Richard Cohen Swiftboats Obama
15 January 2008 1:53 pm by Taylor Marsh
Richard Cohen Swiftboats Obama updated
Okay, so I’m just a Scot-Irish broad who is a rebel Episcopalian to boot, but
Mr. Cohen’s column today is nothing short of religious bigotry at its worst.
He’s insinuating that if Barack Obama doesn’t disavow his spiritual leader and
his home church then he’s an anti-Semitic. Words fail me…. almost.
It’s not enough that Axelrod emphatically points out that Obama disagrees with
Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., to which Cohen responds “fine.” It’s
that Obama and his campaign are not sufficiently outraged by it. But to make
Cohen’s craven column worse, after pointing out that the foundation of Obama’s
views aren’t anywhere near being anti-Semitic, Cohen continues to ramble on
about the lack of religious philosophical purity that would have Obama doing
anything but jumping off a cliff to disassociate himself from Wright.
If you want to know the nuts and bolts of swiftboating, baby, this is it.
Barack Obama is a member of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ. Its
minister, and Obama’s spiritual adviser, is the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
In 1982, the church launched Trumpet Newsmagazine; Wright’s daughters serve
as publisher and executive editor. Every year, the magazine makes awards in
various categories. Last year, it gave the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter
Award to a man it said “truly epitomized greatness.” That man is
Louis Farrakhan. … ..… .. It’s important to state right off that nothing in Obama’s record suggests
he harbors anti-Semitic views or agrees with Wright when it comes to Farrakhan.
Instead, as Obama’s top campaign aide, David Axelrod, points out, Obama often
has said that he and his minister sometimes disagree. Farrakhan, Axelrod told
me, is one of those instances.Fine. But where I differ with Axelrod and, I assume, Obama is that praise
for an anti-Semitic demagogue is not a minor difference or an intrachurch
issue. The Obama camp takes the view that its candidate, now that he has been
told about the award, is under no obligation to speak out on the Farrakhan
matter. It was not Obama’s church that made the award but a magazine. This
is a distinction without much of a difference. And given who the parishioner
is, the obligation to speak out is all the greater. He could be the next American
president. Where is his sense of outrage? … ..
Is the Post serious with that title? Almost as stunning as this paragraph:
And yet Wright heaped praise on Farrakhan. According to Trumpet, he applauded
his “depth of analysis when it comes to the racial ills of this nation.”
He praised “his integrity and honesty.” He called him “an unforgettable
force, a catalyst for change and a religious leader who is sincere about his
faith and his purpose.” These are the words of a man who prayed with
Obama just before the Illinois senator announced his run for the presidency.
Will he pray with him just before his inaugural?
For the life of me I can’t figure out the target. Is Cohen trying to get at
Farrahkan through Obama? Or is Cohen trying to get at Obama by targeting Rev.
Wright by using Farrahkan? Whatever it is Cohen misses by a mile, though he does a pretty good
job of shooting himself in the foot.
I decry racism and anti-Semitism in every form and strongly condemn the anti-Semitic statements made by Minister Farrakhan. I assume that Trumpet Magazine made its own decision to honor Farrakhan based on his efforts to rehabilitate ex-offenders, but it is not a decision with which I agree. – Barack Obama
So now that that’s settled (until the wing-nuts join in), let’s get down to the brass knuckle politics of this. Cohen is outright attempting to push the fairy tale of the Wright, Obama, Farrakhan connection in order to scare the Jewish vote away from Obama. Few things are more nuclear for a politician than what Cohen is doing. AIPAC and their Israeli lobby tentacles reach far and deep into the blood stream of U.S. politics. A politician angers this large, loosely knit group at his or her peril. This is the other side of the race – religion issue; yet another unmentionable surfacing because of the diversity of the Democrats, which traditional media will expose in order so they can benefit.
UPDATE: This is particularly uncalled for, even if it comes under the heading of “Just a Thought.”
