The ball is in your court Obama

[Cali_Democrat]

Fox News and Hannity have been thrashing Obama with the Wright story for about a year. Now that ABC has picked it up it is becoming real news, although its not a full blown story yet. All Obama has to do is call Wright's comments despicable and reprehensible and the story will die fast. He needs to stress that he already condemned the comments and then condemn them again.

At first I thought this was a non-story, but with 6 weeks to go until PA it looks like this will be a big story because the media will have nothing else to talk about. This is guilt by association and this logical fallacy will never work in the long run. But some damage can be done right now and Obama has to mitigate that damage. This is different than the Willie Horton story. That story was a direct result of Dukakis' support for the weekend furlough program. Obama needs to come out tomorrow and denounce Wright's comments.

[geek tragedy]

1. He probably should do some damage control on this.

Of course, the Hillbots will just drag in the latest slur from Hannity.

[Neshanic]

2. Look for mild bemused smile, and parsed explaination in 48 hours.

[backscatter712]

26. Calm, cool and collected is the order of the day.

No howling in outrage.

No self-righteous cries of indignation.

That's just gasoline on the fire.

Just mention that he disagrees with Rev. Wright, then bring the conversation back to the issues.

[LakeSamish706]

3. Obama doesn't need to do anything.... He is leading in this race and he of all the...

candidates has a clean slate... I call Bullshit on this... Why the hell should Hillary not have to come clean with why she is holding back on her records, but Obama should have to come clean? Nice try OP... Bullshit...

[leftofcool]

12. Oh well,

if your golden child doesn't mind taking his daughters to a church where the pastor is humping from the pulpit, no big deal. I think many Dems will see this differently though and many will ask why

[LakeSamish706]

18. You Hillarybots are delusional for certain.... Why don't you try looking at what the Clinton's...

were involved with during there reign of (terror) or sorry, that should have read Presidency....

[Capn Sunshine]

4. Does Hillary even HAVE a pastor?

Is he still alive?

[jlake]

5. A religious test? - and yes, she does..... a rather sane one at that!

[LakeSamish706]

8. Wow, a Hillarybot comes to defend Hillary... How quint that is... Crap. lol n/t

[jlake]

11. Yeah, it's not Obamaunderground.god yet.... we are still here to defend

the Goddess of Peace!

[emilyg]

54. Do you think DU belongs to you?

[ngant17]

35. tell Hillary's preach to resurrect the dead

that's 1 million dead Iraqis that Hillary is responsible for, as she voted for IWR. If he/she can do that, I'm switching over to the other side.

[jlake]

36. I know you're angry about the war - I am too - but please realize that

Obama hasn't shown the courage to end it -- and I believe he would have supported it had he been in the senate.
The war and casualties are not solely Hillary's fault - and she has the best plan to fix things going forward.
Obama doesn't really have a plan - and that is scary.

[ngant17]

40. it's all about the lesser of the 2 evils, or 3 evils

if you want to count McPain.

Hillary could have just said no to IWR but she didn't, and there's no way to justify that by some sophisticated argument.

Obama did not say yes to IWR, so that's at least separates him from the rest of the pack or war-mongers.

Christians could not find any way to justify a war in Iraq. Is Rev. Wright for the war? Hell no. You don't even have to ask him that one. That makes him a true Christian in my book.

[emilyg]

55. He's too full of hate to be a true Christian.

[Emit]

49. She belongs to "The Fellowship" and they worship capitalism and power.

Hillary's Prayer: Hillary Clinton's Religion and Politics
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=4986046

'The Fellowship' & "How Hillary Clinton Turned Herself into the Consummate Washington Player"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=4971356

Why Obama must be destroyed:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=4963377

[leftofcool]

6. He needs to explain why he has his daughters attending

a church where the pastor makes sexual motions from the pulpit. I agreed with some of Wright's statements and then I saw the entire video. That was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen coming from someone who claims to be a Christian

[goldcanyonaz]

10. It takes a lot to shock me, but that shocked me.

[leftofcool]

15. Me too

and I am rarely shocked.

[Oilwellian]

53. Were you just as shocked...

about the cigar story?

