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From The Times

May 2, 2008

Barack and the boys from his 'hood

The sermons of Jeremiah Wright threaten to open up the wounds that Obama is trying to heal

Gerard Baker

Several times a year, with metronomic regularity, some high-profile, wildly successful professional American sportsman is caught committing a felony.

The crimes are usually drearily familiar: assault, drugs possession, firearms offences. The incident only really becomes newsworthy when the offence is something much grimmer. A year ago Michael Vick, one of the most exciting and talented quarterbacks to play American football, was convicted of organising a dog-fighting ring in his spare time, an extramural activity that involved among other things, destroying the hapless dogs that underperformed. He is now serving time in a federal prison.

The salacious detail of the plot may vary but the backstory is often similar. The fallen hero is almost always African-American. His is a tale of a young man from a background of grinding urban misery. Thanks to a prodigious sporting talent he has managed to escape into a world of unimagined wealth and opportunity. But he never quite manages to leave the life he knew behind. His less-fortunate, less-gifted fellows from the mean streets won't let him, and he succumbs to a twisted sense of obligation not to stray too far from the criminal underclass mindset that nurtured him. He is urged, in the vernacular of the street, to “keep it real”. The intended lesson is that you can take the boy out of the 'hood but the 'hood will never really let the boy leave.

The suddenly ominous turn that Barack Obama's presidential campaign has taken reminds me a bit of this dismal immorality tale of modern American life.

The black senator from Illinois is on the verge of achieving unimaginable success for an African-American politician - the Democratic nomination for president, and quite possibly the presidency itself.

But suddenly his erstwhile buddies - in this case, the Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor of the Trinity United Church in Chicago - seem intent on dragging Sen Obama back into their recidivist clutches, condemning him to the plodding mediocrity of black political underachievement.

Lest there be any misunderstanding, let me hasten to clarify what I mean. Mr Obama is not accused of having committed a crime. Nor is there any suggestion that the Rev Wright himself is trying to encourage the senator to do anything illegal.

There is nothing in anything either man has ever said or done that remotely compares with the thuggish antics of street criminals. But in the latest controversy over Mr Wright's recent comments there are echoes of the same dispute in the broader African-American community about what kind of society America is; about whether it is possible, or even desirable for black Americans to try to assimilate themselves in what many view as a white-dominated racist system.

The peril of the Wright controversy is that it threatens to open up the very wounds of racial strife that Mr Obama's campaign is supposed to be committed to healing.

Mr Obama has always acknowledged his personal debt to Mr Wright. He was baptised by the pastor; his marriage was blessed by him, and the reverend's intellectual influence was so great that Mr Obama even used a line from one of his sermons as the title of his awarding winning book, The Audacity of Hope.

But in the last month or two it has become public knowledge that Mr Wright, in addition to his doubtless many good works, also holds some pretty radical views. He has argued that the US Government actually created the Aids virus to subjugate the African population, that the US was guilty of committing countless acts of terrorism throughout its history and that, on September 11, 2001, the US got what it deserved. A month ago, when video of these pronouncements delivered from his church's pulpit first began to circulate, Mr Obama elegantly sashayed through the controversy with a clever, but as it turned out, incomplete sidestep. Rejecting Mr Wright's wilder teachings, Mr Obama nevertheless declined to renounce or repudiate directly the man.

But this week, the media-hungry Rev Wright upped the ante. During a widely trailed press tour conducted while Mr Obama was fighting off the renewed vigour of Hillary Clinton's campaign, he repeated most of his outlandish remarks. For good measure, he also suggested Mr Obama basically agreed with him on all these issues but couldn't say so because of the realities of presidential politics.

This time Mr Obama was forced finally, belatedly, to denounce the preacher and sever his connections with him.

But the damage is potentially enormous - if not in the primary campaign that reaches yet another watershed with two key primaries next week, then certainly in the general election in November.

Mr Obama's ability to succeed where no black candidate has gone before depends on his ability to persuade most Americans that he is a different sort of African-American from the politicians they have come to know. Mr Obama has built a candidacy around, among other things, the proposition that America's deep racial differences can be transcended - that the nation's historical rift can be healed. He argues that, just as whites have to acknowledge their own responsibility for so much suffering among blacks over the centuries, so blacks must stop using historic injustice as an excuse for the high crime rates, broken family life and chronic underachievement that are the reality of existence for too many of them.

But Mr Wright's intervention reminds Americans that this is not necessarily how most blacks think. His fiery sermons may have overreached with some of their wilder conspiracy theories, but the basic thrust of what he says is doubtless shared by many, if not most African-Americans: that America is not the shining city on a hill most of its citizens believe it to be, but a fundamentally unfair place; that its role in the world is not that of principled promoter of freedom but as an exporter of misery.

This vast difference in attitudes has been opened up again by the debate about Mr Wright. Large numbers of white voters increasingly suspect that, despite his rhetoric, and given his relationship with the pastor, deep down Mr Obama might actually share that view.

