Obama To Give Speech About Race; Controversial Church Revises Website
March 17th, 2008 at 11:56pm Matt Margolis
In what is probably — in the long run — a bad move, Barack Obama is on the verge of giving a speech on race, with the apparent intention of limiting the fallout from the widespread exposure of the anti-Semitic, anti-white, and anti-American rhetoric of Obama’s longtime pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
In announcing the morning address, to be delivered in Philadelphia, Obama would not say specifically what he will discuss, but suggested he wants to cool down the atmosphere after incendiary remarks by his pastor, retired Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., blanketed the airwaves over the past week.
“I am going to be talking about, not just about Reverend Wright but just the larger issue of race in this campaign, which has ramped up over the last couple of weeks,” Obama told reporters after a town-hall meeting. “Part of what I’ll do tomorrow is to talk a little about how some of these issues are perceived from within the black church community, for example, which I think views this very differently.”
I don’t see this speech being able to help Barack Obama at all. He can’t really expect us all to believe he was oblivious to Wright’s hatred. Are we really to believe that 20 something years going to that church that Barack just conveniently missed every single sermon that was controversial in nature? Give me a break.
Meanwhile, FOX News discovered that Obama’s church altered their website by removing the black supremacist material.
UPDATE: Campaign surrogate John Kerry gives poor defense of Obama on Don Imus show…
Entry Filed under: Campaign 2008, Democrats
28 Comments
1. Obama To Give Speech Abou&hellip | March 18th, 2008 at 12:25 am
[...] Continue Reading [...]
2. Mark Noonan | March 18th, 2008 at 12:26 am
It might be too late for Obama to repair the damage - and the website taking down the incendiary comments is just making it clear that they now they’re kooks, but want to hide it to protect their man Obama…
3. muncie | March 18th, 2008 at 12:35 am
As a black woman I am appalled & ashamed by the level of hatred that spilled from the heart of this maniac calling himself a pastor. What this man stands for has nothing to do with religion, but used the pulpit to express his hatred of white Americans & America to a very accepting congregation where Obama was a member. I hope America will not be bambozzled by his speech tomorrow, because there isn’t anything he can say that will excuse him from continuation of a relationship with a man filled with such hate against his country. I will never believe that Obama was never there ( in church) when these evil statements were made. Lets give him the benefit of doubt that he was never there ( how convenient) during the 20yrs. of that their close relationship he would have known of this man’s feelings. All one has to do is listen to what Obama’s wife said about America, & you get a good idea where such thoughts were generated. That church is not a place of spirituality, but a place to spread hatred, & Obama continued there for 20yrs. That tells me he was supportive of all the hateful rheotrics until they become public. Its too late he cannnot now dislodge himself from 20yrs. of teachings ,just like that. His campaign is billed upon “judgement”, & here again he excuted very poor judgement in continuing that relationship. He could only have done that if he agrees with all that this man stands for! ” We are known by the company we keep”.
4. muncie | March 18th, 2008 at 12:42 am
As a black woman I am appalled & ashamed by the level of hatred that spilled from the heart of this maniac calling himself a pastor. What this man stands for has nothing to do with religion, but used the pulpit to express his hatred of white Americans & America to a very accepting congregation where Obama was a member. I hope America will not be bambozzled by his speech tomorrow, because there isn’t anything he can say that will excuse him from continuation of a relationship with a man filled with such hate against his country. I will never believe that Obama was never there ( in church) when these evil statements were made. Lets give him the benefit of doubt that he was never there, ( how convenient) during the 20yrs. of their close relationship he would have known of this man’s feelings. All one has to do is listen to what Obama’s wife said about America, & you get a good idea where such thoughts were generated. That church is not a place of spirituality, but a place to spread hatred, & Obama continued there for 20yrs. That tells me he was supportive of all the hateful rheotrics until they become public. Its too late he cannnot now dislodge himself from 20yrs. of teachings ,just like that. His campaign is billed upon “judgement”, & here again he excuted very poor judgement in continuing that relationship. He could only have done that if he agrees with all that this man stands for! ” We are known by the company we keep”.
5. Almiranta | March 18th, 2008 at 12:59 am
I haven’t seen this addressed so here goes: Do the Obamas allow their children to attend this church?
When I was growing up, I was expected to attend church every sihgle Sunday. While Barack may claim he was not in church every week, being a senator and all, were his wife and/or children there?
Because Michelle has already illustrated the effect this church has had on her—either that or she chose the church because it reflected views she already had, about never being proud of this country. And if their young daughters attend this church, they are being indoctrinated into this same vile and hateful way of looking at the world.
