When my homegirl The Black Snob roasted Rebb'n Wright's appearance at the National Press Club in an AB.com Guest Post the other day, I withheld judgement since I hadn't seen the whole thing in it's entirety. I finally got around to watching the whole spectable today, and all I gotta say is when does this guy's UPN/WB/CW/WhateverIt'sCalledNow show come out? If you haven't watched this coonfest, have a look at what this old ass bama did Monday.
In Part One, he discusses his patriotism, Farrakhan, and his relationship with Obama. Watch this idiot actually throw up the Que sign around the 2:10 mark.
The subsequent parts are just as bad. Peep Part Two.
And mercifully, the final installment, Part Three.
Wright continually upstages the poor young lady asking questions. He puffs out his chest. He pumps his fist. He points at folks in the audience. He preens, he prances, he bojangles. He answers questions like he's Dennis Green[1] or something.
This is the ultimate example of C.Y.I.N. and it's ain't pretty.
After his very reasonable interview with PBS' Bill Moyers, Wright's public actions have taken a nosedive. He gave Barry no excuse not to throw him in the path of a speeding Metrobus.
This was so over the top, part of me wonders if this whole thing wasn't some sorta well-orchestrated act. Wright acted such a damn fool that Obama had to completely distance himself. Was this some sorta plan to present Wright as so far out there that Obama could finally cut the cord without any reasonable person questioning him further? Who knows?
Some say this public denunciation of Wright and Farrakhan could jeopardize Obama's support with black voters? I call that B.S. Seriously, do you think black folks will flock to Hillary Clinton and Old Man McCain in droves? Most black folks know enough about "playing the game" to see what's going on here. He had to cut bait, and he did.
One thing I'm rather sure of is that this is a longterm win for Obama. Folks who weren't gonna vote for him still won't. Folks who would have still will. But by burying the hatchet so publicly, I think he takes this issue off the table come the Fall. Seriously, the Old Man presented himself as the Ultimate Debit To The Black Race. Obama tactfully, yet decisively kicked him to the curb. What more can really be said about this?
Question: Assuming you've watched the above spectacle in it's entirety, what is your impression of Rebb'n Wright now? Is it possible this whole thing was a setup? Does this finally put this issue of guilt by association to rest for once and for all? Would Rebb'n Wright's UPN/WB/CW show be better than Flavor Flav's?
[1] An old black NFL coach, just in case you're not a sports fan.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Coming Soon To UPN/WB/CW: The Rebb'n Wright Comedy Hour!
Tags Popped: Barry 4 Prez, C.Y.I.N., Knee-Grow Please, Negro Nonsense, Web Junk
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Granted Rev. Wright was truly feeling himself in that position, and yes, Wright ultimately placed Obama in a position that was going to require him to be[let's be careful of the word usage here] POLITICALLY EXPEDIENT if he stil wants to have a chance at the presidency.
Truth be told, I think it somewhat proves Wright's point about Obama being a politician and him being a pastor (who clearly makes political statements). That being said, I've already voted for Obama, and I doubt that I will ever regret doing so in the primaries. But, yet again, I feel that we're really glossing over the issues that Rev. Wright brought up in his NAACP speech and the, shall we say, boisterous Nat'l Press Club press conference.
I've already moved to the point where I've said "Damn the presidency! I have more important issues on the table as a black American." I guess I feel that Obama not only just threw Wright under the bus, but threw me and the Black Church under the bus with his speech and I'm a little bitter. That being said, he could have used this platform to bring to light at least SOME of the issues that significant members of black clergy have on a larger scale, and he chose to dismiss them (us) completely--for some white working class voters of Indiana.
Actually, I'm bitter about Barry.
Obama's statements take the issue off the table altogether, for me.
I have one question for those who think Obama is being politically expedient, or saying what he has to say:
Is Barak Obama a damned liar, or is he telling the truth? You have on the one hand somebody (Wright, many others) who says that Obama is just saying the required words - this indicates that he doesn't believe those words, and by extension he's got some sympathy with and belief in the things he's denouncing to the press.
On the other hand, you've got Obama himself, who makes a very clear statement and goes so far as to say that people who claim he's not serious about this denunciation don't know him very well.