His challenge now is not just to distance himself from the rantings of an eloquent extremist, but to demonstrate he really can bridge the still wide gulf in America's racial attitudes.

come on, greg. you wouldn't want people to interpret your silence as an admission that you don't actually have any evidence for your claim that obama is an atheist. lucky I didn't ask whether obama denouncing wright was anything to do with the religious beliefs of either.

jem, london, uk

ah, greg... matched by the level of irony that says obama isn't a christian because he doesn't believe quite the same thing as you do, eh?

jem, london, uk

Jimmy C:"I am appalled by the level of intelligence of American voters"

Perhaps if they voted like you then they wouldn't be so unintelligent, eh? The level of intelligence required to think like that is delightfully ironic.....

Greg Lorriman, Leatherhead, UK

greg, a politician would attend church for 20 years even though he didn't believe in god for the sake of his career. but what is your evidence for his atheism? read http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1546298,00.html for his own words. he says he's a christian. why do you disagree?

jem, london, uk

I for one, have come to believe Obama, when he said, "He's not the man I met 20 years ago". Rev. Jeremiah Wright, 20 years ago, was a loving, caring, sane, man of God, who would uplift and inspire people of all races to love one another and America. All undone by knowing Obama for 20 years.

john walls, lancaster, U.S.A. CALIFORNIA

Lets get this reasoned through. If I don't publicly agree with the views of the BNP but simply 'refuse to denounce them' then I'm not a racist, right?

Eric Skelton, Cardiff, wales

I like the comments on black-white, half black, half white etc....well the Chinesse have no problem. They work like eggs. In an egg one has a white and a yellow.

Just mix them and you don't get an Obama, or black, or white, or halves...you just get yellow !

Eggs should have had a black yoke !

Ed, Toulouse, France

Obama wants to play both ends against the middle, and he is now exposed. It's Elmer Gantry, folks; Obama was never from the 'hood -- that church rightly feels betrayed after they had taken this stranger into the fold.

lee, nyc, usa

People believe this man is the next John F. Kennedy (no way)
he deserved to be President! Obama does not have the qualifications to even be where he is today. Unfortunately I think an awful lot of Americans are going to vote for the lesser of the evils, whoever that might be...

Patricia A. Gudzik, Smithtown, NY, USA

I too am offended by the title of this article. I find the analogy between Senator Obama and Michael Vick to be extremely tenuous, at best. It amazes me that everyone forgets that Senator Obama is as much a Black man as he is a White man. Yet, we are too fixated on race to discuss what really matter

Jamila P., Houston, U.S.

Like it or not there's an old saying: ' A man is judged by his friends.' I fear it will become Obama's tragedy.

Fred Keeling, Almunecar, spain

Some insightful observations but as a Black man, I'm offended by the title of the article.

Bayo Yoloye, London,

what has Obama done? what qualifies him for president? if he had anything "in the bank" with the american public he would survive the reverand wright incident. but all we know about obama is the reverand wright incident. im not impressed.

JA, new york, usa

Also can someone explain why I or my 6 year old son have to 'acknowledge our own responsibility for so much suffering among blacks over the centuries' . Unless I am in secret possesion of a time machine I dont see how I can have been responsible for things that happened 200 years before i was born

Ben, Hopatcong,

White 61 year old small town boy from Illinois, what do I know? That both candidates are a credit to American Politics. That, unfortunately, too much of Mr. Wright's malicious ranting and its distortions are based on fundamental injustices and "untoward" actions of the US.

Joe Paradis, Arlington VA, USA

I'm astonished that none of the comments challenges Baker's underlying premise - that Obama's pastor's barmy comments, which Obama has disavowed - are yet another example of the congenital predilection of black males to implode on the verge of success. What reductionist, deterministic nonsense!

Uche Nwamara, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Finally, a reality show that was not imported from the U.K. !
The past fifteen months have been pure theatre and we so called conservatives are loving every minute of it. Both Hillary and Obama say that as President THEY will make a difference but can't seem to do so as Senators . Pray for the U.S.

Larry Cline, Ft. Lauderdale,

Jimmy C's assertion "This is pure racism" is a conclusion bereft of any underlying rationale. Public figures are judged by their associations as a matter of course, particularly when the association is to an individual who has played an admittedly central role in the life of the public figure.

Tamir, Washington D.C., USA

Obama has proved as disappointing in four months as Tony Blair did in ten years. He is simply too naive to be president - how did his staff allow the PR catastrophe to happen? Obama's polls have collapsed ten points since the Wright Stuff exploded in their faces.

Kate, Washington DC,

It galls me that Americans are so self-unaware that they fail to see how they are perceived by many in the rest of the world. What Rev, Wright says about chickens and roosting is absolutely true. You can't go around (eg: Iraq x 2, Panama, Grenada, Afghanistan) bullying without provoking a response.