The Obamas could have found a church which celebrates the ascendancy of the human spirit over adversity. They could have given thanks for living in this country at this time, where a black woman can attend a prestigious university such as Princeton and go on to make more than $300,000 a year before she is even 45 years old, where a black man can attend Harvard and go on, at an early age, to be a prime contender for the position of President of the United States. They could have been grateful for living in a country which not only corrected the wrongness of slavery, at great cost to many thousands of white people, but which is still working on healing the wounds of that slavery and the subsequent treatment of people of color.
But no, they chose, they made an actual active CHOICE, to seek out, join, support and participate in this particular church, and to become friends and followers of this particular pastor. And one can assume they have made the choice to have the beliefs and opinions and attitudes of their young children formed by this group as well.
It would be bad enough if they just sent them to a school which teaches these vile things, but they have chosen to teach their children that these things are the teachings of God.
And to heap dishonesty upon dishonesty, Barack not only tries to make us think the teachings and preachings of Wright are a surprise to him, he claims to want to “unite” America while being part of a divisive and intolerant church which preaches the supremacy of one race over another.
6. Dennis | March 18th, 2008 at 1:31 am
As a preacher’s kid myself I’ve studied the culture of religion in America, and understand how it weaves together many threads to form a narrative that informs the membership of issues that are deemed relevant. I am a white man who grew up in the fifties, so my church experience is outside of the black church culture.
But as a person who came of age during the civil rights era and who wondered later why my own minister father and his church ignored these issues altogether, I find a redeeming quality in black churches that stepped into the gap and performed the service of enlightening people about issues that have their basis in spiritual truth: that all races are equal at the foot of the cross.
No person can oppress another, or claim supremacy over any other, in the light of Christ’s atonement. And if social and political trends did not match the growing spiritual awareness of black communities that their roles and liberties had been diminished for generations in America, kudos to those who tried to make up for lost time.
“Things that might mean one thing in the church take on a new meaning when you don’t see the full sermon, or understand the full context,” says Dwight Howard, a theologian and a longtime Trinity member.
The founder of black liberation theology, James Cone, says: “There are moments for [Wright] when the anger, when the rage about what’s happened to poor black people in the ghetto is so tough, so deeply painful, that he says things most whites would find off the charts and unpatriotic. But you don’t preach in sound bites.”
Having grown up listening to white sermons, dealing with white middle class issues, I have no problem with this. It’s the way people are brought to hard realities and learn to address them spiritually. The rhetoric of the pulpit is different from the rhetoric of the stump. To properly differentiate the two, one first must be familiar with the vernacular, and secondly have a healthy respect for First Amendment principles.
And that is where the majority of Wrigth’s and Obama’s critics fall short. They have no context in which to place these matters; for them the political and religious are all one mishmash.
Obama has shown great acuity and sensitivity in discerning that line that separates the sacred from the profane. He has properly distanced himself from the things that have no place in the political realm, yet he has been sensitized to larger issues of equality and justice that the pulpit has taught, when society lagged behind. All this present sound and fury signifies spiritual ignorance and inchoate thinking on the part of his critics.
7. Mark Noonan | March 18th, 2008 at 1:38 am
Dennis,
That is just asinine - though very rigidly in leftwing thinking, which holds that God is only to be partially brought into politics, mostly as a justification for welfare spending and appeasement of enemeis.
As it is, however, there is no justification for Wright’s views - they are ignorant, hateful and without merit in Christian theology. Whatever it is he’s preaching, it isn’t Christian.
8. Dennis | March 18th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Mark, you betrayed long ago that you’ve been conditioned to think in sound bites rather than overarching principles.
9. kimberly4victory | March 18th, 2008 at 1:53 am
Me thinks Dennis works on the Obama campaign.
WHEN did Obama distance himself? Hmmm, right after the news started coming out about the outlandish remarks from Wright.
10. Dennis | March 18th, 2008 at 2:40 am
I don’t work on any campaign. I’ve just been watching life for a long time, dearie. And all your “victory” rhetoric is just whistling past the graveyard of your own failed ideas. It’s time for changing of the guard, and I’m real okay with that.
11. JS | March 18th, 2008 at 8:10 am
OH LOOK!!
David Dukes brother wants to tell us that he is not a racist.
I guess anyone would get to that point sooner or later.
It really doesnt matter. He can not erase 20 years of endorsment to this racist ideology in one speech.
All that he is going to do is lie. Just like he did in the Rezko case, and just like he will do when he denies his family in Kenya.
12. JS | March 18th, 2008 at 8:17 am
I guess this means the Hillary will ascend to the chosen place on top of the DNC. The scandalous was thrown out there just a bit too soon. Now the Republicans will have to deal with a desparate, coniveing thief instead of a subtle racist.
13. hermie | March 18th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Obama has not learned the lesson from the tale of Roland Burris.
Burris was at the top of his game. He was a black Democrat who rose to high state office. He was running for Governor and had a good chance of getting the office…
Then he made the mistake of letting his true feelings out. He made a comment about beating ‘the white boys’ which was recorded by a reporter, and was on the airwaves soon after.