[Neshanic]

13. Yes, charming and Jesus wept.

[LulaMay]

58. It is sickening. His remarks too that HRC hasn't ever been called a name.

[izzybeans]

7. Weird how now all of the sudden its seeped out of the rightwing echo chamber.

[stevenleser]

9. He has already repudiated the guys remarks

how many times should he say it?

[Cali_Democrat]

14. He needs to do it again tomorrow

It's not going to kill him.

[jackson_dem]

16. The problem is how does he condemn, in effect, endorsing Wright for 20 years?

Each Sunday...He can say what he wants but his actions will remain. If he were truly outraged he would have left Wright's church a long time ago.

[Cali_Democrat]

19. That doesn't mean he has to agree with all of Wright's views. n/t.

[jackson_dem]

22. I know. That may not be enough in the court of public opinion, though

I don't think Obama is a racist, as far as I know. ;)

Just kidding my Obama friends. Honestly it is idiotic to claim a guy who is half white is racist against whites but you can bet the rethugs will try to swiftboat him on race and, judging by the swiftboating of the Clintons on race, it may work. :(

[GoldieAZ49]

37. you don't stay in a church if you have strong disagreements with the pastor

I have done a lot of church hopping in my life.

When the pastor starts in with 'pity the poor heathens that aren't doing it like us, they will never get to heaven' I am gone.

That is nothing in comparison to Wrights message.

[ngant17]

59. I have strong disagreements with my (female) pastor

For one thing, she doesn't like vines, and I happen to like vines. Reminds her of the jungle, I suppose. Vines are wonderful plants, although Virginia creeper isn't one of my favorites.

She hasn't denounced the Iraqi war even though she leads into the prayers for the troops.

She doesn't support unions, she was previous a manager for K-Mart before going into divinity school.

I could go on and on.

If she gets out of line, I leave it to the Methodists to enforce their Book of Discipline.

Wright's message was nothing. He's a retired pastor now, so it's not even relevant to current events now. Why beat a dead horse?

[Johnyawl]

17. Does Obama WANT this story put to bed?

Or is it in his best interest to keep it on the front page for awhile? Especially if it's being talked about by O'reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, et al. If that crowd talks about Obama's Christian Minister's outrageous comments enough, and the story developes legs, it's gonna be pretty hard to revive the "Obama's a secret muslim" bs.

[Liberal In Texas]

20. Only if you dittoheads make it so. And you will.

He is pretty squeaky clean. This is ALL you have on him.

Pathetic.

[Cali_Democrat]

24. Look, I'm still going to vote for Obama when he is the nominee

He just can't let stories like this dog him. I'm afraid if he doesn't condemn these remarks again they will hurt him.

[Liberal In Texas]

47. Stories like this?

I'm happy to hear you're going to vote for him. But this is nonsense. And you KNOW it.

Does this minister actually make you think that you wouldn't? Lord knows how many ministers I've met over the years. And given to their churches. I wouldn't put a dime to them now. But it was to the CHURCH, not him individually.

This is a non-event. People like you who want to make it so, hurt the Democrats and the party. But maybe that's your goal.

[emilyg]

56. You don't know whether he's clean or not.

I thought Spitzer was clean.

[AlCzervik]

21. you're comparing this to willie Horton, are you kidding? Fail, Fail, Fail.

[Cali_Democrat]

25. Did you read my post?

I'm saying they're totally different.

[AlCzervik]

27. Than why even include it? Of all the examples you could have used you picked Willie Horton

why?

[Cali_Democrat]

29. Because Hillary supporters were comparing it to Willie Horton

And I wanted to point out that they're totally different.

[theredpen]

23. Preaching while Uppity isn't a crime

Obama should NOT apologize for or denounce anything. He should point out that Rev. Wright was preaching with the perspective of an African-American concerned with social justice. He should point out that these expressions of outrage may be unsettling for people who have not had the experiences that Rev. Wright is talking about. He should point out that pointing out that the same people who want Rev. Wright to STFU are the same people who have been silencing their critics — of all colors, genders, ethnicities and shoe size — for the past seven years. He should point out that for the last seven years, we've been told to hide from out problems, ignore the voices of those who are raising alarms, and let the military nanny-state take care of all of our problems.

