Wright Sets The Record

In his much anticipated speech at Sunday evening's 53rd Annual Detroit Branch NAACP Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner, Reverend Jeremiah Wright gave the Cobo crowd of more than 11,000 and a CNN TV audience a few lessons. What did we learn? From Chapter President, Reverend Wendell Anthony's introduction we learned that Dr. Wright dropped out of seminary after three and a half years to join the Marine Corps. We learned that Wright served our country for six years and then completed his education.

Wright speaks six languages and is well versed in the traditions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. He taught us that Arabic is a language not a religion. (So we shouldn't be afraid of Barack Obama's middle name Hussein.) The controversial Reverend also gave lesson's about black speech and music idioms and that different does not mean deficient.

In sticking with the evening's theme of A Change is Gonna Come, Wright emphasized that the overcoming will come when we set aside the view that those of who are different from us are inferior and embrace our diversity.

In the immediate aftermath, some commentators saw Wright's speech as divisive and injurious to the Obama campaign. However, it's clear that Wright speaks for Wright alone. Barack Obama has been unfairly cast as a villain in the "controversy" brought on by Wright's trial by YouTube. If not for the media frenzy to attach Obama to Wright, most who are put off by Wright's remarks would most likely have ignored him altogether.

Tony Mottley is the producer of the Am I Right? Show.

At Least Obama's an Honest Elitist

The Democratic presidential contest in Pennsylvania is coming down to this question: Who's the elitist -- Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton?

Obama, having weathered the racist rantings of his preacher, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, now is taking fire for posing the theory that small town Americans cling to their guns and churches out of frustration with their miserable lives.

Clinton pounced, as you would expect her to, saying the remarks confirm that Obama is out of touch with the common man.

She's right. There's something effete about Obama -- did you see him try to bowl? -- and despite his experience as a neighborhood organizer in Chicago, you get the feeling that the Harvard-trained lawyer never got his hands dirty in that job or any other.

But Clinton is as much an elitist as Obama. She just workers harder to hide it.

The New York senator has seldom looked more ridiculous than she did throwing back a whiskey shot in a lunch bucket bar to emphasize the differences between her and Obama.

Or as she recalled fondly for her drinking buddies how her father took her behind the family's summer cottage -- the one her grandfather built by hand; the one that didn't have heat or hot water -- to teach her how to shoot a gun.

That sounded like another Clinton fairy tale. Does the Wellesley feminist really make a habit of belting back cheap hooch with the boys before firing off a few rounds?

Was she channeling John Kerry trying to buy himself a hunting license?

Neither Clinton nor Obama have any idea what it's like to be an average American. The breed is a curiosity to both of them.

But at least Obama isn't trying to reinvent himself into the common man.

And that may give him an edge on Clinton. Voters are looking for candidates who are genuine, not necessarily ones who pull on flannel shirts and work boots and belly up to the bar.

Obama is an elitist who doesn't pretend otherwise. Clinton is an elitist who has pretended to be so many different things that even she can't tell which one's the real deal.

Posted by Nolan Finley on Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 4:06 PM

Johnson’s Comments About Obama are Telling But Untrue

You’d think after the misguided comments he made in January about Barack Obama’s drug use, BET founder Bob Johnson would have learned his lesson. Apparently he hasn’t.

Johnson made the following comments Tuesday in a published report in the Charlotte Observer.

"What I believe Geraldine Ferraro meant is that if you take a freshman senator from Illinois called `Jerry Smith' and he says I'm going to run for president, would he start off with 90 percent of the black vote?" Johnson said. "And the answer is, probably not... ."

"Geraldine Ferraro said it right. The problem is, Geraldine Ferraro is white. This campaign has such a hair-trigger on anything racial ... it is almost impossible for anybody to say anything."

Can Johnson really be picking up Ferraro’s argument and attempting to advance it?

The comments are both despicable and ridiculous. There are no facts to back the argument that Obama is leading Clinton among registered black voters simply because he’s black. In fact there is much evidence to the contrary. In an October 2007 CNN poll, Senator Hillary Clinton had a commanding 57 percent to 33 percent lead over Obama.

Just a few months later the tables turned. In a January 2008 survey by CNN/Opinion Research Corp., 59 percent of black Democrats backed Obama, for their party's presidential nomination, with 31 percent supporting Clinton, the senator from New York.

What happened? Well it was during a January appearance for the New York senator in Columbia that Bob Johnson first stepped into controversy, referring to Obama and "what he was doing in the neighborhood." The comment was a veiled reference to Obama’s drug use as a youth. Johnson later apologized for the remark, but the damage was done.

The Clinton campaign is still getting it wrong. They want us to believe that in the arena of political ideas and personality, Senator Obama is winning simply because he’s black. That’s an insult to the blacks, middle class whites and independents that support Obama in large numbers.

If simply being black was the issue than any black guy could be President. Not likely. Obama is not Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton or Alan Keyes or any other “brother”. He’s a smooth resilient politician with a message and style that resonates with voters.

If Hillary’s attack dogs focused more on Obama’s message and why voters are reacting to it positively, they might have a chance. Instead they keep covering their eyes and shouting, “He’s winning because he’s black.”

Maybe they need to look in the mirror. After a series of gaffes and misstatements, that some would call outright lies; Senator Clinton’s ability to tell the truth is being questioned.

A Charlotte Observer/WCNC poll finds North Carolina voters believe Hillary Clinton is far less trustworthy than either Barack Obama or John McCain. More than half of those surveyed, 54 percent, described McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, as trustworthy, while 48 percent said they trust Obama. Only 25 percent say Clinton is trustworthy.