So, is he telling the truth? Or is he lying?
That's the only question left to ask, and for my part, I believe Obama, not those who claim he's just saying whatever he's got to say to stay in the game.
I could have sworn that I heard some barking in the background of that first vid.
AvgBro - Rev. Wright has an ego the size of his church. It was more important for him to derail Obama under the guise of defending himself.
Although folks of my PARENTS' generation (I'm 44) claimed they want to see black folks succeed, its on their terms. Jesus died on the cross for the sins of man, not Rev. Wright. Obama owes him nothing.
I guarantee once all this is over, Barack will invite the good reverend into his home for Sunday dinner.
Come on, now. You just don't cut loose from somebody you've known for 20 years. I'm sure Wright and Obama know that it's not personal to either one. It's business & politics.
Rev Wright is no fool. You don't pastor a black church for that many years and come ut stupid. I truly believe that this whole scene is a set up. I did not believe it at first but I listened t a sermon by Wright and the makeup of his sermon mimicked style of prose that I did not know about until I got to college. Rev Wright knows what Obama means to the MAMY MANY descendants of slaves. I do not believe he would dash those hopes...
Anyone who thinks Obama isn't acting out of pure political expediency is someone who would not be convinced not to vote for him, no matter what. So you have to ask yourself - why? Are his policies really so much different than Hillary's? Or are you really making your choice on a racial basis? If you are, consider whether you think it should be ok for someone to choose you, or not choose you, for a job, for a loan, or for anything else, on that basis - and if you're trying to come up with distinctions, you're deluding yourself. Either you believe in racial discrimination, or not.
Uppity Negro you hit it on the head. I voted for Barry too... but come on people stop acting like he ain't a politician he dodges questions and has game just like the rest of them. I think sometimes we put him on too high of a pedestal and that can be dangerous.
My observation is this... Do you really think he just found out his pastor was off the hook? He threw Rev. under the bus to show everyone he wasn't down with him and guess what, that same night the people he wanted to prove it too were on him anyway about why did it take so long. Your damned if you do and damned if you don't so you might as well stick to your guns either way if you ask me. see... Hillary and Bosnia lie, she kept saying she misremembered till they stopped asking.
Why are people surprised Rev. Wright acted this way just now? He was like that and say many of the same things in many soundbites!
@ AB...
didn't you say some time last week that you weren't going to write about politricks for a while? LOL. i mean, i knew you were lying when you said it, but i figured i would just throw that reminder out there.
on another note, that pic at the top of the post...why does he look like he is saying, " I want to suck your blood! MMMMMMMMMWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Crabs in a barrel. As soon as on thinks he's getting out another crab reaches up and snatches his black ass Down. We almost had a free and clear path. In the immortal words of the late ester rolle and definitely the greatest moment in black television:
DAMN!, DAMN!, DAMN!.
Do you remember the pain in her voice?
well, I think crabs in a barrel is a bad analogy on the basis that I'm not convinced that Wright a) intended to derail Obama's campaign nor b) that Obama necessarily views it as Wright trying to single handedly take away the presidency. If any one did a real study of Wright's scholarly work and sermons they'd know that. I just simply think that Wright feels that he's discussing and tyring to bring to light issues that, in his mind, supercede the importance of a presidential campaign.
The content of Rev. Wrights' statements may be lost while viewing some of his antics. He looks crazy sucking his teeth; making pouty faces; rolling his eyes;pretend rain with his fingers; the chicken neck walk and neck rolls distract from his message.
What disappoints me most about this, is that some are using the Rev. Wright fiasco as yet another reason to say that Obama somehow isn't black enough. ~Sigh~ I disagreed with Rev. Wrights whole approach to this situation... Does that mean I've lost my black card? ... I think that Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post had a good take on this whole situation.
Thank you AB for affirming that I am not crazy. ;-)
Nobody seems to be co-signing on my "conspiracy theory". Why?
I've heard this possibility floated on a few conservative radio stations the past couple of days. Maybe I'm not the only one.
