When Life Hands You Lemons...

When life hands you lemons, get drunk on vodka tonics - that, I infer is the principle guiding Andrew Sullivan, who lauds Obama's press conference:

We also know that this clear repudiation of Wright's toxic, indeed "ridiculous" views on AIDS, 9/11 and permanent immiseration of people of color could not have happened unless Wright had made it necessary.

Now, wait - I certainly and emphatically do NOT "know" that this "clear repudiation" of Wright's views on AIDS "could not have happened unless Wright had made it necessary".  What prevented Obama from specifically noting and denouncing Wright's absurdities in his March Wright speech?  A denunciation of the AIDS conspiracy theory would have fit the rhetorical flow just fine.  [And let's add that, per this 2005 RAND study, belief in the AIDS conspiracy leads to decreased condom use, increased risk of HIV infection, and, we presume, increased loss of life.  This conspiracy belief ought to be denounced at every reasonable opportunity, since silence equals death.  So where was Barack's leadership in his March 2008 speech, when he was well aware of Wright's position?]

Instead, Obama contented himself with denouncing statements that were vaguely described as "not only wrong but divisive".  And he recycled his classic formulation, assuring us that "I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy" without risking the public's ire by detailing just what the controversies were.

But now, in slightly more dire political circumstances, Wright has finally made it possible for Obama to speak the truth about the US government and AIDS.  What a relief.  And what leadership from Obama.

Andrew goes on:

Skeptics may wonder whether Wright actually deliberately did Obama a favor. I doubt it. But a favor it unintentionally is.

This introduces the concept of the "Pyrrhic Favor".

ERRATA:  Noo, my high hope that "Pyrrhic favor" was an original coinage has gone up in smoke.

CAUGHT ON FILM:  Cool photo of Andrew's World.

Comments

[Jim Hu]

Actually, since the 2 websites found by Google are spam sites, I think you still win the coinage.

[Foo Bar]

But now, in slightly more dire political circumstances, Wright has finally made it possible for Obama to speak the truth about the US government and AIDS

Obama on March 21:

“I wasn’t aware of the AIDS conspiracy statement, which I think is completely out of line and off the wall,”

[happyfeet]

"But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS..."

See even today Baracky is a lot more vague than Jeremiah. Jeremiah didn't say the U.S. was somehow involved in AIDS he said the U.S. had deployed AIDS was a deliberate tool of genocide.

I don't think it's being too nuanced to say that what Baracky is doing is *not* throwing down the gauntlet here to challenge Jeremiah's hatey anti-Americanism. He's not exhorting the African American community to reject this loser. He just wants the brother off his train is all.

[happyfeet]

deployed AIDS *as*

[JM Hanes]

Welcome to Andrew's World!

[Topsecretk9]

Pyrrhic victory

is a victory with devastating cost to the victor.

------

I think the Wright thing was a total stunt - the creepy preacher agreed for the greater good, getting Obama elected.

The man retired!

[bgates]

And the next quote from FB's link: “I wasn’t aware of his statements, God damn America. Those statements were not ones that I knew about until the story broke a week and a half ago.”
Apparently not one person in the congregation thought "God damn America" was a noteworthy enough statement from the pulpit to mention to the church member in the Senate in the 5 years between when Wright said it and when ABC wrote about it. Huh.

[DebinNC]

I wonder what Andrew would think of NC Gov. Easley, who appointed now-disbarred Mike Nifong to his post, today endorsing a beaming Hillary with these words of praise:

"But this lady right here makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy."

[sylvia]

Who else ran for the Dem nomination? I can't even remember now. Wasn't there anyone else before who was better than these two? The reason this is going on so long is that it is apparent that the Dem voters don't like either one of them!

[JM Hanes]

TM:

This piece by John Nichols over at the Nation is a real must read. Wright is not just "very much within the mainstream of American religious and political discourse," he's the very reincarnation of Thomas Jefferson! I'd say you just can't make this stuff up, but apparently you can.

[sylvia]

I also think the latest Wright interviews were staged for Obama's benefit. Wright came out saying things about Obama like "I'm coming after him" to give Obama an excuse to distance himself from Wright. Otherwise, Obama would just look disloyal.

[bgates]

JMH - you mean the Nation is calling Wright a pedophile?

[PaulL]

Notice how Obama is trying to trick us by saying Wright is not the same man he met 20 years ago. That sounds much better for Obama than to say Wright is not the same man he has known for 20 years.

