mrshl | blog

An editorial in the Chicago Tribune reveals another bombshell about Barack Obama’s embattled friend and minister:

In 1961, a young African-American man, after hearing President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” gave up his student deferment, left college in Virginia and voluntarily joined the Marines.

In 1963, this man, having completed his two years of service in the Marines, volunteered again to become a Navy corpsman. (They provide medical assistance to the Marines as well as to Navy personnel.)

The man did so well in corpsman school that he was the valedictorian and became a cardiopulmonary technician. Not surprisingly, he was assigned to the Navy’s premier medical facility, Bethesda Naval Hospital, as a member of the commander in chief’s medical team, and helped care for President Lyndon B. Johnson after his 1966 surgery. For his service on the team, which he left in 1967, the White House awarded him three letters of commendation.

As far as Wright goes, I’m not super critical of the soundbitten remarks for which he’s become (in)famous. Is he over the top and inaccurate? Sure he is. But so is Rush Limbaugh. So are Bush and Cheney (and the Tribute editorial points out their repeated avoidance of military service). Are his remarks so terrible? Let’s take a look (courtesy of Wikipedia):

Sound bites from a sermon that Wright gave in 2003, entitled “Confusing God and Government”, were also shown on ABC’s Good Morning America^[26] and Fox News, in which Wright made statements about God and the U.S. Government. In the sermon, Wright first makes the distinction between God and governments, and points out that many governments in the past have failed: “Where governments lie, God does not lie. Where governments change, God does not change.”^[28] Wright then states: “And the United States of America government, when it came to treating her citizens of Indian descent fairly, she failed. She put them on reservations. When it came to treating her citizens of Japanese descent fairly, she failed. She put them in internment prison camps. When it came to treating her citizens of African descent fairly, America failed. She put them in chains, the government put them on slave quarters, put them on auction blocks, put them in cotton field, put them in inferior schools, put them in substandard housing, put them in scientific experiments, put them in the lowest paying jobs, put them outside the equal protection of the law, kept them out of their racist bastions of higher education and locked them into positions of hopelessness and helplessness.”^[28]

Wright concludes by stating:” The government gives them the drugs,^[29] built bigger prisons, passes a three strike law, and then wants us to sing God bless America. No, no, no, not God bless America! God damn America — that’s in the Bible — for killing innocent people. God damn America, for treating her citizens as less than human. God damn America, as long as she pretends to act like she is God, and she is supreme. The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African descent.”^[28][30]

Do I think the US is responsible for drug use among blacks? Nope. But the incidental racism of our decades-long drug war isn’t a myth. Our black-letter law says crack dealers have to spend 100 times longer in prison than cocaine dealers. The only difference between the two drugs is that black people are the primary buyers and sellers of crack. It’s right there in the US Sentencing guidelines.

I’m voting for Obama, and it’s not because of his preacher. If I was voting against him, it also wouldn’t be because of his preacher. But it’s worth noting there’s more to Jeremiah Wright than what’s being reported.

Barack Obama is part of King Kaufman’s panel of NCAA tourney experts.

So is McCain. Sigh.

From the Associated Press:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he doesn’t wear the American flag lapel pin because it has become a substitute for “true patriotism” since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Asked about the decision Wednesday in an interview with KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Illinois senator said he stopped doing so shortly after the attacks and instead hoped to show his patriotism by explaining his ideas to citizens.

“The truth is that right after 9-11 I had a pin,” Obama said. “Shortly after 9-11, particularly because as we’re talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security.

“I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest,” he said in the interview. “Instead, I’m going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testament to my patriotism.”

You can expect Obama to catch holy hell from all sides. Indeed, it’s already started. Law professor Eugene Volokh argues that’s Obama’s decision is like deciding to stop telling your wife that you love her. Wrong. It’s like deciding to stop telling other people that you love your wife.

Like most people, I kind of assume that my married friends love their wives. I’d probably think it was weird if they decided to wear numerous symbols demonstrating something that should be obvious. Same goes for the flag. I don’t know a single person who wears a flag pin all the time. Or who is ostentatious about displaying a flag on their car, house, or boat. If you’re an American, and you live here on purpose, I kind of assume you love your country. I know I love my country.

I can kinda see what Obama’s saying, too. Overt, aggressive, and ubiquitous flag worship can seem kind of cheap and unseemly. And where’s the value of such a statement if everyone’s making it? This video filmed in NYC a few days after 9/11 does a fantastic job of making the point.

Finally, I’m not surprised that all the right-wing pundits are tripping over themselves to excoriate Obama’s conviction on this point. Ironically, though, I think Obama might be channeling a righteous source none of them would dare refute. Check out these words Jesus uttered to his disciples before delivering the Lord’s prayer:

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:5-6

Or try this one:

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Matthew 7:15-16

I think that’s sort of what Obama had in mind when he talked about true patriotism. When you look for a leader, you must look to the man, not his lapel pin.