Barack Obama finally stepped up this morning to explain and defend his relationship with his now-very-controversial former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It was a well-written, well-delivered speech, the type we expect from Obama, but it doesn’t really change anything:
Obama is the same man he was a few days ago, and this speech was reassurance of that. For better or worse, Wright is also the same, as is the relationship between the two men.
I find Rev. Wright offensive. If he were white, I wouldn’t like him any better. I don’t like or believe in fire, brimstone, histrionics, or politics spewing from the pulpit, period. But that’s just me.
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I have never liked Obama’s empty message of change, his call for bipartisanship, or his policies, especially on the environment, where he is completely backward. That said, I understand his position about race and that blacks and whites live in a very different America, for the most part. It’s the land of opportunity for whites and the land of oppression for many black people. Despite that, black Americans have served their country and been proud citizens. Obama is the son of an immigrant, as he said, and a white woman, also the descendant of immigrants. He had opportunities born of the immigrant experience, which in America has been upwardly mobile for the most part. Certainly he has faced bigotry because of the color of his skin, but his background and his family’s educational level also prepared him for reaching high. This speech is once again a fence sitting position that he always seems to take. He likes being the son of immigrants (see, I am more like the whites than the blacks) but he doesn’t want to lose the black vote, so he doesn’t cut off Rev. Wright. The problem isn’t mine, he says. The problem is YOURS.
Hey, how did Rev. Wright, who is Obama’s chosen spiritual leader, become my problem and not his? Yes, we have to hold Rev. Wright on our collective backs. He can’t blame Hillary Clinton or John McCain this time, so it’s OUR FAULT.
Nice try.
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I can see how Obama and others are trying to say that Wright and other black pastors (including Jesse Jackson) are angry because of the discrimination blacks have endured in this country. I’ve even read some statements saying the African-American churches in general are angry over slavery (still?). I don’t know how many of those pastors have been personally discriminated against; it’s a cinch none of them is old enough to have endured slavery. They are only perpetuating hate, intolerance, and racism when they keep screaming about it to their congregations. I think, or hope, Obama is saying he (Obama) is part of a younger generation that is trying to move beyond the racism.
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Obama didn’t step up…he was pushed, prodded, and propped up…what he needs to do is step down rather than continue to insult the American public with his condescending double-talk.
The more his 20 year attendance at TUCC is scrutinized, the more we’ll learn about the true Obama. Like the fact his pastor reprinted a Hamas manifesto even after the LA Times caught a lot of shit for printing the original op-ed by a convicted Hamas terrorist.
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I couldn’t watch the video, I never did see this “speech”. I’m glad too, I’m so sick of this b.s. I can see if he were a member of this church for a month, but to be a member for all those years and try to play dumb? Just another case of him saying things at the exact right moment, to the right crowd – this time, it bit him in the a$$ and I predict he will not survive this little “oops”. That’s just my thought.
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Sorry if the video didn’t work for you. It seems to be working okay for me now. You can find it lots of other places. It was a good speech (does he ever make a bad one?), but I’m having a really tough time understanding why, if he’s so enlightened, he stuck so close to a hateful guy like Wright for so long. It’s very disturbing to think that Wright’s ideas might be typical of what’s being preached in African-American churches these days. Obama’s explaining it does nothing to reassure me about it. It’s still hate-mongering.
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Obama stated that he knew the Rev. was making racially charged statements, knew he was against American policy and DISAGREED with many of his political views but still kept attending? Why? His answer, “Because the Rev. taught him a lot about his faith”… He also stated that there have been times in all of our lives when we disagree with our preacher, priests, rabbi’s, views. Um, no, not really. If there were that many issues, I’d find a new church, one which shared my same core beliefs.
You said: “It’s very disturbing to think that Wright’s ideas might be typical of what’s being preached in African-American churches these days”……
Why would these churches be harping on these issues? Maybe because they see a change in our country and are afraid that their own will go out, are accepted, and forge ahead to blaze a new trail, leaving their hate mongering behind? These African Americans sitting in these hate mongering “churches” need to think for themselves and stop letting someone dictate to them how the world views them.