Obama Can’t Sever Ties With His Pastor of Hate
Posted on March 14, 2008
Obama finally addresses the topic of his racist preacher’s hate filled remarks.
Q: I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but it’s all over the wire today (from an ABC News story), a statement that your pastor (the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s South Side) made in a sermon in 2003 that instead of singing “God Bless America,†black people should sing a song essentially saying “God Damn America.â€
A: I haven’t seen the line. This is a pastor who is on the brink of retirement who in the past has made some controversial statements. I profoundly disagree with some of these statements.
Q: What about this particular statement?
A: Obviously, I disagree with that. Here is what happens when you just cherry-pick statements from a guy who had a 40-year career as a pastor. There are times when people say things that are just wrong. But I think it’s important to judge me on what I’ve said in the past and what I believe.
Sorry! Not enough. Did he quit his church over the remarks? Not hardly. He’ll be taking his kids back soon enough. Oh well, distancing himself only brings the question of why he didn’t distance himself earlier. If he doesn’t think this is going to effect things, he should think again. Mark my words. If he continues with his weak responses, this will be the nail that does him in.
Cherry-pick? Perhaps Senator Obama can explain the context that would justify “God damn America†and the accusation that America created HIV. That dog won’t hunt.
Several points come to mind. First, the “things [Obama] believes” (and should be “judged” on) include the following: Pastor Wright should be his spiritual leader; Pastor Wright’s church should receive a substantial amount of money from Obama; Obama’s children should, at an impressionable age, be exposed to Pastor Wright’s sermons, as opposed to less hateful religion instruction they could receive elsewhere.
Second, Obama is still defending Wright, and very lamely (Wright’s “on the brink of retirement;” he’s made “some controversial statements” in the past; his statements are being “cherry picked”). Wright wasn’t near retirement in 2001 when he blamed 9/11 on the U.S; nor was he near retirement in 2003 when he said God should “damn America.” And the statements at issue aren’t merely “controversial” or “just wrong”; they are deplorable.
No one - unless they are a brain-dead moron - would sit five minutes under Wright’s racist and anti-american rantings without walking out. Barak has sat there for twenty years. That’s not distancing oneself, it’s complicity.
Were his children going to Sunday School here? If so, he can no longer distance himself from Rev. Wright’s lunacy. How can you distance yourself from the church that you rely on to give your children moral teaching? It just doesn’t make any sense at all to claim that Barack disagreed with some of the sermons, but kept going anyway. Rev. Wright is clearly a toxic nut. You wouldn’t put your children anywhere near him unless you didn’t mind what he was saying.
Even Andrew Sullivan is on the same page:
Nonetheless, Obama needs to be much more forceful and candid in explaining his relationship with Wright. I’m a little leery of getting in between a man and his minister - it’s not unlike the lawyer-client relationship in some ways. And, goodness knows, I have had many a priest with whom I have disagreed or even found offensive. But like many people, I wouldn’t sit through one of these sermons, let alone come back for more. And it would be helpful, to say the very least, if Obama told us more candidly why he did and does.
One final question: Why should Obama’s membership to Rev. Wright’s church be treated any different than a hypothetical situation where McCain attended the Westboro Baptist Hate Cult and made a mild statement that he “didn’t agree with everything they taught”? I think we all know that it would be treated differently by the media and general public. Obama does not get a pass on this.
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Bigotry, Church And State, Elections, News, Politics As Usual, Socialism, Stupidity
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14 Responses to “Obama Can’t Sever Ties With His Pastor of Hate”
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If McCain attended Westboro the Democrats would vote for him. They like the message of hate that is directed toward our troops.
In fact, prominent McCain endorser John Hagee has made Westboro-esque statements about gays:
“there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came…..and I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.”
Hagee has also called the Catholic Church “the great whore” and a “false cult system” — also Westboro-esque.
Will Stop the ACLU demand that McCain sever his ties with this preacher of hate?
