Opinion: In today’s pages: Jeremiah Wright, May Day, superdelegates
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The American Enterprise Institute’s Norman Ornstein pities the uncommitted superdelegate, while columnist Patt Morrison laments the possible loss of local Channel 36. And columnist Rosa Brooks takes a more generous stance than most on Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.’s latest shenanigans:
Something about our collective willingness to throw Wright under the nearest subway train strikes me as a bit too easy. Sure, Wright’s a self-centered jerk, but he’s unfortunately not the only man in the United States who believes the conspiracy theories he’s been spouting....We can dismiss Wright as bitter and twisted -- but are we prepared to also write off somewhere between a quarter and half of all African Americans? If not, we’d better ask why do so many ordinary people give credence to such wrongheaded theories?
The editorial board offers its take on Wright, too:
Obama countered Wright’s angry oratory with graceful rhetoric once, but it didn’t keep his erstwhile pastor quiet. So rather than giving another thoughtful critique of Americans’ attitudes about race, Obama was right to denounce, clearly and specifically, Wright’s most objectionable statements. It may have been a capitulation to his fiercest critics, but it was the repudiation that circumstances -- and Wright’s latest pronouncements -- demanded.
The board looks ahead to ‘a new May Day,’ without the violence that marred last year’s protests, and explores the dangers of overusing antibiotics in livestock.
Readers discuss Wright on the letters page. Saugus’ Art Saginian says: ‘Wright is a radical. So what? Americans are as well-known for their brutal savagery as they are for their compassionate philanthropy.’