The Zeal of the Convert
March 25th, 2008 at 01:07pm Mark Noonan
In this case, Obama’s conversion to being black, as noted by Thomas Sowell:
Barack Obama’s own account of his life shows that he consciously sought out people on the far left fringe. In college, “I chose my friends carefully,” he said in his first book, “Dreams From My Father.”
These friends included “Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk rock performance poets” — in Obama’s own words — as well as the “more politically active black students.” He later visited a former member of the terrorist Weatherman underground, who endorsed him when he ran for state senator.
Obama didn’t just happen to encounter Jeremiah Wright, who just happened to say some way out things. Jeremiah Wright is in the same mold as the kinds of people Barack Obama began seeking out in college — members of the left, anti-American counter-culture.
In Shelby Steele’s brilliantly insightful book about Barack Obama — “A Bound Man” — it is painfully clear that Obama was one of those people seeking a racial identity that he had never really experienced in growing up in a white world. He was trying to become a convert to blackness, as it were — and, like many converts, he went overboard.
Sowell goes on to note something that I’ve suspected - that Obama has never really tried to reach out to the center and right. He’s a coalition of the left and the far left. It seems that Obama wanted to belong - and given that he grew up in a upper middle class liberal millieu, it was a natural that “authenticty” for a person of color must be something politically radical and very rejectionist of the American ideal. Obama got what he wanted, and has gloried in it - but now he’s trying to move into the general American electorate while retaining his street cred, as it were. Can’t be done, Senator - boring and annoying as it may be, the majority of Americans don’t buy what Wright is selling - you have to ditch him completely, or ultimately fail completely.
Entry Filed under: Campaign 2008, Corruption, Democrats
36 Comments
1. OhioOrrin | March 25th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
no bad stuff ’bout earbama mark.
only goodness to sooth my white guilt please.
let’s all clap & be enthused for the manchurian, err…I mean motivational candidate.
2. SteaM | March 25th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
“that Obama has never really tried to reach out to the center and right. He’s a coalition of the left and the far left.”
When he says he wants to get people healthcare and wants to create jobs you claim he is not speaking to the center and the right?
I think, Mark, that you are determined to convince everyone that unless a presidential candidate is all about anti-abortion, pro-war, and anti gay marriage then they are now worthy. That unless Obama were to say he is against abortion and would overturn woe vs. wade then you would never end you campaign to paint him as not speaking to the right and center.
Personally I think he speaks to the right and center all the time. He meets in the middle and speaks realistically about the challenges we face.
Problem is, that is how I feel… but not how you feel. You’ve convinced yourself that no matter how amazing a candidate we have in Obama he is to be considered a danger to our country as a possible president simply because he does not bend over backwards to what you are: The Far Right. A group who sometimes is blind to reality as they are on an endless Crusade to make everyone follow their mostly Christian views. To change our laws based on your religion.
AND are you suggesting as well that he has tried to convert to “being black” because he grew up “being white” and now he cannot be black enough? hahahahahahahahahahahaha. Silly boy. You are close minded and intolerant.
3. FmrMarine | March 25th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
steambath;
>>>The Far Right. A group who sometimes is blind to reality as they are on an endless Crusade to make everyone follow their mostly Christian views. To change our laws based on your religion.<<
AND you and your GLBT - NAMBLA trolls want to force your radical atheistic, homosexual agenda upon the entire US.
We will oppose you all the way.
As for earbama he is a pure racist - marxist.
4. SteaM | March 25th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Well, I suppose there are people who are like that just who could be called “the far left” just as much as there are religious radicals who want to force their views onto people who can be called “the far right”.
Either way, to suggest that Obama is more concerned with pandering to the “far left” that I just described more than he is to the center and right is silly. You guys must think he’s satan’s second coming.
Seriously, Mark, you gotta be kidding that you believe his is trying to be more black because he feels too white or left out or something. It’s pretty illogical to assume so much about a person.
