Like A Rolling Stone - Obama Realizes Wright is Outrageous

MUST READ:  Obama steps to The Huffington Post to address the Wright debacle.  At a quick glance, his defense will be ripped as BS - he seems to be pretending Wright has made a few awful comments, not twenty years worth.  Here we go:

Most importantly, Rev. Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life. In other words, he has never been my political advisor; he's been my pastor. And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn.

The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church.

If Obama wanted to loose the hounds, this should do the trick - not even the Times will be able to ignore this now, ancient footage and interviews with Wright will surface, and Obama will be pretending that he never heard any of it.  Get Claude Rains to close the church!.

This Rolling Stone article from Feb 2007 titled "The Radical Roots of Barack Obama" looks like a gold mine.  Lots of material on Wright (but nothing on Ayers).  This next passage gives a flavor of what Obama is pretending he did not hear in church [but do note my confusion following the excerpt]:

Wright takes the pulpit here one Sunday and solemnly, sonorously declares that he will recite ten essential facts about the United States. "Fact number one: We've got more black men in prison than there are in college," he intones. "Fact number two: Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run!" There is thumping applause; Wright has a cadence and power that make Obama sound like John Kerry. Now the reverend begins to preach. "We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns and the training of professional KILLERS. . . . We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God. . . . We conducted radiation experiments on our own people. . . . We care nothing about human life if the ends justify the means!" The crowd whoops and amens as Wright builds to his climax: "And. And. And! GAWD! Has GOT! To be SICK! OF THIS SHIT!"

This is as openly radical a background as any significant American political figure has ever emerged from, as much Malcolm X as Martin Luther King Jr. Wright is not an incidental figure in Obama's life, or his politics. The senator "affirmed" his Christian faith in this church; he uses Wright as a "sounding board" to "make sure I'm not losing myself in the hype and hoopla." Both the title of Obama's second book, The Audacity of Hope, and the theme for his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 come from Wright's sermons. "If you want to understand where Barack gets his feeling and rhetoric from," says the Rev. Jim Wallis, a leader of the religious left, "just look at Jeremiah Wright."

Obama wasn't born into Wright's world. His parents were atheists, an African bureaucrat and a white grad student, Jerry Falwell's nightmare vision of secular liberals come to life. Obama could have picked any church — the spare, spiritual places in Hyde Park, the awesome pomp and procession of the cathedrals downtown. He could have picked a mosque, for that matter, or even a synagogue. Obama chose Trinity United. He picked Jeremiah Wright. Obama writes in his autobiography that on the day he chose this church, he felt the spirit of black memory and history moving through Wright, and "felt for the first time how that spirit carried within it, nascent, incomplete, the possibility of moving beyond our narrow dreams."

Ouch.  [But hold on - per this article, the Rolling Stone is reporting on the same speech described by today's WSJ as having been delivered at Howard University; this YouTube video tracks both sets of excerpts.  I suppose he could have delivered it twice.  But word for word?  So what was the Rolling Stone reporter thinking about?  I'll guess - Howard University is in Washington DC, as is Obama's Senate office, and he got muddled.]

Let's cut to the Times for more on Obama's choice of minister:

It was a 1988 sermon called “The Audacity to Hope” that turned Mr. Obama, in his late 20s, from spiritual outsider to enthusiastic churchgoer. Mr. Wright in the sermon jumped from 19th-century art to his own youthful brushes with crime and Islam to illustrate faith’s power to inspire underdogs. Mr. Obama was seeing the same thing in public housing projects where poor residents sustained themselves through sheer belief.

In “Dreams From My Father,” Mr. Obama described his teary-eyed reaction to the minister’s words. “Inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones,” Mr. Obama wrote. “Those stories — of survival, and freedom, and hope — became our story, my story.”

Mr. Obama was baptized that year, and joining Trinity helped him “embrace the African-American community in a way that was whole and profound,” said Ms. Soetoro, his half sister.