[Neo]

Isn't it just a gift from the Gods that the Rev. Wright seemed to give Obama this great seconds chance to have that conversation on race.

What BS !!

Frankly, the whole thing felt fishy from the beginning. Making it worse was the effort to blame Clinton for setting up the Nation Press Club affair where Wright could oh so well re-self destruct. then the mystery pollster asking about Wright/Obama. But, of course, it would be topped off by Obama's attempt at a Sister Soulja Moment. And followed by the swooning MSM in a repeat of the Philadelphia speech.

Only a political novice would ever believe that this was a coincidence. Even Karl Rove isn't this obvious. This is ham-handed poltical manipulation if I ever saw it.

The whole thing was just too easy that it stinks to high heaven.

And, of course, it still doesn't explain why Obama sat in Trinity UCC for 20 years ?

[PiledhighDeep]

This Wright teapot storm is great for identifying blogs covering the issues that matter. Imagine coming to a blog for the first time, and seeing nothing but Wright posts with a fatty fitness post. I'm glad someone is looking out so they don't chain up whitey.

[megapotamus]

Ah, I see the memo informing our Obamoid superiors that "this is the moronic concern of inbred hicks and klansmen" was no longer an operative response did not reach all corners. NEWSFLASH: That crap was tried (remeber Bittergate?) and did not work. It might have if Wright had taken an Antarctic cruise but, no dice. So keep on claiming Wright is irrelevant. He will not cooperate and even if he did, Barry's Bench is deep with radical, anti-American and racist freaks. If Wright is dealt with tactically, there is Ayers/Dohrn. There is Cone, Wright's mentor and Liberation Theologist par excellence. If Marxism and dance bombings bother ye not, there is the quite conventional Rezko scandal. Obammy is a moveable feast. He is a liar, a commie, a racist and above all, a fraud. Deal.

[Curly Smith]

"This is ham-handed political manipulation if I ever saw it."

Perhaps Neo, but aren't you forgetting Hanlon's razor which reads "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity"? We only believe any political manipulation ever exists because we're constantly told how brilliant our politicians are. Have you actually seen any indication of brilliance?

Rove's greatest feats of political manipulation were staying out of the opponents way as they destroyed themselves. There is nothing coming out now about Obama that couldn't have been known if the MSM were inquisitive about their candidate. The media gave him a free pass because (a) he's black, (b) he's a Liberal Democrat, and (c) he's a black Liberal Democrat. The MSM won't ever admit to not doing their job, they'll claim it's political manipulation or Republican race-baiting, but as most of us know if you don't do your job correctly events will frequently come back to bite you.

Rev. Wright isn't just taking a bite out of Obama, he's taking a big chunk out of the MSM and, in particular, MSNBC. It's down-Wright Hillary-ous!

[bgates]

In case you're having trouble remembering the Issues That Matter, last time they were
1) who has had active duty military service?
...and I think that was it, actually. Would you like that to be the focus of this campaign? You know who wins that contest? The white guy - who spent much of that time chained up.

[bio mom]

There are only 2 choices about Obama after that press conference: Either he is a naive, gullible young lad who cluelessly did not realize over a 20 year span of time what his pastor and mentor was all about (therefore making him unacceptable to be Commander in Chief of the country) OR he is just a political hack from Chicago who is willing to do whatever he needs to do to win, just like most politicians (negating the entire message of his campaign). Either way, its a loser for him, not withstanding the nonsense I heard on MSNBC last night.

[clarice]

Don't feel bad,TM. Mr. Garfinckle taught us in his New Method Hebrew School that there is nothing new under the sun.
I bet the Greeks thought of a pyrrhic favor, before any blogger did.

[MikeS]

Making lemonade may be something the next President should think about.

With Obama's track record healing the racial divide in this country and unifying the Democratic Party and the 'Black Church', the next President should consider sending Barack undercover to 'unify' the Islamic Jihadi Movement.

[Chris]

DebNC,
I thought Nifong was elected. Am I wrong? Or was there an appointed position prior to DA?

[Danube of Thought]

“I wasn’t aware of the AIDS conspiracy statement, which I think is completely out of line and off the wall,”

Obama is almost certainly lying here. The AIDS conspiracy was "Fact Number 8" of Wright's "Ten Facts About America" speech, which was discussed in, among other places, the February, 2007 Rolling Stone article which Obama is known to have read.

What Obama heard and when he heard it is going to be a very interesting game in the coming days and weeks. And of course Reverend Wright gets to play if he wants to.

