So let’s add one more reason to the pile: his stunning speech on race in America. I couldn’t see it live, and spent most of yesterday trying to find a site that hadn’t crashed from all the traffic. But I finally got to see it last night; what a brave, brilliant moment. It was a speech of such courage and compassion, such honesty and respect. I felt he articulated on my behalf the wound of slavery in a way no contemporary public person has in a generation. And in articulating it so clearly, and in its full context, he invited me and other African-Americans, to risk putting aside its memory for the sake of something more important: the future of my country. The brilliance of his speech was that he did not simply do the same old thing and ask black people to get over it. He asked us to own the truth of our experiences, to acknowledge the truth of the experiences of whites, and to recognize that some of what troubles us is our collective ignorance about race , about history and about one another. I know that he will have disappointed some Latino/Latina and Asian people by seeming to focus on the black/white aspect of the racial divide. But I believe that such focus is entirely appropriate, because I believe slavery and its legacy in the United States is our country’s primary, deepest festering wound.

To me, the least interesting thing about the speech was the ostensible reason for giving it: an opportunity for Obama to reject/denounce/decry the words of his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Watching the news coverage of Rev. Wright over the past several days has been a textbook example of religious illiteracy in the American media. It would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad. It’s perfectly obvious that most reporters and commentators don’t go to church/synagogue/mosque, so they don’t have any idea of what a relationship with your pastor/rabbi/iman can be like. It’s just as obvious that none of them have a clue about the black church in general or black theology in particular. Mad props to Chris Walton for his brilliant Philocrites post of a few days ago on this very subject; you go, Chris!

Most telling of all, for me anyway, is the complete lack of cultural understanding about this “rejecting/denouncing” business that seems to have such currency in the public arena. At the risk of making too broad a statement about African-American values, and with the full knowledge that I don’t speak for all black people, let me say that we don’t do the “rejecting/denouncing” things with family. We just don’t do it. Nearly every black person I know has family members and close friends who have said and done all kinds of uncool things, even criminal things. Every one of us that I know of have been clear about disapproving of the offending party’s behavior. But all those folks are still part of our respective circles, even amid all their imperfections and failures.

When I was growing up, I was taught that you don’t turn your back on family, no matter what they’ve done. (Sociologists have long documented the incorporation of good friends and mentors into the structures of black family life. In studies, such people are referred to as “fictive kin.” When I was growing up, we just called such people our “play sisters/brothers/cousins/uncles/aunts.”) So when Obama talked about Wright being like an uncle to him, it made complete sense to me, especially considering that Wright performed the Obamas’ wedding and baptized their children. You don’t stop going to your family’s house for Thanksgiving because your family members start acting out, do you? (In my house, the only question on Thanksgiving is: who’s turn is it to act out this year?) Your people are your people. Period. You can hate what they say and do, but at their core, you belong to them and they belong to you. This posture is, among other things, Universalist theology 101.

As always, nobody wanted to talk about anything else but that speech today. The only trouble is, today is the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, and so many of us seemed resigned to it. I like to think it’s because we are waiting for November to remedy this tragedy. It would be nice to think that Americans could carry on more than one serious national debate at a time, wouldn’t it?

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But I digress. The studios in Secaucus housed a host of different NBC programming, and other stars from the GE firmament were almost always in orbit around the place. Some of them, like John Gibson, were fixtures; others were just passing through, like Brian Williams, who was working for “big NBC” at the time ( and thought for some reason that the studio ought to be 60 degrees!!!) Still others were off my radar screen, in part because they were working on things I had no interest in whatsoever–like sports. Keith Olbermann was one of those sports people I used to see all the time in the studios. He liked (ick!) football, so I never paid him any mind at all. Besides, I was trying to figure out how not to choke Ann Coulter while we were on the air together….