Whoa.  It is hardly as if this is the church Obama's parents selected and he inherited.  He sought out Wright, was moved by Wright, and is now pretending he had no idea Wright said these things.  One more, from an earlier Times story describing why Wright was excluded from Obama's announcement of his candidacy:

According to the pastor, Mr. Obama then told him, “You can get kind of rough in the sermons, so what we’ve decided is that it’s best for you not to be out there in public.”

So in Feb 2007 Obama knew that Wright could get a bit rough, but, per his current statement, that was the first time he realized it.  Please.  As to the HuffPo statement that he "strongly condemned" Wright's declarations when he learned of them at the start of his campaign, huh?  Where?  The denunciation of Farrakhan and non-denunciation of Wright described here was earlier in 2008:

Obama, who has rejected support from Farrakhan, assured voters his Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago does not endorse such messages.

''I have never heard an anti-Semitic (remark) made inside of our church. I have never heard anything that would suggest anti-Semitism on the part of the pastor,'' Obama said in a transcript of his remarks released later. ''He (Wright) is like an old uncle who sometimes will say things that I don't agree with. And I suspect there are some of the people in this room who have heard relatives say some things that they don't agree with -- including, on occasion, directed at African-Americans.''

Very hard to believe this.  Geez, a win for Hillary, and just 5 1/2 weeks to Pennsylvania.  Should be time for glaciers to advance and recede again.

NOAM SCHEIBER AT TNR:

Whether or not this explanation does the trick depends on two things, I guess: 1.) Most obviously, whether Obama has really never heard Wright preach this kind of stuff. If Obama is somehow placed at a sermon in which Wright went on one of his rants, it's going to be a disaster. (Then again, it would have been a disaster without or without his HuffPo statement.) 2.) How plausible it is that Obama wouldn't have known about Wright's, er, greatest hits. Obama strongly implies he didn't know his pastor had a habit of giving nutty sermons up until the outset of his presidential campaign. Is that believable? Is there any way to disprove it?

Well, the disinvitation to the announcement was probably a timeline marker the Obama people couldn't avoid.  As to what went on in Obama's church, this bit from "Dreams From My Father" (Ch. 14, p. 293) is merely suggestive - it is the description of Wright's "Audacity of Hope" speech that brought Obama into the flock:

"It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folk's greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere... that's the world!  On which hope sits!"

And so it went, a meditation on a fallen world. ...Rev. Wright spoke of Sharpsville and Hiroshima, the callousness of policy makers in the White House and in the State House...

I  wonder what the guy who believes the US invented AIDS thinks about Hiroshima - must have been calm and measured! [Hmm, Rich Lowry already had this, which would have spared me some mistyping.]

SALUTING THE CAPTAIN: "Ed Morrissey emails:  "I sat in his church, but I didn't inhale."

Comments

[Ann]

Playing devil's avocate, are there videos of the Clinton's in black churches? Gotta be. Someone should research what they preached and why the Clinton's always pander to them.

What really makes me sick is the fact that our media made Mitt give a speech on his religion because so many people questioned his beliefs. Seems kinda outrageous now.

[Enlightened]

Speaking of the Deaniac.....He's a member of UCC, as is TUCC.......funny that. He does exhibit some of that vitriolic "passion"...Yeahhhhhhhhh!

[ben]

.....behind-the-scenes pressure on national party leaders to resolve the matter.....

Ahh, what is Dean supposed to do, "resolve the matter" by annointing Hillary? By excomunicating Obama?

Attractive choices, no doubt....I suggest ritual hara-kiri to save face.

[KYJurisDoctor]

Not everyone can say they support any (political) thing their Pastor says so why would ANYONE hold Obama to a different standard WRIGHT or wrong?

http://OsiSpeaks.com

[Sara]

I found it, it was Vanderleun:

The Pitch *

Starts out:

It's late in the winter of 2005. Hillary and Obama are having lunch in the Senate Dining Room, brainstorming campaign ideas to pitch to the Democratic National Committee.

[hit and run]

Ann:
Hit has a poignant post today

Thank you!

I just put up a post in reaction to Mona Charen's Corner post today (which TM mentioned in the last thread)

Honestly, her post made my day and my week. It was like someone gave me posting rights at the Corner (and temporary transgender..stopping now, first rule of holes) -- even if what she posted was what I was trying to say nearly a year ago.