From within a short grasp of the Governorship, to being ‘retired’ from state office, because he could not bring himself to discontinue his association with the bitter and divisive politics of race.
Obama, a supposedly intelligent man, chose to maintain his and his family’s association with the bitter and divisive group, primarily to maintain his base. He did not learn from Burris’ example.
My guess is that the MSM will help him spin his tale, and the blame for Obama’s bad judgement will be placed not on himself, but on those who easily found Wright’s recorded ’sermons’ and writings of the church.
14. Joe | March 18th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Hey… at least nobody here has a closed mind regarding this Obama speech. Geesh you people are f-ing crazy over this whole pastor stuff.
Mark, you mind (as well as your sheep that post here) apparently already know that whatever Obama says is going to be a lie or just wrong, so why do you just post a thread already on it. There is no need to wait for the speech apparently.
15. Diane Tomlinson | March 18th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Noonan,
So it’s ONLY kooks who scrub their websites when damaging things happen? I want to be clear on this before I cut loose.
16. Canadian Observer | March 18th, 2008 at 9:19 am
6. Dennis | March 18th, 2008 at 1:31 am
Thank you for posting your well thought-out comments, Dennis. Your remarks show the value of using good old fashion common sense; a trait that, as we can plainly see here, is truly lacking on this subject.
No matter how irrational folks become, no matter how incensed; it’s good to know that there are still some level-headed thinkers among us.
17. Cavalor Epthith, Esquire, D.S.V.J. | March 18th, 2008 at 9:54 am
It is truly romantic to see the notions of the Old South bubbling back to the surface. The absolute travesty of calling a man of the honesty and integrity of Reverend Jeremiah Wright a “racist” is appalling. As a black man in America he has no reason to be a racist and as a point of fact he is not capable of racism not in the main. Wright has no powers economic, political or judicial to detain black men and women in prisons nor does he have the power to make laws that allow his people to be treated by secondary laws while white are jailed.
I fully understand what Reverend Wright means when he appeals to the Creator of the Universe and His word that those who kill innocents are damned. Members of my staff have impressed me again by distilling the difference between Falwell who was preaching in Lynchburg against desegregation to white only audiences of pampered suburbanites in the late 1950s and 60s who could violate the civil rights of blacks in and around that city. Wright can only express his own understanding that those of dark skin and African heritage now have a bulldozer in their midst in the form of Barack Hussein Obama that can be used to level the playing field. Here is the font from which all of this fear and anger springs for this path of change is a threat that white America has feared since reconstruction, a black leader who knows what is owed to his people yet also owes a deep allegiance to the nation state that has elevated him to this lofty position. Thus, white Christian conservative have a clear choice. You can step aside and follow the bulldozer to prosperity, or you can stand stubbornly in its path and be chopped down.
Qu’ul cuda praedex nihil!
18. kimberly4victory | March 18th, 2008 at 9:54 am
CO gives hugs and kisses to Dennis, his comrade in arms. Should we be surprised that the two lefties totally agree with each other? Not.
Diane: DLTDHYOTWO!
I, for one, am not going to listen to his speech. He can’t answer tough questions on the fly during a press conference. We know this because of his most recent press conferences and debates. His speech will be well-rehearsed and full of baloney.
19. Pain | March 18th, 2008 at 10:36 am
But how then kimberly will you formulate an informed opinion? I just had communication with a Soul who said to me, “If one out of 20 white Americans is a racist that’s 10 million racists. If 2 out of 10 would support Obama but fear being seen as lover of a race that is not theirs then the racists have something to fear.”
Qu’ul cuda praedex nihil!
20. Joe | March 18th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Kimberly, I can picture you with your hands over your ears, eyes closed, muttering over and over again “I can’t hear you!!”
Nice to see you have such an open mind. Did you do the same thing when Romney held his speech about being a Mormon?
21. kimberly4victory | March 18th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Oh pa-leese! I don’t have to sit through 40+ minutes of droning from Obama to know what he’s going to say. I just read his spiel on the drudge report.
