Obama's tortured tapdance around his 20 year association with the "Religious Wright" looks to be over.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
Back in January, Kyle-Anne Shiver examined this relationship in the context of another - "the legendary amoral guru of left wing activism, Saul Alinksy";
The agitator's job, according to Alinsky, is first to bring folks to the "realization" that they are indeed miserable, that their misery is the fault of unresponsive governments or greedy corporations, then help them to bond together to demand what they deserve, and to make such an almighty stink that the dastardly governments and corporations will see imminent "self-interest" in granting whatever it is that will cause the harassment to cease.In these methods, euphemistically labeled "community organizing," Obama had a four-year education, which he often says was the best education he ever got anywhere.
[...]
When Obama first undertook his agitating work in Chicago's South Side poor neighborhoods, he was un-churched. Yet his office was in a Church and most of the folks he needed to agitate and organize were Church people -- pastors and congregants -- who took their churches and their church-going very seriously. So, this became a problem for the young agnostic, who had been exposed to very little religion in his life. Again and again, he was asked by pastors and church ladies, "Where do you go to Church, young man?" It was a question he dodged for a while, but finally he relented and joined a church.
[...]
But Obama isn't starry-eyed when it comes to protecting himself from the possibility of bad press regarding his church affiliation. When he was preparing to announce his campaign for the Presidency in February, he called his minister, Reverend Wright, the night before and disinvited him to stand on the podium in front of all the cameras. Rather than face questions, he simply eliminated the target, a perfect Alinsky action meant to forestall an enemy reaction.
Perhaps Obama doesn't two-step so much as he slithers.
Posted by Kate at March 18, 2008 11:53 AMthat big laugh out there is the RNC election team pondering their future.
Posted by: Fred at March 18, 2008 1:00 PMWell, that does it for me. Refusing to condemn a racist for being racist just because of the racist's race being the same as one's own makes one a racist.
Therefore, Barack Obama is, as far as I'm concerned, a racist, not a "healer" between races as he misrepresents himself.
That said, I'll predict here and now: Barack Obama will NOT ever become President of the United States.
Americans will not elect a known racist for President.
Posted by: Canadian Sentinel at March 18, 2008 1:02 PMThat’s an interesting defense. Obama claims his minister is pretty much like any other pastor, priest or rabbi (What? No imam?) and that only the remarks that caused this recent firestorm … expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country.
I’m no psychologist (nor do I play one on TV) but someone doesn’t just all of a sudden blurt out this type of nonsense. The Hill and Bill Show should easily be able to provide evidence that this is a lifelong habit for this twit. The minister, that is, not Obama.
Here is a paragraph from Obama's speech on Jeremiah Wright today (thanks to James):
"But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam."
All well and good. But why don't I believe him?
Maybe because of this:
Barrack Obama on Race (or, dealing with white people):
(ibloga.blogspot.com and hnn)
In the good, old tradition of revolutionaries, Obama hides in plain print. So, before listening to his speech, it's worth while to note the following passages from his autobiography.
On p. 94-95 he describes an effective tactic to deal with White people:
It was usually an effective tactic, another one of those tricks I had learned: People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves. They were more than satisfied; they were relieved - such a pleasant surprise to find a well-mannered young black man who didn't seem angry all the time.
Indeed, when he was a community organizer (age 22 prior to going to law school) he happily cooperated with Rafiq, a former gangster turned Nation of Islam. He even believed that Black Nationalism was a good therapy for Blacks. That was also the reason he supported Wright (pp. 190-200). For he shares Michelle's sentiments of alienation, came to believe that race should trump everything and it should be anti-white:
. . . :all the black people who, it turned out, shared with me a voice that whispered inside them - "You don't really belong here."
In a sense, then, Rafiq was right when he insisted that, deep down, all blacks were potential Nationalists. The anger was there, bottled up and often turned inward. And . . . I wondered whether, for now at least, Rafiq wasn't also right in preferring that that anger be redirected; whether a black politics that
suppressed rage towards white generally, or one that failed to elevate race loyally above all else, was a politics inadequate to the task.
