Richard WarnickObama’s Opportunity to Excel
When I was a young Army officer, we had a sarcastic saying to describe a troublesome, unavoidable, and possibly career-suicide assignment: “it’s an opportunity to excel.”
Up to now, Senator Barack Obama’s campaign has been pretty good at dealing with a barrage of hypocritical accusations. Thanks to the right-wing noise machine and their media echo chamber, which is endlessly replaying years-old selectively-edited video clips from sermons by Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Obama is now being tasked with responding to a caricature of his local Christian pastor’s political views.
At least they’ve temporarily stopped calling him a secret Muslim…
It’s an opportunity to excel. Tomorrow, Obama will give a major speech explaining his own views, as opposed to Wright’s. “I am going to be talking about not just Reverend Wright, but the larger issue of race in this campaign,” he said.
Meanwhile Senator John McCain is not being asked whether he agrees with the statements of one of his major supporters, John Hagee. Hagee is one of the highest-paid televangelists, and his views are far more extreme than anything ever said by Wright. Hagee’s explanation for Hurricane Katrina: Divine punishment of New Orleans for “a level of sin that was offensive to God.” His opinion of Catholicism: “a Godless theology of hate.”
Hagee interprets the Bible to predict Russia and the Islamic states will invade Israel and will be destroyed by God. This will cause the anti-Christ, the head of the European Union, to create a confrontation over Israel between China and the West. A final battle between East and West at Armageddon will then precipitate the Second Coming of Christ.
Hagee has said that Iran is a threat to western civilization and that the Iranians will never respond favorably to diplomacy. He supports an American-Israeli preventive military strike against Iran to eliminate its alleged nuclear weapons program.
From what I’ve heard, Reverend Wright advocates peace and justice. Yet his views, not Hagee’s, are described as “controversial.” I hope Obama stands tall and points out the media’s hypocrisy. Why should a candidate have to answer for a political position that’s not his own, based on something someone else said years ago, taken out of context? And why are Democrats constantly asked to do this and not Republicans?
UPDATE: HuffPo has the text of Obama’s speech
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old — is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know — what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
March 17th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
There is NO fucking God, and it pisses me off every time the subject is brought up in politics.
Did you hear that, Mitt and Ken B.??? There is NO fucking God and, particularly speaking, there is NO Mormon God - and it’s all fucking bullshit to state otherwise!!!
March 17th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
I would DIE to know what Hagee thinks or has said about Mormonism. Reverend Wright’s comments are controversial, especially given the ferocity they were delivered with, but they are actually quite reasonable. Hagee is just plain nuts and is going to get us all killed!
The winter soldiers are certainly using their opportunity!
March 17th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
It’s like a battle between whose religious zealot supporters are more kooky or dangerous than the other candidate’s kooky religious zealot supporters. But you are right Richard, there is a different standard for black preachers than there is for white evangelicals. Hagee, Robertson, and the other religious knuckleheads have said things for more controversial than what Wright said. And Mitt never had to answer regarding what the individual whose name graced Mitt’s college degree and disavow Brigham Young because he made blatantly racist remarks.
Like Larry, I too, would be interested to see what Hagee has had to say about Mormonism. Obviously, McCain’s mother doesn’t think much of the Mormon faith.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Isn’t it ironic that Mitt Romney was drummed out of the campaign for belonging to a “radical cult” but if you compare the sedate nature of an LDS sacrament meeting to the raucousness of the “Reverend” Jeremiah Wrights church then you have to ask, “So which one is the radical cult again?”.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
God imbued us with spirits not sedatives.
March 17th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
oh yeah, and the Spirit shop closes early in SLC.
March 17th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Get too much Spirit and it is great opportunity to expel. In projectile fashion.
obama is going to need a Tide of extra strength proportion to wash the wright stains away.
We are not even at the general election, this stuff is hillarys’ salvo, the WMD comes when she is gone, from the far right. Shuck and jive obama, shuck and jive, george of the bungle says…”Look out for that tree”!!
March 18th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Sedateness instead of action is no virtue, when your own children are having their arms and legs blown off “over there” Ken.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:40 am
Then there is plenty of inaction from all “quarters” to go around.
March 19th, 2008 at 6:51 am
I find it curious that people want to know what Hagee thinks of Mormonism. He probably doesn’t care. Outside of Utah, Mormonism isn’t anything. A religion based on a trumped up lie by a con man really doesn’t matter outside of Utah, sorry.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Curious:
Living in a Mormon enclave, as I do, and knowing that our local leaders ALWAY make sure we vote Republican, it’s of high importance we know what McCain’s spiritual adviser really thinks. Really is the operative word here, because he might say he likes Mormonism for political purposes, but I know better.
I’m not religious myself and realize that Mormonism isn’t anywhere near as powerful a force as the devout members would like to believe, (hell, I’m still listed as a member), but I don’t see it as any worse or “trumped up” then any of the other huge denominations. Do you?
March 19th, 2008 at 10:45 am
On Obama’s opportunity to excel, BOY DID HE EVER. Even the craziest right wing shills have bowed before him after the speech.