[ben]

"Not everyone can say they support any (political) thing their Pastor says so why would ANYONE hold Obama to a different standard WRIGHT or wrong?"

Excuse me Doctor, but this isn't just "what their Pastor said". This is what your Pastor that is part of your campaign and whom you say has shaped your life and whom you claim to be closely associated with says.

[Tom Maguire]

Things I did not know - the "Hillary has never been called a n****r" sermon was from Christmas day, 2007. Kidding? I mean, Barack might very well have brought his kids.

Although wright was down to one sermon on Sunday and Otis Moss (the new guy) was doing two.

[clarice]

That movement thing is funny, Hit. I can attest to your efforts all year to warn people off Obama if you need a witness.

[clarice]

Christmas sermon? I can't imagine what the Easter sermon was like.

[ben]

"I am curious to know what Obama thinks about Hiroshima."

If Bush had just sat down with Hirohito it woudn't have happened.

[hit and run]

TM:
Things I did not know - the "Hillary has never been called a n****r" sermon was from Christmas day, 2007.

Oh, gosh. Really?

I mean, no.

That Hemingway bit on "judgment" from the Corner was good -- how could someone speaking of having such good judgment take his kids to a church with such a...well....um.....bleepedy bleep bleepin' pastor is all well and good.

But what kind of judgment does a frickin' presidential candidate have if he lets himself be associated with this guy -- not for 20 years prior, but DURING the actual campaign?

Amateur. What he thought the MSM would cover for him?

Did he think Clinton would be unwilling or unable to go there?

Judgment?

None.

[Rick Ballard]

Hit,

Trash from Arkansas sat around the WH for eight years after something similiar - don't count St BHO out yet.

[hit and run]

We all get caught up in commenting on the very quick happenings in the past week, what with the Obama meltdown, the Spitzer shitser, etc.

But let's stop for a minute and focus here.

TM -- you have been on fire. Seriously, the posts in the last week have been some of your best. And that's a high bar to clear for sure.

For the first time in my adult life, I am proud to be an internet addict.

[ben]

"Judgment?

None."

The only explanation is that since Obama believes this stuff himself, he failed to be shocked by it. So it didn't register as a problem.

[Pofarmer]

What he thought the MSM would cover for him?

I don't think he sees anything wrong with it, bein from the hood and all.

[clarice]

True, Hit.. Let's hear it for the host.Here! Here! Here!

[hit and run]

Rick:
don't count St BHO out yet.

Oh, no. In fact, I am his biggest supporter right now.

I admit to being fearful for the past year that his judgment on having all his flaws overlooked would be proved correct.

And I am quite delighted in having my fears being proven wrong.

But yes -- I want him on that Dem wall -- I need him on that Dem wall.

[Sara]

"Not everyone can say they support any (political) thing their Pastor says so why would ANYONE hold Obama to a different standard WRIGHT or wrong?"

This is so typiccal of the left's way of framing things. Barack NMN Obama has said in no uncertain terms that the Rev. Wright is his "spiritual adviser" a.k.a. pastor AND his "mentor" a.k.a. teacher, someone to emulate, someone you hold in esteem. To my knowledge, no other candidate has this type of relationship with the preacher at their church.

[hit and run]

ben:
The only explanation is that since Obama believes this stuff himself, he failed to be shocked by it. So it didn't register as a problem.

did you see Geraghty's post today about Obama's dad?

Read the whole thing, about the story of his dad converting a racist with just one conversation, but here's Jim's conclusion:

But if you believed that your father had an almost-hypnotic capacity to calm the most troubled soul with the right words... might you also believe that you yourself could bring someone like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to see reason?

And might you believe that you yourself could mezmerize the entire nation with hope and change and unity without anyone ever vetting you?

Eh, that's pusing it a little too far, I think.

But it's not nothing and it's not completely off target.

[ben]

But can a Messiah stumble? It could be an issue for theologians.

[ben]

Sorry Hit, the Messiah quip was not a non-sequitur...typed at the same time of your post.

