A Transcendent Candidate?

The hardest question for someone from an identifiable minority running for president of the United States is "Will you represent your minority group first or will you represent the people as a whole, even to the detriment of your minority group?"

JFK and Romney had to answer this because of their religion. Lieberman had to assure the country that he would put the US ahead of Israel. The question is slightly different for someone who is not from a minority group. In that case the question is "Are you a racist?"

The question is not always asked outright. Sometimes it is assumed by the candidate's history. Hillary has been jettisoning campaign workers as an indirect answer for the racism question.

When Jesse Jackson was asked this question it was phrased as "Are you a black man who happens to be American or an American who happens to be black?" His answer was that he was a black man first which essentially disqualified him from the presidency.

Barack Obama has not had to answer this question until now. His life's narrative was considered answer enough. He is the son of a white American woman and a black African man. He was partly raised by a second back man in a 3rd world country and partly by his mother and grandparents. The implication is that he is as much a part of white culture as black culture and would be an American first. Ironically this impression was reinforced by his name.

Then came some revelations. The first one was that his wife doesn't think much of America. Obama tried to explain this away, saying that she is more proud than ever.

But the big one is his minister, the Reverend Wright. Conservatives have been saying for months that Obama's church was a cause for concern but only recently did someone from the mainstream news bother to buy copies of Wright's sermons and listen to them.

Wright is part of a movement known as Black Liberation Theology. This is a subset of Liberation Theology which interprets Christianity as a metaphor for socialism. Wright's version of this officially focuses on social justice and helping the poor. It also contains a great deal of conspiracies by whites. AIDS was created by whites to subjugate blacks. Crack cocaine exists in order to entice blacks to commit multiple felonies and be locked away by the three-strikes laws. He recently compared Obama's problems running for president with Christ who, along with the Israelis, was black (or at least African) and subjugated by white Romans.

Obama dismisses these statements insisting that we should judge everything that Wright does instead of just a few selected sermons. Considering how hard society comes down on someone like Don Imus (nappy-haired hoes) or Mel Gibson (anti-semitic ranting while drunk) for a single instance of unapproved speech, Obama is asking for a double standard.

His speech on race in America says some good things but it leaves me unimpressed. Like most of his campaign, he is promising great things if elected but has no record of accomplishment to prove that he is capable of these things. There is a lot that he could do from the position that he already holds. He complains about unequal schooling but fails to mention black students who reject white man's learning. Obama could do quite a bit of good if he sounded more like Bill Cosby.

Obama has been listening to Wright's various conspiracy theories for years. When he talks about the anger and resentment among blacks he needs to acknowledge that much of this comes from people like Wright who stoke that anger. Obama needs to go beyond asking each side to understand the other and tell his own side that whites are not conspiring against them. Only someone in his position can do this and it would go a long way toward his goal of perfecting race relations.

Obama is in a difficult position. His personal narrative was crafted to sooth whites into thinking that he thought of himself as mixed race instead of black. Early in the race people were questioning if he was black enough meaning if he was actually part of black culture. There is no question of that now but that raises an entirely new set of questions.

Wright is his spiritual leader and the person who is supposed to have brought him to Christ. Obama first came to national attention as a black Democrat who was comfortable talking about religion (as opposed to Kerry whose religious experience began and ended with being an altar boy). Now Obama's religious background is tainted. That has to hurt him.