Wow. Mike Huckabee should be listened to by the ravenous conservative media on this one: I’m pretty impressed. Hat tip to David Kuo. Go in about 3:20 into this video:
Kuo comments:
If you haven’t seen this, watch Mike Huckabee talk about Sen. Obama’s speech and Rev. Wright’s remarks:
Particularly important is this paragraph:
…And one other thing I think we’ve got to remember: As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, “That’s a terrible statement,” I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I’m going to be probably the only conservative in America who’s going to say something like this, but I’m just telling you: We’ve got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, “You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus.” And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had a more, more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.
J-Walking – David Kuo blog, faith, politics, christian blog, tempting faith
Huckabee says ” I think he handled it VERY VERY well”. Good for you Mike Huckabee. Seriously. Good for you. My general opinion of you has just shot up, regardless of how some of your other views are , well, screwy.
I agree aboout class. In America, being welcoming to all races in the “11:00 Sunday morning” hour, in most places, is no longer THE big problem. But the poor/homeless are still a “problem” that has to be “handled”; it’s still a matter of comfort and the “gated community” feel that there is to most churches. I still here most church folks complain about the homeless, and I read articles about “consultants” helping churches design facilities that are actually designed to “repel” the homeless.
He sets a good context and he refers to his own life experience, as a Southerner in the segregated South and as a preacher who has let his words get ahead of his thinking.
He displays a thoughtfulness that’s commendable.
Regarding the Obama speech, it strikes me as interesting that Obama’s remarks about the humiliations whites have experienced is being overlooked because the framing of the speech is limited to race. I think Obama was getting at issues that involve race and class and as a former community organizer he knows about these issues and how to raise them to consciousness.
However, the commentators, most of whom are middle class and upper middle class won’t identify this part of the speech because they are more comfortable with race than class.
Of course Obama was talking about race and race was the issue with Rev. Wright. We have to talk about race because it’s still an unresolved, huge issue. But what we won’t talk about is class. The church won’t talk about it. Politicians avoid it. It’s hidden. To raise it is not equivalent to saying race doesn’t matter. It does. But we need to be talking race and class.