Juan Williams: Obama avoided responsibility
posted at 3:30 pm on March 18, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
Juan Williams gave Barack Obama mixed marks on his speech today, avoiding the kind of swoon some other commentators indulged immediately afterwards. While praising Obama for his nuanced view of racial relations, Williams told Fox News that Obama failed in his primary goal — to take responsibility for having a twenty-year relationship with a man to whom hateful rhetoric appears second nature:
It’s a little different take than mine earlier, especially in whether Obama made the sale with the superdelegates. However, John Derbyshire at The Corner points out something else that Obama fails to address:
‘If, as Obama seems to be claiming, those are the sentiments only of Wright’s generation, how come those whooping and clapping their approval in those sermon clips include lots of young people?
Shouldn’t Obama have spoken out at Trinity to instruct those younger people so that they don’t adopt the bitterness of Rev. Wright? Isn’t that the responsibility of the next generation, to end that kind of rhetoric? How responsible or courageous is it to remain silent in that community while the rhetoric that Obama finds so objectionable gets delivered to the next two generations — including his own children?
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Obama: Healer of Ennui among Pundits everywhere!
RushBaby on March 18, 2008 at 3:33 PM
But… he’s Obama!!!
Akzed on March 18, 2008 at 3:35 PM
It’s nice to see at least one black person in the media who isn’t kissing Obama’s butt.
SoulGlo on March 18, 2008 at 3:36 PM
All he did was reaffirm and solidify the racial divide with this speech. He thew the woman who raised him and sacrificed for him under the bus by painting her a racist and embraced the man who preaches hate to his congregation to ensure its continuance. The liberals can spin it any way they want but the regular folks got the message loud and clear.
TheBigOldDog on March 18, 2008 at 3:36 PM
My God is there going to be anyone left in November to vote for?
Chuck Schick on March 18, 2008 at 3:38 PM
…for 20 years..
cntrlfrk on March 18, 2008 at 3:39 PM
Me!
Dread Pirate Roberts VI on March 18, 2008 at 3:39 PM
McCain looks pretty good to me!
4shoes on March 18, 2008 at 3:40 PM
depends…
upinak on March 18, 2008 at 3:41 PM
I think it all boils down to his own “white guilt”(self hatred), that others have beat into his head that he “isn’t really black”, so he has to do this junk, to get credibility of his black peers.
If thats the case, then he is even more hopeless, than anything, and not just him, but the black community as a whole.
I never understood why the black community does that to people, call them “uncle toms” or not “black” etc. that sort of rhetoric, is the problem.
Chakra Hammer on March 18, 2008 at 3:43 PM
In addition to that, he conveniently does not mention that Obama Snr’s father ‘didn’t want the Obama blood sullied by a white woman’.
wise_man on March 18, 2008 at 3:44 PM
Never thought I’d say this, but, me too!
iurockhead on March 18, 2008 at 3:45 PM
Williams speaks the truth. Obama was rationalizing for and excusing Wright more than condemning him. He tried to create a symptom that all his vocal black supporters can claim victim to going forward.
It’s a built-in excuse. When called out for saying something inappropriate, Obama’s black constituency can now admit that their statement waswrong yet defend their remarks as understandable, given the current and past history of race relations in the US.
awake on March 18, 2008 at 3:46 PM
Let’s examine the Black Liberation theology which Obama’s church is founded on.
— James Cone, a distinguished professor at New York’s Union Theological Seminary, cited by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright on the TUCC website as the man who “systematized” Wright’s theological system, known as Black Liberation theology.
Alden Pyle on March 18, 2008 at 3:47 PM
Ahhh!
Chakra Hammer on March 18, 2008 at 3:50 PM
I cringe at the thought of the hatred and lies that are inculcated into the young minds (all minds actually) at that church. I envision people walking out of church after services hating whites and american more than they did going in. Obama agreed w/ this organization by his and attendance and financial support. And somehow this qualifies him as the one to bring racial healing to this country? The sheer audacity.
Over30 on March 18, 2008 at 3:52 PM
Not me. I’ve already succumbed to Dread Pirate Roberts VI audaciousness of “Me!” and projected all my Church of the HA vocalized grievances onto his blank screen of hope. :)
Dusty on March 18, 2008 at 3:53 PM
He didn’t even address the stupidity of anyone, black or white, believing in Wright’s silly conspiracy theories (CIA behind AIDS/crack, etc.).
