David,
I campaigned hardcore for OBAMA here in Denver for the Colorado caucus. I support him because he was way ahead on the learning curve about the futility of Iraq.
Yeah, Obama’s pastor sounds extreme; but not necessarily racist [I challenge anybody to say how Mr Wright's comments are racist (Yeah, unfortunately right now our country is being run by guys like Dick Cheney who thought apartheid was ok in South Africa in the 80s)].
I appreciate you mentioning Republican Evangelicals’, Pat Robertson’s and Jerry Falwell’s, comments about how they thought we deserved 911.
I go back to what you said about Christians fasting from politics:
For me politics in a pluralistic society is about compromise. Injecting moral absolutism into that process from either side of the isle is pure poison.
I think we can live the gospel out more by helping the poor than advocating for endless wars or government social policy.

I am once again taken by how thoughtful and intelligent Senator (and soon to be President) Obama is. This is exactly the kind of sensitivity, clarity and honesty that we need to rebuild our standingg in the world. His sense of personal responsibility and “the buck stops here” attitude speaks volumes to his character and judgment-the type of judgement that we have been so sadly lacking for the past eight years. I look forward to a new era with Obama at the helm.

I am once again taken by how thoughtful and intelligent Senator (and soon to be President) Obama is. This is exactly the kind of sensitivity, clarity and honesty that we need to rebuild our standing in the world. His sense of personal responsibility and “the buck stops here” attitude speaks volumes to his character and judgment-the type of judgment that we have been so sadly lacking for the past eight years. I look forward to a new era with Obama at the helm.

So he’s not Muslim?

Pastor Wright is completely racist. How he handled Japan showed that. Where is his condemnation of the millions and millions of humans slaughtered, rape and tortured to death by Japanese conquest? And how America handled its vanquished is not an evil endeavor. Silence is very often deception in action. And Obama is marxist through and through by this method, with the addition of perversion about scripture. That a “politician” would make a claim like Obama did is anything but surprising. He wants to be elected to a political position of great influence. It is clear that Blacks will be exalted and others will be put into another category. Evil for evil is not a Christian doctrine. But it certainly is within Obama’s church life. Liberal theology not only bends the truth, it snaps it into pieces with no account for Gospel truth. Obama is deceiving his followers. He learned from his pastor and mentor on how to do it. The only thing that looks like prepaation for the presidency, is that Obama deceives effectly.

Donny, in an episode of The Twilight Zone, you’d be right about everything.

Doug, how about a rational response. Liberal bobbleheadism is leading America into a Venezuelan society. I don’t want to support communism and sodomy. Obama was conditioned by Wright, and Wright is clearly wrong on theology, history and social justice. Obama is not a good prospect for a president. And, “Donny” has been stoned into silence. How about a response on Japan for a try? A simple case of history. OK?

As an avid Obama supporter, I just want to add my 2 cents worth. We as individuals can not be held responsible for the disparate opinions held by even our pastors and priests, any more than we can for the opinions and beliefs of our neighbors or spouses.
I have supported Obama actively in caucus (& been privileged to shake his hand and listen to him speak) I have followed all the debates and primaries/caucuses. I am convinced in my deepest heart of hearts and in my best cognitive facilities that Mr. Obama is a trustworthy, straight-shooting individual, that he possesses the character and knowledge to lead our country to a much better place, and that he and his family are people of true Christian values and compassionate and humanitarian love.
I appreciate the article/blog(??)
Carananda – Carol

David – since you know the more “inside” of upper level political world – how likely is it that Obama wrote any or all of that statement himself? When we (figuratively speaking) live or die on written words or speeches given – isn’t it likely that we are deciding based on spin doctors and ghost writers and a whole phalanx of “others” rather than the ingenuous and open communication of a person? I don’t know – so I’m honestly asking for information. I do kind of puke(wasn’t that a mature description) at the New American Idol tone of a verbal portion of Obama’s supporters but I am assuming here a candidate takes whatever sources of support they get.

