Obama and Wright

[Hometown]

You've heard it and I've heard it.  And you know – some of what Wright says is right.  But there is right and there is elect-able.  It's got to play well with the hicks if you want to get elected.  And the hicks aren't ready for complicated truths.

Then Obama shows us he isn't so different after all.  He denounces his pastor of 20 years to get elected.  And plays dumb.

The many idealists who support him will be disappointed.  The old pragmatists of the party see a bit of reality taking hold.

[FOTD]

quote:Originally posted by Hometown

You've heard it and I've heard it.  And you know – some of what Wright says is right.  But there is right and there is elect-able.  It's got to play well with the hicks if you want to get elected.  And the hicks aren't ready for complicated truths.

Then Obama shows us he isn't so different after all.  He denounces his pastor of 20 years to get elected.  And plays dumb.

The many idealists who support him will be disappointed.  The old pragmatists of the party see a bit of reality taking hold.

Here it comes! "You must hate America" rhetoric. Talk radio hyperbole. We're not counting on the hick vote. That got us the current state of affairs. Young people see through it. And not all congregants believe what their pastors, even if they are ex marines, preach.

[rwarn17588]

Considering how a huge majority of Americans live in cities and aren't hicks, Hometown's missive (like many things he says) should be taken under advisement.

[Hometown]

Sweetheart, I truly, truly wish that things had changed as much as you think they have.  But I'm afraid that real change comes about very slowly in tiny increments.  The hicks aren't going anywhere and we need their votes to win.  Apparently Obama has figured that much out.

[Ed W]

Well, think about all the hicks here in Oklahoma.  It really doesn't matter what Obama says, or what Hillary says.  The state will give its electoral votes to whatever Republican shows up on election day, regardless of whether it's Senator McCain or Daffy Duck.  

Democratic nuances are irrelevant here.

[YoungTulsan]

The media coverage (especially the Foxnews/Talk radio coverage mind you) of this really illustrates how viciously the establishment is going to ostracize and label anti-american anyone who dares to question the policies that this nation supports.

Unless the forces of liberty win against the forces of oppression, this is just a small sample of what is to come in the future.  Question POLICY, and you will be labeled a RACIST.  Question POLICY, and you will be labeled UNAMERICAN.

If you have any problems with the system as it stands today, you better speak up soon, while you still can.  Like they say at a wedding, "Speak now or forever hold your peace" - Except this is a marriage of media, corporations, government, banking, and military.

[FOTD]

quote:Originally posted by YoungTulsan

The media coverage (especially the Foxnews/Talk radio coverage mind you) of this really illustrates how viciously the establishment is going to ostracize and label anti-american anyone who dares to question the policies that this nation supports.

Unless the forces of liberty win against the forces of oppression, this is just a small sample of what is to come in the future.  Question POLICY, and you will be labeled a RACIST.  Question POLICY, and you will be labeled UNAMERICAN.

If you have any problems with the system as it stands today, you better speak up soon, while you still can.  Like they say at a wedding, "Speak now or forever hold your peace" - Except this is a marriage of media, corporations, government, banking, and military.

That chance eluded us in 2004. Otherwise, kudos YT!

[we vs us]

Meh.  Every modern politician has to publicly disown a radical or mouthy member of his own political tribe.  Clinton created the Sister Souljah moment in '92, but the press demands it now from almost every major candidate.  Obama's gonna have to toss Wright over because it's more than just a controversy, it's a media-fabricated rite of passage.

[Conan71]

This **** has been floating around about Obama for just about a year, have you guys seriously not heard about it prior to now?  The Clintons think they've finally found something with traction against him.

[YoungTulsan]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

This **** has been floating around about Obama for just about a year, have you guys seriously not heard about it prior to now?  The Clintons think they've finally found something with traction against him.

News stories are not even "news" anymore.  They hold on to stuff and release it at strategic points so much now it is sickening.  Someone in the media machine is giving directives, and trying to shape public opinion rather than just reporting news events as they happen, factually and unbiased.  And apparently it is working quite well for the Clintons, if they are the ones behind this.