Believing this about one’s country is poisonous and Obama had an opportunity to sets some minds straight and he didn’t.
If he can’t even take on the lunatic left in his own party, how is he supposed to “unify” anything?
NoDonkey on March 18, 2008 at 3:54 PM
.
“A wench in every pot?”
Simonsez on March 18, 2008 at 3:54 PM
Obama may have succeeded in bringing the race issue front and center in this campaign.
bnelson44 on March 18, 2008 at 3:54 PM
Wow Alden! So, no wonder they also have a bit of a friendship with Islamo-Fascists!
kirkill on March 18, 2008 at 3:56 PM
ninjapirate on March 18, 2008 at 3:56 PM
One of any Church’s main reasons for existance is to Teach and Train its adhearents into a belief system. Thats why you “Preach”, and sermonize… you are teaching…
If you teach HATE and division, then guess what? You congregation will believe that messege.
If you sit in the pews for years on end you will either pick up the messege, or already believe in it… especialy here in America where the choice of religious denominations is so large.
Romeo13 on March 18, 2008 at 3:56 PM
Speeches are just press conferences where you pose your own questions and the only way out of this situation was for Obama to pose his own questions.
ninjapirate on March 18, 2008 at 3:57 PM
How’s this?
A gallows behind every court house. We might get a few wrong, but that won’t last long.
Free 4-year College tuition for everyone willing to attend a State School in return for paying a tax of .25% for every year attended, up to a maximum of 1%, assessed against their taxable income for life to fund the system for future generations. (At a taxable income of $100,000 annually for 30 years that comes to $30,000. You tell me where you can get a full college education for 30G’s….payable over 30 years!)
Implementation of a Consumption Tax replacing the Federal Income tax. You don’t want to pay taxes, don’t spend any money!
One year mandatory military service for everyone M/F at the age of 18, or upon completion of High School. No exceptions!. Wake up you spoiled little turds. It builds character, teaches you to be self-sufficient, makes you appreciate what you’ve got here in America and, more importantly, it gets you out of your parent’s house!!!!
Oh yeah! I forgot the wenches!
Dread Pirate Roberts VI on March 18, 2008 at 3:57 PM
One vote for DPR Inc. here…
Simonsez on March 18, 2008 at 3:59 PM
If Obama Was So Troubled by Wright’s Words… Why Keep Bringing His Daughters?
http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YjFkMDgzN2IwZGE0NWZlY2FmZWEwYzc1YjdjOThjNTc=
bnelson44 on March 18, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Rev. Wright, as the leader of the congregation, has the responsibility to end that sort of rhetoric. I never heard MLK use such language.
rbj on March 18, 2008 at 4:00 PM
No one mentions that the black blood in Obama is the black Muslim blood that sold American blacks into slavery in the first place.
Who says God does not have a tremendous sense of humor?
BL@KBIRD on March 18, 2008 at 4:05 PM
Lowery: “The Throw Your Dead Grandmother Under the Bus Speech”
bnelson44 on March 18, 2008 at 4:08 PM
I think Obama’s at the point where he believes his own hype. He’s been put on this earth to change America, to save America. Getting electing is the goal and by any means necessary (not in the Malcolm X/Rev. Wright sense). So he’ll evade and be slick. Adding a rhetorical shine and marketing it as a “New Politics” gives it a unique packaging, but it’s old-school Liberal politics like any other Democrat.
seanhackbarth on March 18, 2008 at 4:09 PM
Dead pol walking.
argos on March 18, 2008 at 4:10 PM
Good point.
It sure is a relief to know that Obama never heard a word of these bigotted, hate-filled, seditious tirades over 20 years – and, of course was in no way influenced by them. /sarc
Lockstein13 on March 18, 2008 at 4:12 PM
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think the debate is now officially in the solipsism phase.
freevillage on March 18, 2008 at 4:13 PM
Obama called the Rev Dr’s screechings “political” and criticisms of America’s domestic policies.
Does Barry think that it was a policy of the US to infect blacks with AIDS?