Rod Dreher (and a lot of other conservatives) must be going “Curses, foiled again!!”

I have no inside information on the Obama campaign. Having read his statement, however, I’d bet the words were mostly his. He managed to do what others thought he couldn’t – condemn the remarks without condemning the man, making clear his affection for the church despite the problems in the church, reasserting his faith in Jesus… it was a brilliant response.

A brilliant response only denotes a brilliant mind. Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and John Dewey had brilliant minds. Obama is leading us in their direction a society of pure hedonism and moral corruption. For example: Obama’s view on Paul is shockingly devoid of substance. His use of the Sermon on the Mount almost blasphemous. A culture devoid of any morality and real role models is the community where Obama did his most effective work? Barred windows remain a testimony of failure of any community. Jesus told us to be wary of the yeast of the pharisees. That is, what they actually “do” as well as say. Obama trumpets his work in the inner-city as some kind of valuable success story to judge him by. Chicago’s inner-city is some of the most violent, corrupt and perverted places in America. Obama failed in his only accomplishment. He talks a good game. Sounds more like a player and a politician than a great moral leader. Character shows in the results of an endeavor. Chicago is corrupt, violent and immoral and of course the tax rate (10.25%) shows this as well. It is OK for open debate and a free exchange of ideas still, is it not?

I doubt that Rod et al are chagrined at Obama’s thoughtful statement, Larry Parker. The facts of the situation really don’t matter.
Their goal is to make Obama into a scary America-hating black guy. This clip serves their purposes. You have looked into the facts of the situation. Most people, through lack of interest or time, won’t.

Finally acknowledgment of the leftist facts. But anyway . . . I listed facts that really exist in “today’s” black community. Obama’s only social endeavor is a complete failure. Inner-city girls are even more diseased than the national average. Obama’s theology, is even more askewed than his social works. It is OK still to compare apples to apples is it not? Chicago is a bad role model for any society, from its inner-city anger-spewing churches to its crime, abortion, fatherless households and gang rates, obviously not helped by those that live and work there. There is a reason why Cook County (Chicago) had to tax the suburbs into a communistic state. 10.25% sales taxes and property taxes starting in the thousands and thousands should scare any rational person away from Obama politics. Those lacking interest in the facts are following Obama in throngs.

I think he should go farther, as I’ve already said, and will say again tomorrow, at my blog, which you can find by googling “twoberry” or just go to http://www.xanga.com/twoberry

I have a hard time in understanding how some Americans have become so blinded in their thinking. Here we are, with some folks truly considering putting this black muslim symtherizer in the Oval Office, as the President of the United States of America. If for some quirky way this should ever happen, God Help Us, for our Nation will be doomed. What are these people’s true agenda. Here we have an individaul whoose pedigree includes and atheist mother, who searched out not just one, but two black radical muslims to marry. The second, the one responsible for Hussien’s upbringing, more of a radial than the one that farthered him. Born in Hawaie, attended a muslim school until the age of 6/7, without ANY Christian influences in his life whatsoever, with a grandmother who is referenced by the media as a non-practicing muslim, and for the last 20 years, been in regular attendance and deeply routed in a church that preaches hate toward white America but now tells us( having been caught red-handed) he don’t know nothin’ about all that. ha, ha, ha, how stupid does he think we are. Well some have and continue to prove just how stupid we can be. I may remind you that this is the same teachings found in a radical muslim school.(like the one he attended!!!) Why do the children in muslim countries hate American’s—they have been taught to hate Americans–its their very nature because that’s what they were taught–it’s all they know.
Hussien WAS against bombing Iraq—but for all the wrong reasons,. yes we should never have bombed Iraq—but he was against it because he did not want to bomb his muslin brothers and sisters not because it was the right direction for Ameica to take.
Why couldn’t a true American,(who happened to be black) have run for the Presidency–like Mr. Colin Powell. What an American, what a role model, what a true American he is. He has NO black agenda–he’s just an American. So you see I am not a bigot, never have been, I’m just a very worried American, and I fear for the future of my country. Turn over the controls of my country to this man, Brack Hussien Obama, no I don’t think so, not without a fight.