Giving schuck and jive a bad name.
Posted by: bill-tb at March 18, 2008 1:30 PMThe same thing I tell the "moderate" Muslims is what I would say to Obama: If your Preacher time and again utters things you disagree with, change churches. Walk out. Stand up and say NO!
Obama never did that for the same reason "moderate" Muslims don't walk out of the mosque: They agree.
RG
Posted by: RightGirl at March 18, 2008 1:38 PMFurther to Rightgirl, also allow this person to perform their marriage ceremony or to baptize your children. Every time this empty, MSM manactured suit opens his mouth I Chuckle and then throw up in my mouth just a bit.
To think leftards thinks this flaming, lying hyprocrite is suitable to run the most powerful country in the world. Totally mind boggling.
Posted by: daverbonz at March 18, 2008 1:55 PMBarakistan>
“I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community”
Why not you disowned conservative white America a long time ago as did your communist spoilt wife who can’t make ends meet on 500K per year and who is also ashamed of the US of A. “Hope & Change” you’ve said enough already, America hopes you repatriate back to Africa where you can continue hate and change America while surviving on a more comfortable cost of living and remain in your black community. There are plenty of private madras’s for the young uns at the right price.
If Barack Obama wanted to preach the story of unity and racial harmony, perhaps he should have started with his own Reverend and his own wife. I doubt that he did, though. I doubt it would have done much good, either.
Posted by: Robbie at March 18, 2008 2:51 PMI believe Obama disagrees with Jeremiah Wright like I believe Eliot Spitzer disaproves of prostitution.
Posted by: Friend of USA at March 18, 2008 2:53 PMi do believe that americans are stupid enough to vote for him. many americans think as he does, the country that gave them wealth and freedom must somehow be evil. what a bunch of morons.
Posted by: old white guy at March 18, 2008 2:59 PMObama has shown himself to just another weasly, self-aggrandizing politician. Unfortunately, the facts of this story will probably have seriously faded from voters' minds by November.
Posted by: violet at March 18, 2008 3:07 PMOne of Alinsky's tactics was to get a bunch of his followers to eat nothing but tons of baked beans then attend a city council meeting and try to, er, disrupt it.
Yeah, I read his book.
Sorry.
Posted by: Kathy Shaidle at March 18, 2008 3:19 PMMichelle Obama grew up ashamed of her country and Barack doesn't believe in certain forms of patriotism, like wearing a US pin on his lapel after 9-11. Obama is also a big believer in wealth distribution schemes.
Seems to me like Mr. Wright has had enormous influence on his flock.
Posted by: Marko at March 18, 2008 3:20 PMObama is the bookmaker's favourite to win in November. From Las Vegas to London, bookmakers and millions of punter dollars have their money on Obama. It would be a statistical anomaly for the GOP to win a third term in November.
Despite this, some would have you believe that Muslims in the United Kingdom, or France, are the most urgent and important issues facing America today.
Here's my prediction: war bloggers will basically ignore Obamamania and concentrate on Palestine, Israel, the UK, and France for the next 8 months, then very disingenuously feign disappointment that the Dems won.
Why? Because it is much more politically correct to attack an overseas Muslim than a black American, isn't it?
War bloggers give their de facto consent to a Democratic landslide victory in November, just like they give their de facto consent to affirmative action and illegal immigration.
A war blogger is, effectively, a Democrat who actively seeks to expand affirmative action and illegal immigration.
Posted by: fsadfaf at March 18, 2008 3:33 PMObama is applying the double standard of racism to defend his cause.
He can defend the bigot preacher on the basis that the bigot preacher is black and therefore "justified" in holding the views that he does!
Now just imagine that this is two White Men!
Seems fair that an EQUAL standard be applied to OBAMA the Apologist for bigotry!
Fair is fair ... right? No...hmmmm.
Troll alert! Troll alert!
Careful - he's here and he's going to try to hijack the thread.
