Even Barack's supporters have begun to question Rev. Jeremiah Wright's recent decision to create a new round of media maelstrom. Speaking to the National Press Club this morning, here is what the Reverend had to say:
The headline reads on RCP: "Wright Says Obama Only Criticized Him to Get Elected"
Over a month ago, I wrote my reactions to Sen. Barack Obama's now-famous "Race Speech". In this diary, I said that I had "conflicted feelings" about the speech, recognizing much good in it, but also recognizing this:
While I appreciate so much Sen. Obama's articulation of the challenges and work before us, I can also see the speech for what it is: A finely crafted political device, to be sure.
And I conclude my thoughts on this note:
It strikes me that, some weeks ago, Sen. Obama's campaign stood much to gain by fomenting racial tensions, which emerged as a wedge issue, from South Carolina to Mississippi. Sen. Obama has had no apparent objection to this. Indeed his campaign has actively encouraged it, doing precisely what he condemns in his speech: exploiting anger "to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own shortcomings."Now that these myopic tactics have caused him duress, now that the "racial lens" has been re-focused on him, he sees expediency in unity.
Putting it in his terms, the fierce urgency of now doesn't seem all that urgent to Sen. Obama. Rather, we are left with the image of a shrewd, opportunistic politician, gifted, but entrenched in those same politics of old that supporters would shed like a coat on a hot summer day. Even while delivering his great reconciliatory speech, he ultimately plays that same gambit: to doubt him is to halt progress. To question him is to confess an adherence to a racist stalemate of the past.
Listening to Rev. Wright's answer today, it would seem that he agrees with my assessment. He was given an opportunity to clarify remarks made during a recent interview with Bill Moyers. And clarify, he did. While there is a part of me that admires Wright's brand of honesty, this cannot be good news for the folks at Obama's campaign. I do have one suggestion for David Axelrod: that "literally willing to do anything to win the nomination" personal attack you have promoted so heavily? It just got neutered by your client's mentor.
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