5. Typical White Person | March 25th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I think Earbama needs to “corkscrew” into Bosnia. But watch out for that sniper fire…
6. Typical White Person | March 25th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Ya know, I’m tired of Earbama criticizing Hitlery for her vote on the Iraq War. He’s just like Howeird Dean in ‘04. Dean said he didn’t vote for Iraq, which was true, because he wasn’t in a position to vote. Likewise Earbama–back when the vote came up, he was schmoozing with Rezko and Ayers. And Wright…
7. Pain | March 25th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
We, Ourselves know in the fullest manner of any thinking being’s ability to become a part of an idea that has been given life that there is no way that a person can become a convert to the sociological mechanism that is defined with the word ‘race” on the planet Terra.
FmrMarine,
No one wants to force any agenda on anyone in America. All attempts to criminalize what gay lesbian bisexual and transgender Human Beings wish to do with their consenting adult partners by associating them with paedophiles is anathema to Us. Once men like you would pull a couple one black one white from a car and hang one and beat the other because their love confused you or offended your eyes. We see that little has changed in America since those days at least in the minds of men that drink hate from gilded cups.
Qu’ul cuda praedex nihil!
8. Canadian Observer | March 25th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
We have to wonder why a certain number of you are so opposed to raising the standard of your Presidency.
Why this obstinacy to hold on to doctrine that has been deemed a total failure?
What is it in your genetic makeup that permits you to completely ignore the harm this administration has inflicted on your country? Why this dedication and blind loyalty to those who do not, in any way, deserve it?
You now have the opportunity to make a positive change and perhaps regain some of the prestige and integrity that was lost under Bush. Forget the missteps and mistakes of the past 7 years and forge a new and brighter future.
9. Michael | March 25th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Amazing? How so? I don’t see it.
Mark is basing his position on Obama’s not reaching out to the right and center is based on his congressional performance. Like a voting record that shows he voted straight down party lines 97 percent of the time and a lack of any evidence he ever participated in any bi-partisan efforts. Believe what you will, but I prefer to see what one does not what they say they will do. Especially when they are exact opposites.
Is this what you mean by “reaching out?”
Please give an example of that. Obama is a gun grabber. We insist on our 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms. Religious? We want illegal immigrtion stopped. Religious? We want to protect the unborn from being killed. Religious? None of these are religious. But it is easy to lump the conservative point of view into a stereotype of religious fanatics - saves you from having to think and using religion makes it fearful enough to fight. Like the lefties who invaded the Catholic church on Easter Sunday screaming and squirting the parishioners with fake blood.
Ever heard of McCain-Feingold? How about McCain-Kennedy Immigration bill? That is what reaching out looks like.
10. Typical White Person | March 25th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
More blah, blah, blah from CO. How is Earbama gonna restore anything? By negotiating with Ahmedinejad and bombing Pakistan? By taxing us to death?
How, CO? How?
11. FmrMarine | March 25th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
CO;
>>>We have to wonder why a certain number of you are so opposed to raising the standard of your Presidency.<<<
Who is we?
Do you mean kanadians? the P!$$ ant country that would blow away with out the US?
Do you mean the country with a french speaking Provence, trying to rip the country apart?
Do you mean the country that gave you tredeau the WORST PM ever?
Do you mean the country that gave you socialized medicine which is a total failure?
Do you mean the country flying as fast as it can to sharia law?
Do you mean the country with that shuts down Christian organizations and places preachers on trial?
YET
YOU……………come here and spread this kind of crap to us??
Keep it for your pitiful monarchy.
12. Diane Tomlinson | March 25th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Deleted - off topic.
13. FmrMarine | March 25th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
CO;
>>>>>some of the prestige and integrity that was lost under Bush.<<<
Oh yeah…I forgot about the B!OW JOBS from a 21yo INTERN
accusations of RAPE
accusations of assault
accusations of sexual misconduct
accusations of cocaine
accusations of thievery
RUBY RIDGE
WACO
Oklahoma
A. GONZALEZ
PERJURY
IMPEACHMENT
DISBARMENT
$90,000.00 FINES
oh yes the PRESTIGE and I_N_T_E_G_R_I_T_Y that slic willy and his flying monkey show, sure have been besmirched by W
14. Canadian Observer | March 25th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
10. Typical White Person | March 25th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Well, for one thing, Obama is an individual with a great deal more intelligence than the present fellow you have installed in the White House and should, therefore, be a welcome improvement when it comes to representing the U.S. on the world stage.
