(Video) Obama Refuses To Disown His Racist Pastor
Posted on March 18, 2008
Obama gave his major speech on race today, and as expected it fell very short. He refused to disown his pastor and returned to the failing “cherry pick” defense. He also went on to admit knowing and hearing past controversial statements, and while he states that he disagreed with them, he still chose to continue taking his children to hear them. Remember, he has asked to be judged on his judgement.
Obama claims that he “strongly disagree[d] with many of [Wright's] political views” that he heard “while I sat in church”? This invites the question what, if anything, he did to express his strong disagreement. Did he cut back contributions? Or did he just have the audacity to hope Wright would hush up and burn the tapes before long?
The fact that Obama twisted his pastor’s offensive and outrageous remarks and made it into a race issue was clever. It doesn’t excuse his pastor or excuse the fact that he sat with the America-hating racist for 20 years, though.
And, the fact that he plays it off like “all of us are at fault” is insulting.
Michelle Malkin has a great roundup.
It fails for me, but the way that the talking heads are calling it historic, and especially the libtards swooning over it…he just might have saved himself.
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
It’s essentially a non-distancing distancing, akin to the non-apology apology. He excuses Wright’s anti-American rhetoric with a mixture of rationalizations. Wright gets a pass because he served in the military, because he grew up in another generation that apparently hated America, and because he does good work in other areas. Obama also makes the curious claim that rejecting Wright means rejecting the entire black community — something other black churches might see as rather presumptuous. Obama essentially argues that the same kind of anti-Americanism can be found in all black churches, and speaks at length about how the legacy of racism and Jim Crow makes this incendiary rhetoric ubiquitous.
Ed goes on to point out that the speech was probably a success because it seemed to be aimed at a narrow audience called super delegates.
Obama, the “uniter” is dividing. It is painfully clear to me that Obama believes that half of America agrees with G-d damn America Jeremiah Wright and he intends to exploit that hate and play on these terrible, imagine fears. I do not believe he is right. But he is going down the hate mongering ship. Separatism, not inclusion. What unites us is we are Americans, and frankly he just doesn’t get it.
Let’s call it another good con job from the substanceless Obamessiah and simply accept that he’ll never answer why his closest advisor aside from his wife hates white people with a blinding fury nor why that’s completely cool with him.
Today Obama did himself no favor by trying to blame it all on the ignorant, unwashed masses of pundits and talk show hosts who had the audacity to simply dig deeper and ask for specifics behind the words. The talk show hosts and pundits didn’t create Jeremiah Wright, they simply revealed him to America and after taking a look at him an overwhelming majority of them rejected him and his hate-filled racist and anti-American rants.
Fact is that Obama sat under the tutelage of a racist black supremacist for 20 years and no speech or twenty-five dollar words can change that fact. Obama talks of being a Christian yet apparently rejects the edict of 1 Corinthians 15:53, “Bad company corrupts good moralsâ€. No one can being around a influential teacher for 20 years and not be in some way complicit with their teachings.
It was particularly interesting how he threw his grandmother under the bus in order to cling to the pastor. Indeed, the goalpost have been moved.
Here’s a blank check to white racists to join the restrictive country club of their choice because, after all, they can no more disown white racism than they can the entire white community:
Victor Davis Hanson calls the speech an elegant farce.
Contrary to his earlier suggestion, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) acknowledged in his speech Tuesday that he had heard “controversial†remarks by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
“Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy?†Obama said. “Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely — just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.â€
Obama did not specify which statements.
In his first detailed response to the firestorm over Wright’s remarks charging that the United States is a racist country, Obama said in a posting on The Huffington Post:
“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. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign.â€
He lied before, and the truth reveals that he knew about the controversial remarks and continued to go to the church.
Justin Higgins: Obama condemned himself, not his pastor.
Juan Williams says Obama avoided responsibility. Indeed.
If Obama Was So Troubled by Wright’s Words… Why Keep Bringing His Daughters?
Scrappleface: Obama: Racial Unity Can Overcome Capitalism
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Bigotry, Elections, News, Politics As Usual, Video
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13 Responses to “(Video) Obama Refuses To Disown His Racist Pastor”
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I just found a link to a longer sermon by Rev. Wright, and posted it on my blog.
