. . . and the cock then crowed for the third time.
What do we expect? One can’t be POTUS without upholding the mythology of America - always blessed, always good, always pure.
Two good comments on this here:
But this is indeed a curious and telling episode. If one actually takes the trouble to read Wright’s remarks before the Press Club — which almost no journalist in America did, although they are easily available at the Washington Post’s web site – it is difficult to see what in God’s name all the brouhaha is about. Even Wright’s most “controversial” remarks — about AIDS, Louis Farrakhan and, in Obama’s words, “equating America’s wartime efforts with terrorism” — are couched in plausible contexts, and are actually more nuanced than the, well, caricature of them that Obama condemned. Most ludicrous of all were Obama’s hysterics about the “divisiveness” of Wright’s remarks, when the theme of racial and cultural and religious reconciliation was sounded over and over throughout the appearance.
First, what Obama called “such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS.” After citing some books on the subject, Wright said:
So any time a government can put together biological warfare to kill people, and then get angry when those people use what we sold them, yes, I believe we are capable.
I personally don’t believe that the U.S. government concocted the AIDs virus; but the notion that a government which conducted murderous medical experiments on black men for decades, and sold chemical weaponry to a brutal dictator (and, by providing military intelligence, helped him use them against the Iranians), and also launched a war of aggression in Iraq that has killed at least million innocent people might also be capable of creating and unleashing a deadly disease is certainly not implausible. (See Arthur Silber for much more on this.)
Now what about Farrakhan? Obama denounced Wright for saying that Farrakhan was “one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st centuries.” Of course, Wright didn’t say that. He said Farrakhan was one of the “most important” voices, because he was able to reach millions — and move them to action. This is simply a statement of fact. Adolph Hitler was one of the most important voices of the 20th century for the same reason. And so was Martin Luther King Jr. Let’s go to the tape:
As for terrorism, Wright simply referred the questioners to his previous “controversial” sermon on the matter. And here’s what he said in his sermon:
We took this country, by terror, away from the Sioux, the Apache, the Arawak, the Comanche, the Arapajo, the Navajo. Terrorism — we took Africans from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism. We bombed Grenada and killed innocent civilians — babies, non-military personnel. We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with Stealth Bombers and killed unarmed teenagers, and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hard working fathers. [fullest voice] We bombed Khaddafi, his home and killed his child. Blessed be they who bash your children’s head against the rocks.
We bombed Iraq, we killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed the plant in Sudan to pay back for the attack on our embassy — killed hundreds of hard-working people — mothers and fathers, who left home to go that day, not knowing they’d never get back home. [Even fuller voice] We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye. Kids playing in the playground, mothers picking up children after school — civilians, not soldiers. People just trying to make it day by day. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans and now we are indignant? Because the stuff we have done overseas is brought back into our own front yards.
America’s chickens are coming home to roost. Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred, and terrorism begets terrorism.
A White ambassador said that, y’all, not a black militant. Not a Reverend who preaches about racism; an ambassador whose eyes are wide open, and who’s trying to get us to wake up, and move away from this dangerous precipice upon which we are now poised.
So there you have it. This is what Obama calls “equating the United States’ wartime efforts with terrorism.”
Wright has said nothing new. He’s repeated what he said many times before. The only difference is that Obama’s campaign is flailing. The heat got to be too much. So now Obama finally understands what Wright thinks, and he denounces it. This means one of two things: Obama is one of the stupidest people in America (and that would be an achievement of some note), or he is a liar of the first order. It’s probably a combination of both, with a huge dose of pathetically desperate and obvious strategizing thrown in.
It should be emphasized that, on the points of greatest significance, what Wright has said and continues to say is true. More than that, it is critically important. (I specifically exempt from this judgment Wright’s remarks to the NAACP about “right-brain, left-brain” issues. I am unable to watch that speech, since I don’t have television and only have a dialup internet connection, and I’ve been unable to find a transcript. But from the reports I’ve seen, those particular comments appear to be profoundly, dangerously wrong. But, even though I am aware of no evidence at all to support Wright’s views about a government “conspiracy” with regard to AIDS, an appreciation of the relevant history makes even those comments understandable, as I have discussed.)
Of course, no one who buys into the mythology of American exceptionalism will consider the possibility that critical parts of what Wright thinks are true. As I wrote in “Obama’s Whitewash“:
Obama speaks of “views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.” This is a lie: Wright’s views express the truth of our history, and of our present. No, it is not all of the truth, but it is an absolutely essential and major part of the truth. It is the part of the truth that our fictionalized, mythologized history denies, the truth that many Americans will not permit themselves to understand or acknowledge. You are profoundly wrong if the truth “offends” you. If you remain determined to cling to the lies that sustain you, you may certainly make that choice. But that does not make it right, or true.
