Could Obama's Supporters be Hurting Him?

Victor Davis Hanson

I made a systematic review of commentators on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, and the major three networks concerning the Obama speech. And the result was abject depression.

By my count about 90 percent of the African-American studies professors, pastors, and pundits not only defended the Obama two-decade presence and subsidy to the Wright ministry, but, terribile dictu, defended Rev. Wright himself and by a variety of postmodern apologies—many white pastors are extremists (though none cited particular cases of such churchmen focusing on blacks in the way Wright did with whites), the black church has particular mitigating protocols (in a way not true of other genres where racism in sports, radio, and journalism has been rightly condemned), past good trumps present bad (applicable as a defense apparently only in the case of black racism), and there is a context of black liberation theology that makes Wright's sermons logical (all sorts of historical examples of racism, mostly half-a century to a century old follow). I note that the liberal Juan Williams is as articulate and disinterested as he is critical of Wright's venom and cognizant of Obama political problems.

The result is a depressing echo effect that will only hurt the Obama campaign further. Here's the script: a CNN or Fox airs the infamous Wright tapes, the African-American expert guest then comments and in various ways defends Wright—and the net effect will only evoke further outrage on behalf of the Asian, Hispanic and white viewer, who feels race relations, due to Obama and Wright, have gotten only worse and are in need of a reality check, albeit one the Obama base of African-American activists and white elites would not necessarily welcome.

Obama's surrogates, as a Diogenes, need to find just one honest voice, a single disinterested African-American scholar or pastor or journalist who condemns unequivocally the Wright hatred. Just one.

How many times have you read a book about someone going to a foreign country not speaking the language and trying to communicate? They speak to people and if at first the natives don’t understand, they say it again, more slowly and louder.

That seems to be what Obama’s supporters are doing. With every repetition, the impression grows that we have a serious race crisis in America. While white racism is universally condemned, black hatred for white people is excused and even justified. And rather than bridging the divide, Obama is on the side of black racists.