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Wright Shows He's No Politician
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is a man of many faces. He’s an old-school 70’s leftie, a man who preached every Sunday in what the American religion scholar Martin Marty has called “greenish African-American pajamas.” He’s an intellectual, a professor who reads Hebrew and Greek, a gifted musician who can play a wide variety of instruments and a teacher who feels comfortable tossing around words like “hermeneutics,” as he did Monday morning in a speech at the National Press Club. And he’s an angry black man, a pastor who has spent his life fighting injustice everywhere he sees it. When a questioner asked him to explain the now-familiar sound bite-a snippet from a sermon in which Wright damned America for sending its young men and women to war--Wright did not flinch. He said that he had told Barack Obama that if the Illinois senator were to be elected President, “On November 5, I’m coming after you.”
If Wright’s speech on Monday--to an overflow crowd of press and members of the African American religious establishment--showed anything, it’s that these different personae don’t always play well together. Wearing a black suit, white shirt and a silver-gray tie, Wright sat on the dais before the proceedings began, looking professorial--a man with a long and proud career, chatting amiably with acolytes. When he began to speak, this side of him emerged even more. His remarks offered a history lesson to the white press, as he delivered an even-handed lecture on the roots of the black church in America, going back to the days before emancipation, when black people had to worship God in secret. His elegant hands always in motion, he spoke movingly of a religion formed out of oppression and victimhood, a religion that preached always about justice and equality. And he chided the mainstream press for having just discovered this rich vein of American tradition. “These streams tragically remain ‘invisible’ to a dominant culture that knows nothing about those whom Langston Hughes calls ‘the darker brother,’” Wright said.
In his speech on race in March, Obama said that Wright saw the world through the lens of race--a lens that the candidate rejected as old fashioned and out of date. “The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if in this country--a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land . . . is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past,” Obama said. On Monday morning, Wright walked into the modern world, arguing that he and his church spoke for everyone, especially everyone who has ever been “invisible.” Maybe now, Wright said, we can begin to take steps to move the black religious tradition from the status of ‘invisibility’ to the status of ‘invaluable visibility,’ not just for some black people in this country, but for all people in this country!” With this rhetoric, Wright aligned himself with Obama and his commitment to diverse coalition-building--refusing, in a sense, to keep the distance Obama has tried so hard to create.
Only twice or three times during the speech did Wright’s temperature go up; even then, it was nowhere as hot as the searing images that have been looped over and over on cable television. Once, when talking about the difference between black worship and “European-American worship,” he departed from the text before him. Black preaching, is different, he said. It is not deficient. And then, in a clear reference to criticisms of his own controversial style he added this: “It is not bombastic. It is not controversial.” African-Americans in the audience cheered, “Go ahead, Doctor!” and the place erupted. In response to critics who have called into question his patriotism, he had this to say: “My goddaughter’s unit just arrived in Iraq this week while those who call me unpatriotic have used their position of privilege to avoid military service.” Again, the room exploded, with members of the white press mutely scribbling in their notebooks or smiling silently, while African Americans shouted and cheered. The speech itself was an A+ performance, a kind of black church 101 by one of its most decorated practitioners aimed at a white audience who, for the most part, hadn’t a clue.
During the question-and-answer session, though, Wright showed another side of himself--a side that Martin Marty, in an interview for a story about Obama’s Trinity Church in Chicago, described as follows: “Funny as he can be, smiling, but he can also be--I don’t want to say aggressive. Kind of angry. That’s what he grew up with, that’s what he’s part of.”
This edgier aspect has been a problem for Obama--and will certainly continue to be as the race goes on. Fielding questions from the audience via a representative of the National Press Club, Wright was quick-witted, and sometimes cruel to the questioner. He was sarcastic, and blamed the media for the whole debacle surrounding the sound bites that have raised such questions, especially among white working-class voters. The media hasn’t done its homework, he said; its members don’t know anything about the black church and haven’t listened to his sermons in full. The attacks on him have been an attack on his whole tradition--a tradition of which he’s very proud, Wright said. When asked why he decided to start speaking out now, he answered: “You think I’m going to let you talk about my mama and her religious traditions and my daddy and his religious traditions, you’ve got another thing coming.” These accusations may contain truth, but a smart politician would never have made them.
