Obama's Campus Kids & More, on Race

The fictions that Barack Obama's candidacy transcends race is exposed in a Weekend Wall Street Journal front-pager as a figment of mainstream media's imagination.  Campus life is segregated in ways I never knew when attending the University of Miami (1965-1969).  One white female  student who rooms with five female black students puts it succinctly:

There is pressure to be black. The black community can be harsh. People will say there are 600 blacks on campus but only two-thirds are 'black' because you can't count blacks who hang out with white people.

The article is short and highly readable and, to one who grew up hoping that MLK's dream would come true within a generation, depressing.  So much for budding racial harmony.  Mark Steyn's wittily cast column further exposes the phoniness of Obamamania.  The Weekly Standard's Matthew Continetti impales Obama, on the spike of his pastor, citing previous Obama statements that give the lie to Obama's claim of surprise at the Rev. Wright's National Press Club appearance.  Jonah Goldberg adds more on how Wright supplied the "context" that Obama and his supporters says was missing from the March quotations; the context is, that the March quotes were NOT taken out of context, but fairly reflect the views of Wright.  Columnist Clarence Page, for his part, separates Obama from his pastor; I am not convinced, but his piece is well-written and merits a read.

Most intriguing of all, however, is this Newsweek article on why Oprah left the Trinity United Church of Christ, and Obama stayed.  Oprah was, the article says, secure enough in her racial identity not to need Wright or his radical congregation; Obama was not similarly secure.  Obama is thus very much in the tradition of his congregation, even if his initial attachment was strategic, that of a career move as a street organizer.

Michael Barone discerns "ominous signs" in Obama's campaign, despite super-delegates shifting toward Obama, due to the second wave of toxic pastor comments, which have raised Obama's negatives sharply, to near Hillary territory:

But what about the voters? Here there are some ominous signs. The latest Fox News poll, conducted after the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s appearance at the National Press Club, showed Obama’s favorable/unfavorables at 63 to 27 percent among Democrats, compared to Hillary Clinton’s 73 to 22 percent. Suddenly she’s not the only one with high negatives. And 36 percent of Democrats say they would be disinclined to vote for Obama because of his longtime relationship with his former pastor. There’s more bad news in the Pew Research Center poll of Democrats. Obama’s national lead among Democrats is down from 49 to 39 percent to a statistically insignificant 47 to 45 percent.

These results are not outliers. The Rasmussen tracking poll showed Obama leading Clinton 49 to 41 percent before Wright spoke to the National Press Club. Afterward the numbers were 46 to 44 percent in favor of Clinton. The Gallup Poll had Obama leading Clinton 50 to 41 percent the night before the Pennsylvania primary. The results reported May 1 were Clinton 49 percent, Obama 45 percent.

Obama’s standing as a general election candidate also seems to have taken a hit. Gallup showed him tied with John McCain 45 to 45 percent before the Wright appearance and trailing 47 to 43 percent afterward; at the same time, it shows Hillary Clinton tied with McCain 46 to 46 percent. Similarly, Rasmussen has McCain now ahead of Obama 46 to 43 percent and McCain tied with Clinton 44 to 44 percent.

My Bottom Line on Barack.  Obama says that he has one foot in Martin Luther King's camp, and one in Malcolm X's.  This is nonsense, a the two are fatally inconsistent.  It is like being half capitalist and half communist.  No, Obama has two feet in Malcolm X's camp.  He is--and even more so is his spouse--a racial radical, not a moderate.  Moderate in rhetoric, but not in policy nor in attitude.  His four-stage gradual disengagement from his toxic pastor seals the deal.