Yes, I read the Geraghty post....it sounds like a story concocted to support the script...but it could well explain why Obama thinks "talking to everybody" is a viable foreign policy.

[hit and run]

But can a Messiah stumble? It could be an issue for theologians.

Well, my first instinct was to start going off on false prophets ...

And...

Hey, look! An unopened beer!!!

[Enlightened]

Hmmmm. Christmas sermon 2007? The Obama's made a "Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays" video that year, with a Christmas tree in the background. So I take it they don't celebrate Kwanzaa? So then if they celebrate Christmas, and are Christian - they had to go to church on Christmas. So - where in the world was Barack Obama on Chirstmas day 2007?????

[ben]

"So - where in the world was Barack Obama on Chirstmas day 2007?????"

Hmmm, brunch at the Rezko's?

[Elliott]

But can a Messiah stumble? It could be an issue for theologians.

No. But, he can suffer and be vilified in George Bush's Amerikkka and at the next election rise again.

[kim]

Candidential. That's a good one.
===================

[Elliott]

Hmmm, brunch at the Rezko's?

Another good zinger, Ben. Thanks for starting to post here.

[clarice]

It is interesting how many Blacks and Dem mouthpieces are saying on TV tonight that this kind of thing is common in Black churches. It certainly is not in those I'm familiary with, but to the extent that it is not rare , this will certainly exacerbate tensions with so many whites having hoped that we'd gone beyond this and gone so far to accommodate Blacks (AA and all) only to find out that this has simply fueled more hate......

[clarice]

**familiar****

[ben]

"No. But, he can suffer and be vilified in George Bush's Amerikkka and at the next election rise again."

That does have a certain Biblical connotation....

[Elliott]

St BHO

Rick, when did get demoted?

[Elliott]

****when did HE get demoted?***

[ben]

"It is interesting how many Blacks and Dem mouthpieces are saying on TV tonight that this kind of thing is common in Black churches."

I think the first trial baloon "I never heard of it" didn't wash so now the second attempt is "everyone does it, it's normal". The two versions are somewhat conflicting, however.

[hit and run]

Clairce:
It certainly is not in those I'm familiary with, but to the extent that it is not rare , this will certainly exacerbate tensions with so many whites

Well, reading Sara's report on emails from cousins -- and noting that PA is the next battleground -- what the snot is Obama supposed to do here?

I wondered elsewhere if maybe he should join Fred Phelps' church...

Because, you know, I'm always trying to be helpful to Dems.

[ben]

"St BHO

Rick, when did HE get demoted?"

Speaking of zingers......

[hit and run]

Elliott, the two l'ed, two t'ed wonder.

Not to be mistaken with the other one lacking a couple consonants and lacking any conscience.

[Sara]

only to find out that this has simply fueled more hate......

That's why this is having such an impact. It seems we've all been living in a terrible state of denial and that things in AmeriKKKa are actually much worse than they were 40 odd years ago. I think the majority of white America is under the deluded idea that things are better. We bought into the canard of the upwardly mobile black middle class. We thought that with the last two Secretaries of State being African American it meant the black ceiling had been permanently removed. We thought that the rise in black entertainment/news and the popularity of so many black voices in the media was a sign of how the times have changed. We see that our colleges and universities are graduating large numbers of African Americans and they are moving into positions of authority in the business world and think that is a good thing, not a sign of more opporession. What fools we are finding out we've been.

[Jimmy's Attack Rabbit]

I bet He Who Must Not be Middle-Named is wishing he was a Muslim now.

[section9]

Here's the problem that the Obambis never realized when they let Pastor Wright out of the cellar.

1. White working class voters don't think we deserved 9/11 as payback for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Most white working class voters (who happen to be registered voters, btw), think of HIroshima and Nagasaki as a return favor for Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, the Rape of Nanjing, and other niceties the Japanese committed on their agressvie march across Asia. The Rev appears to have missed this salient fact.

2. Using the "n" word continuously at a Christmas sermon wins you no friends.

They will continue not to get this while people like Eddie Rendell call around and say, "hey Mac, are you sure this guy can beat McCain? The Big O will still wonder about this when JMC wins in November.

