I’d completely forgotten about Pastor Jeremiah Wright until reminded of him this morning while reading about Ben Rhodes’ new book on famous political speeches.
Wright sparked controversy during the 2008 Democratic Primary for his connection with Barack Obama and some polarizing comments on race. As Rhodes points out, what was divisive and controversial in 2008 now seems like conventional wisdom. It’s an interesting observation.
As I look at this week’s headlines on an Alberta referendum on separation, I can’t help wonder what the long term consequences of the rhetoric will be. Will the end result be anger and division or a newly refined definition of what it means to be Canada and Canadian. We will be moving our collective sense of things. But in which direction?
Hard to say. All I know for sure is the end product of political movements and their associated discourse is profoundly unpredictable and beyond the control of those who launch such events for their own, narrow purposes.
This is why, in politics, you have to be careful with your words.
They mean something and can change things, but you can never be certain of your direction of travel.
Ian Hanna 