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More Sad Than, Well, Bitter...

Read Kevin Ferris?s superb OpEd in the Philadelphia Inquirer. ?Sadness,? Ferris writes, ?is the right response to Barack Obama's now famous riff on small-town America.?

Not because he?s no longer walking on water. The Messiah of Change image started sinking when Obama lied about hearing incendiary comments from his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. The latest ?misspeak? just helps confirm that he?s imperfect, like the rest of us. That?s a welcome reminder. After all, we?re awaiting a new administration, not the second coming - of Jesus, JFK or anyone else.

No, what?s really sad is the end of the promise Obama offered from his first appearance on the national stage at the Democratic convention in 2004. There, and in subsequent speeches, was the hint that this was a man who believed in reaching out, who would be fair to all sides, who could respect those with whom he disagreed. Red state or blue. Republican, Democrat or independent.

I agree. In case your memory doesn?t reach back the the summer of 2004 (I know mine doesn?t), let me refresh it by reminding you that I liked Obama then, and even expressed enthusiasm for his speech to the Democratic convention.

Even then, however, I noted a fundamental tension between his vision of ?One America? (?There?s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there?s the United States of America?) and his continuing support for racial preferences.

As I wrote then, ?I approve of Obama?s vision, but I?m not sure he does.?

Now, with Rev. Wright ranting in the background and bitter whites clinging to their racism and xenophobia in the foreground, I?m pretty sure he doesn?t.

Full post as published by Discriminations on April 18, 2008 (boomark / email).