GENE DAMMON: The amazing Obama

Gene Dammon
The Port Arthur News

April 03, 2008 11:05 am

— The most amazing thing (to me) about Barack Obama is that he still has a viable candidacy. His friend, mentor, and former pastor, “Reverend” Wright, spewed out so much hate, racism, and lies from his pulpit that no one who was voluntarily in his congregation – for 20 years – and who chose to listen to such contentious remarks, should be considered a serious candidate for any national office. Especially the highest office in the land.
By way of explanation, Obama explained that, while people may not talk that way on the job (in other words, around white folks), Rev. Wright was just being honest. He was saying things as they were discussed at the barber shop, for example. You know, the fact that AIDS and illegal drugs are part of the white man’s plot to keep the black people down! What idiocy! I thought we – as a society, a nation, a mixture of races - had come farther than that. If he can sell those lies to a whole congregation, it makes one wonder if there is any real hope for unity in this increasingly diverse nation. And what if a man can come out of such an atmosphere and still win his party’s nomination for the highest office in this republic: are we insane? Do charisma, charm, and a talent for public speaking, trump common sense?
“Not everyone goes along with everything the preacher says,” you might counter. And you are right. I have sat through sermons when the minister said things with which I didn’t agree, yet I stayed in the church and remained active in the fellowship. But my disagreement was on relatively unimportant matters. I have never heard hatred of other races, or hatred of our country preached from the pulpit. And if I had heard such a thing, I would have had to wait in line to get out of the door – then and there.
But perhaps he wasn’t really there in Rev. Wright’s congregation for spiritual leadership, to worship with the flock, so his mind was elsewhere. One of his supporters put it this way: “He was in that congregation to establish his “street creds.” In other words, to show his constituents that he really was an angry young black man. Like making a political appearance, and taking an opportunity to be seen in the “Wright place.” Of course Obama has gone on record now as disagreeing with his former pastor’s remarks; but that happened only after the media got hold of the issue. It seems that Obama, like every other politician, goes the way the wind blows.
A quotation from literature keeps coming to mind: “I am a part of all that I have met” (Tennyson’s “Ulysses”). The idea is that each of us is formed, and informed, by the sum of our experiences. Barack Obama’s experiences, while they do not include any job experience in the executive branch, do include 20 years of Reverend Wright’s preaching.
Maybe you love Barack Obama. He seems to evoke that response in many of his supporters, bringing to mind another senator who ran for, and won, the presidency. Jack Kennedy was also a member of the legislative branch, also charismatic. But he had been a naval officer, with wartime experience, and as far as I know, his wife was proud of her country all her life.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s comment, explaining why he endorsed Obama, is typical of the response many people have toward the candidate. The Gov. said that when he saw the enthusiasm and joy on the faces of the people at an Obama rally, he knew this was the man who could unite the nation.
He does seem like a genuinely nice guy, this Barack, someone you feel that you could be friends with. Unfortunately, charisma counts for very little in foreign affairs or in the serious decisions the chief executive, and commander-in-chief, is called upon to make. Good looks are not a substitute for substance. And if he dreams of uniting the nation, one might question his judgment in defending his racist pastor.
Gene Dammon of Port Neches is a contributing writer to the Port Arthur News. His e-mail address is: gene-san@sbcglobal.net.

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