That is the exact question I posed yesterday on my blog. We would never accept a candidate who was a member of Fred Phelps “Church”, When Obama’s pastor is cut from the same cloth.
There is a whole lot of hoodwinking and bamboozling going on here. You don’t sit in a pew for 20 years and not know the pastor is a race baiting hate monger.
But John Hagee is not McCain’s preacher, and he didn’t put him on his staff. So, Hagee endorsing McCain isn’t the same as McCain endorsing Hagee. However, Obama chose his preacher and put him on his staff. Big difference.
I will add that we now know why Obama’s wife hasn’t been proud of America in her entire adult life.
She and Obama were soaking this up every Sunday morning. Can’t wait for his children to grow up after being indoctrinated like this for over 20 years. Couple of little “Black Panthers” in training.
I have relatives who quit churches because they allowed slacks on women, but Obama can get up and leave with his minister taking the Lord name in vain from the pulpit and this other racist trash.
Thanks for the link, amigo!
The difference between Hagee endorsing McCain and Obama association with Rev Wright is that Hagee chose to support McCain without any solicitation from him,had no influence on the campaign and was not asked for any advice or counsel. Obama chose to attend Wrights church for 20 years, subjected his children to his hateful teachings and bigotry and solicited his advice and spiritual counsel.I’d say that is a big big difference.
Let’s remember that not only has Obama remained in this “church” for twenty years listening to this vitriol, Obama has contributed $20,000 to keep this pastor going.
Obama didn’t just drop in a few times - he converted to Christianity there, was married there, had his children baptized there, he attends services there regularly, his children go tto Sunday School there, he publicly thanked the minister after his election to the Senate, has named him as an advisor in his campaign, and has stated that he turns to Rev. Wright to keep his moral compass pointed in the right direction, etc.
How in the world can Obama make like this is being blown out of proportion - especially when looked at in the context of Michelle Obama’s racist and anti-American remarks, Barack’s refusal to say the pledge of allegiance and refusal to wear an American flag pin. All outward signs of having internalized the hatred spouted by his pastor.
Can you imagine the leading Republican candidate as a long-term committed parishioner in white power church? Why is this any different?
@sharon: In fact, McCain did solicit Hagee’s endorsement and shared a stage with Hagee to accept it.
@Jay: Sounds like you’re just making excuses not to hold McCain to the same standard you’re holding Obama.
Also, Obama rejected Wright’s 9/11 statements last April, which you haven’t noted. Would ANY distance Obama decides to place between himself and Wright be enough for you? Will you then demand that McCain put that same difference between himself and Hagee and Parsley?
“Obama rejected Wright’s 9/11 statements last April”
Yeah OK…Wright made the statement on Sept. 16th, 2001. What’s your point Terry?
It’s a joint-popping stretch to try to equate Obama’s quarter-century VOLUNTARY and ACTIVE membership to this “church” (to which he donated tens of thousands of dollars) to Hagee’s endorsement of McCain.
Try a little intellectual honesty on for size.
No one will ever make any true American believe that Barack O`Bama did not “hear ” and “know” all that MR. Wright said in his sermons. Americans had better wake up before it is too late. This country can not survive with a President that is filled with hate and no one could avoid some of that “propaganda” from rubbing off after 20 years of listening to it.
Obam knew about this Racist. He said he never heard any controversial comments but then he says his Rev. Wright is known for his controversial comments. Is that not a lie that he said he did not know. Give me a break. And Anderson Cooper on CNN was like apologizing for what happened. What the hell. If this was John McCain his campaign would be over because you would have the NAACP, Ali Sharpton etc…Wanting McCain removed. Where is there outrage now? None because Rev. Wright is one of there own. It really sickens me that this gets a free pass from the media as many other racist comments towards whites and Jews never covered by the media. Now they say it is free speech. Since when is it ok to preach racism and hate. Only in Black America! Can I get an AMAN!
The pastor’s comments and the black community’s support therein, directly or indirectly, indicates not that the country can’t handle a president who happens to be black man, rather the black community simply is not mature enough to handle a black president!