Voters Skeptical of Obama's Outrage With Wright

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I find it strange that he average American can't understand what took Obama so long to truly distance himself from Wright.
More than likely he stayed in the church for 20 years, because it was not all bad, it has done a lot of good, he had built many relationships, not just the one with Wright over the years. More importantly is the 20 years of sermons does not equate to 20 years. Sunday comes once a week. You spend six other days making up your own mind.
I go to a church I love, been there four years. I am active and involved. I don't go every Sunday, and the pastor and I differ on several views, especially political ones, yet I still go because spiritually he usually ministers or encourages me, I have lots of other good relationships and I love ministering to other. A pastor isn't the only member in a church, which is a community of believers, and although he may be influential, it is up to each individual member how much and in what way they are influenced. I wouldn't change my pastor, I only pray he grows closer to God, because he is a man with hurts and a past like any other. I don't mind hearing his differing views, because in a way I learn to strengthen my own convictions and beliefs, even if they are not the same.
Obama's experience was not typically Atrican-American. He grew up overseas and in the mainland, with white grandparents and a single mother and an Indonesian stepfather. Unlike Obama, I am not half-white, but I can relate to the experience. I imagine sitting in Wright's church he became acquainted with the pain of the generation before him, the unforgiveness, bitterness and resentment of a broken past. It was probably in that pew he met his resolve to bridge the gap between the people he loves and relates to so much, white and black, because they both make up who he is. Listening to angry sermons, he learned of the point of blacks and the source of their hurt. Listening to his grandma he learned the source of her fear and resentment. Listening to both he figured out they had more in common than they had in war and working together they could accomplsh much more than fighting against each other.
America does not leave a comfortable place for the races to coexist, for a mixed race person to be fully accepted by both sides. Which would explain why Obama want to unite the country so badly, to create that place; to fulfill King's dream, which went way beyond racial equality to racial harmony and racial acceptance and peace. We are not there, but I believe we can get there.
Regardless of how we feel about Rev. Wright, we have to admit that focusing on, disagreeing with or defending him does not change the fact that other than attending his church, Obama's public service and private life does not reflect or align itself with the worst of Wright's views. But his life does agree with what Obama has said his view are: "We are more than what our politics would suggest."

Gilbert of NC 11:59PM May 08, 2008

Whatever it takes, we must keep those lying Clintons out of the White House. There have just been too darn many "mis-speaks, flat out lies, and inunendo from the Clintons. I am urging everyone I know to vote against HilLIARy.

John Hunley of IN 5:57PM May 05, 2008

I have to concur with the views stetd by Brits Donossian of California on the sequence of events in Obama's stay at that church and his very, but very belated "change of mind", because that change smelly too phony for me. And, yes, I am scared of the Obamas living in the White House for any time at all.

J E Masson PhD CTC of FL 4:09PM May 05, 2008

The liberal Democrats are on the verge of making the same mistake that the Christian right made in 2000 and2004.That is to elect an empty suit,puppet for the presidency.If he had been properly vetted from the beginning,he would have already been eliminated.John Edwards.Joe Biden or Chris Dodd either one would have been a far better candidate than Obama.The Media,however eliminated them,by totally giving Obama all of the media attention.Now we will have four more years of the same as Bush and maybe even worse.All candidates should be thoroughly investigated by the CIA and the FBI and all information released to the voting public before even one vote is cast in any primiary.I,personally know hundreds of people who voted for Obama in the primiary and now sick and sorry for it.You can bet they wont be voting for him in the general election if he is nominated.

Nannie Turner of OH 2:50PM May 05, 2008

You don't stay in a church for 20 years if you disagree with the pastor. No, what you do is get up and leave and find another church where the preaching is more to your liking. Obama and his wife stayed put, however. They sat and sat and sat for 20 long years and, I believe, were thoroughly indoctrinated with Wright's beliefs. The Obamas can distance themselves from Wright now, undoubtedly for political expediency, but the damage has already been done, and it cannot be undone by saying you no longer agree with Wright's sermons. To imagine the Obamas in the White House is scary. Their views are too radical, too racist and too anti-American. They would not be good for the country. Maybe they would be good for Osama bin Laden but not for America.

Brits Donossian of CA 1:36PM May 05, 2008

He who goes for a ride on a tiger, is likely to end up inside her. Voters now see that Obama is a pol like any other. He used his association with Wright to establish his bona fides with the black community and peel them away from the Clintons . Obama had no problem with Wright 's video endorsing Obama where Wright denigrates Bill Clinton's assistance to blacks--"he was riding dirty"--and urges them not to vote for Hillary because she has never been called the n-word. Obama's campaign even distributed this video in South Carolina. They then attacked the Clintons as rascist. This worked for a while because of media collusion. Now the chickens are coming home to roost, and Obama is trying to walk away, but it is too late. He has been exposed as a contradiction in terms.

bqutb of CA 5:54PM May 04, 2008

Clinton has been using RACE(he cannot connect with white rurals=hear, don't vote for a BLACK man), GENDER(obama=wimp, Hillary=beer-guzzling, brawny macho), and CULTURE(don't vote for an unpatriotic, snobbish, urban elitist type). Where are the media on this? IT IS SO OBVIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clinton has been leading a shameless, base, demagogic, campaign. She has insured that neither her nor Obama can win the nomination in the fall. Clinton cannot win because she has permanently alienated a large portion of the black community and many educated upper-middle class voters who will vote for Nadar, McCain or stay home. Her scurrilous attacks have given McCain a free ride. Her economic populism is revolting. It is so obvious that she was setting Obama up on this gas tax issue, so that she could paint him as an ivory tower liberal. The democratic party elders should have stopped this campaign in February, when Clinton started destroying the Obama and the democratic party. Clinton may be outroving Obama now, but a clone of Rove will never beat the original, and if Clinton wants to play on her dirty playing field in November, she WILL BE THROTTLED!!!!

Frank of 3:42PM May 03, 2008

I'm anything but "skeptical" of an inexperienced and unqualified con artist with absolutely no resume who should not have made it out of the first month of running...if he should have been allowed to run at all.
The fact that his outrageously disloyal and racist self-proclaimed "father figure" took this long in revealing who Barack is instead of who incapable voters rely on in the mainstream media for their ludicrous measure of sound bites in the toughest job on the planet is more than merely horrifying.
"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill disciplined, despotic, and useless. Liberalism is the philosophy of sniveling brats." - P.J. O'Rourke

Winghunter of CO 2:51PM May 03, 2008

Mr. Barone, you are as one sided in your outlook on the issues as many of your fellow pundits at US news. You have been linking Obamma to every possible bad statistic possible often getting your information from disingenuous sources, places with an obvious slant. Is this the aim of conservative pundits now, knock off Obamma, so that youll have an easy target come the general election, your commentary of these primaries absolutely makes me sick.

Bitter of NC 1:25PM May 03, 2008

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