By Gary Bauer
As you know a video of a controversial Obama speech was released last night on Sean Hannity's Fox News show. Originally obtained by the The Daily Caller, it shows an angry, race-baiting then-Senator Obama using a contrived black accent before an audience of black pastors at Hampton University in June 2007.
Obama delivered this speech in the cadence of a rabble rouser. If Mitt Romney spoke to a white evangelical audience and attempted to deliver the speech in the cadence of an evangelical pastor, does anyone not think the media would make a big deal out of that? It was obvious and demeaning pandering.
Is it a game changer in the election? The speech is getting some attention, but I doubt it will have a major impact. The left-wing media has no impulse to dwell on it the way they dwell on any mistake by Republicans like Romney's 47% or Dan Quayle's misspelling of potato -- apparently far more serious things than a president intent on stoking racial tensions.
Here's what jumped out at me.
- First,
Obama singles out Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who was in the audience, with
effusive praise and a "special shout out." Obama calls Wright a
"friend and a great leader."
Wright was Obama's pastor for 20 years, and shouted from the pulpit "God damn America." Wright's theology was a mix of Christianity and Islam. Wright even gave an award to Louis Farrakhan. Obama obviously knew his pastor was an America-hater and a bigot whose sermons regularly railed against white America.
Wright was already controversial enough that he was disinvited from Obama's announcement speech. As America learned more about Wright, Obama was forced to disassociate himself. But in June 2007 Obama was still eager to embrace Wright before this black audience.
- Second,
even as Obama was telling the country he wanted to bring the races
together, he is stoking racial discord before a black audience. He told
the audience at Hampton University that the victims of the 9/11 attacks in
New York City got more taxpayer help than the victims of Hurricane
Katrina. Obama told the audience that the federal government viewed the
people of New York City as "part of the American family." Then
he said, "The people down in New Orleans they don't care about as
much!"
- That is demagoguery of the highest order. Moreover, it demonstrates that
other incidents we have seen since then -- Obama accusing the white
Cambridge police officers of acting stupidly, exploiting the tragic
shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida, dropping the charges against the
New Black Panthers -- were not exceptions.
- Third,
Obama lied. The race-baiting was bad enough. But he lied about the facts,
suggesting that the government applied different standards to the use of
federal reconstruction dollars in New York City and New Orleans. Moreover,
there was vastly more federal money spent on rebuilding New Orleans ($110
billion) than New York City ($20 billion). This is a hallmark of modern
day liberalism -- they just make things up as they go.
- And it is why the collapse of the media as a force for truth is so
dangerous. The media should be calling out politicians -- right and left
-- when they lie, and particularly so when their purpose is to divide us
and tear apart the fabric of the country.
- Finally,
it is worth noting that there was a significant media presence at this
speech. They did cover it, and they quoted portions of it in news
articles. But as The Daily Caller notes, they quoted only
prepared versions of the speech given to them by the Obama campaign. There
is virtually no evidence that they quoted the most controversial parts of
the speech, which are making news today, when Obama departed from his
text. The evidence is overwhelming that even then the media were
self-censoring in order to protect Barack Obama. They still are today.
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