Afterthoughts ...

Wasn't Obama's victory speech terrific ? As were the gracious words of John McCain. Obama hit all the right buttons, real lump in the throat stuff.

In fact, the last victory speech which had such an effect on me was delivered in the early hours of May 2nd, 1997.

One or two commenters, noting the voter intimidation in Philadelphia, implied that the US was on a South African trajectory.

I think not. I haven't the figures to hand, but as I recall the black percentage of the US population is actually falling, due to high rates of abortion (one black baby in three) and Hispanic immigration. If anything, demography implies that US politics may become more Mexican.

The Mexican Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino, an ally of President Felipe Calderon, died last night when a small plane he was travelling in crashed into evening rush hour traffic in Mexico City. The reason for the crash was not clear but a civil aviation disaster expert told Reuters that sabotage could not be ruled out, along with other possible causes like engine failure.

Calderon, who is waging a high-stakes war on Mexico's powerful drug cartels, mourned the loss of a close aide and friend who had worked with him for years.

Steve Sailer's new Obama book, currently free as a pdf, (link possibly non-work friendly) goes into some detail about the Reverend Wright's church and its theology. But there's a much longer essay on the same subject by Stanley Kurtz here. Quite entertaining stuff - James Cone and the Rev Wright hate white liberals just as much as they hate white conservatives :

Indeed, one of the most striking features of Black Theology and Black Power is its strident attack on white liberals. According to Cone, "when white do-gooders are confronted with the style of Black Power, realizing that black people really place them in the same category with the George Wallaces, they react defensively, saying, 'It's not my fault' or 'I am not responsible.'" But Cone insists that white, liberal do-gooders are every bit as responsible as the most dyed-in-the-wool segregationists. Well before it became a cliche, Cone boldly set forth the argument for institutional racism--the notion that "racism is so embedded in the heart of American society that few, if any, whites can free themselves from it."

The liberal's favorite question, says Cone, is "What can I do?" He replies that, short of turning radical and putting their lives on the line behind a potentially violent revolution, liberals can do nothing. The real liberal question to blacks, says Cone, is "What can I do and still receive the same privileges as other whites and--this is the key--be liked by Negroes?" Again, he answers, "Nothing."

Ironic really. White do-gooders are all over the shop at present telling the world how Obama transcends race and what a great unifier he is. This is the stuff Obama listened to for twenty years, before discovering how awful it was around the same time the media discovered it.

When we consider that nearly the whole of Wright's original congregation left, that other active members departed, and that Wright's radicalism made relations in the United Church of Christ rocky, Barack Obama's decision to stay appears all the more striking. Indeed, Blow the Trumpet in Zion is filled with attempts by Cone's followers to come to grips with their rejection by the broader black community. Nearly every sermon Wright preaches, as well as his now-infamous bulletins and church magazines, is filled with his radicalism, and it's therefore impossible not to conclude that Obama was broadly attracted to Wright's politics.

The good news (in the sense that his racial identification at least isn't driven by religious fervour, a powerful force) is that Obama seems to have been more attracted to the pro-black/anti-white bit than the religious bit. A/c/t his own testimony, the young radical was advised that his "organising" work would meet with more response from church leaders if he 'belonged' to a church - and he chose Wright's. His interviews with Revds Phillips and Wright don't exactly sound like those of a devoted Christian, more like those of an ambitious agnostic :

“Nothing’s harder than reaching young brothers like yourself,” he said. “They worry about looking soft. They worry about what their buddies are gonna say about ’em. They tell themselves church is a woman’s thing-that it’s a sign of weakness for a man to admit that he’s got spiritual needs."

The reverend looked up at me then, a look that made me nervous. I decided to shift the conversation to more familiar ground ...

Nonetheless, the guy's a bright cookie. As Sailer says, he possesses one of the finest minds of any US politician. I watch events with interest.

Oh, and I see various predictions that other countries will give the new kid in the playground a push or two didn't take long to come true.

Russia will deploy short-range missiles near Poland to counter U.S. military plans in Eastern Europe, President Dmitry Medvedev warned Wednesday, setting a combative tone that clashed with global goodwill over Barack Obama's election.

In his first state of the nation speech, Medvedev blamed Washington for the war in Georgia and the world financial crisis and suggested it was up to Washington to mend badly damaged ties.

Medvedev also proposed increasing the Russian presidential term to six years from four — a change that could deepen Western concern over democracy in Russia and play into the hands of his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has not ruled out a return to the Kremlin.

Extending the presidential term could mean a possible 12 more years in the top office for the popular Putin.