Jennifer Rubin at Commentary asks
Obama seems to be an intelligent and decent person. Yet when he says this sort of thing, you wonder what in heaven’s name is wrong with him. What would it have taken for Obama to leave Wright’s church? Or speak out publicly against these statements?
Easy. Because he can’t without alienating his base.
The answer to why Obama can’t just leave Wright’s church or denounce the remarks is obvious: blacks would be insulted. They see nothing wrong with Wright or what he said, most of them agree with him and believe the conspiracy theories and the general attitude of hate and distrust, dislike and disgust with whites, and leaving the church would be repudiating opinions many blacks seem to share. Obama is trying to have his cake and eat it too, reassure whites while still holding on to his black “authenticity” with the black community.
The entire affair has opened this “typical white person”‘s eyes to the fact that far from transcending race, Obama is part of the black establishment that perpetuates the race problem in this country with insane conspiracy rants, anti-White Americanism and divisive jeremiads. I thought we were progressing as a country and racism was receding. Now I know that its just as bad as ever, and people like Obama make it worse by exposing the next generation, his own daughters, to the racist lies Wright spews, keeping the black community in permanent victimhood mode and angry and resentful towards whites.
How the hell are we supposed to “heal racial wounds” with that kind of preaching accepted by the first serious black candidate for president? And what does it say about the black community that you have to join such a church to gain “authenticity” among them? I’m pretty saddened for my country by this entire episode and I have to say the black community, and I include the entire community because I’ve yet to see a black leader denounce Wright, has not come even halfway in trying to reconcile with whites. In fact, they are going the wrong direction.