicalized segments of the African American community. In order to gain "cred" with this group, Barack Obama has to not only sit still for, but embrace, any racial grievance hobbyhorse that comes down the pike. This problem is exacerbated by the natural tendency toward hyperbole in this community, where the grievances morph from perceived slights to discrimination to intimidation to genocide in less time than it takes to read this sentence. By sitting in the pews and listening while Rev. Wright ranted and raved for twenty years, Obama demonstrated his fealty to subset of the Liberal Elites that are the Radicalized Racial Grievance Community.
The problem, of course, is that it is quite impossible to square the core values of the Liberal Intellectual Elites with Mainstream America. They are, by definition, opposed, because the Liberal Intellectual Elites have adopted positions diametrically opposed to mainstream values in order to gain IBBPs. So when the Liberal Intellectual Elites try to come down from their ivory towers to get the hayseed rubes to actually come out and vote for them, the result is predictable disaster.
They'll welcome you into town with flower petals strewn at your feet and singing choruses of "Hosanna".
You'll be signed up for appearances on shows such as Bill Moyers. You'll be on the covers of Time and Newsweek and maybe even Rolling Stone!
For years I’ve recognized that defeating the left is simply a matter of exposing them, or better yet, getting them to expose themselves (ideologically of course).
Their core beliefs are antithetical to decent people in this country. Their goals are to destroy the values and beliefs that the majority of decent Americans stand for.
And the smart ones seeking power know that they have to keep this under wraps.
However, making them “feel safe” in espousing their viewpoints is the first step. They then flame away, like Obama’s “bitter” comment, and are surprised when everyone doesn’t agree like they did back in the ol’ lefthanded circlejerk.
That was a good post. It’s sort of an “arrested development” among the left, if you will.
I remember being a rebellious teen and post-teen, embracing that which made society in general uncomfortable. I liked to “rock the boat” and felt somehow intellectually superior because I went against the grain of the drooling masses. That is the modern lefty to a T.
Then I grew up. Many on the left never do reach that stage of growing up and accepting reality.
In other words, it’s a bunch of arrogant navel contemplators trying to out-arrogant each other with their own enlightenment.
Proverbs 3:7 Don’t be wise in your own eyes
Our societal “safety net” of supporting every failed idea and behavior has made it possible for people to NOT grow up and be responsible.
By sitting in the pews and listening while Rev. Wright ranted and raved for twenty years, Obama demonstrated his fealty to subset of the Liberal Elites that are the Radicalized Racial Grievance Community.You made me realize something here.
The problem, of course, is that it is quite impossible to square the core values of the Liberal Intellectual Elites with Mainstream America.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.