Yesterday, God-o-Meter wondered aloud about whether Barack Obama’s weekend resignation from Trinity United Church of Christ put the issue of his relationships with two controversial pastors associated with the church behind him. In a line of argument that GOM suspects will be echoed by Republicans throughout the general election (though not through official party channels) Real Clear Politics’ Thomas Sowell asks who Obama thinks he’s kidding by leaving Trinity:
It is amazing how seriously the media are taking Senator Barack Obama’s latest statement about the latest racist rant from the pulpit of the church he has attended for 20 years. But neither that statement nor the apology for his rant by Father Michael Pfleger really matters, one way or the other. Nor does Senator Obama’s belated resignation from that church.
For any politician, what matters is not his election year rhetoric, or an election year resignation from a church, but the track record of that politician in the years before the election.
….Despite clever spin from Obama’s supporters about avoiding “guilt by association,” much more is involved than casual association with people like Jeremiah Wright and Father Pfleger.
In addition to giving $20,000 of his own money to Jeremiah Wright, as a state senator Obama directed $225,000 of the Illinois taxpayers’ money for programs run by Father Pfleger. In the U.S. Senate, Obama earmarked $100,000 in federal tax money for Father Pfleger’s work. Giving someone more than 300 grand is not just some tenuous, coincidental association.
Are Barack Obama’s views shown by what he says during an election year or by what he has been doing for decades before?
The complete contrast between Obama’s election year image as a healer of divisions and his whole career of promoting far-left grievance politics, in association with America-haters like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, are brushed aside by his supporters who talk about getting back to “the real issues.”
There is nothing more real than a man’s character and values. The track record of what he has actually done is far more real than anything he says, however elegantly he says it.
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posted June 3, 2008 at 10:22 am
When all you have is a pair of two’s you play the cards in your hand. Once the real betting begins I think they will find their bluster and bluffing will evaporate.
posted June 3, 2008 at 11:43 am
This is typical of the GOP election campaine policy. They learned it from the Democrats LBJ campaign and just can’t let it go. Witch junts and hate/smear campaigns are a thing of the past and it will cost them the election if they keep it up.
I’ve had enough of fear, hate and lies. It is time for hope, peace and honesty.
posted June 3, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Father Pfleger’s projects of which you speak were most certainly not
hate filled attemps to harm America, as some reporters would have
us believe. People need to look into what these projects were all
about. Do things like helping people have better, safer living
conditions, better schools and playgrounds and easier access to
needed medical care not count as worthwhile projects anymore?
I’d much rather my tax money go for these things than for billions
to be spent fighting a war in Iraq that was initiated out of lies
and misinformation. We need to start looking at the whole picture
before coming to conclusions about anything we see in today’s
media.
posted June 4, 2008 at 2:39 am
Well, face it. They don’t have anything else to talk about.
So far, McCain’s positions seem to be ‘I make a lot of trips to Iraq’, ‘I won’t surrender’ (One wonders to whom..) and ‘I’m not Bush.’
No wonder they’re dwelling on guests pastors at a church one of the candidates no longer attends.