[Peace-discuss] Wright and Obama: Different Worldviews

[Brussel Morton K.]

Obama and Wright: Different Worldviews
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May, 05 2008By Glick, Ted


"We did not have to go through any of the violent upheavals that  
Europe was forced to endure as it shed its feudal past. Our passage  
from an agricultural to an industrial society was eased by the sheer  
size of the continent, vast tracts of land and abundant resources  
that allowed new immigrants to continually remake themselves."    
Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, p. 55

Jeremiah Wright summarized the difference between him and Obama in  
his interviews last weekend as, "I do what pastors do. He does what  
politicians do. I am not running for office."

But there is more to it than this.

Rev. Wright is an unapologetic African American preacher who has no  
hesitation speaking the truth in the best of the religious prophetic  
tradition. He uses the word "imperialism." He talks about  
"oppressors" and "oppressed" and "God's desire for a radical change."  
He says, accurately, that "you cannot do terrorism on other people  
and expect it never to come back on you."

Barack Obama, as is clear from a close reading of "The Audacity of  
Hope" and a review of his Democratic Party political career, is all  
about rising up within the world of the Democratic and Republican  
parties, the corporate duopoly. And if you are committed to that  
political world and becoming President through it, it is not  
surprising that you would do things like whitewash U.S.history, as  
the quote above does. Genocidal policies toward Indigenous people,  
the hideous reality of slavery and Jim Crow, the invasion of Mexico  
and takeover of much of its territory, even the Civil War and  
Reconstruction: nowhere in Obama's book does he address these truths  
of our history.

Obama said at his April 29th press conference where he broke with his  
pastor of 20 years that, "What became clear to me was that he was  
presenting a world view that contradicts who I am and what I stand  
for. And what I think particularly angered me was his suggestion that  
my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political  
posturing. . . so where I start hearing comments about conspiracy  
theories and AIDS and suggestions that somehow Minister Farrakhan has  
been a great voice in the 20th century, then that goes directly at  
who I am and what I believe this country needs."

It is true that a handful of statements made by Wright in response to  
questions from the press at the National Press Club gave them an  
opening to caricature him as too radical, too out of touch with the  
U.S. political mainstream, the political mainstream that Obama has  
been laboring mightily, for years, particularly over the past 16  
months, to steer in a somewhat more progressive direction.

It is also true that, faced with near-certain, continued media  
attention on the Obama/Wright relationship, Obama needed to address  
the "worldview" differences between them, which are real. But was it  
really necessary for him to use words like these in doing so:   
"divisive and destructive," "the spectacle that we saw yesterday,"  
and "a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in truth"?

Obama said that "when you start focusing on the plight of the  
historically oppressed, you lose sight of what we have in common. . .  
it doesn't describe properly what I believe, in the power of faith to  
overcome but also to bring people together."

If he truly believes that he's different in this way than Wright,  
then he didn't read all of Wright's National Press Club speech, or he  
deliberately discounted major parts of it, like this conclusion:

"The prophetic theology of the black church has always seen and still  
sees all of God's children as sisters and brothers, equals who need  
reconciliation, who need to be reconciled as equals. . .  
Reconciliation means we embrace our individual rich histories, all of  
them. We retain who we are, as persons of different cultures, while  
acknowledging that those of other cultures are not superior or  
inferior to us; they are just different from us. We root out any  
teaching of superiority, inferiority, hatred or prejudice. And we  
recognize for the first time in modern history, in the West, that the  
other who stands before us with a different color of skin, a  
different texture of hair, different music, different preaching  
styles and different dance moves; that other is one of God's children  
just as we are, no better, no worse, prone to error and in need of  
forgiveness just as we are. Only then will liberation, transformation  
and reconciliation become realities and cease being ever elusive  
ideals."

Barack Obama has made a genuine effort to run a different kind of  
campaign, one which is more issue-oriented and less about the  
divisive and dishonest personal attacks that often characterize what  
passes for "political debate" in this country. But in this case, the  
case of Rev. Wright, Obama has failed his own test. The corporate  
media has made him bend his principles.

If Obama wins the Democratic nomination and if he wins the  
Presidency, which I continue to hope he does as the best candidate  
when compared with Clinton and McCain, we can expect to see more  
examples of Obama rejecting consistently progressive positions.  
Hopefully, he will feel that it is incumbent that he follows through  
on much of his generally progressive campaign rhetoric and fights for  
generally progressive government policies. But like Jeremiah Wright,  
we need to be prepared, no matter who is elected President, "November  
5th, I'm [we're] coming after you, because you'll be representing a  
government whose policies grind under people."

Government of, by and for the people: that must be the objective. We  
aren't going to get it on November 4th, 2008, but if we don't lose  
our critical consciousness, if we don't defend indefensible  
positions, if we speak truth to power, whether Democrat or  
Republican, and if we keep working to find the ways to come together  
into a powerful, grassroots-based, multi-cultural independent  
progressive movement, we can make progress this year toward that long- 
term objective.


Ted Glick is active in the climate movement. He is a supporter of  
Cynthia McKinney's Power to the People/Green Party Presidential  
campaign. He can be reached at indpol at igc.org
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