Wright was asked to explain his relationship with the Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan, a relationship of particular concern to some Jewish voters. “Louis Farrakhan did not put me in chains. He did not put me in slavery and he did not make me this color,” Wright answered. When asked if he really believed the U.S. government spread AIDS among African-Americans, he said, “I believe our government is capable of doing anything… Yes, I believe we are capable.” In an instant the professor had become, to use Wright’s word, invisible, and the angry black man had taken his place.
Every church of any size-black or white--instantly puts its preacher’s Sunday message on DVD these days, and the preacher’s fans and students line up to purchase it in the bookstore after church. This is how Jeremiah Wright’s sermons found their way onto cable news stations and became such a problem for Obama. Wright did not seek the national spotlight. It found him. His talk on Monday showed him to be a complex figure--a man of great intelligence and vision who, in a sense, is refusing in spite of Obama’s declining poll numbers to stop preaching the message he’s preached all along. Wright continues to be relentlessly, one could even say aggressively, critical of the white establishment on behalf of his own constituency--a constituency that does not generally include the white, beer-drinking working class Democrats who Obama so badly needs to woo and win. Wright showed himself to be both professor and preacher. What he’s not is what Obama now most needs him to be--and that is a politician.
By
Lisa Miller
|
April 29, 2008; 7:46 AM ET
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Posted by: ruth | July 5, 2008 11:30 AM
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I think that Rev. Wright has stumbled into a very large fortune...that fancy DVD everone was showing was copyright protected. Who's laughing now ?
Posted by: ubuibiok | May 28, 2008 5:43 AM
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Good job Lisa, I think you treated Wright fairly.
Posted by: Milton Richardson | May 3, 2008 4:24 PM
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There is a lot of talk about "black churches" and "white churches", what about "Jesus's Church"?
Take care, be ready.
Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.
Posted by: Thomas Baum | April 30, 2008 11:25 AM
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More excuses for lying from the pulpit what a shame.
The problem is that there are far too many Jeremiah Wright's in the Black community and to few Obama's and Cosby's.
Posted by: Garyd | April 29, 2008 10:33 PM
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It is my deepest wish that Americans would get to a place in which we allowed ourselves to take opportunities like this to grow through the past that plague us. But our egotistical need to see only from our own prospective is what is going to keep our country the "greatest country in the world" in name only.
I am discouraged as I listen to the rhetorical regarding the comments of Rev. Wright. I am saddened that a person could serve a community for the equivalent of someone’s lifetime and all the blood, sweat and tears that are invested in that service would be reduced to a few sound bites cleverly feed to mass media. Frankly, I am taken aback that we are unable to get past the words of a preacher (spoken in “his house,” never-the-less) and move into what is felt by many people OF this country as the spoken word that best represents the experiences of their lives, simply due to a roll of the pigmentation dice.
After we are finished debating who is right and who is wrong, it is my hope that we focus on a few facts:
Racism still exists and many people are expectedly and unexpectedly affected by it on a daily basis. Rev. Wright lives (and preaches) from his prospective, because that is human nature – we all engage in this way of living. Rev. Wright’s constituents are mostly African American and irrespective of your economical status; racism becomes the common denominator of people of color. When one is dealing with a force that you feel more aggressively than you can articulate, one needs a common ground for deliverance – the black church becomes that source. It is difficult for white people to fully understand the affects of racism, because it is not their experience. Starting an honest dialogue about racism is scary; so many people would rather debate the superficial definition of the term, rather than discuss how to abolish the behavior.
But as Americans, claiming to live in the “greatest country in the world,” we can continue to ignore the feces spreading from the proverbial elephant in our proverbial room and watch our society continue to crumble due to old beliefs and ill feelings from the past. Or we can pay attention to our past and learn how to create a better future for our children and grandchildren.
I personally have hope for the latter.
