CSMS Magazine Staff WritersIn all major industrial countries, politic is not only based on social and economic factors of the day, but also on strategic interests dividing the haves and the have-nots. But in the American political lexicon, race—although a superficial issue—plays a quintessential factor. It’s like a malignant tumor, dormant but strong enough to derail a political campaign. This brings us to the latest wave of media bash over some inflammatory remarks made by Senator Barack Obama former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Needless to say that his comments were out of place, especifically on the issues of AIDS, but it is hard to imagine how can Obama be blamed for comments made by someone he has no control over? One doesn’t have to be a well educated person to know at first hand that unless an action is committed by you or your spokesperson, you are not in anyway, shape or form, responsible for it. No one can or should be blamed for the acts of others, and the fact that those who control the media are capitalizing on it, proves they can only care less about the real issues facing this country. Late yesterday afternoon, the messengers of defamation were right at it again. Who else can they be but the conservative talk-show hosts, those who control the pulpits of conservative churches and, of course, ABC News through his chief political “analyst,” George Stephanopoulos? “Obama’s remarks were a second attempt to end perhaps the most damaging chapter of his political career—and strategists raised significant doubts about whether even Obama’s blistering words could immediately quell the crisis Wright has created for the Illinois senator’s campaign,” he declared yesterday in some commentaries he made on ABC’s Nightly News with Charlie Gibson. But in his latest rebuke to Wright’s comments, the Illinois Senator was clear and unequivocal. He left no doubt about his rejection of his former pastor’s comments, which will certainly be the subject of serious debates in the days to come within the African American community, especially its intelligentsia. “I’m particularly distressed that this has caused such a distraction from what this campaign should be about, which is the American people….The fact that Rev. Wright would think that somehow it was appropriate to command the stage for three or four consecutive days in the midst of this major debate is something that not only makes me angry but also saddens me,” Obama said, looking strong while struggle to suppress his visibly displayed anger. Then he went on to accuse Wright of grandstanding at the expense of his presidential campaign. “Now is the time for us not to get distracted. Now is the time for us to pull together, and that’s what we’ve been doing in this campaign. And you know, there was a sense that that did not matter to Rev. Wright. What mattered was him commanding center stage,” he said, emphatically. Lots of Blacks academics who openly supported Hillary Clinton during the early days of the campaign were forced to go underground in the wake of Obama’s stunning victories overClinton. They will now find the opportunistic excuse to get out of the closet in order to continue playing their dubious game. It is too early to know if the resurgence of the Wright controversy has any effect on Obama’s chances in Indiana and in North Carolina next Tuesday. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) applauded Obama for taking the issue head-on. “[He] was personally angered and responded.” And Fattah continued to say that he did not think this latest resurfacing will have any impact on voters. “People have already factored in the Wright situation when it arose the first time…I don’t think there’s going to be a second look at it.” But the issue of race in America is particularly hurtful and tough to digest for anyone who does not look Caucasian, especially when it is being vulgarly raised by the nonchalant media motivated only by rating, but not on educating their audiences on the grand issues facing this nation. We agree there must be a serious debate on race relations in America. However, in this nasty political race where politicians are using the issue for their own political advantage, this is not the proper venue to hold an honest, constructive dialogue. As a people with different faces and different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, more unite us than divide us. The plight of a white father from Virginia or North Carolina whose job has been sent overseas in the name of corporate profit and who now faces the unemployment line and the plight of a Mexican or an African American restaurant worker who has just been laid off in Atlanta are directly linked, just like their interest is strategically intertwined. The plight of tomato pickers in South Florida seeking better wages and better working conditions is just as the same as factory workers in the Boston industrial parks.We cannot and MUST not let senseless distractions stand in the way if we are really serious about change and the direction we want this country to go for the next decade. It is not a plea for Obama who has been made guilty by association by a press that has no sympathy for those who live in the fringe of society. Nor do we believe that Obama himself is the messiah or a saint sent from heaven to erase in a blur all the major issues facing the United States.In CSMS Magazine, we have always maintained that trivializing will hurt many in what seems to be a major political season. We must press Obama on the pertinent issues, not on the superficial ones. And the issues are:1. An economy advancing in full speed toward recession.2. The dwindling value of the dollar.3. The soaring gasoline prices.4. A healthcare that needs urgent reform.5. Thousands who have been laid off from coast to coast.6. Borrowing billions from China to keep a military presence overseas that stirs up anger and hatred.7. Borrowing billions from ruthless Arab regimes to wage war in Iraq (A war that has already caused the death of thousands of our young men and women in the military)8. Borrowing billions from European countries to protect the same Europe. Against whom? We don’t know.9. An education system that needs a major overhaul.10. And, finally, a Real State market that has already sent thousands homeless. We do not believe Obama has the answer, although we believe he is honest in his own thinking about the way forward. But since he claims to be our new change agent, these are the questions that should be directed to him and to all the other presidential candidates, not trivializing something so serious at a time when America is at a crossroad. This election should not be about race; nor should it be about a retired pastor seeking center stage at the expense of a former friend. It is about your future. Don’t let others fool you. Also see Hillary Clinton’s Paranoia and the Democrats Dilemma Hillary Clinton wants to clinch the nomination at all costIs Barack Obama unstoppable after his stunning victory in Iowa last week? The Obama campaign plunges deeper into the defensive after the Nevada lost last Saturday
When will race seize to be the cornerstone of American politic?
