Posted by
Andrews on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 1:29:22 PM
I know I have said again and again I hate to disclose personal details, but for the purpose of illustration, let me open up my family tree a bit.
I have a cousin who ran a gym on Fire Island. I have a great uncle who spent a lot of time traveling with wealthy older gentlemen "friends". One of my uncles had a life's goal of owning a hog farm in Tennessee (and did it). Another cousin married two different members of motorcycle gangs (fortunately not at the same time). A great aunt was a supporter of Archbishop Lefebre and attended nothing but Latin masses. My mother has political views left of Lenin on many of topics. My father seems to think that everyone outside of his immediate friends and family is probably a criminal.
And none of that says one thing about who I am.
On the other hand, the synagogues I choose to attend, the people I call friends and mentors, the woman I choose to marry, those speak volumes about who I am. All of those are choices I made, my family is mine simply by accident of birth.
This is the point lost on those who think Obama's grandmother shtick was so clever. Obama may not be able to renounce his grandmother, but that is because he never chose her, so he can't renounce her.
He CHOSE to associate for 20 years with Reverend Wright. That makes all the difference.
We cannot criticize Obama for things his family said, nor do we expect him to renounce them. (I have said as much
in comments and in
one other post.) But we are on solid ground asking why he chose to associate himself for 20 years with a hate spewing conspiracy theorist.
Sorry to continue beating on this particular dead horse, but every time I think the point has begun to get through to even the most ardent Obamaniacs, I see another person declaring that Obama "settled the question", and waxing enthusiastic about how racial healing is back on track.
Obama lost the mantle of racial healer the moment he returned to liberal form and blamed past racism for Wright's hatred. A healer would have made no excuses, he would have issued a mea culpa, denounced Wright without reservation or excuse, and repented of his own blindness. That would be the move of a racial healer, admission of his own shortcomings, followed by a promise to improve.
What Obama offered was the response of a traditional liberal politician. Obfuscation and race baiting.