Redstate

Posted at 9:42am on Jun. 11, 2008 Sister Souljah For President!

How Many Democrats Will Have A Barack Obama Moment?

By Dan McLaughlin

Oklahoma Democratic Congressman Dan Boren's announcement that he won't be endorsing Barack Obama (covered by Erick yesterday) is a moment of clarity. For much of the campaign, people have been waiting to see how Barack Obama would pivot away from pandering to the Democratic primary electorate to a general election stance. Waiting for him to "triangulate" some distance from his base, waiting for a "Sister Souljah moment," like in 1992 when Bill Clinton denounced that otherwise undistinguished rapper for her comment that black people should take a week off from killing each other and kill white people instead. Obama has had to flee under pressure from his own chuch, he's had to disown or distance himself from a variety of his associates, but those were forced, grudging acts; in no case has he gone out of his way to demonstrate his independence from left-wing dogma, and on some issues (like school choice) he has instead come crawling back timidly after seeming to question the Left's orthodoxy.

By now, it is clear: unlike Clinton or John McCain, when Obama is involved in triangulation, it will be his own party comrades triangulating away from him. Remember, Clinton made such a splash in 1992 precisely because these things had not been done in the past - Dukakis, Mondale and McGovern never did anything to divorce themselves from the Hard Left of the party. By now, it is clear: there will be no Sister Souljah moment by Obama because he is Sister Souljah, the very sort of peace-at-any-price, you-can-never-have-enough-tax-hikes, abortion-in-and-out-of-the-womb zealot that other Democrats need to run away from. Boren's not the first, and he won't be the last one.

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Dan Boren | Sister Souljah — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 4:05pm on Apr. 29, 2008 No "Sister Souljah" Moment for Barack Obama

The embattled candidate goes back to the same well with supporters, then tries to present a different face to the general public

By Jeff Emanuel

The sudden return of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's pastor and spiritual mentor for over two decades, to the media spotlight this past week has sparked anew the debate over the true extent and effectiveness of Mr. Obama's actions to deal with the growing thorn in the side of his campaign that his former friend has become.

Wright's interview last week with Bill Moyers, in which he undercut the entire rationale for the Obama candidacy by referring to Mr. Obama's statements and actions on the campaign trail as simply being "what politicians do," caused the harsh spotlight of several weeks ago to be re-shone on Rev. Wright and his relationship with Mr. Obama, whose judgment, beliefs, and willingness to stand up for what he claims to believe in.

The intensity of that spotlight increased exponentially with Wright's addresses to the National Press Club and to the NAACP, in which he -- among other outrageous statements -- equated the U.S. flag with the flag of al Qaeda, berated "white America" for its failure to confess the sin of racism, reiterated his claim that the U.S. government created the AIDS virus to eradicate the African-American community (a charge about which CNN actually contacted the Center for Disease Control on Monday for an on-the-record comment), and declared -- complete with mocking vocal imitations -- that the black and white races differ genomically, with each being programmed to primarily use a different side of their brain.

The damage done to the Obama campaign is still being calculated, obviously, and new theories are popping up across the spectrum about why Wright chose now to re-enter the spotlight, and whether Mr. Obama's actions to date to deal with this issue, including a press conference this afternoon, will be effective.

Read on.

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Politics as usual | Rev. Jeremiah Wright | Sister Souljah — Comments (14)/ Email this page » / Read More »