[Sara]

The sad part is that I was actually proud of my country for liberating millions of brown-skinned women around the world and I was proud of my president for committing billions for African aides relief.

[bgates]

He Who Must Not be Middle-Named
You mean Barack Has-Been Obama?

[Daddy]

Maybe Obama will get lucky and the FBI records will show he was a client in the Mayflower Hotel during the time of Reverend Wright's Christmas Sermon.

[poodlemom]

Watching those videos makes me wonder if Rev. Wright shares the same tailor as Aretha Franklin. That preacher sure wears some funky looking robes ;-)

[M. Simon]

Sara:

Was it this one:

Seinfeld For President

[Sara]

M.Simon - I found it at American Digest by Vanderleun, but I think what he posted is based on Seinfeld. I posted the link above.

[J. Peden]

Perhaps the Progs have finally proven that they can create terrorists just by "helping" certain peoples.

Maybe the first thing anyone black enough should do is to refuse to be called "African American".

[Broadsword]

Yep. The Gospel of Jesus. That's the first thing I thought when Wright screamed "Rich, white, people!!!" Straight from the Sermon on the Mount, just before "Blessed are those who mourn..." and right after "...the poor in spirit". Don't seem to remember any parables about AIDS or Nagasaki...Must have been "cherry picked" out by those 'Wascelly Nasty Woemanns'.

[Jane]

Beware the Ides of March

The BHO story appears to have left the headlines - we are back to the soon-to-be ex-governor of NY.

The new Rezko story can also be considered old news. The candidates have promised to be nicer to each other.

Oh and there was a tornado in Atlanta. Carry on.

[clarice]

Sara, at least half of all Americans are the descendents of people who came to this country after the Civil War.

[centralcal]

Jane: Mike Allen at the Politico writes trying to defend the MSM's reporting (or lack thereof) about Obama's pastor and in so doing lets slip something really revealing -- he says that "reporters" were inundated with emails, phone calls, etc. from "friends and relatives" asking why no one had reported this story till now?

Note - "friends and relatives," not conservatives or Republicans or partisans or Clinton supporters or whatever euphemism is normally used.

Friends and relatives. Very interesting.

[sbw]

[OT] Tom, it's time to get out the de-louser. Some of your old posts are worth saving and they are being infested by comment lice.

Much as I hate the Doorman, it's time to bring him back. [/OT]

[sbw]

I've stopped reading the magazine, but looking at the latest Rolling Stone cover reminded me why.

Rolling Stone writes as if it doesn't matter.

[Sue]

Hit,

did you see Geraghty's post today about Obama's dad?

I don't believe the story simply because it wasn't a southerner who was a racist. But then, maybe it was. Maybe it was a transplant.

[Sue]

Oh and there was a tornado in Atlanta.

I watched the coverage. They were breathless. Never thought they would see this kind of destruction downtown caused by a tornado. Huh? I guess they missed Nashville about a decade ago. They never crossed over into global warming, Bush territory, but they wanted to. You could just hear it. They wanted to.

[Ranger]

Well, I almost feel sorry for Obama this morning. He has grown up hearing this hate America stuff all his life from people he loved and respected. His mother was a hard core leftists. He went to Columbia and Harvard, where the faculty are hard core leftists for the most part. Then, he worked as a community organizer in Chicago, in the communities that deeply beleive all of this. He found a wife that shares his views. He even managed to find a church that claims a spiritual understanding of the justice of all this negativity about America. Now, he has to turn around a disavow what he, in his heart, feels is true.

[clarice]

I don't feel sorry for him at all. While he seems nice enough, he was skillfully manipulating everyone to hide his true beliefs and got caught out at it.

[Sue]

Obama is toast. It is just a matter of time before someone produces the tape of Obama at a service where the right Rev. Wright is preaching his hatred. He told Major last night he had not been in the church when "sermons" like those were preached. I keep going back to the congregation's reactions to hearing their preacher "God Damn" Amerikkka. Their reactions were not stunned silence. Their reactions were "preach it brother". I was as appalled by the congregation's reaction to his words as I was to his words. And Obama can't distance himself from that.