Simon Lewis, Saskatoon, Canada

Will everyone please calm down. Barack Obama is an incredible man, and is as much white as he is black (probably more white). People who hate people because they are black, will find any excuse to hate him. I just wish the people who spout all this nonsense would just read his books!

Peace. Obama.

Jill, London, UK

Whilst the AIDS comments are absurd paranoia, much of the rest of what the Wright says, if listened to in full, is similar to what many of the US's critics say. And he never said "America got what it deserved", just that 9/11 was a result of US policy, which is not the same at all.

Nick, France,

I feel sorry for Americans, if they believe that Obama, is the right candidate. First of all he is not fit for this position, secondly the way he handles the "pastor" is a big schame. I dont think he would be fit to conbtrol the country.

Paul, London,

Many of us suspect Obama's genuine inclinations only show via third party interventions (e.g. Wright) or unguarded comments (e.g. by Michelle). It is, after all, hardly credible that Obama has for 20 years been unaware of Wright's views. I was an Obama supporter but am no longer so sure.

Chris, London,

I am appalled by the level of intelligence of American voters! How do you condemn somebody for what he HAS NOT said, but by association? This is pure racism. There is no scandal here, just some weak element of white America doing everything it can to condemn the best candidate because of his colour!

Jimmy C, Letchworth Garden City, UK

Obama is an atheist ex-Muslim, who yet was baptised a Christian despite no change of (dis)belief, by a pastor he has now denounced.

hmmm.

One has to ask whether either are sane.

Greg Lorriman, Leatherhead, UK

Obama is completely unqualified to be President. He makes empty promises with no idea how to implement his ideas. If he were not black, he would not have come this far in the primaries. He's gotten a pass because of his color and that pass is over.

Deborah, Dallas, USA

If Donovan Wright lived in Reading PA rather than Reading Berkshire he might understand that the issue of the Rev Wright is a long way from over. Mr Obama has not explained how it was that he sat for 20 years listening to the pastor and that it his judgement in so doing which remains in question.

David Cunard, Los Angeles, United States

Well, Obama went to Wright's church for twenty years or so, surely if he was truly upset by Wright's ravings he could've found another church?

The damage is now done, Obama was too slow to totally distance himself from Wright.

For me, BO is just too liberal (US sense) so he'll not get my 'X".

Stan(expat), USA, USA

Obama's, waffling for too long a period of time on Rev. Wright, gives us a clear idea of what kind of President he would make

Gary Holbrook, Golden, USA

Felix - you may well be right, that Obama's pastor is exactly the same man with substantially the same comments as 20 years ago.

Or perhaps it is his country that is radically different to 20 years ago and he is publicising this.

Or maybe his perception has changed and the US is the same...

Kane, ACT,

The problem for Obama is that Jeremiah Wright's ego is bigger than Obama's presidential campaign.

Cherice, Santa Rosa, CA, USA

There is not everything cosher on Obama's part. He claimed the man orating at the NPC was not the man he knew for 20 years. This is unbelievable. Certainly, Obama doesn't make, like the pastor, a leaving out of promoting black exclusivity.Pity, he didn't come clean earlier as befits a leader.

Felix, Mountain View, USA/CA

One needs to remember that Obama has no direct connection with the American slave-descended black population, other than through his wife, and the colour of his skin. As a result, he may not understand all the nuances of being "black" in America...

Stefan Mochnacki, Toronto, Canada

How is Obama a "black senator" when his mother is WHITE?
In fact, Obama is of MIXED RACE.
If you can call him black because one of his parents is black, then equally you could call him white because one of his parents is white!
It is INCORRECT to call Obama "black". He is of mixed race.

Buddy L. T. Grace, London,

Obama's "throwing Rev. Wright under the bus" may seem to have put this matter to rest, but it cannot. Must not Obama share Rev. Wright's world view, since why else would Obama expose his children to such views? This makes credible Rev. Wright's claim that Obama's disapproval is political show.

Robert Jones, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Wright said America was “capable of” unleashing HIV to kill off blacks, but did he say the govt. has actually done that? And did he say “the US got what it deserved” on 9/11, or only that “America’s chickens are coming home to roost”? There’s a major conceptual difference between a deserved tragedy and one simply resulting from prior acts. Sources, Mr. Baker?

ian, La Mesa, U.S.A.

I don't know where you have been hiding Mr Baker, however I believe that the issue of Rev. Jeremiah Wright is now past. Senator Obama has now publicly denounced him. I have read your column and I fail to see the point your are making in the light of recent events.

Donovan Wright, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom

Obama will be a finer-tempered president after this ordeal by fire.

San Ying, Montreal, Canada

Probably the most important black American novelist of the 20th century was James Baldwin. Anyone who doubts that life sometimes imitates art should read his first novel " Go tell it on the mountain "

James , Canberra, Australia.

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Gerard Baker

Gerard Baker is United States Editor and an Assistant Editor of The Times. He joined in 2004 from the Financial Times, where he had spent over ten years as Tokyo correspondent and Washington Bureau Chief. His weekly oped column appears on Fridays