Posted by: Hoping For the Best | April 29, 2008 3:13 PM
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SOMEONE said, "Right now, Wright is enjoying the attention, and most importantly, the money."
The money says it all. Preacher is a **cushy** job that can bring in the big bucks. There are a lot of starving preachers no doubt but there are big successes like America's pastor Billy G. Rich is a word that has been associated with high faith since Constantine decreed tithing. And yes, there are the intangibles, status, prestige, attention and more.
How much does preaching contribute to the economy? How much does it take out of the economy? Somewhere I heard that all issues are economic. Could that be so? There are those things money can't buy like love and we know churches are bubbling over with love of God.
Makes one wonder what gives when Jesus said, "sell all your earthly possessions and distribute to the poor" when preachers, black ones perhaps more than white, prey upon the poor in the name of Jesus. Did Jeremiah ever give that "off the shelf" sermon about how much more Jesus loves the poor woman that gave half of her money even though it was a pittance compared to the amount given by the rich man who only gave a small percentage of all he had?
Posted by: BGone | April 29, 2008 12:04 PM
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In an ideal world, Wright's speech (I saw the second half and some bits from earlier on, ) would highlight the *big differences* between himself and Obama.
I found Wright pretty impressive, actually, but it should be obvious that Obama's by no means in lockstep with the guy, as the media and Swiftboaters want to lead people to think.
Once again, of course, the media leapt to label things and make it about Obama.
Frankly, there's a difference between a message given and what message is taken away. The Wright press conference should have made this obvious to all.
Posted by: Paganplace | April 29, 2008 11:56 AM
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Wright doesn't want Obama to be elected president. Right now, Wright is enjoying the attention, and most importantly, the money. And if Obama isn't elected president, Wright can continue shouting his message from the housetops - It's all the white people's fault.
Posted by: Someone | April 29, 2008 10:49 AM
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Rev. Wright has consistently and truthfully noted that he is not a politician, but a preacher. He is not trying to seek the oval office, yet the media is trying to force him to be something he is not.
Unfortunately, American media has become so biased, that it has become insulting to any citizen who has taken the time and energy to obtain higher education. What is being propagated daily by so-called news venues is for individuals who do not take the time to check sources, and vet information that is broadcast throughout various medium.
If people will not vote for Obama because of what Rev. Wright says, or because he is supposedly Muslim, or because he is unpatriotic for not wearing a lapel pin, or elitist, then the media has done its job. Instead, the country will vote for the status quo - A white male who is accepted as having the best interests of the populace because he says so, not because he had to prove his faith, patriotism, or non-elitism.
Posted by: Felstein1 | April 29, 2008 1:29 AM
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Yea, how does John McCain get a pass. After all, he spent 20 year at Rev. Hagee's church drinking in the words of his spiritual advisor.
What a fantasy world.
Don't know why Obama supporters are so worried about painting McCain as an extremist just yet.
First of all, not many folks will believe McCain is a the worst thing since Hitler outside of leftist bloggers of a board like this or far right wing bloggers on a board that caters to them. Most importantly, Obama has gotta get by Clinton first. After the latest Wright speech, I'm really beginning to think that Wright is actually working to ensure a Clinton victory.
Are you not entertained?
Posted by: ghostbuster | April 28, 2008 9:48 PM
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This is one of the most insightful and well balanced analyses of this controversy that I've read since it first erupted. As both a journalist and a black minister, I'm saddened by the extent to which most colleagues in the mainstream media fail to understand the complexities of the black church and our leaders, thus failing to convey the fullness of the African American experience for others to at least, hopefully begin to understand, even if they might not be equipped to appreciate it.
Posted by: preacher girl | April 28, 2008 7:30 PM
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Politics is all about persuading folks to vote for your candidate. Maybe Jeremiah is a Clinton or McCain supporter? Could he fear a black president would steal his poor depressed black folks thunder? Is he getting paid anything to speak yet, you know, like Bill Clinton?