[Rick Ballard]

"Now, he has to turn around a disavow what he, in his heart, feels is true."

It doesn't count though - black taqiya. Tell the blue eyed devils whatever it takes to get you through. Conversely, he's a dedicated Red, has been since diapers - there is no sin in lying to advance the Cause.

We're damn lucky he's a cheap pol without a shred of ethics. If he hadn't climbed into Rezko's pocket right from the beginning this wouldn't be enough to knock him down.

I still won't count him out. He's as good a liar as Bubba, he has the media attached to his butt like remora and Red Witch isn't strong enough to finish him off.

The remark by Mike Allen (Press Sluts for Hillary founder) that "reporters" were inundated with emails, phone calls, etc. from "friends and relatives" asking why no one had reported this story till now? is a pretty pathetic attempt to drive the story. It doesn't appear to be working as yet.

That doesn't discount the probability of a viral effort to get the word out via email. I hope it isn't enough to knock him out.

Yet.

[Lesley]

Sue said, " I was as appalled by the congregation's reaction to his words as I was was to his (Wright's) words."

Sue, it depressed the heck out of me. I'll admit, for awhile, I enjoyed the Dem's meltdown over identity politics, but I think the entire country is going to be worse for this election. I didn't realize so many of my fellow Americans hated me because of the color of my skin and my collective ownership of real and imagined transgressions.

[anduril]

An entire generation of blacks has grown up under our racial spoils system, encouraged in their fantasies by the liberals in politics and the media. Whites have been lulled by the policy of throwing money but not solutions at the real problems, but blacks have by the same token been deluded about the real problems that need to be confronted.

Lesley is right that the nation will not be better off for this election. And if the economy goes south during this period the underlying tensions will grow worse (as in, be exaccerbated).

[Sue]

Lesley,

Michelle Obama gave us a sneak peek into this world. The right Rev. Wright opened the door.

[anduril]

Second thought: this has been a long time coming. As I've said before, however, blacks are going to learn that the Hispanic voice will drown theirs out--no matter what their legitimate grievances may be. The healthy solution will be for blacks to address their problems as a community, but there is nothing to say that that will happen. There are rough times ahead for one and all.

[J2]

Placed at sermon - Check!

Pause at 11 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enMWfQl_Qeg

via commenter Noyzmaker at Sweetness and Light

[Sue]

I can't see how Obama is going to get out of this by claiming lack of knowledge. He claims lack of knowledge when anything comes up, Rezko, creepy preachers. And he wants us to trust his judgment? He can't even judge those who are closest to him.

[boris]

Perhaps if people like Shelby Steele, Thomas Sowell, Walter E Williams say "Look what you could have accomplished, look what you threw away" maybe some will listen.

[boris]

Steele for VP.

[Sue]

J2,

There isn't enough of that clip. It would be just like the Obama camp to put out a fake video, prove it is fake, and all future videos will have a sense of being fake.

[Rick Ballard]

Whoa folks - don't assign what you see coming out of the Blue Prog Hells to the black population in general. Remember - Wright is in Jesse Jackson territory. Sharpton works with Rangel in that Blue Hell. There are undoubtedly preachers of similiar ilk working for the progs in Detroit, Philly, St. Louis, Watts and a few other places.

Liberation theology or "social justice ministry" are propaganda efforts run by progs for political purposes. They do attract a subset of the black population but percentage wise it would be no greater than that attracted to someone like Hagee.

There are 37 million people counted as black in this country and I would be very surprised is more than 5-10% actually believed what Wright, Jackson and Sharpton (there is no difference) preach. That's quite a few people but not enough to qualify for stereotypical treatment anymore than Hagee's followers should be considered as "typical" of u-nameum.

If you would like to feel sick about this, then feel sick about the fact that the lies told by progressives have infected a lot more churches than just the ones noted as being black. Progressives have managed to empty churches in every mainline denomination through their focus on "social justice".

[J2]

Sue you are correct There are a lot of blondes in the frame. J2

[sylvia]

Well early on, I asked my mother if she thought Obama was a good speaker and if she liked him. She replied "Never trust a good speaker." Maybe in this case, she was right.

