There was a diary earlier on this, but I wanted to present my views as an Obama supporter, as a "white" American, and as a woman.
First, for those who don't know about this or haven't seen the video of Rev. Wright's sermon, here's a link (embedded in Ben Smith's blog on Politico):
Video of Rev Wright Sermon on Politico
Watch it and see what you think.
Josh Marshall, on TPM, had a very reasoned reaction to the video that I read before watching it myself, and that made me think that it might not be that big a deal. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
But I found watching that vid horrifying. It would have been far less disturbing if he hadn't kept pulling Obama's name into the mud with him. I am terrified that this is going to pull down Obama's campaign.
But in addition to my worry about the Obama campaign, I was infuriated by some of Wright's claims: Some examples (not quotes -- paraphrases -- I can't bear to listen to it again to get the exact words):
that Hillary's people had never been considered less than a full person -- until fairly recent history (last 100-200 years), European white women were legally considered chattel and got the right to vote in the United States only after black Americans did. Women only gained the right to vote in the U.S. in 1920, less than 100 years ago. Indeed, the experience of women has some real similarities to that of blacks -- from Wikipedia:
New Jersey women, along with "aliens...persons of color, or negroes," lost the vote in 1807, when the franchise was restricted to white males, partly in order, ostensibly at least, to combat electoral fraud by simplifying the conditions for eligibility.
(note: the "electoral fraud" excuse sounds an awful lot like recent Republican efforts to stop minorities from voting)
that Hillary never had to work twice as hard to get as far
Women in her generation (my generation) were just entering law schools, medical schools, etc. in larger numbers, were still a minority, and were subjected to all sorts of harassment. Yes, it was not as difficult as being black, but women were not treated as equals to white men either. In my undergraduate lit class, our professor (a white man, of course) frequently stated that women weren't as creative as men -- that women's creativity was about having babies. In the 1970s, there was nothing one could do about a faculty member saying things like that.
I guess you could say the real distinction is in the degree of organized violence and hatred that blacks had to suffer vs. the type of discrimination women experienced. For women of our generation, the discrimination was a little more restrained -- nasty comments, condescension, lower pay, lack of promotions, men taking credit for our work, sexual harassment rather than being threatened, having our houses burned, being lynched. But it still wasn't good: I worked for a man who put all the white women in windowless offices along one corridor, all the blacks along another windowless corridor, and gave the window offices and the higher grades to white men. It was as blatant as could be and that was only the most obvious part of his racist/sexist behavior. This was in the federal government in the late 80's! I brought suit, and so did a black colleague and we had loads of witnesses and testimony -- but this was under Reagan and the only thing that happened to this jerk was that he was moved sideways. No loss of pay or grade.
But my point is that although blacks have suffered the most in this country, women have also had to fight discrimination and bad treatment. And to denigrate one group in order to praise another is not something Obama should be associated with.
My feeling is that it's time for Obama to cut his ties to Wright. This goes beyond what is reasonable or that people can accept as "an old uncle's" nutty ideas.
I'm aware that the Clinton campaign is probably behind the publicizing of this video, but as Josh Marshall said -- this would probably come out in the general election anyway (though Marshall thought that other Dems putting this out gives it a legitimacy it wouldn't have if it came from the Republicans).
I ask Obama to please please please immediately take action to separate himself from Wright and make a strong statement about his complete disagreeement with Wright's sermon.