I am speaking from an international viewpoint.
15. FmrMarine | March 25th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
DT;
>>>But you were a Marine once you know the only way to get rid of people who want their rights is to kill them.<<<
NO not at all.
We KILLED communists.
We KILLED nazis
We KILLED maoists
We KILLED castroites.
We KILL islamists
In other words the avowed enemies of our republic.
We have NOT, killed internal marxist, traders which the rat party seems to have many.
Christianity stands against SIN, where do you stand?
Your web site tells us that.
Rights? give me a freeking break where is anal sex a right? or fisting?
16. FmrMarine | March 25th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
CO;
>>>Well, for one thing, Obama is an individual with a great deal more intelligence than the present fellow <<<
Do your homework frog.
W =
Graduate….Harvard
Graduate….YALE MBA
Naval OFFICER
Jet fighter pilot
Owner baseball franchise
Owner of an oil co.
2 term Governor of a superstate.
Earbama
graduate yale
law prof at a college
community activest
1 term state rep
1/2 term senate
chain smoker ( tries to hide this)
member of a racist cult (tries to hide this)
empty suit … ill concede this.
17. ViralNexus | March 25th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I’m not quite sure I get the jist of this post and if there was a point it was lost to most of the people who have posted thus far. I would however like to comment on the perseverance of this blog and others like it to exploit the Wright “scandal” for all that it is worth. The only thing that you guys are doing is validating your decision not to vote for Obama (and Hillary for that matter). Aren’t there more important things going on at the moment that are worth talking about? I would also like to point out that most conservatives blasted and swore not to vote for McCain in part because of his bi-partisanship- he was seen as a panderer and as to liberal. Yet Mark mentions that Obama is not bi-partisan enough. What gives?
18. Some Assembly Required | March 25th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Deleted - off topic.
19. FmrMarine | March 25th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
SAR
LOL
>>>>It is this attitude which furthers the stereotype of Americans as arrogant red neck hicks.<<<<
and the stereotype of kanucks, are backward bumpkins and ( frogs ) ribit.
However this is what berry hussein obama has in store for us as “change”
Trinity United Church of Christ
About Us
We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian… Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain “true to our native land,” the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community.
Trinity United Church of Christ adopted the Black Value System written by the Manford Byrd Recognition Committee chaired by Vallmer Jordan in 1981. We believe in the following 12 precepts and covenantal statements. These Black Ethics must be taught and exemplified in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Blacks are gathered. They must reflect on the following concepts:
1. Commitment to God
2. Commitment to the Black Community
3. Commitment to the Black Family
4. Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
5. Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence
6. Adherence to the Black Work Ethic
7. Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
8. Disavowal of the Pursuit of “Middleclassness”
9. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the Black Community
10. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting Black Institutions
11. Pledge allegiance to all Black leadership who espouse and embrace the Black Value System
12. Personal commitment to embracement of the Black Value System.
I say take him to Kanada, and let him turn it fully into the workers paradise you seem to love so much.
trudeau will be soooo proud.
20. Some Assembly Required | March 25th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Deleted - off topic.
21. kimberly4victory | March 25th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Actually, Hillary did not try to rehash the Wright issue. I am no Hillary fan, but the lefties who are against her and the MSM who are against her, are getting that wrong. She was asked a question regarding Wright and Obama and she answered.
Now, can we please quit running away from the TOPIC OF THIS THREAD. Note how liberals are getting as far away from it as possible …
I agree with Michael. Talking about something and doing something are two completely different animals. Can any liberal name one or two bills Obama worked on with conservatives?
22. Almiranta | March 25th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
My goodness, Pain—what a pain it is to slog through your pseudo-intellectual gobbledygook. “We see that little has changed in America since those days at least in the minds of men that drink hate from gilded cups.”