Posted by: BCer at March 18, 2008 3:42 PMHe never mentions his Grand Mother in Kenya, the woman who raised him whilst momsey was romping around the globe. Why the silence on the Grand Mother who raised him nay on 14 years, is he ashamed of his Black Kenyian Granny??
Posted by: Rose at March 18, 2008 3:44 PMObama says he wants to move forward, but his speech is about race, race and race.
I thought his comment about his maternal grandmother was low. Couldn't he have just said she was a kind woman and left it at that?
Scary stuff. This guy clearly sees everything through a racial lens, and his policies will likely be driven in large part by race.
His comments about his church pastor are remarkably similar to what Arafat used to say whenever Jews were blown to bits by terrorists, I paraphrase "I condemn what Hamas has done but I don't condemn them"
Posted by: TJ at March 18, 2008 3:54 PMYeah, that "my kind, sweet, RAAAACIST granny" stuff was a bit on the unpalatable side, wasn't it? I hope (chances are) she's not alive to hear it.
RG
Posted by: RightGirl at March 18, 2008 4:04 PMThis guy is an awesome, perfect fit for the DemocRat Party candidate.
I mean, look at it. They hate America, they hate Christianity, they hate WASP culture and Western civilization as a whole. They treat Black America as their personal vote plantation. They think human beings are destructive, venal, deranged creatures who need a really big jackboot on their necks to make them behave and only they, DemocRats are smart enough to wear the boots.
You want to know what the perfect DemocRat looks like, its Barak "Barry" Obama. A freedom hating socialist who has only a little more Black blood in him than a Highland Scot, for whom race is a convenient fig leaf to hide what he really is. He's PERFECT!
Compared to this guy Hillary looks like a used-up grifter from Arkansas.
Somebody chuck a bucket of sand on the stage, see if Hitlery can grab enough traction to really wreck this party once and for all. I wanna see some flaming debris in this here trainwreck.
Posted by: The Phantom at March 18, 2008 4:09 PMHOPE & CHANGE.
Obama believed he had HOPE.
He just CHANGED that.
Posted by: Yoop at March 18, 2008 4:09 PMPhantom - Hillary looks like a used up grifter from Arkansas...!!
Hahahahaha ..... LOOKS LIKE !!!????
Posted by: OMMAG at March 18, 2008 4:41 PMAwwww Gawd. I was almost able to read every word. Might work for awhile, though the substance certainly is an irresistible opportunity for Hillary to wreck his campaign and the Democratic party.
If he makes it, it'll be a turkey shoot for Republicans in the election.
Obamamania's missile just blew up. And if it hasn't, G*d Damn America.
Posted by: RCGZ at March 18, 2008 4:42 PMYou're funny Yoop!
Posted by: RCGZ at March 18, 2008 4:44 PMSo today, March 18th, Obama said that he DID hear controversial statements while sitting in the pastor's church.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/18/obama.speech/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
around the 30 seconds mark.
YET - on March 15th, Obama stated that he NEVER heard the statements when he was sitting in the pews of his church.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/18/obama.speech/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
around 1:45 mark.
Seems Obama has been caught in another one of his "un-truths".
I had copied the link for the second link.
So today, March 18th, Obama said that he DID hear controversial statements while sitting in
the pastor's church.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/18/obama.speech/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
around the 30 seconds mark.
YET - on March 15th, Obama stated that he NEVER heard the statements when he was sitting in
the pews of his church.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/14/obama.minister/index.html#Obama "on pastor's sermons" with Anderson Cooper.
around 1:45 mark.
Seems Obama has been caught in another one of his "un-truths".
Posted by: Catherine at March 18, 2008 4:59 PMThis may be the most dismal Presidential election of my life. The three people most likely to be President come next January 20 are:
a lawyer with a total of eight years' governmental experience, none of it in the executive branch, and a history of shady dealings dating back to 1978 (the "futures trades" that mysteriously netted her $100K)
a lawyer with two years' federal governmental experience, none of it in the executive branch, who was married by a minister who says, from the pulpit "God damn America"
a man with twenty-fix years in the military, four years in the House of Representatives, and twenty-two as a US Senator, but who wants to grant amnesty to illegal aliens and was one of the Keating five in 1989 or so
Don't get me wrong about McCain. I'm almost certainly going to vote for him this November, but he's far from my candidate of choice.