… and here comes Tradewinds to prove me right.
We’re talking about pure racial and partisan animus from the Fox-consuming base.
That’s the mentality that Rod Dreher and his ilk speak for.
And any source that presents unwelcome facts is, by definition, a “black muslim symtherizer” working for a communist sodomite venezuelan society, they never have to consider anything but their own lies. (Recall, for example, the survey showing that Fox viewers believed a number of false statements about the US invasion of Iraq. Those falsehoods served the interests of the Republican Party, of whose propaganda machine Fox is a vital component).
The notion that a thoughtful statement from Obama would tamp this irrational emotion down is laughable.

I’m a conservative Republican who has only voted for two Democrats ever–Jimmy Carter and Eliot Spitzer–both of which I regretted. Still, I think Obama is OK here, unless we see video of him cheering while Wright espouses hate, bigotry and idiocy.
We all have friends and relatives who say outrageous things from time to time. I won’t throw any of my friends under the bus and I don’t expect Obama or any other politician to do so, either. If they aren’t on your staff, then just tell me you don’t agree with their position or statements and show me that you don’t agree by your actions, and as far as I’m concerned the issue is over.
If I disassociated myself from every friend and relative who is a bit crazy, I’d be a lonely, lonely, man.
http://www.redmindbluestate.blogspot.com/

Please! You are a bigot and very uninformed. Either that or you’re just plain out stupid.
He sympathizes with muslims? Where’s the proof of that (real proof).
His mother married two “black radical muslims”. Radical muslims would never marry an American white woman.
He attended a muslim school until the age of 6/7, without ANY Christian influences in his life whatsoever? Although his father and step-father were Muslim, Mr Obama is a Christian and attended secular and Catholic schools rather than a madrassa for the four years he lived in Indonesia
Hussien WAS against bombing Iraq—but for all the wrong reasons? Barack said this about the war. “I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.”
Why couldn’t a true American,(who happened to be black) have run for the Presidency–like Mr. Colin Powell? He did’t want to go to war with Iraq either you know. He spent hours trying to get Bush not to attack. Also, you have to know that he and his wife decided not to persue the presidency because they thought that he would be assinated by someone that is not a muslim.
Stop reading conspiracy theories and lies and get the truth!
I support John Mccain, and I don’t think he will use any of this nonsense that you talk about here.

Tradewinds — I don’t have the time to list all the ways in which your post are ill-informed, but I’ll give you a few. First, his “muslim” grandmother is his father’s mother who has always lived in Africa. Obama’s father left him when he was 2, and he only saw him once, briefly, after that. He didn’t meet said grandmother until he was an adult, and she had no substantial influence. He was raised by his white, Christian grandparents.
He did not attend a muslim school until the age of 6 or 7; he BRIEFLY attended a secular school in Indonesia, but his mother was intent on his getting an American education, hence he was sent back to live with the white Christian grandparents in Hawaii. Neither his father nor his stepfather were radicals.
You use the term “muslim sympathizer”…I think you want to imply that he is on the side as the evil-minded extremist who hate those who do not share their hateful values. If you were truly not a bigot as you claim, you would recognize how absurd that is. Yes he lived in a “muslim” country briefly as a child, and yes, his name reflects a background that makes some of us uncomfortable, but the man loves his country and is an American through and through. It’s not a crime to be open-minded about parts of the world that scare us. In fact, had we more true middle East experts in our current administration, not just talking heads who get paid to say what we want to hear in order to justify our foreign policy, we’d have recognized that most muslims aren’t extremists, but will turn to unthinkable measures out of *extreme* desperation. A lot of foreign policy over the last 50 years has led to extreme poverty and lack of education in these countries, and as our Lord would most certainly say, loving our enemies would benefit us in much more relevant ways than continuing this hate and fear mongering that dominates our attitude towards muslims today.

