Why Would He Think That?

Obama gets annoyed by the oddest things.  This is from his "Wright is Wrong (Finally!)" press conference:

"And what I think particularly angered me was [Wright's] suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing."

And why ever would Wright have thought that?  Here is the Pastor of Disaster telling Jodi Kantor of the Times about the circumstances behind Wright's disinvitation to the Obama campaign kick-off.  Her reporting included this:

Mr. Wright said that in the phone conversation in which Mr. Obama disinvited him from a role in the announcement, Mr. Obama cited an article in Rolling Stone, “The Radical Roots of Barack Obama.”

According to the pastor, Mr. Obama then told him, “You can get kind of rough in the sermons, so what we’ve decided is that it’s best for you not to be out there in public.”

In his follow-up, Wright unloaded:

I do not remember reading in your article that Barack had apologized for listening to that bad information and bad advice. Did I miss it? Or did your editor cut it out?

Ms. Kantor also printed the thoughts of the campaign spokesman:

Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said the campaign disinvited Mr. Wright because it did not want the church to face negative attention. Mr. Wright did however, attend the announcement and prayed with Mr. Obama beforehand.

“Senator Obama is proud of his pastor and his church, but because of the type of attention it was receiving on blogs and conservative talk shows, he decided to avoid having statements and beliefs being used out of context and forcing the entire church to defend itself,” Mr. Burton said.

The statement itself sounds like posturing; if the explanation offered by Wright is accurate, he had every reason to believe it was.  The Obama people had seen this Rolling Stone article which presented an edited version of Wright's Ten Facts About America.  The full list, transcribed by Sweetness (or Light)  includes the AIDS conspiracy.

Tom Bevan has lots more about the circumstances under which Obama couldn't quite bring himself to say good-bye to Wright in early 2007.

Now, for everyone other than Wright, there are a number of questions raised by this, none of which have good answers for Obama.  First, was Obama's March speech just posturing?  Second, how could it have taken Obama six weeks (not to mention twenty years) to figure out that the Wright the rest of America saw in those news clips shouting "God DAMN America" was the real Wright?  Where is the judgment?  How can Obama have this nation's confidence in negotiating with foreign leaders or making senior level Administration appointments when he was so wrong about Wright for so long?

Comments

[kim]

Gore? Kerry? Obama? What is the matter with the Clinton Party?
=====================================

[Danube of Thought]

"...particularly by Mr. Wright’s implication that Mr. Obama was being hypocritical. He could not tolerate that."

There you have it, friends. The AIDS conspiracy, the chickens roosting, the God Damn AmeriK-K-K-A, all of that he could tolerate. But call the Messiah a hypocrite, and you've crossed the line.

Are we talking cynicism here?

[Rick Ballard]

"If one tires of this distraction regarding his judgment, there's always his ethics."

Elliot's link to the LAT "ethics" piece gives us one of the finest examples of sweeping facts under the rug that I believe I've ever seen. The article runs some 1800 words and you have to read it all the way to the last three sentences to discover this:

Though Obama's formal efforts for Killerspin consisted of writing a letter and a proclamation, the nitty-gritty of obtaining state grants fell to a former state Senate and campaign aide to Obama, Dan Shomon.

Shomon, working part time for Obama's campaign and for Killerspin, helped prepare Killerspin's initial grant application in 2002. Still working part time with Obama, Shomon helped Killerspin secure a $200,000 grant for its 2003 tournament and a $100,000 grant for its 2004 tournament.

Mr. Clean BHO sure hates those dirty lobbyists. It's much better just to pay off a pol directly - cuts out that middleman.

[Danube of Thought]

SteveMG, take a look at the Democratic primary season to date. Thirty million people have turned out to vote--record numbers for primaries in most states--and have roughly split their vote between Clinton and Obama. You think this is about differences in their "policy views?" How many of those thirty million people do you think could tell you of a single difference between them?

[ben]

"U.S. military launches airstrike targeting head of Al Qaeda in Somalia, group confirms attack killed its leader and 10 others"

Well, one less person for Obama to sit down with....

[ben]

DOT
Have to ask the expert....do you think TexasToast is related to ObamaToast?

[Danube of Thought]

Powerline:

"In Obama's eyes, the most serious wrongdoing in Wright's statements is their disrespect of Obama. From the revered father figure who could not be disowned, Wright has become the the father from whom separation must be achieved in favor of his own identity, or the boorish relative who cannot be tolerated. The adolescent grandiosity and adolescent pettiness of Obama's remarks are perhaps the most shocking revelations of this entire episode."

[Enlightened]

So - No one watched Michelle Obama with Caroline Kennedy on Anderson Cooper last night?

My husband had never seen MO before. Within 5 minutes his impression was "she is an arrogant b--ch." Her MoveOn attitude to the reporter was incredibly rude. She even made a snotty-ass remark under her breath when the reported turned to Caroline K and said OK, I will try to shift away from that subject (Wright) and MO snaps "no you won't". She has angry eyes, and my hubby pointed out - she never smiled once.