Posted by: Silicon Valley Jim at March 18, 2008 5:01 PMI suspect that Obama can't 'disown' Wright, because many blacks feel as Wright does. Obama needs their votes; in some states, after all, the voting is unfortunately going by skin colour.
So, Obama has to disown what he said but retain Wright.
That will keep him the vote among both the blacks and the utopian left who already adore him.
Obama went to church for twenty years and never listened to his pastor.
Posted by: philanthropist at March 18, 2008 5:05 PMMelanie Phillips is also perturbed about Osama Obama's slithering:
Posted by: Charles MacDonald at March 18, 2008 5:07 PMMaybe all the Blacks who think the US is racist should move to Afrika they would be much better off.
Isn't that what oppressed people do flee? In Iraq the Christians leave in Nazi Germany the Jews left, etc, etc,...
Just don't move to Zimbabwe where they are calling for great Britain to return and oppress them. Funny that but they seem to be under the impression that they were better off before they were freed. They obviously need to get more news from endophobic bigots via MSM's.
Then there's the lifespan thingy many countries in Afrika have shorter lifespans now with all the increases in scientific medicine, than when evil whites were in charge. Imagine.
Posted by: dinosaur at March 18, 2008 5:40 PM*
"I can no more disown him than
I can my white grandmother..."
i'm thinkin'... you can just toss granny
under the bus -- you want it real bad.
*
Posted by: neo at March 18, 2008 5:55 PMWow.
I don't expect the crowd at SDA to understand the African American experience, but for Pete's sake, have none of you even listened to a Jay-Z album!?!? 33 million albums sold and not one member of the SDA congregation ever bought one!?!?
I'm pretty darned white, but even I'm shocked at how white the crowd is here! I mean, just read OOMG's comment at 3:36.
Only a white guy could write that.
Posted by: Lord Kitchener's Own at March 18, 2008 6:36 PMLKO, you go to Jay-Z for your spiritual guidance? Great. Thanks for that.
To put it blunt, music ain't religion, and Jay-Z is a punchline to more jokes than albums sold.
Now, if it were me, and I was hearing somebody preach every Sunday a message that I didn't agree with, I'd get my bottom off the pew.
P.S. -- I love how you use the urban slang for squareness, white, which shows the creeping double standard of mainstream racism.
Posted by: Yukon Gold at March 18, 2008 6:55 PMOnly a white guy could write that.
And Only an idiot would miss the point!
Hey, I never said I went to Jay-Z for spiritual guidance. Nor did anyone here say that they go to Lou Dobbs for an understanding of the experience of being black in America.
Seems like maybe most do though.
Posted by: Lord Kitchener's Own at March 18, 2008 7:59 PMI'm shocked and awed.
Another equivocating politician.
Shocked and awed, I tell ya.
The only thing that could shock and awe me more is for the USA to ever let this pablum-eating wacko to get even close to the Presidency.
Posted by: rockyt at March 18, 2008 8:03 PM"You guys who don't listen to Jay-Z are sooo white"
Sorry, bozo, I was too busy listening to my John Coltrane and Miles Davis collections.
Quit humpin' around.
Posted by: Hannibal Lectern at March 18, 2008 8:23 PMObama went to the church but he didn't inhale.
Posted by: Stan at March 18, 2008 9:18 PMObama: the man who wasn’t there
As I was going up the stair
I saw a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish, he’d stay away.
From neo-neocon.
Jesse Jackson has way more sense than a guy who would throw grandma under his bus and equate her to rev. "god damn america invented aids & 9/11".
Obama (2008): I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother ... who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street"
Jesse Jackson (1997): There is nothing more painful to me ... than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery, then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.
Posted by: yyc at March 19, 2008 11:55 AM