Friday, May 30, 2008

Pfleger!

I have not looked into this new preacher very heavily. Because it seems people will be talking about him, I thought I would weigh in anyway. I've only seen about a minute and a half of his sermon. In fact, I have only seen this:


Rev. Michael Pfleger on Hillary Clinton

Before you say that I don't have context to judge Pfleger one way or the other, I'll say this: I agree. You don't have context. But this clip is all that most people are going to see of him. And you know what?

It's not what people are claiming. It's a comedy routine. The way the he enunciates, overdoes his gestures, makes everything into a world-ending shout. This isn't a hardcore political speech. It's a stand-up routine.

If you're not convinced, go to 1:00 in the above video. Pfleger says "Hey, I'm Barack Obama!" in such an over-the-top way - possibly the worst impression I have ever seen in my life - that I laughed. His following Hillary-inspired shriek of "Damn! Where did you come from?" is a pretty good encapsulation of the way many Clinton fans feel.

Is he racist? I don't know. Is he self-hating? It doesn't seem like he's critiquing white people, just white priviledge. It's obviously not politic for something like this to happen right now to Obama, but honestly Pfleger is further away and his routine isn't angry. It's funny. In fact, it kind of reminds me of a Lewis Black routine. If you think I'm going soft on Pfleger, watch the video again and ask yourself: does this man want to destroy America or does he just want to wring some comdey out of the primary season?

2 comments:

John Smart said...

But is not a stand up routine. This pro obama scum bag is serious as a heart attack. Obama hangs out with way to many nutjobs.

Anonymous said...

at first I thought it was a skit from saturday night live. what do dorathy from oz and obama have in common?

answer: a white mother from kansas

true story