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God forbid that I should ever have to stand up and “clearly and unequivocally”denounce everyone I’ve ever been close to who has expressed views that are less than politically correct.
Half the extended family would have to go. And a whole lot of friends, coworkers and more than a few boyfriends, too.
I’m not exaggerating. It would be one heck of a housecleaning.
So I sympathize with Barack Obama, and the gyrations he is doing to keep his candidacy alive.
Honestly, who among us doesn’t have a friend or family member who espouses some twisted conspiracy theory about the United States, or about its enemies out there in the world? Or about supposed domestic traitors who belong to another party, or another race?
Or at least I hope, dear reader, that your life isn’t so sterile, your friends so in-step with your own views, as to completely shield you from some fiery dialogue.
Granted, Obama’s association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is long-standing and intimate. It is not unfair to expect the candidate to clarify his beliefs in relation to some of Wright’s. Clearly, he has done this in recent days.
Also granted, the utterances I’m referring to in my circle of family and friends have not been blared from a pulpit, broadcast repeatedly on cable TV. But a few of the things I’ve heard might curl your ears — some for their negativity toward the U.S. and its policies, others for flat out, bone-headed prejudice. I could cite tirades about white people, blacks, Latinos, the low income, the high income; nobody has been spared.
I’m grateful I’ve been privy to some of the more outlandish things I’ve heard. Grateful that people of many races have felt safe enough to unleash what they knew was sensitive in front of me. Grateful to have the sense to let some of it go as thoughtless venting. And to challenge other comments into what became tense but fruitful conversations.
So has the Wright episode derailed Obama’s bid for the White House? It ought to have the exact opposite effect. I would say it demonstrates why a candidate like Obama is just what the country needs right now.
I suspect Obama clearly understands why Wright speaks as he does. That doesn’t mean he agrees with the tirades. But he is familiar with them. Go to several black churches, especially those servicing low-income communities, and you’ll likely hear some similar rants.
But here’s the rub: Obama continues to be mired in this controversy largely because he is a minority candidate. He’s being asked to stand up and explain Wright, to stand up and explain this aspect of black America. As if this one candidate, half black actually, can possibly do such a thing.
It is a minority person’s burden.
No one is pressing Sen. John McCain to explain the flagrant comments of his supporter, the Rev. John Hagee, who has called Catholicism “a Godless theology of hate.”
Why not? Simple numbers. The majority of the nation is white people. So often, their perspective is the accepted default; everything else takes explaining. Minorities are often expected to “represent” their people.
But Obama is a different sort of candidate. He’s not lying when he states: “I have spent my entire adult life trying to bridge the gap between different kinds of people. That’s in my DNA, trying to promote mutual understanding. That’s who I am. That’s what I believe.”
The thing is, for Obama to keep being that bridge, he has to continue sitting in the room to hear the Rev. Wrights of the nation, to hear the ignorant things people of all races and class levels say, including the valid points they attempt to make using clumsy language.
By virtue of his background as being half-white/half-black, reared partly outside of the country, raised by a low-income single mother, but drawn into upper social classes by education — Obama has a wealth of experience that reflects the different portions of the America he seeks to lead.
That is the very type of candidate I want elected.
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