Uhhhh…please keep in mind what demographic was recipient to this speech. While weeks ago it was “full steam ahead” and Obama was playing to the entire country, his current situation finds him back again playing only to the constituency that he requires to secure the nomination.
Therefore, there was no need to disown his pastor or his comments. There was no need to position himself on a substantive unarguable basis. There was only need to give the appearance of addressing the issue. That pacifies the Left (not to mention that there are surely a significant number of voters/ delegates on the Left who agree whole-heartedly with Wright.
Consider the source…consider the audience. You can’t apply the Right’s criterion on the Left and vice versa. They’re two totally different animals (on most issues).
Cheers,
JR
How can you accuse Obama of racism? He’s repeatedly denied his support of the controversial comments. Furthermore, if you bother to read the stuff that the pastor said, you’d notice it’s a vocalization of a community’s perspective on the problems of our nation. He talks about HIV, and terrorism, and international conflicts. I guess I understand that it’s easy to be so closed minded about a black guy getting excited in his speech, but the fact that Obama hasn’t EVER made any sort of America-damning statement like that, and that Obama has completely denounced these statements in his speech which you all find so mockable, should be enough of a reason for you guys to let go of this and talk about something more important.
When you’re all done getting over the fact that he’s a black democrat, the rest of the country could use your help sorting out issues that actually matter.
I don’t think this speech did him any good, nor did it do him any harm. Those that were already for him won’t change. Those that were against him, the same. It was a complete wash.
“He talks about HIV” indeed.
He accuses whites of creating HIV as a tool of genocide against blacks.
As the grandmother of several mixed race grandchildren, I take great exception to that type of rhetoric. My grandchildren will NEVER be exposed to that type of filth.
Obama went on live TV and said to the American people “I NEVER HEARD THESE THINGS WHILE I WAS IN THE CHURCH” Now he changes his lie to ” YES I HEARD THESE THINGS THAT I DISAGREE WITH. So lets understand what Obama is saying. That 1 it is ok for him to lie about what he knew. 2 it is ok for wright to spread his racism and Anti-America because well it is ok for blacks because of what then been through.
It is all a bunch of BS Obama should be removed for Lieing on Fox News as he said He Never heard any of these comments and then tells the truth a few days later. He is now a lying anti-American racist just as his buddy that he loves so much. Now you see the side of Obama we have been warning about! THERE IS NO ESCUSE FOR RACSIM no color will get free passes no matter what!
Again if this was a white man he would be hung out to dry!
I’m both amazed and saddened by the selective comments posted here tonight. Of course you can pick apart someone’s speech and pull out bits that make your argument work. That’s the easy thing to do. True intellectuals, people who like to think with their heads, not their mouth (or in this case keyboard) listen/read to the message in its entirety. From there we make judgment on the message delivered.
Hmmmm… So Rev. Wright is a product of his environment. He is a victim of historical injustices. His hatred is the logical outgrowth of America’s longest running, and most deeply divisive contradiction.
It sounds to me like the Obama agrees completely with his Reverend. The hate-filled, irrational spoutings - the chickens - have come home to roost.
Obama willingly throws his grandmother under the bus as a racist but still protects his racist pastor. It also seems that this country actually excuse liars if their politicians. I didn’t hear it before I heard it. Another crumbling facade.
Obama’s statement today did not satisfactorily address his relationship to Wright. Whatever his grandmother might have said, I doubt it could rise to the level of “God damn America” or “We asked for 9/11″ as shouted from the pulpit by Rev. Wright. Nor can Grand-Ma’s racist statements to a few people compare to the hundreds, possibly thousands of people over the years in Wright’s congregation who were subjected to his racist/hateful sermons. In the background of those recordings were the loud “amens” of his congregation; apparently in support of Wright’s ideology. While a member of that congregation Obama must have stood-up and cheered “Amen!” along with the rest of the congregation every week. It is a statistical marvel that over 20 years Obama has managed to never be present when any hateful/racist statements were made by Wright. Would Wright, with his strong unabashed “public” statements, not mention nor discuss any of them with Obama at the “personal” level, one-on-one? Obama likened Wright to be as close as a “family member.” He can’t have it both ways: Either he was “close” and so, had to have known of Wright’s ideology, or their friendship was so “distant” that he could not have recognized Wright’s ideology? It’s difficult to fathom how he could have made Wright the “religious compass” of his campaign without knowing of Wright’s statements. Most people change churches when the Pastor preaches the opposite of what they believe. Obama had to at some level agreed with the Pastor’s vile ideology, AND accepted it–otherwise, such a hateful/racist person as Wright would have repulsed any true “non-racist” person. We need a more complete understanding of Obama’s “real” core beliefs before we make him our President.