Posted by: BGone | April 28, 2008 6:33 PM
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I'm waiting for someone to examine John McCain's spiritual adviser, John Hagee, in as much detail as you have examined Rev. Wright. New Orleans and its gay parades so offended god he unleashed a hurricane. The Pope is the anti-Christ Hitler's antisemitism was the result of being educated at Catholic schools.
John Hagee is a hate monger, in a class by himself. Wright's remarks appear benign next to Hagee's, and yet McCain doesn't denounce or reject but in fact welcomes his endorsement. You call yourself a journalist? Then do your job. Examine John Hagee and spread the findings on front pages of magazines and newspapers.
Posted by: Rosemarie McMichael | April 28, 2008 6:10 PM
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WHO WOULD YOU VOTE FOR?
We in Denmark cannot figure out why you are even bothering to hold an election in the United States.
On one side you have a bi-ch who is a lawyer and married to a lawyer opposing a lawyer who is married to a bi-ch who is also a lawyer.
On the other side you have a true war hero who is married to a beautiful woman with a huge chest who owns a beer distributorship.
Is there really a contest here??
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | April 28, 2008 5:48 PM
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Great article. If Obama fails to be nominated, he has this person to thank.
It makes one wonder why this preacher doesn't join Bill Crosby and try to push black people into a brighter future by taking advantage of what society at present (not "static") has to offer.
It makes one wonder if this is not at all about Obama. It is about a preacher who tries to steal the spotlight at the expense of a historical moment - a first black President elected. If he cared about Obama and the future of black people, he would have disappeared into the background.
Posted by: WDC | April 28, 2008 5:17 PM
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RACISM in any color is still heinous and should be overtly rejected by all peace-loving Americans.
Patrick J Burwell/Patrick@OnlyJesusSaves.com
Posted by: patrick@onlyjesussaves.com | April 28, 2008 4:41 PM
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Wright said: "I served six years in the military. Does that make me patriotic? How many years did (Vice President Dick) Cheney serve?"
BINGO
What more does Rev. Wright need to say? On April 7, 1775 the famous American Patriot, Samuel Johnson, said that the cries of patriotism are the last refuges of the scoundrel.
Posted by: E Nelson | April 28, 2008 4:36 PM
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Rev. Wright wants to fire up the lost debate in thsi country about racism. That's all well and good but he's doing it at Obama's expense.
Just as many White Americans believe in black helicopters, the Bilderbergs, secret societies and all the rest, Black Americans believe that White America has systematically tried to eliminate them just as it has the Native American population.
The real question to all of this is whether Mr. Obama believes the message Rev. Wright has been delivering since he bacame a member of his church. If e believes all the things Rev. Wright says, then he needs to be man enough to admit that he believes that the US Government invented AIDS to kill blacks, that 9-11 was basically "what goes around comes around" and all the rest of Re. Wright's oft stated beliefs.
But, as we hold Mr. Obama's feet to the fire, we also need to hold Mr. McCain to the same standards. He needs to answer for the comments of his supporter and spiritual advisor Rev. Hagee. Rev. Hagee makes as many off the wall comments as Rev. Wright.
Is it because he's white that he get's less press for his spin on the world today, his take on the Bible and such?
Surely if a Black preacher can be taken to task for his believes, the same privelege must be give to the White preacher.
Posted by: Stephen | April 28, 2008 4:27 PM
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What some people call racism I call a superiority complex...Especially today.
As for Jeremiah Wright if he hates America so much let him go live in starving, aids ridden, war torn africa and leave Americans in peace...
I have read that Jeremiah Wright was once a muslim.. and that his degree was in studies of Islam, (his own words)....Mr. Wright by his own words also believes muslims are THE OTHER SHEEP Jesus spoke of...Wrong, those other sheep are the Christians paul and the apostles rounded up..
Muslims are those who preach another Jesus and another gospel and another spirit of god that Paul warned of..in 2 Corinthians, 4,14..Jeremiah Wright is not only confused about America and racism he is also confused about Christianity..Jesus said you cannot eat of the lords table and of satans.. This is precisely what Mr. Wright does...