On Tue, 25 Mar 2008, Doug Henwood wrote:
> I just asked Adolph Reed, who lived in Chicago at the time and watched
> Obama's rise up close, why a man who, as David Gergen put it on CNN the
> other night "doesn't have a radical bone in his body," buddied up to a
> fiery black nationalist preacher. Adolph said that Obama probably
> planned to run for mayor of Chicago, and needed to broaden his support
> beyond his base among Hyde Park liberals and the foundation world, so
> joining Wright's church would help. It's the only explanation I've heard
> that makes any sense.
The most interesting thing I've seen on this question is the following 1/2 hour online dialogue between John McWhorter and Glenn Loury:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bloggingheads/~3/255228328/9590
And it's not so much a particular answer as it is experiencing their perspective as it emerges through their talk. I mean, if Obama doesn't have a radical bone in his body, these guys must be considered at the conservative end of centrism. But not only doesn't this speech outrage them, but they honestly and strongly believe that it shouldn't outrage anyone else. To them, its no mystery why non-radical black guy like Obama wouldn't be outraged, might actually enjoy listening to this way of preaching. Rather it's a mystery, an important mystery they crack their intelligent heads on, as to why white people are. They've seen it a hundred times before, they're not surprised, but on some level they're viscerally still mystified as to why white people can be so dense.
And like I said, the interesting thing is not their argument as such, but rather experiencing the sincerity, sophistication, and most of all *absolute non-radical-ness* of the men expressing it. These guys are not seconding Wright the way people on the list of seconded him, because they agree with his factual assertions. They don't agree with him. They aren't radicals. They're just black. And they slowly made it really clear how that puts you in another world. And this guy is not only a normal fixture in that world, he's an esteemed one, and they think it's obvious he should be, and that it should be obvious to anyone else. And they think that if white people really honestly think Wright is a racist like Bull Conner was a racist then there's just no chance that the two sides will ever understand each other.
For me it was kind of an Aha experience of what it's like to live in two worlds, although it took a while to seep in and digest.
BTW, although they bill this as a kind of online tv, I find it works much better as a background talk radio while you're doing some kind of busy-finger work. (Note also that it isn't one continuous program, you have to click on each successive segment separately. And IMHO it continues to be interesting as it goes on.)
Michael