[Danube of Thought]

"This Wright teapot storm is great for identifying blogs covering the issues that matter."

Among those who believe the Wright Stuff is an issue that matters are the New York Times, the Washington Post, Real Clear Politics, Andrew Sullivan, CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

[capitano]

He's not exhorting the African American community to reject this loser. He just wants the brother off his train is all.

He wants the press off his back -- now it's old news.

I also agree with Sylvia -- Wright's over-the-top National Press Club Q&A was a setup -- scripted or not it was not a coincidence.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I'd say you just can't make this stuff up, but apparently you can.

That would seem to be the motto for the whole election.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I thought Nifong was elected. Am I wrong? Or was there an appointed position prior to DA?

Chris, Nifong was appointed to be the DA by Easley to fill a vacancy when the then-DA was made a judge. Then he was elected in the throws of the lacrosse debacle.

[kim]

When you say 'throws' do you mean 'tosses', 'hurls', or 'throes'. I lean to the nauseated side.
=======================

[Cecil Turner]

Obama is almost certainly lying here. The AIDS conspiracy was "Fact Number 8" of Wright's "Ten Facts About America" speech . . .

Beat me to it. Besides, the underlying concept (similar to the misinformation on the Tuskegee experiment) is a basic tenet of Black Liberation Theology and the Black Value System which forms the basis for TUCC. The idea that Obama can get baptized into this particular congregation without even reading the basic literature is more than a little hard to swallow.

The whole thing was just too easy that it stinks to high heaven.

I'm unconvinced, as of yet. You'd think just keeping him out of the spotlight would drive the air out of this story fastest . . . and Rev Wright's media tour looked like a Rovian (or Clintonian) plot. But I suppose it works, in a way. Time should tell, though . . . and rather quickly. If it's a put-up job, Wright should slink quietly away. If not, he oughta be incensed (and supply angry counterpoints to B_O's claims of ignorance).

[PiledhighDeep]

"Among those who believe the Wright Stuff is an issue that matters are the New York Times, the Washington Post, Real Clear Politics, Andrew Sullivan, CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune."

so the idiocy is widespread? Oh, well that settles that. I suppose the presidency should be about the political correctness of their pastor, not about all those scary complex problems we face. Good F'ng Grief.

[ben]

I wish TM and other non-left pundits would ignore Sullivan and let him rot in ostracism...anybody calling himself a conservative that supported Kerry AND Obama is too intellectually dishonest to merit any references.

[boris]

A Republican politician is like the family member trying to talk you into buying the used car they want to drive.

A Democrat politician is like the used car salesman tryng to you into buying the used car that will make him the most money.

Most succesful Democrat politicians have learned to be discrete about their beliefs and agendas when running for office. Repunlican politicians tend to be more open about theirs.

Obama made the mistake of running like a Republican too open about things that Democrats generally hide. Don't think he really knew he was supposed to because he doesn't see anything wrong with them.

[boris]

** salesman tryng to TALK you into **

Maybe I'll cut my statins in half too.

[Rick Ballard]

"not about all those scary complex problems we face"

The South has fired on Ft Sumter? Hitler is rearming? The USSR has been reconstituted? Saddam Hussein is flagrantly supporting Palestinian terrorism and appears to be teaming up with the Taliban?

Which "complex problems" have you wetting the bed at night? Have you tried a pacifier?

[clarice]

Try it,Boris. Hedge your bets..slightly reduce your survival time but increase your chance of being lucid longer..

[MayBee]

Andy McCarthy at the corner has it exactly right:

Re: As the World Turns [Andy McCarthy]

Lisa & Mark, No doubt that Wright is killing (has killed?) Obama. But I think in some ways he's lucky that this is playing mostly as a racial thing. It means there is a sliver of hope that his candidacy can ride this out if he can convince enough people that he's not really stuck in the Wright/Farrakhan muck. Because we're so charged over race in this country, the racial aspect of Wright is overwhelming the more significant point. There is a common thread that runs through Wright/Ayers/Dohrn/Michelle/Khalidi, and it's not race although it's clothed in racial exploitation rhetoric. Obama's problem is that these connections are all iterations of an activist, leftwing, America sucks, burn-down-the-house worldview, simmering under the smiley-face of "social justice." That's why the New York Times is so over-protective.

Jonah has a good follow up, too.

[Cecil Turner]

. . . not about all those scary complex problems we face . . .

Okay. Quick time out for Obama on the issues: "run away!" That didn't take long, did it?

