>
> Doug
> >I doubt that Charles would recommend this in any other other
> situation. Obama, though, gets a free pass.
>
> I think Charles is just saying it's worth a try, in this time, place,
> conditions. I'm not convinced, but I see his point. I'm not convinced
> because some white people, perhaps many, rise and become better under direct
> criticism. They can take it--they can listen to Rev. Wright and vote Obama
> against McCain. More importantly they can learn some things from what
> Wright is saying. The question is how many will take it, or learn anything,
> in this particular moment. Charles certainly has good evidence on his side
> of whiteness being a disappointingly stubborn affliction. Maybe he's right
> that more subtlety is called for at this instant, not to be all post-racial
> but to nudge along to the next stage.
>
> Jenny Brown
Rev. Wright says:
"You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you." Earlier in his speech Wright specifically referred to one of the great terrorist operations of the last 25 years, U.S. acts of terror in Central America.
Obama as a presidential candidate simply cannot admit that the U.S. commits acts of terror. Not yesterday. Not a hundred years ago, but presently and continuously. The U.S. is the major terrorist state in the world today. Wright seems to know that. Obama can't admit that or try to solve it and run for president. So it is not a matter of forgiveness for past actions. The terrorism that the U.S. commits in the world is motivated by the need for capitalist domination but it is fueled by racist assumptions. So why is it "worth a try" to reconcile oneself with this kind of power structure?
This is the crux of the problem with all presidential candidates. It is possible to go out and vote for the "lesser evil" if you think that will help the people on the other end of U.S. violence. But Charles has bought into the con job that somehow Obama is different; that Obama somehow will bring reconciliation. If Obama is elected president what we will have to fight against is this kind of "false reconciliation," the facade of a capitalism with a human face, when nothing fundamental has changed. Will Obama even commit himself half-heartedly to ending the war crimes that the U.S. is committing in Afghanistan? Will he end the war crimes that we are aiding and abetting in the Gaza Strip? Will he end the war crimes we are currently committing in Colombia? Will he at all relate those war crimes to the racist assumptions about people who do not vote the way we like them to vote or support who supposedly cannot comprehend the kind of "values" we ourselves proclaim but never follow?
Jerry
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