[clarice]

Yes, Rick..that good old liberation theology--seems to have liberated a lot of people from their good sense..I wonder how many churches like Wright's would make it without heavy Dem election time infusions of cash. Most Blacks I know would consider this philosophy the kiss of death.

[Lesley]

Rick, amen brother, amen.

To give you an example: Thursday night I attended a fund raiser for a group that feeds the homeless. These were dedicated Christian men and women. The keynote speaker was an UCC minister who lectured the group on identity politics. It was as insulting as it was insipid.

I'm sure the Roman Catholic priest who gave the invocation was inwardly smiling as his blessing centered on Christ and when "two are more are gathered in my name...." thinking to himself, "Come back to Il Papa, folks" as the UCC minister never mentioned Christ.

[Sue]

J2,

Pause the frame where Obama shows up. Look behind him. There is a plastic barrier, the type they use when they are keeping crowds back at political rallies. It also looks like a SS agent behind him and that Obama is shaking hands with people.

[Sue]

J2,

I also meant to mention that the people in the frame are all looking at Obama. Not the preacher.

[Jane]

Well I just left the gym where a friend came over just to ask me if Obama was a "manchurian candidate" given his middle name. I told her I doubted it, but he's toast anyway given last night's news. She hadn't heard it. She's a lib lib lib.

[anduril]

And why would you have to pause the video to get that frame?

[Rick Ballard]

Case in point - John Conyers is the Blue Baron for CD-14 in Detroit. Progressive immiseration has prodded over 10% of his plantation to hit the road. Proportionately, just as many blacks left as did whites, so it's not a "white flight" situation - it's just a great number of people fleeing one particular Blue Hell.

That is not an isolated instance by any means - blacks have also fled from Pelosi's district and from Lee's district in Oakland in disproportionate numbers.

Apparently immiseration isn't a big draw.

[anduril]

Folks, although this appeared on the front page of the WSJ, it's only one snapshot of the continuing story...

Fed Races to Rescue Bear Stearns
In Bid to Steady Financial System
Storied Firm Sees
Stock Plunge 47%;
J.P. Morgan Steps In
By KATE KELLY, GREG IP and ROBIN SIDEL
March 15, 2008; Page A1

Credit turmoil spread to the heart of the U.S. financial system as Bear Stearns Cos., an 85-year-old institution that has survived the Depression and World War II, sought and received emergency funding backed by the federal government.

In an extraordinary move, the Federal Reserve and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. stepped in to keep Bear afloat following a severe cash crunch.

The maneuver signaled that the Fed was trying to move aggressively to prevent Bear's crisis from spreading to the broader economy. But it seemed to do little to soothe fears. ...

The Fed, not J.P. Morgan, is bearing the risk of the loan. It is the first time since the Great Depression that the Fed has lent in this fashion to any entity other than a bank.

[clarice]

If appears that Oprah claims she left Wright's church some time ago, but news of his sermons and her connections to him have whipped up a storm among her fans.

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/03/14/oprahs-boards-burning-with-wright-responses-wright-accuses-america-of-creating-the-hiv-virus/>An omen

[anduril]

The Porsche driving Wright's congregation isn't fleeing a Chicago "blue hell"--they're upwardly mobile right where they are. Listen to his congregation speak on the video. These are fairly educated people. His "church" is not some ghetto storefront outfit.

[Alec Rawls]

About Wright giving the same sermon word for word: notice in all the videos that Wright is reading the sermon, even when he is in full roar. He ALWAYS reads. So certainly, he can give the same sermon word for word in different places, and has probably done so many times.

This seems to be the explanation for the much more moderate nature of his "Audacity to Hope" sermon. He was reading a sermon originally written by Frederick Sampson. My post on the subject here (see the update).

[anduril]

Oprah? Another marginal figure in America? Fleeing a blue hell, no doubt. Face it people, Wright's views resonate--they may not be embraced word for word, but they resonate--far beyond his congregation. I spent a working lifetime among middle class blacks, by no means a radical or marginalized bunch by most of our lights. His words resonate.