Fast forward what seems like a thousand years, to the advent of “Countdown.” When I first saw that Keith Olbermann was anchoring this little show, I chose to watch it because I couldn’t imagine how or why “a jock like him” would be doing prime-time news. God really does have a wicked sense of humor, though, because what began as a point of curiosity in our home has become a ritual, as well as a bittersweet reminder that people think they know a lot more about folks than they actually do. Children doing homework in our house at 8 p.m. have to leave the living room if they need quiet time, because at 8 pm, Keith is on–no exceptions. And even my 11 year old can do a perfect imitation of Olbermann’s faux-eerie voice announcing “Today’s Worst Person in the World!”

My admiration for Keith, though, is less an issue of entertainment than the refreshing sound of honest and heartfelt feelings, combined with actual news and genuine facts. (The only person on television even remotely like him was the underappreciated CNN cult figure Aaron Brown, who eventually had to make way for society journalist Anderson Cooper. I resented Cooper for a long time as the person who contributed to Brown’s departure from CNN, but that was unfair. Besides, the post-Katrina interview Cooper conducted with Sen. Mary Landrieu earned him mad props in the McNatt household; Bob and I were sitting in front of the TV when boyfriend went *off!*)

Okay, I digressed again. So: once upon a time, our elected political leaders acted as the appropriate outlet for moral outrage, but that time is gone. Thank heaven for Keith, who is smart and snarky, relentless and refreshingly patriotic in all the ways you might expect, and some you might not. In my house, we live for the “Special Comment,” a minutes-long monologue, rife with historical references and thinly veiled contempt for our country’s leadership in times of crisis. Last night, for example, Keith tore Hillary a new one over her racist pandering and support of Geraldine Ferarro. In all that he reports and comments upon, Keith Olbermann represents the single, bright, shining light in an otherwise shadowy morass of news coverage that amounts to pandering and bull@(^.

One night, after he had gone all the way off, (but in a good way!!!!!!) I remarked to my husband that Keith Olbermann had the smarts, skepticism and love for America that singled him out as a first-class candidate for Unitarian Universalism. “But he probably wouldn’t know us if he fell over us,” I sighed, remembering my halcyon days as an intern in the Montclair church when the class-act actor Andre Braugher and his family, fresh from many seasons of Homicide, joined the congregation even as Bob was debuting as director of the children’s holiday pageant.

So imagine my feelings as I Googled Olbermann one night for an unrelated reason and found the words, “Unitarian Universalism.”

Oooh, Lord, have mercy.

I can’t find out how true this speculation is. The closest I have come to definite information are a couple of blogs that assert that KO was raised UU, but has no current affiliation. Guess who doesn’t care?

Message to Keith: if you are heir to our liberal religious tradition, come on home, dear one. You have been living our faith and fighting the good fight, and you will need to renew yourself for all that lies ahead. If you are not part of our free faith, let me introduce you: www.4thu.org. Either way, we hope to see you soon. And thank you for all that you have done, and continue to do, to keep faith and hope alive.

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The part of me that is feeling pastoral at this moment may be willing to cut Gerry some slack because she may be too old to know any better. As a white woman of a certain age, Ferraro’s political and personal awareness on issues of race preceded the work of women like Peggy MacIntosh, the uber-white-ally whose landmark work on white privilege laid the foundation for genuine anti-racist work a generation ago. Ferraro, on the other hand, is one of those women who is stuck in the monolithic view of white feminist privilege, a woman who may very well believe that being a woman is such a singular disadvantage and burden that all others pale (you’ll pardon the inadvertent pun) beside it.

I remember standing more than 20 years ago in the newsroom of the Wall Street Journal, where I worked as a copy editor, on the day that Ferraro was named Walter Mondale’s vice presidential candidate. I stood there as a black woman and cried, imagining then that I had been privileged to live at a time when a white woman would be seen as a creditable vice presidential candidate, and imagining that my day might one day come. I remember Election Day, when I voted for her, even though it turned out that she would lose. I even remember telling others not to blame her, years later, because her husband was involved in less than transparent financial dealings. All those moments were a long time ago.