Lourdes—do you feel better now. You spinners—you carefully debate the selective things, and try to ignore or sweep the rest under the rug–just like CNN,
Good try Lourdes, but I’m not buying what you’re selling.

I hope those who are so concerned with the thoughts of Obama’s previous pastor will show an equal amount of concern for the thoughts of the religious people affiliated with John McCain, such as Rev. Hagee.
And I remember well how upset they were when Mike Huckabee’s OWN sermons were declared private and not to be seen by the untutored. And the eighties and nineties must have been a terrible time for them in their own churches, as one evangelist after enough declared that God had abandoned/cursed/what-evered America for it’s awful tolerance/secularism/homosexuality/gun-banning/democrat-votin’ ways.
How lucky we are they are so even-handed in their application of the “your pastor’s words shall haunt you for the rest of your days” rule.

In all of the coverage of this issue, I haven’t heard mention of a dirty little secret in American religion (and, I hope, religion throughout the world). That is, I don’t know anyone who, at some time or another, hasn’t been annoyed with their spiritual leader. In my family, my parents both, at times, voiced disapproval over something their pastors said, but their attachment was to the church community and their own history and ties there, not solely to the pastor, and they could see the forest for the trees. Though tempted at times, they never resigned membership from the church. Everyone I know who attends a church, synagogue or mosque has taken issue with something their leader has said. We’re human — it’s normal. Anyone who leaves this out of the picture is either an exception to the norm or dishonest.
Secondly, this petty “jump-on-the-latest-attack-bandwagon” is exactly what we need to resist in this political season. Every year, Americans say in poll after poll that we want leaders who don’t play games, who focus on the issues, who tell the truth, who don’t negatively campaign, etc., and every election season seems to have us swept up in some rabid, snarling fever against the candidate(s) we have deemed unworthy of our vote. We need to back up, take a breath, and be thoughtful about the information we are consuming. We can’t just ask our leaders to be reasoned, informed, calm and issue-focused. We need to be that too. So enough with the fangs and the drool. Retract and wipe up.
Lastly, we need to get real. If we’re going to atone for the real sins of this country, we need to face our history. There is a reason why Wright’s comments resonate with members of his congregation and congregations all over this country. If we’re going to be lily white about this and feign shock over it, we can kiss transformation goodbye. Real courage and integrity here would mean that we say to ourselves, “things still aren’t right in this country and we need to come together to figure it out.” There’s some hard work ahead, but we have no choice but to face it sooner or later. If we really care about this country, we need to choose “sooner” and go into some kind of truth and reconciliation mode.
The choice in this election couldn’t be clearer: we can continue to be sucked into “divide and conquer the masses” politics, or we can demand a transformative politics that challenges us to come out of comfort zones, be thoughtfully informed, and work together to bridge the canyons that separate us. It’s so much more about us (the voters) than it is about them (the politicians) — we get to set the tone and refuse to swallow the mud when it’s slung.

Thank you for your hopeful posting Mr. Kuo.
Unfortunately, you are too nice and give too much credit to the right-wing bloggers of this country. But, good try!
I hope you will, at least, continue to try to educate your fellow Christian co-religionists.
I am a bad AND lapsed, Catholic so I know know what it is like to have to constantly wonder about what your Church Leadership is up to!