That guy is a slimy snake.
benrand on March 18, 2008 at 4:14 PM
His grandmother is not dead yet. She’s very old and sick though.
ninjapirate on March 18, 2008 at 4:14 PM
if you had Obama on video at one of these sermons, presumably standing up and shouting like the rest of them from what we’ve seen….wonder how much that would fetch?
jp on March 18, 2008 at 4:14 PM
Obama started this whole thing by trying to appear unknowledgable of what Wright was really all about and what he was preaching every week. THAT moment is where Obama really screwed up everything for himself. If he wasn’t so arrogant and would have been prepared for the inevitablity of being questioned about his racist, anti-US, anti-semetic, separatist church, he (more than likely) could have sailed through it and possibly even flipped it against his opponents. But now, Hussein Obama is on a downward spiral and won’t recover.
Only arrogance and stupidity would have made Obama think these things wouldn’t have been a big deal. Even a few libs (moderates) see this now. One good thing is that it will be fun to see Michelle really have to cool down her race-baiting rhetoric for a while. Her head will explode!
nottakingsides on March 18, 2008 at 4:18 PM
[ninjapirate on March 18, 2008 at 4:14 PM]
He was probably on the phone right after the speech telling her he didn’t even hear himself say it.
Dusty on March 18, 2008 at 4:22 PM
I dont know if many will agree with me on this, but I dont take offense to what he says about me, a white male, I do take offense to what he says about blacks that are conservative. They dont fall in line so they are part of the America of KKK,that I fond offensive.
How some of the black community treats blacks that dont follow their thinking, is despicable.
WoosterOh on March 18, 2008 at 4:25 PM
Ya know, I’d rather that we require all primary and secondary teachers have 4 years of military service to become credentialed.
Dusty on March 18, 2008 at 4:25 PM
Nothing about today’s speech changes my mind: Obama is running for the wrong job. I’m not looking for a healer or a preacher. I’m looking for an executive: someone who can make decisions, stand by them, accept and deal with the consequences. Someone who gets things done. Someone who understands that a tanking financial market will deny opportunity on an equal basis, regardless of race, race, or race. Someone who understands that a holy war against America isn’t America’s fault, and that defending America involves, you know, defending America.
Nothing about this speech makes me any more comfortable with Obama taking that call at 3:00 in the morning.
NeighborhoodCatLady on March 18, 2008 at 4:27 PM
Ed, you’re exactly correct. Obama should not only condemn, as he said, “in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright” but take the same step toward his fellow worshippers who jump up and down during Wright’s hate-filled sermons. They are the ones who will carry Wright’s message forward from here. They are the ones who will outwardly demand more than equal treatment. They are the ones who will wear that new found aggressiveness and superiority on their shoulder badges, and will cause more divisiveness than ever before.
I suspect on days when the Master Obama was away on political trips, his wife and kids attended Sunday services, and very likely were acting the same as the other folks on the videos. Someone ask Michelle if she attended those hate-filled Sundays (pick most any Sunday), and ask her if she may have supported the Reverend Wright in some of his thinking from time-to-time. Where is she anyway?
You know the Obama kids are growing up with that hatred just like their mother tries to control. Now, picture them in the White House … hating the America that built the house.
Sunshein on March 18, 2008 at 4:28 PM
seanhackbarth
Obama has been haded everything, he has even been handed the little achievements he has. Go back and see how he takes credit for things in Illinois, which he had nothing to do with.
He expects to be handed the presidency, just like everything else.
WoosterOh on March 18, 2008 at 4:29 PM
Nice way to send her out huh? What a piece of work this guy is. Throw the sick old lady under the bus because after all, she can’t hurt him the way Wright can…
TheBigOldDog on March 18, 2008 at 4:32 PM
Pay no attention to my hate / kill whitey church.
Pay no attention to my America hating racist wife.
Pay no attention to my black centric policy proposals.
Pay no attention to my clear lack of executive experience.
Pay no attention to my glaring lack of legislative experience.
Pay no attention to the factg that I have no private sector experience.
Pay no attention to the fact that I have no accomplishments.
Pay no attention to my confusion on foreign policy matters.
Pay no attention to ties to islamofacsits.
Pay no attention to ties to criminal foreign investors.
Pay no attention to my muslim dads.
Pay no attention to my muslim grandfathers and grandmothers.
Pay no attention to my muslim brother.
Pay no attention to my muslim cousin who burns Christians in their church.
Pay no attention to my muslim names.
Just keep chanting hope, change, hope, change, that’s it.
