The Real Problem With Rev. Wright

Well, aside from the sexism. Which is huge and completely ignored by the media.

The real problem with Wright's comments isn't that he is a racist. Calling a black man a racist against whites for being angry and hating the way he's been treated all his life is like calling a feminist a manhater. There is justifiable anger there and that is not racism.

But the problem is that Obama has been trying to walk this thin line of being palatable to angry white men while also being the hope of the black community. He has built a campaign up of how he is different, he is change, he is the modern face of American politics, post- racism, post-sexism. He makes no promises to either blacks or women (he specifically dismisses the needs of women actually). He has made it okay for liberal white men to accept him because he is not an angry black man, and he won't make liberal white men give up one smidgen of their power if they give him the presidency.

Until Wright comes along. And suddenly the messiah of change, the new face of American politics isn't such a sure bet after all for those angry white men. Suddenly, we see that Obama is just as much of a politician as the rest of them, and that he has this association with a man who would rip the power from those angry white men if he could.

To angry white men, Obama is not as trustworthy as he was a week ago. He is a politician just like the rest of them, willing to do or say whatever it takes to get power only to put his own agenda into play once his votes are counted. And what if that agenda just might include things that redistribute power in this country away from the white men?

It is that fear that the rethuglikans have been trying to play on with their Obama is a Muslim comments. Little did they know the Rev.Wright's own words would do a much better job of it than they ever could.

Personally, I would vote for a politician who just flat out said "we are going to change the power structure so that all people have access, white, black, brown, yellow, male, female, gay straight". I say screw the angry white men, there are more women than there are men in this country. And if you combine women with minorities, the angry white man becomes a small sector of the populace. The closest thing we have to that is Hillary, who has a track record of working on issues of social justice for people with no power.

I think it was in a book Rev. Wright would be familiar with where the quote "and by their deeds you shall know them "comes from. That is why experience matters. Without experience, Obama is a question mark in a time when we need concrete solutions. The more answers we get about him, the less he seems like someone who can do the hard work that will be required of the next president.