Campaign Audio from PRX

Comfortably into the general election now with race and religion having drifted from the headlines. But they are still issues in many battleground states. West Virginia stands out as an example of how difficult it will likely be for Obama’s campaign to deal with this problem in Appalachia. Scott Finn of West Virginia Public Broadcasting filed this report soon after the May state primary, where poll results showed how race and religion affected the outcome.

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You can check out all of  PRX’s election audio on race and religion here.

A really interesting story came out of West Virginia this morning, one that will play well in a lot of states watching primaries in North Carolina and Indiana.

Reporter Anna Sale visits a barber shop in Man, WV and asks who people will vote for and why. The answers she gets are blunt and (sometimes) worrisome, but Sale holds the yoke firm to give an unvarnished portrait of current political thought in Appalachia.

Any station covering the election at all next week will want to air this piece. Production is top notch and works easily into ME & ATC cutaways. It’s available on PRX here.  We also have other pieces and on race and politics.  Check ‘em out here.

West Virginians go to the poles on the 13th.

In order to add context to the debate of over Obama, Wright, and race PRX has annotated Wright’s speech to the NAACP in Detroit, his Q&A at the National Press Club, and Obama’s press confrece in Winston-Salem, NC.

So far the national media has been devoid of context so we are offering everything raw but still in a usable way. I urge stations to resist going after the usual sound bites, much will be lost if you do. If you listen to as much as you can I think you will find Wright to be clear-minded and very funny at times.

So far I have seen very little MSM discussion on this. Shame on us.

Wright believes this controversy and criticism against him is actually an attack against the black church. Here, Obama artfully/despicably dodges by saying that the black church is one of “struggle” and that instead of “black liberation theology” he uses “social gospel.”

Just looking at polling data (and to some degree the tactics of the other campaigns) race will be a deciding issue. I hope local stations can raise the timbre of the discussion. Question local religious scholars, black church leaders, and others in the black community. Find out how much race will actually matter in your state come November.

Also, we have WHYY’s now famous interview with Bill Clinton on “the race card”

Again, everything in the PRX archive is available free to public media producers. If you want a tour of our collection or story ideas, get in touch.

Barack Obama’s speech today on race and politics tried to do a couple things, not the least of which was to halt the tide of bad press flowing out over Pastor Wright’s controversial sermons.

Going over the soundbites from the speech you can see a logical progression:

1. Obama condems Wright
2. Obama places Wright in the context of the “black church”
3. Anger in African-American communities creates resentment in white communities
4. and, finally, Obama is the candidate who can heal both black anger and white resentment.

A very nuanced argument to thread with such a blunt instrument as mass media. Hopefully news programmers are up for the challenge. If you are such a producer here is Obama’s speech in the raw along with some choice cuts that I’ve annotated for your ease.

Good luck!

After thought: it’s interesting to listen to Clinton’s (very brief) speech at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.