[Danube of Thought]

Anyone seriously think the electorate will install Michelle as First Lady of the United States? Any doubt that this will be an issue?

It will indeed be an issue, and an important one, in the minds of millions of voters, and it will be an issue that remains completely un-discussed by any candidate or party. But if you think it's not there, big-time, you need to think again.

[DebinNC]

IMO Obama's chaotic upbringing and biracial confusion led him to construct a heroic Barack Obama persona over time. He sees himself as a superior person, and he's acting out the role of the transcendent hero he believes himself to be. His words, his tone of voice, his gestures are calibrated for appeal, and only occasionally ("arugula"/"cling") does his mask of humility slip. On NBC last night, BO mistakenly let the audience in on his acting: "If I wanted to be politically expedient, I would have distanced myself and denounced him right away. Right? That would have been the easy thing to do, that would have been the standard stock political advice. I don't think anybody who watched me yesterday thought I was being calculating because it obviously wasn't an easy thing to do." Uh huh.

[Enlightened]

Also on the AC 360 interview - Michelle Obama actually said that there are some states in the US that have - NO black people. None. IIRC she said BO is winning some states that have no black people.

I'd like to know which states those are. Just out of sheer curiosity.

[Sue]

I just watched the video at CNN of Michelle Obama and Caroline Kennedy last night. Michelle wants to move on, move forward, not fight these divisive fights, etc. and so on. I wish one reporter would ask her if she ever said those words to her pastor. The divisive, hateful words came from him, not the media she blames for exposing his words.

[Danube of Thought]

The editorial board of the Denver Post failed to receive the memo about associations not being important:

"Obama's handling of this mess not only calls into question his judgment, but eventually could strike at the core of whether he's fit to be president.

"As late as Monday, after Wright again suggested the U.S. government invented AIDS to eliminate minorities and defended the bigotry of Louis Farrakhan, Obama seemed to shrug it off. But by Tuesday, after video of Wright's new rants played in what seemed like an endless loop on 24-hour news channels, Obama the politician finally emerged.

"'The insensitivity and the outrageousness of the statements shocked me and surprised me,' Obama said. Wright's rants, he continued, contradict 'everything that I'm about and who I am. . . . The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago.'

"Does Obama really expect Americans to believe that it was Wright, and not the prevailing political winds, that changed overnight?"

[JB]

"Anyone seriously think the electorate will install Michelle as First Lady of the United States? Any doubt that this will be an issue?"

Yeah, the public loves being bossed around and condescended to.

She'll be Obama's damage control in the WH. Everytime there's a scandal, she'll come out, glare at the cameras, and demand the rubes shed their cynicism immediately.

[DebinNC]

James Pennington article at AT last March pre-Wright and Bittergate:

"... every state outside the South where Obama carried the white vote and won the primary or caucus was one with a small to negligible black population (Wyoming, Vermont, Wisconsin, Maine, Washington, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, Utah, North Dakota, Idaho, Alaska and Iowa); in every state where a substantial and widely dispersed black population regularly interacts with whites, Obama lost the white vote and lost the primary: Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, California, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. I have omitted the candidates' home states (New York for Clinton, Illinois and Hawaii for Obama). Pennsylvania, where Clinton has a commanding lead, will follow the Ohio pattern, as will Florida and Michigan in the increasingly unlikely event of do overs."

[SunnyDay]

There are snippets of the MO interview on CNN's websites. She looked like she was trying very hard to be nice.

I don't think either one of them has a clue about how the rest of us think. They don't know what to say or do. Kind of fumbling around in the dark, trying to find the right switch so they can once again shed the great light of Obama of our darkened bitter souls.

[DebinNC]

Michelle Obama is not a passive woman. I think she's more a kindred spirit of Mrs. John Conyers whose "attitude" is hilariously on display in this video from Hot Air.

[Porchlight]

I think both Obamas are absolutely furious at how difficult this is turning out to be, and their anger and surprise are an indication of how not-ready-for-the-big-leagues they truly are.

Much was made of Hillary thinking she had the nomination in the bag, but she's got acres of campaign experience compared to BO and MO and knows how treacherous the terrain can be. These two have been riding along believing their own press and thinking it ought to be an anointing, not a fight. And it's only just begun.

[Enlightened]

"small to negligible black population (Wyoming, Vermont, Wisconsin, Maine, Washington, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, Utah, North Dakota, Idaho, Alaska and Iowa)"

Combined black population for the above per 2000 census is 1,199,744 black persons. By saying they won all the states with no black people>/b>, she implies that 1.1 million black people did not matter. Not that anyone would ask her to clarify it - her glare alone was enough to shut up the AC360 interviewer last night.

[Enlightened]

I'll get this html stuff down one of these days.

[MikeS]

SteveMG reminded me that I can't really predict what policy decisions a candidate will make based on his associations. This is unfortunate because, I don't have ESP to help me make those predictions.