Now I am so ashamed that I ever allowed myself to be seduced into believing that she and I could make common cause; for white women like Ferraro and Clinton, common cause means men and women of color playing adoring handmaidens to them while they take the lead–even when they don’t deserve it. I am reminded of nothing so much as an old movie (by my sons’ standards) called “The Competition,” with Richard Dreyfuss and Amy Irving. Dreyfuss and Irving, concert pianists, fall in love during a cut-throat piano competition, which Irving wins. But winning the competition has a drastic effect on Dreyfuss, who suddenly finds himself faced with an unthinkable reality that threatens their relationship. Even though they had made plans to be together before the competition was decided, everything threatened to change once the Amy Irving character won. As Dreyfuss said in the movie’s most arresting scene, “It never crossed my mind that you were better than me.”

Ferraro/Clinton have worked hard for what they have, just as Dreyfuss did in this sleeper film. But it is obvious that a subtle combination of entitlement and racism has fueled their every cynical move, especially as Obama’s delegate lead grows ever larger. (Anyone who’s driven Routes 80 or 81 in Pennsylvania can testify to how well Ferraro’s rank innuendo–and Clinton’s tepid denials–will play among certain folks there.) Obama’s skills, timing, and (perhaps too much) grace under pressure have had a synergistic effect which neither the two of them, nor any of their supporters, had counted on when this long race began. Under other circumstances (before they started showing their collective a@#??, perhaps) I would have found a way to affirm Clinton’s historic and cynically pragmatic campaign. But it is far too unattractive for me to cooperate with a group of people who are so amazed that a black man can accomplish what they, so far, have not been able to manage, that they have resorted to slander, innuendo, condescension and the cheesiest kind of racism.

One day, I will turn on my television, and a black woman will be running for President of the United States. I used to think I would never live to see such a day. But I have been blessed enough to see several things I was sure would never happen in my lifetime: Nelson Mandela walking out of prison; Geraldine Ferraro being named as a vice presidential candidate; Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton being the last two people standing in a Democratic presidential nomination process. I am only 52 years old, and I believe in God, so I think Time and The Holy are on my side. In the meantime, I am left speechless by the horrific spectacle of the Clinton campaign revealing their racist underbelly. I only wish I could tell you how surprised I am by it all.

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But that is probably because I have been in denial. Monday evening, even in the face of the looming Eliot Spitzer scandal, I found myself incredulous in the face of her unwavering ego and gall, as Clinton and her campaign staff continue to float the ludicrous idea that Obama should play second fiddle to Senator Clinton’s ambition. Dream ticket indeed!

Let’s reverse this, shall we? Hillary has more of the popular vote; more delegates; better poll numbers against the Republican opponent. Then Barack, campaigning against her, decides that he might be willing, under the appropriate circumstances, to offer her the vice-presidency. What might women and feminist groups say in response?

I’m betting they don’t thank Obama for being condescending and sexist. So: how many standards should there be, and who should uphold them? I am finally glad I am not married to Barack Obama tonight, because I cannot account for how I would be behaving right now if I were Michelle Obama. For every person who wonders how and why it is that so few black women are card-carrying members of the Let’s Make Hillary President Club, keep watching Hillary and her husband–and remember how they respond when black people or their allies are not sufficiently grateful for the privilege of basking in the Clintonian aura. Remember President Clinton and former Best Friend Forever Lani Guinier? No? Let me help you with that. Think back to the work that both Clintons did to pass the 1996 Welfare Reform Act–an act that disproportionally affected women of color. The Clintons’ combined support so outraged their former allies Peter Edelman (Marian’s husband) and Mary Jo Bane that they resigned from their positions at the federal Department of Health and Human Services. Remember Clinton’s mistaken eruption all over Jesse Jackson in the 1990′s, when Clinton thought he wasn’t sufficiently committed to a Clinton presidency?

Why should I link Hillary to her husband’s capacity to betray any black person within his orbit? Because she has spent weeks attempting to convince us that being married to the president gives her the experience to be president. In the words of an old friend, “you have to learn to take the bitter with the better.” There is a level of entitlement within the Clinton campaign that is truly amazing to behold. But she’s not entitled to my vote–or my respect.

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