Courage and Naïveté
March 18th, 2008Barack Obama’s friends pose a great vulnerability to his candidacy for the Presidency, from Jeremiah Wright to Bernadine Dohrn to Tony Rezko. Any student of politics worth his salt will tell you that friends rarely make a candidate what he is (in this century and the last, at least) but they can break you, although they don’t always do. I’m not sure that a black candidate can survive a racially insensitive (and seemingly racist) pastor who “God Damn[s] America,” Weather Underground Sixties Terrorists or Chicago slumlords, but Barack Obama made a go of it today and gave an intellectually impressive, impassioned (if at times hollow) speech defending himself and giving a long overview of racial hysterics in America. Toward the end, he refuses to denounce Jeremiah Wright, quit his Church and hang him out to dry, which is gutsy but likely idiotic. I think Slate magazine’s Mickey Kaus analyzed it best here, noting that it was unfortunate to begin the speech on the subject of slavery and then pointing out a couple of intellectual flaws as well. His supporters won’t care, just like they’re not troubled by his pretending to have been born from “Bloody Sunday,” but I imagine like Kaus does that the speech won’t resonate all that well with white, middle-class, non-college educated voters.
His best course would have been, as Dan Savage advises those who have a rough boyfriend, to “Dump the Motherfucking Asshole.” I don’t believe that not DTMFA’ing Wright will destroy him, but it is a significant hurdle that his campaign must jump over and I am not entirely sure that he will be able to. Intellectuals, pseduointellectuals and college students are not the typical voting class, and I am not sure that this speech will resonate with them. I do give Obama points for his courage in standing up for his friend and for daring to challenge it head-on instead of hoping it goes away, but I’m not sure he’s handled it in a manner that will be politically advantageous.