22. Rich | March 18th, 2008 at 11:37 am
This type of black racism is simply typical of Chicago. As an example take my case for instance. I am a full time substitute teacher in Chicago. I was not hired as a full time teacher in Chicago although I had earned over ten interviews by sending my resume through the mail, and several more through job fairs. I have a Master’s Degree in History, was a double major in History and English as an undergrad, a straight A student, and have several years of coaching experience for soccer and track. Most of my interviews were in failing south side schools with around 100% poverty levels and upwards of twenty percent homelss. I felt ready and willing to tackle the tough job. Unfortunately, my tanned skin was not dark enough to get me into the worst schools in Chicago. The staff I noticed at these schools was usually at least 90% black, and in probably half of the schools, not a single white person but myself was to be found. This is when I did some research and found out that Chicago schools have a quota for minority teachers( dont have the link but you can find it right on the CPS website). Not only that, but Chicago is the only place in the state where people can skip certification and be hired for “life experience”. What does this life experience entail? Well its up to the principals who are predominately black(the same principles that run schools with 100% governemnt subsidized free lunches, and yet somehow end up collection lunch money from students every day”. They can hire anyone they damn well please, and I am guessing aunties , uncles, nieces and brothers are walking into a $45,000 starting salary with high schools diplomas. Qualified white teachers are overlooked and end up like me, teaching for a few weeks at one failing school, then moving on to the next. This is just one example, and there are many others. As for myself, I’m heading for the burbs next fall, and the racist Chicago school systems can kiss my backside. As for Barack, I would like to hear his views on the racial quota at the CPS schools, and hear his thoughts on improving the CPS. Simply throwing money at the problem does not count, as this has been tried.
23. Rich | March 18th, 2008 at 11:41 am
“If this is the best the GOP can do more than seven months before the election then October will be filled with stories from the women John McCain hooked up with after he got back from Vietnam to find his wife not the same model he left after a terrible car accident.”
Cute. You believe this comes from the GOP and not the Clintons, one week after “Operation Kitchen Sink”. Naive, delusional, or dishonest?
Furthermore, how can you argue against Wright’s comments when your own Golden Boy has thrown him under the bus? So are you saying that Obama is sliming his own pastor? My head is spinning.
24. kimberly4victory | March 18th, 2008 at 11:43 am
From Obama’s long-winded speech:
“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…”
No, actually, Senator Obama, I have NEVER heard any of my pastors say anything political or anything of which I strongly disagreed. They reserve the topics of their sermons solely for the Bible and Jesus Christ and his teachings.
AND if they ever said anything similar to what Wright said/says, I’d head for the door and never come back.
I’m not buying what he’s selling …
25. FmrMarine | March 18th, 2008 at 11:52 am
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/03/is_obama_trying_to_bamboozle_u.html
It is amazing, when the marxiast, racists, get caught with their proverbial pants down, they all poo poo it.
But let a conservative do wrong…their lynching mentality goes into full gear.
Earbama belongs to a hate filled RACIST CULT and he didnt even know that?
His “pastor”, mentor, teacher, friend, was buddies with louis fartacan and he didnt know that?
His brother is a muslem rebel in africa and he didnt know that?
What does this hollow, empty suit know?
OH yeah ……change! (loose change)
26. Michael | March 18th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
The success of an important political speech is measured in the numbers of people’s minds you change that did not support you or were sitting on the fence before the speech. An example of the was JFK’s famous “Ask not…” speech. This speech changed few minds and so was not successful. The same questions remain in the minds of those not already so far in the tank for Obama they refuse to consider the impact of what he said about Wright, which was that he basiacally could not “disown” this hateful man. He lost some Democrats and a lot of independents and proved what the conservatives have been saying about his 20 year relationship with a racist, hateful man Obama called his spiritual guide. Now he will attempt phase II which is to say that episode in the campaign is over. I am afraid he is about to find out it is not. I am still seeing more reruns of Wright’s “God Damn America…” rant than any excerpts from Obama’s speech. That does not bode well for Obama.
27. poetryman69 | March 19th, 2008 at 7:30 am
Getting yourself pastored for 20 years by a radical hater shows bad judgment. Lying about it when asked by the media shows dishonesty. Now we know the real reason why you refused to wear a flag lapel pin and why your wife has never before been proud of America. If we take you at your word, you spent 20 years in the company of a man, and never once figured out that he was a virulent racist. A president of the United states cannot afford to be that obtuse. Request for presidency denied.
–klqtzz
28. Sean Taylor | April 17th, 2008 at 7:49 am
If you’re tired of waiting around for those super delegates to make a decision already, go to LobbyDelegates.com and push them to support Clinton or Obama
If you haven’t done so yet, please write a message to each of your state’s superdelegates at http://www.lobbydelegates.com
It takes a moment, but what’s a few minutes now worth to get Obama in office?!
Sending a note to current Obama supporters lets them know it’s appreciated, sending a note to current Clinton supporters can hopefully sway
them to change their vote to Obama, and sending a note to the uncommitted folks will hopefully sway them to vote for Obama. It’s that easy…
Clinton Supporters:
It takes a moment, but what’s a few minutes now worth to get Clinton in office?!
Sending a note to current Clinton supporters lets them know it’s appreciated, sending a note to current Obama supporters can hopefully sway them to change their vote to Clinton, and sending a note to the uncommitted folks will hopefully sway them to vote for Clinton. It’s that easy…
we’ll make it REALLY easy and include a list of names, addresses, and affiliations of superdelegates from each state including your state.