Barack Obama addresses inflammatory comments by his long-time pastor.
Good enough for me. More politicians should be so forthright; guys like John Kerry could take a lesson from him. Although Mickey Kaus sees it just a little differently, and compares it to political flubs by George W. Bush and John McCain.
*Update*: Ah, and I see that the Reverend has left the Obama campaign. So, this should be a non-issue come November, right?
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A little sugar in the poison always makes it much easier to swallow.
Looks like Obama’s as good as the Clintons at generating obscurifying parsificatious smoke.
Good for him. That skill will come in handy.
When the smoke clears, what is left is a 20 year (and counting) infatuation with the hate-filled and racist demogoguery of a man who uses the civil rights ADVANCES made in the 60′s as an excuse for hatred and extremism against that nation that has given him more freedom and opportunity than any African nation.
The Church’s Motto:
“Unabashedly Black, Unapologetically Christian.”
Nice.
I guess transcending race is just a white thing.
Also, I’m not buying the whole, “I was unaware of the ‘controversial’ remarks” nonsense, but then again no one really is. It just gives his supporters a hook to hang an excuse on. 20 years. I think, “God DAMN America” would have generated a little water cooler talk. Or maybe they all concealed that from Obama to give him plausible deniability.
Also, I think Obama needs to tell his wife that theirs is the generation that has rejected the racial anger of their elders. She seems to have missed that memo.
Don’t agree, Dean. People should be judged at least in part by those with whom they choose to surround themselves. His preacher, his wife, some of his advisors like Ms Powers–these are all, in their own ways, pretty scary individuals.
heh. see, Barack? not much point in condemnoing or rejecting. Take it from a muslim. you’re damned either way, so stop being the pet monkey.
Aziz Poonawalla’s last blog post..Andre Carson wins IN CD-7 special election
We’ll see. By categorically denying he ever heard these sermons, Senator Obama has created an opportunity for someone to prove otherwise. If that happens — and I expect Senator Clinton’s investigators are digging for proof as we speak — this will look all the worse for him. If his claim stands up, then the only people who will continue to see an issue here were never going to vote for him anyway.
After 20 years (Did I mention that he’s attended this “church” for 20 years?), condemnation and rejection ring as hollow as Michelle Obama’s complaints about making ends meet on a few hundred thou a year.
He is “damned” in this situation only because he chose (for 20 years, by the way) to attend this miserable excuse for a church, and to have his children babtized in its wonderful message of hope.
By the way, how exactly is this church helping black kids succeed in the horrible, racist America?
I mean, what’s the message:
“Whites are evil. America is evil. Mass murder of Americans is to be celebrated, not condemned. We’re offering a free course in accounting for all of our numbers oriented parishioners to help you find well paying jobs. Classes are Tuesdays, and Thursdays…”
Good enough for me.
my, but you’re easily pleased. did you fall for “i did not have sex with that woman” too?
jeez, dean, i always gave you more credit for discriminating thought than you’re showing here.
I had a long drive yesterday, so I overdosed on right-wing talk radio. Way too much — but, they played a lotta snippets of Wright, which were quite disturbing. Sounded like Farrakhan, frankly. Very disappointing.
HankB
i think, regardless of what falls out, this is going to have impacts. in differing areas.
this kind of black ‘preaching’ [as i'm reading up on it] came about in the 60/70′s, sort of a christian version of the black panthers maybe. ok, thats jake, but it makes me look upon jesse ‘hymietown’ jackson, rev. al ‘tawana’ sharpton, and minister ‘white devil’ farrakhan as all of a piece with wright.
maybe, since churches and beliefs are not static, this kind of ‘preaching’ will evolve, lose favor, mellow out, and grow up. we can hope anyhow.
its also possible we’ll finally get some small portion of our long-needed racial discussion done. through pain, as it always had to be, through the surrogate of the election process, hopefully.
there’s much more to this line of thinking for me but i’ll leave it there. i’ll just note that it isn’t only whites who were shocked by this.
Wouldn’t it be the most delicious irony if Obama’s campaign were brought down not by the racism of white America, but by the racism of his black mentor?
i guess one of the things that bothers me is this: we’ve had offensive, racist black comedy for decades – chappelle, living color, etc. – and we tolerate that because, you know, its comedy.
now we find out they’re serious. serious enough to be considered acceptable material for the presidency. no joke. how deep does the sickness go?
So we’re supposed to believe that, after all these years, this is some big surprise to Obama? Give me a break.