I might be able to make a guess based on a candidates' record. I may be able to depend on their public declarations.

Of course, the truth is, there is NO way I can accurately predict what a candidate may do in the future. That is what makes their judgment, or more precisely my confidence in their judgment, so critical!

[Ann]

Kathleen Parker posted this at NRO. Sounds like something D(oT) would say:

A reader sent this Thomas Carlyle quote as commentary on the Obama/Wright brouhaha:

Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of a man you are,
for it shows me what your ideal of manhood is, and what kind of man you long to be.

[Rick Ballard]

"I think both Obamas are absolutely furious at how difficult this is turning out to be, and their anger and surprise are an indication of how not-ready-for-the-big-leagues they truly are."

It's a decent indication of the isolation in effect within the prog "bubble". Call it plantation or fief but neither one of them has an achievement to their name that was not endowed from within the confines of a Gramscian affinity group. In particular, BHO was "selected for advancement" at the HS level, moved into the "proper" prog milieu at Columbia, passed into (and out of) Harvard Law and then straight into Alinsky field training on the South Side. He then kissed Ayers Gramscian ring in order to proceed to the inner sanctum of the prog spoils system and, viola!, here he is.

He's really the Perfecte & Complette Progressive. Shallow, vacuous, without merit - who could ask for anything more?

[Danube of Thought]

"Shallow, vacuous, without merit - who could ask for anything more?"

I think we should add a dash of "self-absorbed" for the full, magnificent flavor of it all.

[ROA]

The average percentage of the population of (Wyoming, Vermont, Wisconsin, Maine, Washington, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, Utah, North Dakota, Idaho, Alaska and Iowa) that is black is 2.5%, ranging from Idaho with .4% blacks to Wisconsin and Kansas with 5.7 % blacks.

[William Wilcox]

From the NYT article; A candidate, His Minister & the Search for Faith by Jodi Kantor, 4/30/07:

"Mr. Wright, who has long prided himself on criticizing the establishment, said he knew that he may not play well in Mr. Obama’s audition for the ultimate establishment job.

“If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me,” Mr. Wright said with a shrug. “I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.”"

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

From Ann Coulter today:

Let's just hope President Obama pays closer attention during national security briefings than he did during 20 years of the Rev. Wright's church services.

The only good news for the Obama campaign this week is that Obama admitted that his relationship with Rev. Wright is "a legitimate political issue," which at least makes him smarter than John McCain, who just last week denounced the North Carolina Republicans for an ad mentioning Obama's raving lunatic pastor.

[JM Hanes]

I went back and read the Rolling Stone article that set this ball a rolling, and found this nugget describing Wright's TUUC:

The church is a leftover vision from the Sixties of what a black nationalist future might look like.

Only now, however, can we really appreciate the irony currently in full flower, as they recount the official birth of the Biography Campaign:

Many of the stands Obama took were pretty radical for a candidate who would end up aiming for national office. He led an ambitious but failed effort to provide health care for every citizen of Illinois, fought against predatory lending practices and wrote a bill making Illinois the first state to require police to tape their interrogations of murder suspects. But in 2003, when Obama began to run for the U.S. Senate, his legislative track record wasn't enough to get him elected. He was one of seven Democrats in the field, third or fourth on name recognition and even farther behind in funds. He barely stood a chance.

Then, running preliminary polls, his advisers noticed something remarkable: Women responded more intensely and warmly to Obama than did men. In a seven-candidate field, you don't need to win every vote. His advisers, assuming they would pick up a healthy chunk of black votes, honed in on a different target: Every focus group they ran was composed exclusively of women, nearly all of them white.

There is an amazingly candid moment in Obama's autobiography when he writes of his childhood discomfort at the way his mother would sexualize African-American men. "More than once," he recalls, "my mother would point out: 'Harry Belafonte is the best-looking man on the planet.' " What the focus groups his advisers conducted revealed was that Obama's political career now depends, in some measure, upon a tamer version of this same feeling, on the complicated dynamics of how white women respond to a charismatic black man. "I remember when we realized something magical was happening," says Obama's pollster on the campaign, an earnest Iowan named Paul Harstad. "We were doing a focus group in suburban Chicago, and this woman, seventy years old, looks seventy-five, hears Obama's life story, and she clasps her hand to her chest and says, 'Be still, my heart.' Be still, my heart — I've been doing this for a quarter century and I've never seen that." The most remarkable thing, for Harstad, was that the woman hadn't even seen the videos he had brought along of Obama speaking, had no idea what the young politician looked like. "All we'd done," he says, "is tell them the Story."

From that moment on, the Story became Obama's calling card, his political rationale and his basic sale.

I suspect the consternation at Obama HQ as older white women flocked to Hillary would beggar the imagination.

[Elliott]

Porchlight | May 01, 2008 at 11:52 AM

Very good points.

[M. Simon]

Full (in 3 parts) AC 360 interview of MO.