It can’t be addressed because it is pure silliness, albeit an unwelcome glimpse into the inner workings of a pathology which I am sure is aptly self-named: “Pain”.
CO is back to his old tricks, phrasing pseudo-questions in ways that assume unproved assertions. Sure, to a rabid radical Lefty, Obama would be “raising the standard of the presidency”—-but only if you think that installing a racist, America-hating, poseur is “raising the standard”. Quite honestly, CO, from the quality and tone of your posts over the years, I am sure that anything YOU like would be a serious lowering of the bar.
I love how both CO and Pain—and the rest of the Usual Suspects—-are trying to shift the discussion away from the insights into the real Barack Obama, even if you have to invent a mishmash of flowery nonsense, a la Pain, or just go after Bush et al, yet again.
The thread is about Obama, and his history, and what it all says about him as a man. And by the way, Thomas Sowell is a black man, so you can drop the next wave of attacks, which were sure to include the accusation of “RACISM”.
Obama is not running as a hard-core, dedicated Lefty. Some of you obviously know that he is, otherwise you would not be so mindlessly passionate about him, but he has been working very hard to come across as a moderate, genial, Everyman.
There is no “hate” involved in merely trying to find out who he is, what he believes, and what he really wants for this country. On the contrary, that is a necessary element of the decision-making process. ( At least for conservatives it is. For wild-eyed radical Lefties, all they need to know is how the candidate makes them FEEL.)
I would actually like Obama more if he had the moral courage to run as the man he is—as a Socialist, as one who has cultivated and nurtured relationships with actual domestic terrorists as well as those who merely admire and support them, as one who carries a deep distrust for and dislike for this country. I wouldn’t vote for him, but at least I would think he was honest.
Oh, he hints at all this—-his mantra of “change” is a good clue, as it clearly represents such a bleak and dismal view of this country that any change at all, in any direction, has to be an improvement. But he is not candid, he is not up-front about his beliefs or his agenda. And that bothers me.
And it is the height of hypocrisy to continue to claim that he intends to “unite” America when his entire history has been one of divisiveness, of separatist views, of alienation and furthermore of promoting alienation.
You Lefties continue to swoon over the amiable face he presents when he is asking for your support—many of us are more interested in the face he tries so hard to hide, feeling it is a truer portraitn of who and what he really is.
23. kimberly4victory | March 25th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I couldn’t have said it better, Almiranta. Excellent. And, thanks for the laughs … needed it after a long, hard day of work.
24. Xango Annie | March 25th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
#20 SAR..Ok Here….You’re crazy!!!!!!!!
25. Tractatus | March 25th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I would actually like Obama more if he had the moral courage to run as the man he is—as a Socialist
Of course, he’s not a socialist, but you haven’t shown much ability to discern who is, so I shouldn’t be too surprised here. And your outrage that Obama is not running as the person you so desperately want to believe he is…well, that’s just good comedy.
26. kimberly4victory | March 25th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
LOL, trach. Obama’s words mean absolutely zip to me. His actions do. And, actions do really speak louder than words.
27. navydad | March 25th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Ya know DT, it’s people like you that need to grow a spine, and quite possibly an adadicktome.
28. kimberly4victory | March 25th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Can any liberal name one or two bills Obama worked on with conservatives? Crickets.
29. js | March 25th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Demoncrats ran on the mantra of change in 06. The only thing that changes is we got more crooks running both houses. Nothing really changed, except the cost of the crooks goes up.
And really, health care? AGAIN? Name one election where the Demoncrats didnt use that one.
Get a life people, these are old school symols and are as empty today as the promises that have been made and remade by every democrat hopeful for 50 years.
WTFU.
30. Freedom1 | March 26th, 2008 at 1:31 am
Barack Hussein Obama belongs to an insane church. -
Obama’s Church Published Letter Accusing Israel Of Developing An ‘Ethnic Bomb’
Obama’s church published this open letter to Oprah Winfrey (who was at one time a member of the congregation) in the June 10, 2007 edition of their church bulletin:
Read the whole letter at Sweetness & Light
31. lilly06 | March 26th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Mark,
Your effort is wasted because its obvious you don’t stand for what is best for America but what is conservative even if it means installing an incompetent president who is partially responsible for the needless deaths of 4000 American soldiers and over 600,000 Iraqis.