B Hussein bib B Hussain bin Hussian Obambi, an America-loathing Arab-American, murtadd* (**) Muslim and mobbed-up Marxist would, but for his own — and on only the strength of his track record of envy-motivated, hatred-engined and rage driven extremist left-wing activism, his open association with America’s enemies domestic and foreign, his co-mingled and connected overt and arrogant corruption and with his razor thin resume of individual “achievement” — have long long long ago been laughed from the race.
And now, exposed as the pathetic little hater he is and always was, he will be.
Bye-koo Sa-id Hussein.
You’re next Missus Blythe
murtadd* = “Apostate”
(**) = (Or so he says)
When Christians are oppressed in Iraq they flee,
When Jews were in Germany they flee.
When people want to be free in cuba they flee in boats. Ditto vietnam.
When people in east Germany were oppressed they fled through mine fields and past Armed guards.
Strikes me as ironic that they are so oppressed in the USA that they aren’t going anywhere. They just want to sit around bitching.
Number of Charities in the US to relocate black folk to Zimbabwe 0. I like to bring up Zimbabwe where a lot of people have fled from black rule than the USA. I bring it up because, they are saying they want the British BACK!
To oppress them more no doubt. No MSM will ever figure out why they would want that.
Here is some interesting facts on OBAMA.
How interesting to know that when Don Imus was in hot water 11 months
ago for racially insensitive comments, Obama was the first candidate to
call for his firing. Boy obama jumped on that racist comment but did
nothing about Rev. Wright’s racist Anti-American comments for 20 some
years. How odd. Now if that is not proof that Obama indeed has the same
views as Rev. Wright buy jumping on whites and letting blacks get a free
pass what else do you need here? He has already lied about knowing tried
to defend Rev. Wright’s comments by playing the race card we hear
everyday. And yet this man wants everyone to come together and be
friends. Well This is to Mr. Obama, Look in the mirror at a true racist
as he even said he cringed when his white mother made comments about
blacks but has open arms as his so called Uncle Rev. Wright makes racist
comments about whites and Lies about his country. What does this tell
you about the man in the mirror! It is now time for Obama to step down
from running and even his senate rule in congress. Let him go be with
his friends Rev. Wright & Farakon. Where he feels more comfortable with
these people. What strikes me is where the outrage from the black
leaders is? Do they all feel this way as blacks can be racist without
repercussion because of the past? Where is the asking for his removal
like Imus? Why are they now making excuses for racism? Like I said
before until us as a Nation get rid of all the single race groups in
America like the NAACP, Black Panthers so called civil rights groups
racism is a breeding ground in these groups and all race groups. There
is no excuses for racism NONE! No matter what in the past has happened.
If you want to move forward you got to stop looking backwards because
looking backwards while walking forwards you’re going to fall in a hole
as Obama has done. It is hard to explain to my 9 year old when she asks
why to they call us whitey and why do they want to kill us and stuff
like that that she has seen on the news in the past. Then she asks the
question what is a N word. The black leaders do not want the word used
but it is them 90% of the time saying it on the news. But it is ok for
us to be called CRACKERS or what ever else they call us with no outrage
from anyone. Sorry it does not fly this day and age and we are tired of
all racism and they need to pass a law with stiff penalties for all
racism no matter what race you are only then will it begin to evaporate.
Racism across the board is unacceptable.
Here is Obama on IMUS! Make no mistake what he says! Both links are the
Obama calling for the Firing of IMUS.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3031317&page=1
http://www.breitbart.tv/html/64554.html