[Tom Maguire]

Foo Bar - Obama made no mention of the AIDS conspiracy in his March Wright speech, even though he was surely aware of it by then. From your link:

“I wasn’t aware of the AIDS conspiracy statement, which I think is completely out of line and off the wall,” Obama said. “I wasn’t aware of his statements, God damn America. Those statements were not ones that I knew about until the story broke a week and a half ago.”

So even if we believe him, we are still wondering why Andrew Sullivan is lauding him on April 30th for specifically citing and denouncing something he could have specifically cited and denounced six weeks ago.

And I am putting in a reminder link - per the RAND study, that AIDS conspiracy theory costs black lives; silence equals death, as Sully ought to know.

[Tom Maguire]

Hmm, Rolling Stone excerpted the 10 facts about America; Sweetness and Light filled in the blanks from a tape.

RS:

Wright takes the pulpit here one Sunday and solemnly, sonorously declares that he will recite ten essential facts about the United States. "Fact number one: We've got more black men in prison than there are in college," he intones. "Fact number two: Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run!" There is thumping applause; Wright has a cadence and power that make Obama sound like John Kerry. Now the reverend begins to preach. "We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns and the training of professional KILLERS. . . . We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God. . . . We conducted radiation experiments on our own people. . . . We care nothing about human life if the ends justify the means!" The crowd whoops and amens as Wright builds to his climax: "And. And. And! GAWD! Has GOT! To be SICK! OF THIS SHIT!"

Sweetness:

Fact number one: we’ve got more black men in prison than there are in college.

Racism is alive and well. Racism is the American way.

Racism is how this country was founded, and how this country is still run.

No black man can ever be President. I don’t care how hard you run Jesse.

No black woman will ever be considered for anything outside of what she can give with her body.

Fact number three: America is still the number one killer in the world.

We invaded Grenada for no other reason than to get Maurice Bishop. We destroyed Panama because Noriega would no longer dance to our tune anymore.

We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns and the training professional killers.

We bombed Cambodia, Iraq and Nicaragua, killing women and children, while trying to turn public opinion against Castro and Qaddafi.

Fact number four: we put Mandela in prison and supported apartheid the whole 27 years he was there.

We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority. And believe it more than we believe in God.

Fact number five: we supported Zionism shamelessly while ignoring the Palestinians, and branding anybody who spoke out against it as being anti-Semitic.

Fact number six: we conducted radiation experiments on our own people. You’re just finding out about that. We care nothing about human life, if the end justifies the means.

Fact number seven: we do not care if poor black and brown children cannot read and kill each other senselessly. We abandoned the cities back in the sixties when the riots started, and it really doesn’t matter what those nnn… [niggers] “natives” do to each other.

We gave up on them and public education for poor people who live in the projects. We with VCRs, DVDs, CDs and portable phones have more homeless than any nation in the world.

Fact number eight: we started the AIDS virus, and now that it is out of control we still put more money in the military than in medicine. More money in hate than humanitarian concerns.

Everybody does not have access to health care. I don’t care what the rich white boys in the Senate say.

[Garbled] listen up. If you are poor black and elderly — forget it.

Fact number nine: we only able to maintain our level of living by making sure the Third World people live in grinding poverty.

Fact number ten: we are selfish, self-centered ego egotists, who are arrogant and ignorant.

We pray at church and do not try to make the kingdom that Jesus talked about a reality.

And, and, and… in light of these in fact God has got to be sick of this shit!

That said, it's hard to believe Obama was awake and talking to people in that church for twenty years and never heard that.

[clarice]

He chose BLT and Wright's views are totally in line with the BLT creed, not outlying views.

[M. Simon]

Simon's Razor:

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by malice and stupidity"?

[M. Simon]

It is unwise to attribute to malice alone that which can be attributed to malice and stupidity.

Malice and Stupidity

[DebinNC]

"That said, it's hard to believe Obama was awake and talking to people in that church for twenty years and never heard that."

Plus, there are the many years of 30 page church bulletins and Trumpet magazine editions with "Pastor's Page" epistles written by Wright which were available at church or mailed directly to members' homes. The "I wasn't there" excuse if ludicrous. If Wright ever said anything truly out of character when the Obamas weren't in church, they would have heard about it from someone.

[battery]

It is such a rare occurrence that it is marked with a public holiday,feasting and fireworks.

[sophy]

Welcome to our game world, my friend asks me to buy some wakfu gold .