Charlie Rose

dulmen  05/03/2008 01:06 AM Report

Amazing how what could, and, in fact, does offer a fascinating insight into America and the complexities of its history and its present has been reduced to punditocratic commentary and the destruction of one man's courageous effort to redefine America.

Americans are letting one truly historic moment slip away.

Chris O  05/02/2008 11:06 AM Report

Yes - big props to Sally Quinn. She was surprising with her bold and thoughtful commentary, perhaps mature commentary that is very lacking when these "controversial" issues come up. And Floyd Flake provided important and insightful commentary as well.

John Easter  05/01/2008 09:39 PM Report

While I frequently watch Charlie Rose, I am usually dismayed by the low number of black, Latino and Asian guests interviewed as if we have nothing of importance to add to the nation's conversation. Now that Rev. Wright is in the news 3 of 4 guests are black on this particular show. Charlie, I hope you will examine your guest lists and I expect to see more diversity on your program going forward or I will tune out.

caroline hightower  05/01/2008 07:40 PM Report

Sally Quinn's comments regarding the Wright situation were a far cry from the norm and a boon. She was able to move beyond predictable insights which came from others on the program because the situation is so politically loaded. She rose above, had attended the meeting in Wright's support after the NAACP talk (which made me cringe when I saw it, not when I read it)and brought a perspective that was generous, wise, well informed and unencumbered by being "news." I wish it could run on every news broadcast that mentions politics.Compassion for both sides.As Floyd Flake said seconds before the broadcast ended, "Thank you, Sally." Yes. And thank you Charlie Rose.

Aishah Whitaker  05/01/2008 03:40 PM Report

First of all, I wish to thank Charlie & his show for always proividing a forum for substantive, meaningful talk. And a big hug & much love to Sally Quinn, whose comments concerning Rev. Wright, Sen. Obama, & the body politic as a whole were so profound, sincere, thoughtful, humane, & graceful. She lifted my spirits with her appearance & elevated the dialogue, which has been so shallow & repetitive. Ms. Quinn & like-spirited people give me hope for America as a country & human beings as a collective.

eve moore  05/01/2008 10:51 AM Report

I applaud your assemblage to discuss this most recent Jeremiah Wright â??controversyâ?? (in quotes because it pains me to recognize as valid, the interest, the outcry, the endless sham of â??analysis,â?? the conflagration ignited by Mr. Wrightâ??s words and their conflated â??relevanceâ?? to Mr. Obamaâ??s character/standing/candidacy). I donâ??t often weigh in, but feel it so necessary to speak out on what I view as yet another ugly reminder of how torn and tattered is the fabric of American society and how very precarious a place that puts our collective future.