Note also the nature of his repudiation. He’s careful to limit it only to unspecified statements, and not to the man himself.
What’s wrong with being “unapologetically black?” Black isn’t just a race or skin color, it is a sub-culture and identity. If it was “unapologetically Italian” or “unapologetically Irish” no one would look twice at it that I can see.
Being unapologetically black is not like being unapologetically Italian. It is like being unapologetically white. Something I thought was a bad thing.
I really have a LOT more to say on this, but for now, suffice it to say that if the word “racist” means anything, getting together with like-skinned people and proclaiming that others are not welcome to join you is racist.
Well, when there’s a history of equating being black with being inferiour being “unapologetically black” is perfectly fine.
You can’t just ignore the context and history here. I mean, I guess black history month would be the same as white history month, right?
Yeah. It isn’t the same thing, although there IS something that can be identified as white culture, and we tend to be afraid to notice it even though it exists.
“Black” is very much an American identity and sub-culture, not merely a race. Due to a wide variety of historical factors, some good and some bad, there simply *is* an ethnic identity that can be called “black” or “african American.” It has its own modes of speech, dress codes, religious traditions, and even mythology. To say it doesn’t exist is to deny a simple reality.
By the way, most black Africans and many black carribean islanders are not ethnically “black” at all in the American sense. It only takes a certain amount of intellectual curiosity and honesty to see that, and none of it’s racist (if by racist you mean a belief in the inferiority of one skin color over another).
well, at least the jews are off the hook for killing jesus. it was all “rich white guys” who did it, eh?
Obama may end up regretting not being a Muslim.
Okwheretobegin…
First and foremost.
This “thing” is – in theory – an institution dedicated to the teachings of Jesus Christ, whose ethnicity is – in theory – not relevant. By they way, he wasn’t black, not that it would matter if he were, but pretending he is is just a little bit weird. A LOT weird.
Accepting the fact that there is a culture associated with Americans of African ancestry, what sort of message are you sending by making “blackness” the most prominent aspect of the institution you are trying to pass off as a Christian Church?
I don’t remember Jesus obsessing on his or anyone else’s race.
Now, “Christianity with an African American flavor” is 100 percent fine with me. We all know (wink wink nudge nudge) that African American churches are a little more, uhm…., interesting – yeah that’s it -”interesting” than European American churches. Fine. Purrrfectly fine.
But making blackness the FIRST aspect of your church, with Christianity as an afterthought is a little bit different.
You can sure do it. It’s a free country, but don’t claim to have moved beyond race. Is this so hard to understand?
You may be eager to send a message white racists (NOT the only racists on the planet) by saying, I’m not ashamed of being black, and if you think I should be, tough. That’s all well and good up to a point, but after a certain point – and Jeremiah Wright is WAY beyond this point – “Not ashamed to be black” and “The KKK has it backwards” get hard to differentiate.
Also, if there is a “black culture,” can we entertain the crazy possibility that it promotes different BEHAVIOR than “white” culture does and that the different emphases of black and white cultures might have something – just something – to do with the different circumstances whites and blacks tend to find themselves in?
It is the Democrats who constant try to stifle all debate on issues concerning race by repeatedly insuniating that any individuals who disagree with them are racists (e.g. affirmative action). It is funny to watch them stumble all over this issue. Those who live by the “race card”, die by the “race card.”
Obama didn’t know about his pastor…?! Give me a break.!
-gary
Maybe Obama slept through the good reverend’s sermons.
At this point, that’s his best defense. He’s probably praying that someone will come up with footage of him sleeping during one of those, uh, “controversial” sermons.
…and of his kids and his wife sleeping. The whole Obama family snoozing away.
Hope springs eternal.
By the time of the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August, the videotape of the Reverend God-Damn America may well be this year’s Willie Horton ad.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
I’m sorry but I just don’t buy it. He’s been there 20 years and this never came up before? This is something his pastor came up with in the last week or so? Please.
He’s doing the politically expedient thing by severing ties where he needs to. And that is it.
And if this severing “answers” anything for anyone I have to wondering if they were really listening to the question in the first place.
“heh. see, Barack? not much point in condemnoing or rejecting. ”
Not for a Presidential race’s convenience sake. Not after 20 years of association with that. Why should anyone think he is sincere?
“Take it from a muslim. you’re damned either way, so stop being the pet monkey.” So declaring you don’t hate America is being a pet monkey?
Aziz – you surely understand how people are going to take this and why its very reasonable that they do so. So why do you insist on defending this guy?
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