Alden Pyle on March 18, 2008 at 4:41 PM
Check this out, this church is uploading a ton of Wright videos today to try and flood youtube. Result is you find a bunch of minute or so versions of Wright not sounding crazy and makes it hard to find the crazy stuff that has already been posted.
http://youtube.com/user/TRINITYCHGO
damage control.
jp on March 18, 2008 at 4:42 PM
I’ll tell ya what really bothers me. Our US of KKKA has our military members, a revolving 150,000, in Iraq showing by their own example what they have learned as Americans and trying to persuade all the sects in Iraq to come to grips with their grievances, shed them for the good of themselves and their country, and get past that era of their lives, Barack Obama, as he runs for president, exhorts us to do the same, while he sits in a Church that continues to do the opposite and says it’s no big deal even while he says he denounces it.
It’s like an Abu Graib in the road to racial unity. And yes, like the left loves to do, I am being inflammatory with that simile.
Dusty on March 18, 2008 at 4:42 PM
heck, now I can’t find the good videos with the Fox News clips…wanted to hear the “Bill Clinton was Ridin’ Dirty” part again.
jp on March 18, 2008 at 4:46 PM
Juan keeps knocking down Obamas excuses, what is he going to run on now?
TroubledMonkey on March 18, 2008 at 4:56 PM
Was that a reference to McCain’s age? You’re an aaaaagist!
/humor
DocKen on March 18, 2008 at 5:05 PM
I hear that a staffer from the Obama campaign had a secret meeting with Obama’s Grandmother to assure her that she can ignore Obama’s quotes about her because they are just campaign reteric, and he does not really mean it. (/sarc)
AverageJoe on March 18, 2008 at 5:28 PM
WoosterOh, for the most part I think Obama is a nice guy. I won’t vote for him, nor do I think he would make a good President. But unlike Clinton I don’t loath him. What bugs me is his empty rhetoric about bringing in a “new politics.” We’re seeing Obama isn’t “new.” Like other pols he’ll say and do what needs to be done to get elected.
What’s different is I think Obama has bought into the idea that change can’t happen without him. He’s believing his own hype and breathed in the cult vapors of some of his supporters.
seanhackbarth on March 18, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Spell-check is a wonderful thing. (Note: Type in “Obama” in MSWORD 2003 and it suggests replacing it with “Osama”. Does this make Bill Gates a racist.)
AverageJoe on March 18, 2008 at 5:31 PM
Obama avoided responsibility
And this from a man who wants to answer that 3am phone call?
It appears more likely that he’d press the HOLD button instead.
pocomoco on March 18, 2008 at 5:52 PM
yes because bill gates is white just ask the messiahs mentor .
Mojack420 on March 18, 2008 at 6:10 PM
That is positively scary. You realize that people who think like that are only a step away from the mentality that breeds suicide bombers in Islam. Just what we need in this country.
MrLynn on March 18, 2008 at 6:13 PM
I have yet to see an ROTC teacher on a high school campus that did not receive respect from students, or understand how to reach the most unreachable. But don’t stop with high school, add the college professors as well. Of course that will create a severe shortage of college professors.
Franklyn on March 19, 2008 at 1:13 AM
jonah goldberg had a great article in in the LAT a few days ago. “Why Wright is wrong for Obama” One think Obama didn’t do yesterday is tell the black community why what Wright says is poisonous and wrong.
BadBrad on March 19, 2008 at 7:01 AM
Obama said in his speech that he couldn’t “disown” Jeremiah Wright because Wright brought Obama to his Christian faith. But people get their ideas about Jesus from one of two sources: either reading the Bible and/or the example of a spiritual leader or preacher. If Obama’s ideas about Jesus are based on Wright’s rants, is Obama really a Christian, or does he believe that Wright speaks in the name of God?
What’s really scary about some of those videos of Wright’s sermons are people in the audience standing trance-like with their arms upraised, as if they were receiving spiritual insight from God, while listening to flat-out lies about “God d@mn America” being in the Bible or Americans having used AIDS to poison Africans. Does Obama believe that the words of Wright are the word of God?
Has Wright ever said anything about loving one’s enemies, as Jesus did? Has Wright ever talked about repenting of one’s sins to receive forgiveness, and forgiving those who trespass against us? Has Wright ever talked about “thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor”, as he has DONE repeatedly in his sermons?
If Obama can’t disown Wright because Wright brought him to faith, the question becomes–is Obama’s faith (and hope) really in Christ, or in Wright? If Wright is Obama’s idea of Jesus, Obama cannot be trusted with the Presidency.
Steve Z on March 19, 2008 at 10:31 AM