Obama/Wright and Redirecting Shame

If you believe some liberals out there, and we certainly know who they are, you would think that conservatives are taking advantage of the Obama/Wright issue to deflect from the shortcomings of their party and president, as well as avoiding talking about the "real issues".

If only that was the case. More on this at the end.

Honestly, most conservatives would rather Obama be judged on the big issues of the day and his accomplishments (or lack thereof). See Jonathan's post for details. Also, the prospect of a president who belonged to a Wright-led church for many years is a scary (there's that word again) prospect to most conservatives.

The mental gymnastics being performed by liberals to try to justify Obama's relationship with a bigot AND accuse Republicans of similar "crimes" has been nothing short of entertaining. Bob Jones University, Pat Robertson, you name it. Fine. The comparisons are weak, and even if they weren't, it would prove that conservatives indeed have a solid point about Obama/Wright.

This whole thing has shined a bright light on something that conservatives have been complaining about for a long time. The party and ideology that is supposed to promote tolerance, acceptance and equality has for a long time now patronized minorities, especially blacks. How dare conservatives judge a black person? Of course, liberals think they are the only ones equipped with the knowledge and moral decency to judge black people (and everyone else for that matter), and know what's best for them, while conservatives are ordered to shut up because of their lack of understanding, compassion and humanity.

Meanwhile, the majority of conservatives continue to hold their desire and strive for a society where everyone is judged on their individual merits. Funny how that gets confused for racism, right?

It's amazing what "white guilt" will do to an otherwise well meaning group of people. Perhaps in a weak moment of reflection, they will realize what they're really doing. Aside from stifling real talk about race in America, they are probably contributing as much, if not more, to the racial division than anyone else. A speech by a uniter that was supposed to unite did absolutely nothing to bridge the gap. Remember, Barack Obama said we have to understand the source of the outrageous and downright insulting comments. When conservatives make racist comments, liberals suddenly aren't willing to cut them slack nor consider the source (neither do most conservatives, which makes us remarkably consistent in that respect).

Where's the liberal outrage over Wright's comments? It's quite muted, if found at all (that's what happens when many liberals actually believe what Wright said). Of course, there's plenty of liberal disappointment, angst and outrage over lack of mention of the 4,000th U.S. soldier to be killed in the line of duty in Iraq.

Which leads to my final point: why should conservatives be perceived to care less about the important issues than anyone else? Why does having a different viewpoint somehow imply a lack of concern towards our troops, for example? The answers are plainly obvious. For liberals to suggest or outright state that conservatives should be ashamed for not mentioning the 4,000th dead American soldier in Iraq is quite shameful in its own right. For liberals to use the "racism" card to prevent real and open dialogue about race and equality is just as shameful.