I wouldn't put ANYthing past the Clintons.
this is what happens in a "sound bite" society... the breadth and depth of the Rebb'n's will NEVER see the light of day except by those who are diligent enough to seek them out. CNN, Fox, et. al. have made it all to easy to frame and define a person by 20 seconds of banter. and by extension, Obama - by virtue of his 20 year relationship with The Pastor - gets painted by the same broad misinformed brush as Wright.
unfortunately, no matter how close or special Wright may be to Obama, there is no way in HELL that he could continue this campaign without repudiating Wright. as you can see from this Press Club outing, Rev. Wright is a pastor who LOVES (and is "in love") with the words he speaks - this guy has never seen a microphone that he did not like! and that is something that cannot be reconciled by a Presidential candidate who attempting to run in the mainstream and not from the fringes.
lastly, i wouldn't put *ISH* past the Clintonistas! this jeremiah wright thing has had legs for OVER a month now! i'm not unconvinced that Billary is not behind this continued brouhaha over a few isolated, out-of-context comments by a preacher from Chicago who also knows the Clintons!
nah, you're not the only one to float the conspiracy theory, but I guess based on insider information that I definitely trust, this is not anything fueled by the Clintons as far as Wright is concerned. Perhaps some people are orchestrating events that may have some Clinton interest, but as far as Wright's comments, they are pure and true--stuff he's been saying for years.
@plez:
After who knows how much effort digging up links and transcripts, posting clips, talking up hour-long interviews, etc on the part of AB, plus easily obtainable transcripts of the whole press club speech, I think it's hard to argue the "judged on a sound bite" meme here. At least, not with the these readers.
More importantly, I'd have to say at this point that the sound bites are pretty fair in their representation of the man. I wonder, personally, what the 3/4ths of the "black church" that do not subscribe to the liberation theology angle might have to say about him. That's gotten less coverage, sadly... if anyone is perpetuating an attack on the "black Church" it's Rev. Wright, by marginalizing other denominations and beliefs in favor of his fringe liberation theology message at the expense of the pentecostal prosperity movement and the more traditional black southern Baptist congregations. Claiming that he *is* the black church makes it easy for the media to paint a truncated picture of the real religious landscape within the black communities around the country.
@uppity:
Pure, yes. True? I don't think I'd go that far. Hell, I don't even think the Reverend would go that far: he'd want you to take his message on faith, i.e. belief absent the possibility of proof. Truth requires a foundation of facts, and Rev. Wright clearly does not trouble himself with those.
You think he could have Monica Conyers do a cameo?
@ spool32
I guess it really depends on who you pick as your sources to define what is truth. But we all know truth is relative. About the only thing I'm not going ALL the way with Wright on is this issue actually being injected into African American community. However, he gave himself an out: the actual line from the sermon is "the government lied about HIV/AIDS...." being injected into the black community. He didn't say white folk did or, even the government did it--he just the government lied about it.
Which I think is quite true--and again, he had led up to that point in the sermon, and he went somewhere after it--I heard the whole sermon.
Personally, I'd be intersted to hear what those who do subscribe to liberation theology from the Black church have to say about it, as well as those who don't. But the sad thing is that you always end up interviewing some jack-leg preacher who never went to school and saying all they need is the Holy Ghost, who doesn't believe politics should be in the pulpit. I think its all SUPER-complicated.
However to dismiss Wright as a one-man show I know for a fact is to sweep this whole issue under a rug. Even though it won't be in the form of Jeremiah Wright, this issue about the Black church is far from being settled.
I guess in the words of the Church of God in Christ, "you can't join it, you got to be born in it..."
Wright is a buffoon just as much as Michael Eric Dyson is, for all of their vaunted intellects they both come off as educated fools.
The sad part about it is most of YOU dont even see that this is how White America divides and conquers!! They got most of you choosing between Obama and Rev. Wright. Always blowing a smoke screen in black folks face and blinding the hell out of you. Rev. Wright did nothing wrong during the conference. Are none of you outraged at the ignorant questions that were being asked to him?? The man was being the same person that he was before Obama was even thought of and while Obama was attending his church. Roasting Rev. Wright is what they want you BLOGGERS to do..you fell for the damn trick. Being upset at everybody but THEM!! What a shame.
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