Today, after five months off the air due to a throat ailment, Garland Robinette returned to his "Think Tank" talk show on New Orleans' premier AM station, WWL. . .
. . . and blew my mind by declaring that, after being turned off Barack Obama by the comments of his former pastor, J. Wright, he, Garland, had gone and listened not only to Obama's speech, but hours of Wright's sermons, had spoken with numerous African American friends for a sense of context. . .
. . . and is once again firmly "in Obama's corner."
Now, for those who know nothing about Robinette other than his famous interview with New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin shortly after the federal flood of 2005, his advocacy of Obama's campaign is incredible.
Deeply fiscally conservative and something of a hawk (he advocated using nuclear weapons to end the Iraq war in 2006), he left his broadcasting position on WWL-TV to become spokesman for mining and mineral giant Freeport MacMoran. He returned to WWL in 2005.
After Katrina hit the city, his broadcasts on the AM station were, for many, the only source of information on what was happening. Since the storm, he has been a strong advocate of coastal restoration and a fair shake for New Orleans.
Explaining his reasons for preferring an Obama presidency on his show today, he said that, whoever gets the job, the next president is doomed to being unpopular, and probably a one-termer. "If they do the right thing and say, 'You're going to wait another 5 years before you get Social Security,' they'll be hated. If they don't do the right thing, they'll be hated anyway."
Deeply concerned about the war and its drain on an already weak economy, Robinette says of all the candidates, Obama is the only true leader. "When times get hard, you need the smartest guy. That's why I'm back in his corner."
He also said the media's obsession with the Wright story and race is a distraction from the real issues that threaten our security: the economy and the war.
His voice was a little weak, but his words shouted reason from the rooftops. Welcome back, Garland.