Obama speaks of “a profoundly distorted view of this country — a view that sees white racism as endemic…” But white racism has been endemic to America’s history, and its effects are still painfully visible in most aspects of American life today. Indeed, a good portion of Obama’s speech itself details the effects of that “endemic” white racism. Wright does not “elevate what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America” — he demands acknowledgment of the part of our history drowned by the propaganda that inundates us every day. For those who remain wedded to the mythologized America, such acknowledgment cannot be tolerated. Truth must be destroyed.
Obama states: “I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy.” What Obama has “condemned, in unequivocal terms” is the truth — the truth that is forbidden by the fictions that feed the myth of American exceptionalism. Obama has fully embraced the lies at the heart of mythologized America — an embrace that is underscored by his inclusion of this phrase: “a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.” In this manner, Obama confirms that he will continue our policy of global interventionism including our endless interventions in the Middle East, which have been unceasing ever since World War I. Obama embraces all the lies that support that policy, and he will challenge none of them. (See “Songs of Death” for many more details concerning Obama’s embrace of this murderous policy.)
Almost every politician lies, and most politicians lie repeatedly. Yet in one sense, Obama’s speech is exceptional, rare and unique — but not for any of the reasons offered by Obama’s uncritical, mindless adulators. It is exceptional for this reason: it is rare that a candidate will announce in such stark, comprehensive terms that he will lie about every fact of moment, about every aspect of our history that affects the crises of today and that has led to them, about everything that might challenge the mythological view of America. But that is what Obama achieved with this speech. It may be a remarkable achievement — a remarkable and detestable one, and one that promises endless destruction in the future, both here and abroad.
Most people completely failed to grasp the breadth of Obama’s commitment to America’s mythologized history in his “nuanced,” “historical” speech on race, or his unbreached determination to lie about anything and everything. They were — and are — incapable of understanding this issue for the simple reason that they, too, embrace this mythology. If they are deprived of their belief in America’s, and their own, claim to being “unique” and “special” in all of history, they will die psychologically. Our mythologized history has become a crucial part of their own identities. Obama’s condemnation of Wright today amounts to an emphatic postscript to his earlier speech: “I meant it. I will lie to you about anything you want. I will lie about everything.”
I don’t have much to add to the above comments except that I’m upset at myself for almost buying into the Obama mystique. It’s true - no one gets even near the top of that greasy pole without having been thoroughly vetted by corporate America.
And by the way, I had Horowitz’s book in my store as well. You can order it here and read it for yourself. Make up your OWN mind rather than just rant and drool like a Pavlovian dog that the media would like you to be. It’s tough, I know.
Even know Michaelangelo Signorile is on Out Q tap dancing for Obama and laying it on Rev. Wright. He should know better than that. But I bet he likes to keep his own job safe as well.
No, white America, check that, America in general, is not ready and probably never will be ready to handle the truth about themselves and what their country is capable of. Never. People would rather live the myths and believe the lies because it makes them sleep well at night. So be it.
I’m getting to the point in my life where I’m tired of it all.
Most of the writing I do is therapeutic. I don’t ever believe I’ll be allowed to have anything like a major audience for my writing anymore - not in this culture. But perhaps there will come a time when all of our blogs will stand as testament for some future civilization that we all didn’t drink the Kool Aid. That some of us retained our humanity and love of knowledge in the Second Dark Age.
But as far as wasting any more time working within the system or voting or anything like that, I think it’s at an end. Silber is right - there is nothing that can be done anymore.
So in the end, it really doesn’t matter all that much - McCain, Clinton, Obama: they will all do the bidding of the elite. No end to the war, no single payer national health care, no curb on corporate power, no abandonment of our death embrace with the Likudniks. Edge tinkering, nothing more.
I might be stereotyping, but from what I saw and felt around the USA :
First, you guys marry way too young. I saw young brides having their pic taken in Washington in front of all the monuments, they looked like kids in a wedding disguise. Not to mention Utah where a girl has to be married before she’s 21.
Second what’s this thing you guys have for marriage ? If one loves a person, and is loved by this person, they can just live together out of choice. An everyday choice. Legal marriage seems to be the very big deal in life and everyone is proud when married as if it were the biggest achievement in life.
Third, please I apologize, but most American women are bitches. They’re never satisfied with what money their husband brings home, they’re always bossing their men around, and they never cook nice meals for them, nor iron properly their shirts, whereas he cuts the grass and repaint the walls. Moreover they don’t take care of their figures, have big bellies and huge butts, but of course they’ll spend fortunes on their nails and on elaborate hair dressing that looks ridiculously sophisticated. And American women are no fun to be with, they won’t understand irony and sarcasm, and god ! how self centered they are ! Only complaining about their lousy life due to her husband, this loser, this bastard !
Obviously sex can’t be great in this environment.