Posted by
Cole West on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 11:21:34 AM
"Man, you're just like the rest of us. Aint ya." In The Heat Of The Night-oscar winning Rod Steiger, as chief Gillespie, with a stunned look on his face, stared down Sidney Portier, playing Virgil Tibbs, and delivered one of the memorable lines of the famous film.
The words echo from the grave, since Mr. Steiger left us long ago. To me they have a surreal application to President Obama. But you may ask, "How so?"
In the film, the character played by Sidney Portier, allowed his own preconceived verdict, his own bigotry and prejudices, to cloud his judgement to the point of seeking the punishment of a man innocent of the crime in question. Virgil Tibbs, aloof from the racism, bigotry and pettiness surrounding him, found himself "wanting" the guilt of the rich, arrogant, and bigotted Mr. Endicott.
Detective Tibbs to chief Gillespie: "I can pull that fat cat down. I can bring him right off this hill!" This ironic twist by the gifted writer of the film, showed the foibles and weaknesses of Tibbs, previously hidden in his heart, but now on public display. This stunning revelation brought about the smug response from chief Gillespie, "Man, you're just like the rest of us. Aint ya."
It is becoming apparent that our President, while at first having appeared to be aloof from the flaws and faults of the rest of us, has harbored within himself for some time, his own prejudices, and preconceived guilt of the rich and powerful. Those private resentments have now bubbled to the surface in the form of public preaching against the so called "fat cats," the "Wall Street bankers," and the "greedy CEO's." One has to ask "why," whenever a person's language takes a resentful tone, when it is not necessary to do so to accomplish a personal goal. It is a revelation of something within, whenever one resorts to ad hominem attack too quickly, or unnecessarily. President Obama owned more than enough political capital, in the honeymoon phase of his presidency, to easily accomplish his own agenda, without having to turn to class warfare in so many public statements. So, "Why?"
Other recent and parallel examples might be relevant. One has to ask why the reverend Jeremiah Wright felt compelled to go to the extreme of hyperbole in some of his now, well known sermons. Saying things like "KKK of America," etc. or "U.S. of KKK," "God-blank America," were not necessary to drive home his point, nor to move his listeners. He could have accmplished the same goals without the hyperbolic hate. So, "Why?" It reveals something else deep within the man, bubbling to the surface, and manifesting its ugliness for all to see.
For our President's part, a citizen has to wonder if it is just youthful immaturity, not yet shed by the experiences and wisdom learned through life's struggles. Or is it something more sinister? Is it an ugliness within, embraced for too long, and as always in such cases, manifesting itself with the ascension of power? Time will tell. The latter would be a significant tragedy.
In the mean time, this is the long-feared spectre of heads of state. A spectre our founders foresaw and from which they formulated protections in the Constitution's checks and balances of our federal government. The President would do well, for the sake of his own spirit, as well as alleviating the fears of some, if he were to stop the class warfare in his speeches.