The blogs are silent? Are you kidding?
Look, I’m a Republican and have no desire to take digs at Wright. But the insulting tone of this post does nothing to help the situation. You seem to think that this is a game, Mr. Kuo. You suggest that Senator Obama has somehow trumped his political opponents & the game is over.
Hogwash.
Senator Obama is opening a huge can of worms by playing dumb & backing away from his faith. I respect his relationship with his pastor. But Senator Obama is insutling my intelligence when he says:
“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.”
Even though I take issue with some things the man says, I still have a lot of respect for Rev. Wright. And Obama is the one displaying a lack of personal integrity & courage in disowning Wright as some sort of crazy uncle.

ummm….Jeremiah Wright was Senator Obama’s pastor for over 20, right? He officiated at his wedding, and he baptized his children. WhenYet you find it credible that Senator Obama never (never?) had any inkling that Pastor Wright held such views either from “the pews of Trinity” or from “private conversation”? *really?*
Well, now it’s all over the news that Obama and Wright planned around a year ago to distance themselves from each other because of Pastor Wright’s sermons. So, no, this is just not true. But, you and I knew it wasn’t true already, didn’t we?
I realize that Christianity and politics have become woefully intangled since the mid-sixies, and maybe that’s unavoidable, but we should avoid outright shilling for candidates.

I get really confused when Donny doesn’t use the word “Apostles” when he posts as one of his alternate personalities.

People, please don’t dignify the ignorance and bigotry and gullibility of the right wing talking points posters that spew this Muslim nonsense. McCain himself think they’re idiots. McCain has an adopted child from a predominantly Muslim culture, so he is a bit above the fray on this one, and good for him. I hope he will clamp down on such nonsense politics when he faces Obama in the general. (But I’m not holding my breath)

i couldn’t agree more with mr. kuo. this type of falling-down, drive-by shooting politics is over. albeit dying a slow, painful death in some circles, but dying nonetheless. and thank god it is.

The relevant information here is not in the body of the post, but in the headline. Obama’s response was ready on day one. Either he took time out of his campaign schedule to compose this essay, or it was prepared ahead of time. I tend to believe the latter; the time frame was too short. And if he had a response prepared, then he knew he had something to respond to–which he should have done sometime in the previous 20 years.
This is nothing like a crazy uncle. You don’t get to choose your uncles. This is more like a crazy spouse. Would you marry a racist? I wouldn’t. My judgment is better than that. Obama’s apparently isn’t.

Today’s speech (March 18th) was much better than that written section.
Obama sees that the reason the Rev. Wright said the things he did is because of a larger problem; racism and the division it leads to in our country. He makes it clear that he understands the bitterness of a generation that remember Jim Crow laws.
He also knows how important it is not to focus on what was said by whom, but what he is actually going to do about it. Not only does he addresses the issue instead of ignoring it, Barack Obama gives a response worth dying for.
He wants to us to recall our ideals and beliefs into our political process, our foreign policy, and our very treatment of each other. Barack Obama is a leader who understands our potential as a nation. and he will not wait to do his part.
We need a president who handles the media story that he could of easily let fade away into the background way before the primary in Pennsylvania in April. A president who addresses the issue and even looks into the deeper problems that lie behind the hype. We do not need a president who dodges and trys to spin every issue. We do not need a president whose goal is power for the sake of power itself.
We need a president whose goal is power for the sake of the country in which he is a part.
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infintepat
As long as the lobbyists exert undisclosed influence on our politicians, the government will serve the corporations.
We need our country to be for the people and by the people again, reversing the growing divisions between the upper class and the lower class. This is not blue state and red state, we are talking about the red, white, and blue country.

I am disappointed that Obama would back away from his friend and pastor in such a cowardly, politically driven way. I seriously doubt that in the last 20 of a 36 year career as an activist in the Black community, Rev Wright has not at some point made points as he has lately – about the violence upon which this country was built, and such. So i don’t believe that Obama has not heard these opinions before, firstly; and for him to praise this country irregardless of the real mistakes it has made in the world, even as he campaigns on his disapproval of the attack on Iraq, is a transparent bid for votes from the swing.
I am not a fan of the Rev Wright for various reasons, but i don’t think what Obama said was dealing with the matter in at all an honorable way.