March 25, 2008: Hillary Takes It to the Mattress

The Obama/Wright controversy just went up a notch or ten today when Hillary Clinton told the Pittsburgh Tribune- Review re: Wright: "He would not have been my pastor. You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend. You know, I spoke out against Don Imus, saying that hate speech was unacceptable in any setting, and I believe that. I just think you have to speak out against that. You certainly have to do that, if not explicitly, then implicitly by getting up and moving."

Never mind the fake Imus-baiting, those are fighting words that will be all over the media shortly - and if not, itheywill be all over Republican advertising in the general election. Obama clearly did not get up and move - not for twenty years and only after a scandal that, just after it seems to be dying, may be reigniting stronger than ever.

Paul Mirengoff has more.

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Comments

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This a case of Obama's chickens coming home to roost ;)

Posted by: Lem at March 25, 2008 2:28 PM

I have to admit that this is a case of Hillary simply telling it the way it is. She did this same thing in the debate, when she criticized Obama's weak disassociation with Farrakhan, prompting Obama to more strongly "reject" him. At that time, Obama was considered to have gotten the best of that exchange. The Wright episode and Obama's subsequent speech and weak disassociation from Wright has again prompted Hillary to question Obama's allegiances. Very rightly so, imho.

Posted by: Godzilla at March 25, 2008 2:34 PM

Excerpt from the Hillary anti-hate speech article

"You know, I spoke out against Don Imus (who was fired from his radio and television shows after making racially insensitive remarks), saying that hate speech was unacceptable in any setting, and I believe that," Clinton said. "I just think you have to speak out against that. You certainly have to do that, if not explicitly, then implicitly by getting up and moving."

Especially when the setting is a frigging church, perhaps?

Posted by: Godzilla at March 25, 2008 2:40 PM

Good for the Wicked Witch of Chappaqua.

Take it to Obama.

Maybe, just maybe in this time of media "paddy paddy cake" moment, speak no evil, she can show a little steel and confront him.

She has to fortify her base in Pennsylvania and probably will.

Americans reluctantly confront race and OB put it out there by not "dissing the Rev," so white America is face to face with the issue of race brought forth by OB and the polls will reflect a fall off in support for him.

And of course the liberal media will call it "white racism" ignoring the 92% black vote for OB "black racism."

Posted by: jedrury at March 25, 2008 2:56 PM

There is another way to look at this Wright-Obama entanglement.

For one thing, would anyone argue that the president of the united states should be one who shares the beliefs, values, and behavioral practices of the dominant culture, i.e. white middle class people of European descent?

Condi Rice: sure.
Colin Powel: sure.

Obama: ??? he's just looking (to me) like a self-identified black guy from a black district who can talk well. He lacks the sort of acculteration that a member of a minority group should show (and I don't mean race to be the defining characteristic, but beliefs and values and behaviors), if he/she wants to lead the dominant cultural group. I don't think many of his supporters are understanding the basic psychology of this, nor do they realize how far outside the mainstream he has shown him to be with the Wright Fiasco.

Posted by: Godzilla at March 25, 2008 3:38 PM

Wow. Hillary and Richard Mellon Scaife part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. You go grrl. Operation Chaos opens a new front.

Posted by: jrdroll at March 25, 2008 4:29 PM

Wow. Hillary and Richard Mellon Scaife part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. You go grrl. Operation Chaos opens a new front.

Posted by: jrdroll at March 25, 2008 4:31 PM

Picture of Hillary and Richard Mellon Scaife here:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDA2YTFkMmUxNjliNDIzODU1MWQxZmY1MjdiMDE0OGM=

Posted by: jrdroll at March 25, 2008 5:48 PM

Hmmm... Let's see. McCain's approval ratings go up about 11 points without spending a dime. They can keep this up all summer if they wish.

Posted by: Barry Dauphin at March 25, 2008 9:01 PM

@Godzilla:
Obama: ??? he's just looking (to me) like a self-identified black guy from a black district who can talk well. He lacks the sort of acculteration that a member of a minority group should show

The irony here is that by virtue of being raised by a white mother and white grandparents, he already was acculturated to white society. He attached himself to Wright's church most likely for two reasons: 1)gain street cred as a South Side politician of the people as opposed to being an Ivy League educated lawyer from Hawaii and 2)some aspect of Wright as a father figure and/or as a link to the black part of his heritage. Dreams of My Father, etc.

But later on this had to be balanced against later appealing to mainstream mainland society. As Obama had never lived in mainstream mainland society- Hawaii, the Ivy League and the South Side are outliers- he may have lacked the cultural cues on how to balance this.

There was too much to balance here, which is how Obama got tripped up.

Posted by: GringoTex at March 26, 2008 12:05 AM

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