A president who has used his power to violate the constituational rights of his own people to meet his own agenda and all Clinton did was get a BJ!!
Obama is a better candidate that W anytime, anywhere, anyplace. I’ll take that improvement.
Infact President Carter and President Hoover both genious compared to W and history has not looked at them favourably. I don’t think history will be looking at W favourably either.
Continue to live in the unapologetic ignorant world that you live in Noonan. That world has brought us where we are now. Terrible international relations (that includes the allies), terrible economy, deficit, 4000 dead and counting……
32. Sunny | March 26th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Graduate….YALE MBA
Naval OFFICER
FmrMarine
really? prove this.
33. Joe | March 26th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Js: Demoncrats ran on the mantra of change in 06. The only thing that changes is we got more crooks running both houses. Nothing really changed, except the cost of the crooks goes up.
And really, health care? AGAIN? Name one election where the Demoncrats didnt use that one.
Get a life people, these are old school symols and are as empty today as the promises that have been made and remade by every democrat hopeful for 50 years.
Well….
Got more crooks running both houses? Really? Gee, I could have sworn that before the ’06 election there were a number of GOP indictments (DeLay, Cunningham, etc).
An election where the Dems didn’t use that one? Funny how you are so concerned that the Dems bring up healthcare over and over again. That is something that actually affects ALL people. Meanwhile, the GOP brings up abortion and guns over and over and over and over again. Yet you continue to fall for it.
—————-
k4v: Can any liberal name one or two bills Obama worked on with conservatives? Crickets.
1. Senate Passes Coburn-Obama Bill to Create Internet Database of Federal Spending
2. John McCain — “First Of All…This Legislation Was The Product Of Over A Year Of Negotiation…Myself And Senator Kennedy, Senator Obama, Senator Lieberman, Senator Martinez, Senator Graham– We Met On Many, Many Occasions And Hammered Out This Bill.”
So like the bills or not, there are two that he worked on with a GOP Senator(s)
34. Almiranta | March 26th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
SteaM, you say: “When he says he wants to get people healthcare and wants to create jobs you claim he is not speaking to the center and the right?”
SPEAKING, yes. Talking, reading from a TelePrompter, throwing out a lot of words. Yes, we know that this is all that matters to a large contingent of Lefties—it’s syle over substance, the appearance is all you can grasp.
But his LIFE has been the opposite of what he SPEAKS. And to some of us, that IS important.
He can pontificate all he wants about “unity” for example, but when he then goes to the church of his choice and spends hours listening to, and apparently supporting and accepting, rants about the exact OPPOSITE of unity, when he sends his young children there to learn at the feet of these hate-driven, resentful and bigoted separatists, it is simply foolish to accept his words and ignore his actions.
“Actions speak louder than words”. This is such an old saying, even you must have heard it. Yet all you can bleat about is what Obama SAYS, while ignoring what he DOES.
And even his words tend to be empty. But then that is another Lefty trait—you are just FOR peace, AGAINST war, FOR happiness, AGAINST mean people—and you automatically occupy the Higher Moral Ground. But there has to be a plan, there has to be a solid and reasonable and realistic way to achieve those lofty pie-in-the-sky goals—-and he doesn’t offer much beyond what he SPEAKS.
And when he does come up with some kind of template to accomplish something he has you all swooning over, what he outlines is simply unrealistic, unworkable, and often just plain dumb. And most of it is just throwing money at a problem—not his money, but other peoples’ money, which he intends to confiscate to fund his grandiose schemes.
35. SteaM | March 26th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Almranta,
I do not think a president’s church should enter the political debate. Nor do I think that it should matter when selecting a candidate. Nor do I think they should be judged by their church as president. Nor do I think that a president should enact policies based on his/her church’s stance on issues.
36. Tractatus | March 26th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Gee, I wonder why Obama doesn’t aggressively court people like you, ‘Ranty. You seem to be so close to voting for him.