Charlie, in your last words to Floyd Flake you said youâ??ve been to black churches and heard from their pulpits scripture and celebration, suggesting, however inadvertently, that this is predominantly the content of its preaching. Bearing in mind the limits on the showâ??s time to robustly explore the intricacies of this mêlée, what wasnâ??t mentioned in this statement â?? and is not being acknowledged with the kind of declarative clarity I long for in this ridiculous mainstream/corporate media-led (ratings, ratings) â??investigationâ?? of Rev. Wright â?? is the issue of social justice inherent in the teachings of Jesus/Christianity; inherent in the valid concerns â?? and lacking in the day-to-day realities â?? of a great many within the black community. As Rev. Wright stated in his Press Club speech, qualifying himself as a pastor, not a politician, liberation theology started from the vantage point of the oppressed, not the oppressor. He then explained his own theological doctrine which he called â??the prophetic tradition of the black church,â?? whose roots, he said, go back to the Hebrew bibleâ??s Isaiah 61, â??where god says the prophet is to preach the gospel to the poor and to set at liberty those who are held captive. Liberating the captives also liberates those who are holding them captive. It frees the opposed and it frees the oppressors.â?? A social necessity akin to Howard Zinnâ??s seminal, â??A Peopleâ??s History of the United States,â?? whose object was to rectify the official historical record by presenting events from point of view of the conquered rather than the conqueror. Rev. Wright explained how this passage in the bible advocates â??godâ??s desire for a radical change in a social order that has gone sour.â?? How liberation and transformation are at the core of the theology leading to reconciliation. How â??changed minds, changed laws, changed social orders, changed lives, changed hearts in a changed worldâ?? is at the heart of this theology. HOW can we fail to recognize the significance and weight of that perspective, that concern within this country, or fail to understand the relevance of it in general Christian theological teaching/preaching (â??blackâ?? or â??whiteâ??)??!! It not only boggles my brain, it absolutely confounds my psyche. Itâ??s been a blink of time since Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, and so many other great fighters for the cause of social justice, made the strides they made to include ALL the people in We the People. A blink. Mr. Obama deftly addressed this social conundrum the first time Rev. Wright made the headlines. Speaking as a white woman, Iâ??m utterly pained by how juvenile and base and willfully ignorant the sector of the white community for whom this is â??newsâ?? (never mind the HUGE issues facing this nation) is displaying itself to be in its demanded denunciation of Wright and its insistence that his few words have bearing on Mr. Obama. As if one black man speaks for all black men. Or women. As if George W. Bush speaks for me! Or David Duke. Or Charles Manson. Or, to be slightly less provocative with my examples, as if my own mother or sister, or my husband for that matter, speaks for me â?? NOPE! It ought to go without saying that different people, however close, have different sensibilities, convictions, philosophies, voices, et cetera. Alas. Sally Quinn got it quite right when she pointed out that 90% of this country qualifies itself as Christian, yet fails to act accordingly (11 oâ??clock on Sunday being the most segregated hour â?? I like the earlier post that spoke to the history of the black church and WHY itâ??s as homogeneous as the white church: collective worship was for whites only). The fact that 12-19% of Pennsylvanians openly declared race to be an issue/decisive factor in this election is just plain pathetic. And heart wrenching. And then thereâ??s the class smoke screen â?? painting Mr. Obama as freakishly out-of-touch with the people (as if either of the other millionaires vying for office {could you afford to run for president?} are deeply in touch with those of us well below seven figures). I resent the latest Newsweek cover (story): Obamaâ??s Bubba Gap, complete with a picture of arugula and mug of beer. Please!! How about New Orleans (and a nice shot of three-year old rot and rubble, toxic tailors baking in the southern sun), IRAQ (and some of those 4000+ caskets), Afghanistan, Iran, Israel/Palestine, Wall Street, Main Street, Rural Route #_, 1600 Pennsylvania, Darfur, Tibet, China, Antarctica, and, andâ?¦.

Notwithstanding this aspect of the brouhaha, is the equally troubling disregard of context when assessing â?? assessing! â?? a personâ??s statements (Mr. Wright is just the latest victim of this political/propagandistic ploy). Words are tricky things. They have lots of shades and meanings, especially when locked up with other words, in moments, in sermons, in response, in defense, in streams of consciousness or eloquent deliveries of difficult socio-political commentary. The American brain has been so thoroughly sound-bitten as to be rendered unable to embrace anything more complex or nuanced than total black OR total white. Total right OR total wrong. Total nonsense. Subtlety and complexity be damned, and, thereby, thinking and reason. It dismays me greatly. That criticizing this country, whatever the skin tone of the critic, is deemed unpatriotic is idiotic, however discomfiting the language. This criticism, its potential evolution into civil rights advocacy/disobedience, and its accompanying movement for change (Boston Tea Party, womenâ??s suffrage, Selma/Montgomery) is the backbone of this republic and the reason weâ??ve been (prior to Bush/Cheney) a democratic beacon in the world. If weâ??re doing our jobsâ??yes, our jobs; freedom isnâ??t freeâ??as citizens of this country, we ought to be holding our government and its policies and legislation (including its presidential signing statements, its torture and rendition for the purpose of torture, its flouting of international treaties, et al) accountable. THATâ??s patriotic. Sounding nay when we think it wrong (think, not believe), yea when we think it right. And why! Speaking truth to power, pamphleteering, rabble rousing, employing rhetoric, bombast, agitation, provocation, engaging in social activism (much of which Jesus, early social activist that he was, is guilty), call it what you will, is entirely necessary to moving people out of the comfort zone of complacency and conformity and into the challenging zone of consideration, change and progress. Stimulating debate, discussion and argument. Fomenting transformation. Framing positions. Taking sides. Eventually forging a consensus that moves our society forward. And moving on. As such, the health and maintenance of a functioning democracy â?? always in flux â?? is predicated equally on the passionate and dispassionate discourse, dissention and dialog of its citizenry. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In pulling apart, misconstruing, extricating and ignorantly/recklessly attributing only SOME of the powerful words of Rev. Wright, we are the worse for our failure to question, investigate and understand whatâ??s actually been said â?? and WHY. The National Press Club post-speech Q&A opened with a query about â??HISâ?? â??chickens have come home to roostâ?? statement thatâ??s caused such a furor. Wright responded, after ascertaining that the questioner had not, in fact, heard the whole sermon from which this statement was extracted, â??if you heard the whole sermon, you heard that I was quoting the ambassador from Iraq.â?? Thereâ??s simply no excuse in the information age for such appalling, galling ignorance and the profound harm it does. Dismissively branding Mr. Wright a â??racist,â?? is utterly preposterous in the full light of what he has expressed. By not setting the record straight (which is what Rev. Wright is now in the dubious position of having to do) we are guilty, the un-free press it guilty, of unmitigated character assassination. Shame on us.

