According to some commentators, once we have heard the Rev. Wright twist in one of his diatribes we also know all we need to know about Barack Obama.
I do not think so.
If you want to know what Obama says about his faith and hear the pastor who is taking Wright’s place, go here.
If you don’t give a rip about Wright and the current flap, give yourself a pat on the back.
If you are somewhere in the middle, consider this. I have little doubt that sometime in the twenty years that Obama has been a member of Trinity he has heard Wright deliver a rant such as those currently being played around the net and on tv. But any one who admires Obama or who is even willing to extend some understanding must admit that Wright clearly said other things at other times that appealed to Obama’s considerable brain.
Personally, I find Wright offensive in the very few portions of sermons I have heard, and I find his decibel level ghastly. But I would say this of just about every pastor I have heard or imagine hearing. I dislike Wright saying that 9/11 was a deserved event and I abhor some other minister on any given Sunday telling his/her flock that Christians are superior to all others or that gays are abhorrent in god’s eyes. In short, I find religious folk of all hues wrong-headed and obnoxious. I wish Obama were secular and owed nothing to the self-aggrandizement that passes for religion on the Middle East and the West.
But he is not. And the fact that he is not secular is Obama’s business, not mine. The fact that he belongs to a church until recently headed up by Wright is his business and not mine. The fact that he can listen to Wright’s tirades and mine something positive and useful is his business and not mine. The fact that I am not black and cannot filter Wright’s words through the experience of being a minority makes Obama’s loyalty to Wright even more his business than mine.
Asked on the Keith Olbermann show if he repudiated Wright, Obama said, “I repudiate his ideas [in these clips] but I will not repudiate the man.” (Approx. quotation.) And good for him. How timid and undemocratic must we be to toss out Barack Obama because he finds value in a man who may repel us. What on earth has happened to free speech in America if we not only want to deny Wright the freedom to say obnoxious things but want as well to deny others the right to choose to hear these obnoxious things.
Surely freedom of hearing is a right. Even if we assume the few minutes of Wright we have heard out of the 20 years he has been talking accurately represents the man, by what leap do we assume these minutes also represent Barack Obama?
7 responses so far ↓
1 Tex // Mar 17, 2008 at 10:55 am
With all do respect, it matters not what you think of any and all ministers of the faith, Puffin.
I am reviled by rampant secularism..ie: example the state of most of socialist Europe now days.
What does matter is that BO said he did not hear his mentor say these things! That is the height of hypocracy. He has been under Rev. Wright’s wing for over 20 years and listened to his tapes while a law student at Harvard.
This unfortunate situation in BO’s life now has huge legs and if the race for the dem nominee escalates into “gotcha” politics…Hillary has a Ph.D. in that regard!
This political primary season has been much too long and thus we are helpless in watching all the pathos of the politics of personal destruction.
Juan Williams, NPR pundit, and a black man that has written a book on black religion, has come down very hard on BO and his lack of defining statements regarding his association with Rev. Wright (Retired).
Tune in…more to come…unfortunately.
2 admin // Mar 17, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Read more slowly, Tex. I said above, “I have little doubt that sometime in the twenty years that Obama has been a member of Trinity he has heard Wright deliver a rant such as those currently being played around the net and on tv.” I like Juan Williams but he is hardly to be confused for a liberal, right? I do appreciate your comments and your willingness to continue the jousting.
3 Tex // Mar 18, 2008 at 1:19 pm
You can believe me or not Puffin, but I want to like Obama and what he brings to the table.
Now that things have escalated into a war of heated words..it will be critical as to how Obama can act with firm control and come through this storm before the next primary vote.
I do know what you wrote, Puffin, but early on Obama publically stated he had not heard his mentor say such things. Now, he says he did hear it and that he cannot repudiate the man, although he does reject the words.
Will the voting public be forgiving? Time will tell.
4 admin // Mar 18, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Ah, yes, your point is well made. But I cling to the last fragment of hope: has BO heard these same things? At any rate, all this is Obama’s test, I guess. I cannot figure out how he did not anticipate this coming out and know that the media would make a meal out of it as remorse for their earlier kindness to him and enthusiasm for him.
5 Tex // Apr 3, 2008 at 12:51 pm
We learn more as time eventually passes on in the natural law of things.
BO’s church is known for it’s African-Centrist teachings in what has been labeled as “Liberation Theology” which is…Jesus was a black man and all things black is the main theme.
How can BO campaign on a theme of his candidacy being based on values that ‘transcend race’, when his abiding faith is totally about his blackness and separation of the races.
He would be commiting heresy if he truly believed that the moral and spiritual beliefs of races other than black should be recognized and publically admitted to. He will not repudiate this fact. He does repudiate Rev. Wright’s recent statements as taken out of context.
Taking a closer look at how BO can justify his church with his public image and statements cause due deligence from those of us who are interested enought to try to really get to know BO and what he is all about.
I must say, at this very moment, that BO’s philosophy and religious beliefs are counter to what I desire in a Presidential candidate.
6 Admin // Apr 3, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Well, I still don’t see it, Tex. I cannot speak to what Obama thinks about racenor do I have much confidence in my ability to understand all the ramifications of his church and Wright. I do think Wright is an intelligent fellow as is Obama. And we haven’t had that in the Oval Office for quite a while.
7 Tex // Apr 4, 2008 at 2:11 pm
This is the essence of our different perceptions, Puffin. We simply cannot find any trickle of common ground in our politics.
Intelligence can be overrated….a Ph.D can be completely devoid of common sense..I have personally witnessed this phenonmenon…and your continued defense of those whom you favor to be the most honorable as compared to the current occupant in the Whitehouse is, to put it mildly, rather boorish, old hat and mundane due to its verbal overkill. Bush is a lame duck. Must you continue to attack him when he is about to be history? Or, is your defense of BO so weakened by current events that you cannot move out of the past and bring the discussion into the present political arena of thoughts?
Please outline for me substantive issues that you believe BO stands for..or shall we muddle on in this quaqmire of the past until the dems settle the blood letting and then face McCain? If so, let me know and I will cease and desist until then.
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