The Media Double Standard on Obama and Wright …

Barack Obama’s Philadelphia speech (replete with Founding Father symbolism in the City of Brotherly Love) gives him a win-win, so to speak.  First: he gets a moment to look iconic again, after several weeks of looking very politician.  Perhaps it’s the type of message that can energize the left of the Democratic Party: a “unity” message that can put peeps back on the path to a movement.  We’ll see. 

 But, here’s the win-win in this: If he wins this thing all the way to the White House, he can look back and say: “See – the tipping point in this race was my speech on race across the street from the birthplace of this great Union.  It was there that I brought this country together.”  He can, literally, paint himself as the authentic “uniter.” 

If he loses either the path to the nomination or to the White House, he can also say: “Well – the moment of fate for my campaign was this controversy with Rev. Wright.  And I responded to that moment with a unifying message.  Obviously, it was politically risky.  But, it was, morally, the right thing to do as somebody had to do it.”  Basically, he loses with mad grace and becomes a permanent, iconic fixture in American politics.

That’s our analysis on Obama’s brave, admirable speech on Tuesday.  It left a lot of folks on both sides of the aisle in awe of him.  His critics could only keep reaching on what they thought he didn’t say or what they believed he should’ve said.  Thing is … he said it all.

Now on that double standard.  Oh – and it’s a big double standard.  The kind that keeps poking you in the eye.  The way the media rides this Wright controversy is awfully telling indeed.  For one: there is little, if any, analysis on “Black Liberation” theology, which is what Wright had been doing throughout the course of those 4,000 sermons he delivered as head pastor of Trinity.  We suspect it’s because folks are scared of that analysis and the ugly realities it may present.  That Black churches are venues offering Black people an opportunity to vent their frustration once a week. 

Many talk about Wright’s sermon, but few dare discuss the call-and-response action to it.  Few dare touch the fact that his congregation loved it.  We’re certain quite a few media analysts, pundits and prognosticators had ancestral Nat Turner flashbacks on that one.  How ironic that as “Black anger” flashed on every American TV screen this week, the Supreme Court argued over the constitutionality of individuals arming themselves with guns.  Hmmmm ….

Anyway, more on the double standard.  The double standard appears in the fact that every major Black politician is called to task for the irate, controversial or otherwise despicable comments of some prominent Black activist or theologian who commands respect with the larger African American community.  That has to be annoying for the Black political establishment, but they sign on to it.  Sometimes, they wish they could say: “would ya’ll give it a rest?” But, of course, there are too many, so many social and very vocal commentators and critics of the Black experience who ride their coattails into the public domain.  Much like Wright has done with Obama; no one beyond Chicago really knew of Wright like that until this controversy.  Now, he’s a celebrity.  You think he’s all torn up about this, remorseful that he may have ruined the Senator’s bid for the Presidency? Did he really care about how it would impact his protege/friend who happens to be running for President? 

Minister Louis Farrakhan always appears as the media litmus test for Black public figures, even if they have absolutely nothing to do with him or the Nation of Islam.  Hence, a similar situation with Wright. The game is played time and time again.  It’s tiring since it has absolutely nothing to do with nothing.

But, there is little mention or critique of Texas mega-church minister John Hagee’s endorsement of presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain.  No one rides McCain to repudiate Hagee, the fiery Southern evangelical who rails against everything Islam and blames New Orleans’ sins for Hurricane Katrina, to name only a couple of really interesting statements. 

Forget about Geraldine Ferraro for a moment – a long moment.  That was nothing, really.  White Republican or conservative politicians who get endorsements from or are affiliated with bigoted White evangelical ministers never get called out for those associations.  The argument is made that McCain doesn’t attend Hagee’s church – as Obama attends Wright’s.  That’s splitting hairs; the fact is that these firebrand conservative White ministers or ”family values” advocates - the Pat Robertsons and Tony Perkins’ - find their way into the White House and are able to articulate or influence policy in such a way that dangerously impacts millions of people at a time.  White evangelical commentary on Islam and terrorism feeds policy decisions on Iraq and the Middle East.  It also drives Bush Administration policy in Africa, where much of that HIV/AIDS prevention money has found its way into the coffers of Christian relief organizations. 

As warped as Wright’s comments may have been perceived, at the end of the day, he’s not shaping major national policy.  He’s not in the White House influencing a President’s decision. He is merely one of a countless number of Black ministers in any major city, town or suburb on any given Sunday who simply provide rhetoric on the issues faced by African Americans on their jobs, in their neighborhoods, in their schools and elsewhere.  Certainly, their commentary, and the reflections of others in the community, poses a problem for the race-neutral Obama’s campaign.  But, he took it on yesterday with that same coolness he addresses every other issue. 

It’s a vexing issue, the reality of being Black in America. If Black people can’t talk about it in church, where can they?