And for shame if we think Rev. Wrightâ??s free â?? and liberating â?? speech has ANYTHING to do with Mr. Obama. Iâ??m wholly behind the candidacy of Barack Obama due to ALL the exceptional aspects of his character and the once-in-a-generation promise of his unique approach and ability to inspire. Not least among his many qualities, is his capacity to lead a civil, thoughtful, intelligent, well-run, clean campaign amidst the dirt and mud and subterfuge being thrown his way. [Seeing his intelligence neither as an â??eliteâ?? handicap (have we learned nothing from the wunderkind Bush and his destructive cognitive lacking!?!), nor an insurmountable obstacle to continue winning a majority of the electorate, Iâ??m clearly not alone in viewing considerable smarts a prerequisite to tackling the vast problems of this landâ?¦and the lands outside our geographical borders, but rooted inextricably in our economic/agricultural/social/national interests.\ What he offers, in a word, is leadership. Of which we in this country are in desperate, desperate need. The world isnâ??t flat (not speaking economics, of course). And the sun does not orbit the earth. And we didnâ??t come into being some 2000 years ago. Though thatâ??s painfully clear to many of us, itâ??s definitely not evident to a number of us. Oh, and we also all bleed the same blood, whatever the type.

Thatâ??s the sad state of our present union: gathering at the proverbial â??water coolerâ?? and 24/7 news feeding trough denigrating two men for all the wrong reasons. Mr. Obamaâ??s campaign suffers from this: like us, he has to be distracted by nonsense when so much sense must be made of so many truly important issues facing we the people.

Irish  04/30/2008 11:13 PM Report

I greatly enjoyed Pastor Flake's comments. I appreciate CR having him on to give the recent speeches some context. I am saddened that a man of such worth and dignity is still mistreated. I wish he had had much more time to speak. Next time please let him have his own segment.

Ellison  04/30/2008 05:30 PM Report

Indeed, Sally Quinn and Kelefa Sanneh have shared with us meaningful insights on what U.S. America needs to better understand regarding race and racism.

PBS, please have more of this informed, intelligent and compassionate dialog on Charlie Rose, Bill Moyers, and especially the Jim Lehrer News Hour as well.

After events of the past few days since Bill Moyers' interview of Rev. Wright, it is shocking to me to see how so many have attacked Rev. Wright with little regard for journalistic integrity.

What was Rev. Wright talking about? What did he say? What did it mean? What did the thousands of individuals in the audience have to say who were cheering Rev. Wright speeches? Reporters seemed to have abandoned their duty.

I'm not interested in how angry and incensed the reporters are (and their select commentators), yet this seems to be all we are getting from the corporate news media. I'm bi-racial, Black/White, and in my 50's. What I see the corporate news media doing is the most shallow, biased, hate-based, reporting I've seen. How sad to see Rev. Wright so abused. Shame on the corporate media, and the few Blacks who have taken advantage of this unfortunate situation. Hear that Juan Williams?