Maybe Obama has his largest lead of the campaign in the Gallup national tracking polls, not because he’s black but because voters find him credible.

By Tony Mottley Am I Right? Show producer.

Richardson Endorsement A Major Blow to Clintons?

The highly courted endorsement of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has gone to Barack Obama. Is Richardson’s decision to back Obama, despite his strong ties to the Clinton’s, a signal of disapproval to the Clinton camp?

Gov. Richardson, who gave up his bid become the nation’s first Hispanic president made the announcement at a campaign event in Oregon. Mr. Richardson, a former congressman and energy secretary in the Clinton administration, dropped out of the Democratic race in January after finishing behind Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire.

In the face of the recent racial drama that has plagued Obama, Richardson is still backing the Senator from Illinois. “I believe he is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime leader that can bring our nation together and restore America’s moral leadership in the world,” Mr. Richardson said in the statement, provided by the Obama campaign.

“As a presidential candidate, I know full well Senator Obama’s unique moral ability to inspire the American people to confront our urgent challenges at home and abroad in a spirit of bipartisanship and reconciliation.”

In his statement, Mr. Richardson, who served as ambassador to the United Nations under Mr. Clinton, said “there is no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama has the judgment and courage we need in a commander in chief when our nation’s security is on the line. He showed this judgment by opposing the Iraq war from the start, and he has shown it during this campaign by standing up for a new era in American leadership internationally.”

This has to be a crushing defeat for the Clinton’s who probably thought that Richardson’s support was a sure thing. What would make Richardson break ranks from the Clinton’s to whom he owes much of his political career? What kind of retribution can he expect? Time will tell. Maybe it’s because he knows the Clinton’s too well.

By Tony Mottley Am I Right? Show producer.

New primary will highlight Kilpatrick's woes

I like the idea of a Michigan Democratic primary do-over vote. It would bring Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton back to the state for several weeks of intense campaigning.

And it would force them to talk about manufacturing, trade and other issues of particular interest to here.

But the candidates and the national press would also be coming here in the midst of the Kwame Kilpatrick scandal. If Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy does decide to bring criminal charges against the Detroit mayor, that situation will be boiling hot when the campaigns arrive.

No way we can hide it. Speculation on how Kilpatrick's troubles impact the vote will be rampant.

And if Kilpatrick sticks to the racially charged defense he launched during last week's State of the City address, it will dominate the news, particularly given Obama's presence in the campaign.

Bringing the election back here will shine a large spotlight on Michigan. But let's not kid ourselves that we'll like everything it exposes.

By Nolan Finley Am I Right? Host

Kilpatrick is his own victim

You had to know it was coming. Backed into a corner, his career and his administration crumbling, no credible defense to the scandals smothering him, and Kwame Kilpatrick reaches into his pocket and whips out the race card.

I've been called the N-word, he said in his State of the City speech Tuesday night. I've received death threats, and so has my family. I'm the victim of white racists and a sensationalistic press.

It's the play he always runs to get through trouble.

But if Kwame Kilpatrick and his family are victims of anyone, its of Kwame Kilpatrick and his ingrained belief that there should be no consequences for anything he does.

The white racists and the vindictive media didn't force the mayor to start an affair with his top aide. Kwame Kilpatrick did that.

The white racists and the vindictive media didn't force the mayor to fire three police officers to keep the affair hidden. Kwame Kilpatrick did that.

The white racists and the vindictive media didn't force the mayor to lie under oath about both the affair and the firings. Kwame Kilpatrick did that.

The white racists and the vindictive media didn't force the mayor to agree to a secret deal to cover up his indescetions. Kwame Kilpatrick did that.

The white racists and the vindictive media didn't trick the City Council into approving the deal. Kwame Kilpatrick did that.

The white racists and the vindictive media didn't use $8.4 million of taxpayer money to cover their own fannies. Kwame Kilpatrick did that.

The white racists and the vindictive media didn't drag the image of Detroit through the mud and bring progress in the city to a dead stop. Kwame Kilpatrick did that.

The backers of a new of cooperative spirit in Metro Detroit must have banged their heads against the wall when they heard Kilpatrick's appeal to the worst racial instincts of this region.

It's not enough that he's squandered his own potential and reputation, placed key city employees in the path of criminal charges and cost a cash-strapped community a bundle of money it didn't have.

Now he's also hell-bent on lighting the racial fires, hoping he can escape through the smoke.

By Nolan Finley Am I Right? Host

What’s On Kym Worthy’s Mind?

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Wednesday that it will take two more weeks for her to announce her findings in a criminal investigation of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty. Most media accounts call Worthy’s probe an examination of perjury. Maybe? Maybe not.

Worthy has subpoena power and she could get access to all the text messages and any other information that she deems relevant to her probe. We know from published reports that former Kilpatrick Chief of Staff Beatty produced more than 14,000 messages over the course of two six month periods. The cumulative number of messages from all the texting devices Worthy could have access to is staggering.

From what’s been published by the Detroit Free Press, it’s possible that Worthy may need to hire TV’s Vanna White to help her spin the wheel of possible charges.

Who’s to say whether the Feds are looking at this mess as well?

It’s all speculation for now, but many people close to the situation believe charges will be filed. Detroit City Council member Joann Watson expressed that opinion this week on WCHB's Inside Detroit program. In the meantime, we'll wait for Kym Worthy's investigation to come to a conclusion, and we’ll examine the impact from all sides when AM I RIGHT? returns on Detroit Public TV on March 28.
Am I Right? What do you think?

By Tony Mottley Am I Right? Show producer.