[Jane]

I just watched both the MSNBC and CNN coverage of the scandal. They are clearly both shilling for the black knight. They are not showing the sermons "and see no reason to do so", but they are at least reporting it.

[BOATBUILDER]

Sue--I was at a YMCA to play basketball with a very mixed group of blacks, whites and hispanics--mostly professionals and all of us on what seemed to be friendly terms--when the OJ Simpson verdict was announced. I have never felt as depressed about race in America as I did then. The reponse--whooping and cheering from the blacks, stunned head-shaking from the others--illustrated a huge gulf in the way our country is viewed. I think that, sadly, Pastor Wright's views are not really that unusual.
I also think that if Hillary gets the Dem nomination, the resentment among blacks will be overwhelming. My obviously ill-informed impression is that the sense that "The Man" is out to screw them will not and cannot be mollified (even if "The Man" is a woman).

[clarice]

WaPo ran it as a front page story,Jane.

[clarice]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/03/deconstructing_obamas_lawyerly.html>Deconstructing Obama

[sbw]

Lesley: I think the entire country is going to be worse for this election.

I'm not so sure. The edges of wilful ignorance are beginning to fray.

[anduril]

Good call, BOATBUILDER. The OJ trial should have been a wake up call, but we've lulled ourselves into complacency--again. It was a glimpse into the soul, and on a wider scale than this Wright fellow provides. He's more ideological, whereas the OJ reaction was visceral and was shared at all levels of black society.

[boris]

The claim has been made that whites are abliged to shed their racism because they have the power and blacks don't because they have none. Then it is certainly fair to ask blacks seeking entrance to the halls of power to shed their racism at the door.

[Elroy Jetson]

Couldn't agree with you more, Boatbuilder.
If Hillary were to get the nod, no amount of reconciliation is possible to get blacks to turn out for her.
Hillary is already handicapped in any "reach-out" attempt- her husband's credibility with blacks is shot.

[boris]

** obliged to shed **

[Jane]

YOu know Obama should come out and admit that we are two separate cultures, and that hate propels the culture Reverend Wright represents and that it's a problem that he intends to deal with.

Denial isn't gonna cut it, and it makes him look like a superficial empty suit or in the alternative a Manchurian candidate.

But he doesn't have the audacity.

[clarice]

Not all Blacks are racists and even they have changed their minds somewhat about OJ over time:
[quote]Furthermore, majorities have consistently said they believe O.J. is guilty, ranging between 66 percent (in 1996 and 2004) and 72 percent (1998), and now to a high of 74 percent.

Eight of 10 (80 percent) whites think O.J. is guilty of the murders and 34 percent of blacks agree. Only 7 percent of whites think he’s innocent compared to 30 percent of blacks. More than one third (36 percent) of blacks say they don’t know if he killed his ex-wife.[/quote]

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:rKVFlJi3lm0J:www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,298304,00.html+Blacks+views+on+OJ%27s+guilt&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us>OJ

Sara was on a mock jury and she is one of the few Whites who think he was innocent.

[clarice]

Jane, He's hoping we don't notice his audacity in trying to pass off what he truly is and believes in.

[davod]

Just as the Palestinans will never move on while they educate their children to hate America and the Jews, Blacks will never move on while the likes of Wright teach Blacks children to hate America, Whites and Jews.

[Jane]

It just occurred to me that this fall will make Obama more willing to accept the role of VP, so he can rehabilitate himself during a Hillary presidency. And that's bad news.

[sbw]

Audacity Mendacity, the word for the decade.

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". Harvey 'Big Daddy' Pollitt: There ain't nuthin' more powerful than the smell of mendacity!

[kim]

Yeah, the Mendacity of Hype.
================

[anduril]

BTW, I think we should bear in mind that the Jacksons and Sharptons are in large measure simply proxies for the white liberals who have run the Democratic party. government money and party money is shoveled to them in a variety of ways, and they in turn use their organizations to stoke black rage against the evil conservatives, aka the "rich whites" of Wright's "sermons." That of course has for the most part benefited the Dems by providing them with a reliable base. It has been the height of cynicism and irresponsibility--which makes the Obama talk about "cynicism" so laughable.