I Don't Like Doing This

This is kind of uncomfortable.

I'm about to write a post that rebuts something another blogger I respect wrote in their space. It's not having a dissenting opinion that I dislike. Rather, it's the difficulty in finding a way to express my opinion powerfully without being insulting, that's a problem. Anyway, here goes nothing.

So, the Christian Progressive Liberal over at Jack and Jill Politics took Obama to task yesterday because she felt he was allowing a double standard regarding Rev. Jeremiah Wright to flourish. She said that Obama needed to be called out because he dumped Wright from his life after embarrassing statements about him surfaced, but decided to allow Warren to speak at the inauguration despite the furor regarding his comments about homosexuals. Here is a link if y'all want to check her argument out.

There is no doubt that Jeremiah Wright was treated differently than Rick Warren. While Warren has been criticized and condemned, the outrage is nowhere near as great as the outrage and attention paid to Wright. That's an indisputable fact. Moreover, it's absolutely true that this is partially due to the color of their skin. Again, I can't dispute that.

But, I'm still trying to determine why it's Obama's fault.

Let's recap: Videos of Wright preaching sermons that roughly 80 percent of black folks agree with surfaced during the primary. White people went bat shit. Obama, running for a position that needs the support of white people, told America that he didn't agree with what Wright had said, but cautioned people not to judge the man by a few small soundbites. White people continued to go bat shit. Obama gave the best speech on race ever given by a politician, and most white people calmed the fuck down.

Then, after spending a few months chilling in an undisclosed location, Rev. Wright resurfaced and decided to go bat shit crazy himself. This dude was getting jiggy in interviews, showing out in speeches and then damn near had a fit during a press conference. That's when black people got angry. They questioned Wright's motives and his timing, and urged Obama to cut his old ass loose. Obama, feeling hurt and betrayed, gladly obliged. The end.

I'm still waiting to get to the part where Obama threw his spiritual guide under the bus.

In my eyes, Obama handled the Wright situation pretty well. He refused to give in to pressure and call his pastor a raving black lunatic when the initial videos surfaced. He then urged Americans to move beyond their trite discussions of race. Finally, he only dumped Wright when the pastor clearly did not have his best interests at heart.

Where was the betrayal?

And that brings me back to the Warren issue. Obama is handling Warren the same way he handled Wright. Warren said some crazy shit and Obama made it clear that he does not agree with those comments.(By the way, comparing homosexuality to bestiality is going too far. Here's a question, how come preachers never compare homosexuality to adultery or fornication? They're all in the same sexual sin family, yet preachers always skip right over adultery and fornication when they talk about actions that should be illegal. Just a thought.) Obama then pointed out that Warren has a right to his opinion and asked people to consider where his viewpoints come from.

Now Obama is ready to move on and is urging everybody to do the same. Once again, I don't see the double standard.

Obama has clearly stated that he supports civil unions and not gay marriage, just like the majority of Americans. He has made it clear that he believes that homosexual civil unions should have all of the financial and health benefits of heterosexual marriages. When has he wavered from this position? He has not compared homosexuality to bestiality or pedophilia, so why is he suddenly being held responsible for the words of Rick Warren?

See, this whole convoluted issue would be funny if it wasn't so serious. People are becoming upset because of Obama's ASSOCIATIONS! Didn't we rail against the media and white people for doing the same thing? Didn't we tell them that you can only hold Obama responsible for what he says and does, not for what people he knows say and do? Strangely, while Warren may hold views that many liberals disagree with, the Philadelphia pastor chosen to do the benediction falls right in line with a liberal Christian doctrine on abortion and gay marriage. Yet, Obama has not gotten any credit for that.

Obama is allowing two preachers with vastly different opinions to speak at the same event. They are being given the same profile and the same honor, and basically people on the left are saying that since they don't agree with one dude he should just shut up. Seriously, people don't think that there are conservatives appalled that a preacher who believes in gay marriage and abortion is being allowed to do the benediction? Don't liberals think that is a big deal for conservatives?

I guess liberals have learned some valuable lessons from the Bush presidency. They've discovered that the best way to deal with dissent is to minimalize it and drown it out. They've learned to force everyone you vote for to think exactly the same way you do by threatening them with banishment. They haven't learned to treat opponents with respect, instead they've decided to rule with an iron fist and kill anyone that fights them.

Wonderful.

I know some gay marriage supporters will compare opposing gay marriage to opposing interracial marriage or opposing basic civil liberties for black people. They may wonder how I as a black person would feel if a politician invited one speaker who thought blacks were fully human to speak and then invited a speaker who thought blacks were sub-human to speak. Good point. I would feel like both sides had their chance to speak and now people need to make up their own minds. I would also look to the politician and see what he believes to decide if I still supported him.

That's the main issue here. If gay people want to use gay marraige as a litmus test, then Obama fails. He has already said he doesn't support it. He was not vocal in opposition to Proposition 8. This is who he is and who he has been since the campaign began. Gay marriage advocates sound ludicrous saying Obama's selection of Warren is a betrayal when Obama is basically holding true to his own previously stated beliefs!

More and more, I'm starting to suspect that folks on the left are just as bad as folks on the right when it comes to wanting people to follow there views in lockstep. These folks love to crack down on politicians who deviate in the slightest from a staunch liberal platform. Well that's bullshit. Dennis Kucinch did not get elected president!

We elected Barack Obama. He's a politician who has embraced some liberal economic policies, but has also been fairly close to the middle of the road on social issues. He is not staunchly ANYTHING except for his own man. That's who we elected. Holding him to some random standard that has nothing to do with what the majority of Americans, or black people think, and then basically calling him a traitorous coward seems ridiculous.

Obama has treated Warren almost exactly as he initially treated Jeremiah Wright. There has been no double standard from Obama.

The real double standard is from folks on the left crying about the hardness of Republican hearts and then unveiling their own granite tickers as soon as they smell power.



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