Obama did use this debacle as strategic cover to get some of the Rezko stuff disclosed when no one was paying attention:  http://www.suntimes.com/news/marin/844638,carol031508.article

[Hometown]

Whenever my friends get together and the talk turns to finding a candidate to carry our banner the plan always begins, "First, we'll find someone really squeaky clean ..." (which automatically cuts out some 96.89 percent of just about everybody.

It's good that we are seeing Obama face adversity now.  How he handles this will tell us about what kind of representative he would be in November.  If he is really good he'll finesse his way through it. If not, maybe we'll save ourselves a lost opportunity.

I'd imagine there are two or three more similar hits on Obama waiting out there somewhere.  It's a fact of life now.  And it's good that at least this one episode is playing early.  The masses are asses and don't have much of a memory.

If you want a preview of November check out Fox (but don't linger).  The good news is that the nation is ready for a change and Democrats are the agents of change.

[rwarn17588]

Here's Obama's speech today, full text:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/18/obama-race-speech-read-t_n_92077.html

"This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected."

[FOTD]

quote:Originally posted by rwarn17588

Here's Obama's speech today, full text:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/18/obama-race-speech-read-t_n_92077.html

"This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected."

His delivery was great! He seized the moment and the mantle of leadership. An historical moment...authentic, bold, honest.

[FOTD]

Obama's addressing race issue head-on
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/847971,CST-EDT-edit18.article
March 18, 2008

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. is wrong. But Barack Obama, his most famous parishioner, has it right.

Videos snippets of Wright's sermons have surfaced in the last week, sound bites of Wright making ugly and incendiary comments from his South Side pulpit about America, whites, Hillary Clinton and Israel.

Obama has not only denounced each statement but today plans to make a major speech about race, politics and the need to come together as a nation. Instead of running from the issue, he's doing damage control and acting like a statesman at the same time.

By making what could be a historic address, Obama is forcing a conversation about the all-important American issue of race. It has been an undercurrent of the campaign for months, recently erupting to the surface. It's time to address it head-on.

On Friday, Obama removed Wright, who had just retired as pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ after 36 years, from a minor role on a campaign advisory board. That followed a decision last year to rescind an invitation for Wright to give the opening prayer when Obama announced his run for the presidency.

But Obama wisely stopped there.

He did not sever his ties with Trinity, an institution that does tremendous good in the black community. This is the church where he and Michelle were married and where their daughters were baptized. Walking away would have been politically expedient. Staying with the church can only hurt him.

But abandoning his church would have denied a fundamental truth: Wright's words, as ugly as they are, are rooted in the experience of many blacks in America--an experience Obama can't ignore personally and one he certainly doesn't want America to ignore.

"It just reminds me that we've got a tragic history when it comes to race in this country," Obama said this weekend. "We've got a lot of pent-up anger and bitterness and misunderstanding."

Wright's words also reflect the disparity many blacks feel between the promise of America and their daily reality.

"This righteous anger is about making America accountable to its own creed," said Dwight Hopkins, a theology professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School and a Trinity member.

Parishioners in black churches across America hear similar language from the pulpit each week, typically delivered in a larger, positive context -- as it was at Trinity -- that no 30-second sound bite could catch. Wright's message is not about black superiority or separatism, but about self-determination, about blacks doing for themselves.

And it works. Wright's church runs dozens of ministries devoted to self-help, including support for victims of domestic abuse and HIV/AIDS, advice for members on buying homes and avoiding foreclosure, legal counseling, tours for more 5,000 high schoolers to historically black colleges, youth mentoring and prison visits.

"Anybody who has been to the church knows this is a terrific, welcoming church," said Obama, clearly struggling with the narrow portrait being painted of Trinity and Wright. Trinity "is a wonderful faith community that has done very positive things in the community and also in my life."

All the same, we wish Obama had condemned Wright's inflammatory statements sooner. His claim that he had not heard them before last year rings hollow.

Many Americans who hear Wright's words cringe. Who could possibly believe in 2008 that we are the "The U.S. of K.K.K.A."?

This is not the 1950s, the pastor's critics say. This is not the America they know.

And they're right. Obama himself, a black man who could well be our next president, is the ultimate testament.

But for many African Americans, so many of whom still live in poverty or cling precariously to the first rung of the middle class -- who still confront insidious forms of racism each day -- America still has a long way to go.

[tim huntzinger]

Wriiiiiiiiiiigggghhht.