It has often been said, by the press, that Barack Obama is like a rock star. I saw Barack Obama speak and while I was very much thrilled by his presentation he was no rock star and I did not feel entertained. My association was to inspiring politicians like the Kennedys and black leaders to whom I could dedicate myself in the struggle against oppression, leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, leaders who stirred the Harriet Tubman and Betsy Ross in me when I was but a child. The only rock star to stir the Harriet Tubman in me was the late Bob Marley whose freedom songs I have cherished.
The press cared not about the real story of Wrights' role as a surrogate father in the life of a man whose own father had been absent. The press cared not about Wright's victory over his own struggles. Now, the tie that bound Wright to the man who could become the first black president of the United States of America has been irreparably damaged. For the purposes of American theater, Obama had to reject Wright.
Due to the media’s insertion of itself into this very private relationship we have no idea how the story would have ended if the two men were left to their own devices. so now we have a new story -- a story about a prodigal father who ran away from the task of grieving the departure of the beloved son, and in doing so became the fallen one. Obama's feelings of loss, rage and shame were cruelly manipulated by the press and almost destroyed a son’s dream. Squandered was the relationship between a man and his replacement father. America’s new hope was left at risk.
On Monday, the reception Wright received at the National Press Club did nothing but pour salt on the wounds of an old man. The media's questions, which had been asked over and over again, really had no clear answers. There were no facts, only judgments of anti-patriotism. The media's insistence on exposing Reverend Wright as an anti-patriotic man showed how ill prepared it was to cover our diverse culture in which -- as Paul Lawrence Dunbar’s poem,” We Wear the Mask” explains -- tortured souls reside behind faces of caricature. The press just kept sending out their questions like missiles of destruction. Congratulations to the American Press for becoming experts at pushing people to the point of self-destruction and other forms of demise. What a squandering of the privilege of freedom of the press.
I wish that for the remainder of the campaign there was some way to protect Obama and his movement from the sadism of the press, some way like a route on the Underground Railroad. It looks like I will have to settle for a rock star for comfort today. His name is Bob Marley.
Dr. Pamela Jennings is a clinical psychologist in the greater Washington D.C. area. She has held faculty positions at Howard University and George Washington University.