It was stunning and sad to see Soledad Oâ??Brien (CNN) report live from the event on how funny, enjoyable, and meaningful Rev. Wrightâ??s â??home runâ?? (her words) was in delivering his speech at the NAACP dinnerâ??then dramatically shift the next day to where she had completely changed her tune, as if someone from her employment had cautioned her to not be so favorable, or enthusiastic. Am I mistaken?

Rev. Wright has been trashed, then, when he tries to speak up for himself, he gets knocked down. The press is making this about Obama and Wright, when it is really about Wright and his right--to free speech, and speaking truth to power.

I look at the TV screen and see such awful rage, rage of the racist, from people I would never have thought it in them.

I hope Charlie Rose will interview Douglas Blackmon regarding his book, "Slavery by Another Name". I feel strongly this is a must read for any and every U.S. American. This book can help us all to better understand the deep, very deep level of race-hate that exists in this country, at every level of our society. Blackmon helps us confront the reality of U.S. Americaâ??s holocaust of neoslavery that lasted for decades into the 20th Century.

Maybe then, we will better appreciate the truth of the Jeremiah Wright phenomenon.

Amy  04/30/2008 04:13 PM Report

Thank you Charlie for hosting one of the few serious conversations about the Rev. Wright. And thank you, Sally Quinn, for your thoughtful take on the subject and integrity. Is there any way that we as a society, can urge the media conglomerates to improve the way they cover controversial subjects? Ken Kalfus wrote - "It is a writer's duty to imagine other people and sympathize with their situation." If only the media and the country as a whole, had a similar outlook.

Ethan T  04/30/2008 11:44 AM Report

Grim tho it appears at this point, am bouyed by Great Dialogue that's emerging.

There's hope of finally unifying the two "worlds." Now the rubber really meets the road & we discover whether true change of heart & mind can trump rigid mindsets on both sides; if Obama can generate enough power fast enough to claim what seems his soul imperative: the Bridge.

Thanks Sally Quinn and Reverend Flake!

Anton Grambihler  04/30/2008 03:55 AM Report

Does Jeremiah Wright Support Hillary or Barack?

Guilt by association?

Jeremiah Wright met with Bill and Hillary when Bill was President. Is Jeremiah Wright working to help get Hillary elected?

JustThink  04/30/2008 03:39 AM Report

Note to To RE Mant: Self-flagellation? No, I see it more as acknowledging and giving voice to the individual and collective injury the congregants feel, injury inflicted from without and possibly from within as well.<P>

An element of self-hatred would not be surprising, given the experience that some blacks and other minorities live from the day they're born--simply because they have darker skin or look "ethnic." <P>

Funny and trenchant observation from comedian Chris Rock:<P>

"There ain't a white man in this room who'd trade places with meâ?¦and I'm rich!"

JustThink  04/30/2008 03:23 AM Report

Thank you to Sally Quinn for her humane, compassionate perspective on this. I, too, feel the real tragedy of these developments.

Note to thoughtful stuff on Wednesday, Apr 30 at 01:11 AM:

Don't give up hope! If you can, go to Obama's website and make calls for him (very easy and rewarding!), go to an upcoming state to organize, or even just donate.

We must push back against the "red-neck factor": either beat them with numbers or maybe even--dare I say it--change their minds.

The only way an unconventional, worthy candidate will make it through this brutal political process is with grassroots organizational support. Thanks.

thoughtful stuff  04/30/2008 01:11 AM Report

Some heavy stuff. Sally Quinn is really spot-on. The red-neck factor will doubtless prevail, unfortunately. It would have been enobling for the USA and the world. Even elevated Africas standing. Too bad. An opportunity lost. And possibly all to Rev. Wright's ego. Obama's to lose up till now and Wright did it for him. Hillary should become a passionate member of Wrights church. She owes him big time. Or even sadder - McCain.

RE Mant  04/30/2008 12:34 AM Report

Self-flagellation, don't you think? All evangelicals seen to have a tendency in this direction. Strange way to feel good. It seems to be completely self-destructive and really impossible to deal with. I'd think it is the biggest stumbling block to better race relations.