He should point out that all Americans should stop feeling fear and self-pity and stand up like Rev. Wright, speak their mind and call for change.

Or, conversely, he could wait for the whole thing to become foolishly overblown, fire someone half-heartedly and issue a non-apology for the whole thing. That's what Clinton would do.

[DJ13]

28. Fux Noise paid analyst makes racist comments as part of Clinton campaign

Fux Noise starts reairing an old, already repudiated by Obama Wright sermon.

Fellow corporate GOP whore Disney corp. picks up Fux Noise story and has their ABC morning show run it as well in an effort to try and keep it news worthy.

Does that about sum this up?

[LakeSamish706]

30. Barack obama doesn't really give a shit what the rest of you morons think... cause...

he is wining in this contest and will be our next President... So go dig some dirt up on your former first lady if you dare.... That would be a very simple task for all I'm sure.

[leftofcool]

41. Oh I think he does care what voters think

[GoldieAZ49]

44. He is going to win without the white vote in November?

That will be a first.

With the 527's running his spiritual advisers version of the nation anthem, I doubt he will win a ticket back to Illinois.

Pew Research showed 20% of white democrats voting for McCain over Obama last month, by the end of March it could be over 95%.

Time will tell.

[NMMNG]

46. He doesn't need whitey, LGBTs, baby-boomers or the "uneducated"

I'm sure I'm forgetting at least a few groups he's thrown under the bus along the way.

[GoldieAZ49]

51. ah, I see! He is only running for President of Trinity United Church

the bigger they are the harder they fall

his aura is ovah

[NMMNG]

45. I guess, then, that he doesn't want votes from us "morons."

He can go without them.

[emilyg]

57. Perhaps he should.

[ngant17]

31. Wright is a non-issue

haven't you heard? He's retired from TUCC and his last sermon was in Feb. It's a dead horse and it the Repugs want to kick a dead horse, let them kick on. Wright isn't preaching at Trinity so why dwell on the past?

Obama doesn't need to do anything but let the new preacher speak for himself.

This thing will blow away except for the Rush-bots and ditto-heads.

[leftofcool]

43. How is taking your daughters to a church

where the preacher is making sexual motions from the pulpit a dead issue?

[ProSense]

52. How about PA:

Leading black clergy group backing Obama

ABC's Ross reported Wright's 9-11 remarks -- but not that Obama disavowed them

Hillary's failed leadership skills were exposed in her handling of Ferraro's racist comments.

[ngant17]

60. This is a predominately African-American church

so your whitey bias is shining thru.

Sexual motions? Come on, I haven't seen the video but regardless I don't even know how anyone can stretch it out like that.

Why don't just you say, pastor makes porn film with congregation for effect?

[BenDavid]

32. The next question I would ask would be: Well that is all well

and good Senator obama but if this man you say is your mentor and is such an influence in your life then why have you stayed a member of his church for 20 years?

[ngant17]

34. Obama is not in the church-regulating business

it's for the United Church of Christ to regulate its ordained ministers. Rev. Wright's church has 8000 members. Obama is just one of 8000 members. What's the big deal, that he has tell what the other 8000 members what to do with the preacher of their church? Isn't there a way to vote on this by the congregation?

BTW Rev. Moss has taken over Wright's job as of last month, so it's really is a non-story.

[GoldieAZ49]

33. I don't think it will work even if he does

it will be easy to see his 'denunciation' as a political move.

I have been thinking what he could say to change my reaction of disgust for Wright and shock that he (Obama) found his 'inspiration' from his rhetoric over the past 20 years.

The "crazy uncle" line doesn't cut it. I have nut cases in my family but I don't make them my spiritual adviser.

There is nothing he can say to persuade me back. I was hoodwinked, yes, bamboozled, but no more.

[ngant17]

38. unless you're an atheist

you've likely been hoodwinked and bamboozled by any number of organized religions. Some are more palatable than others, but they are all based on mythical fairy tales.

[GoldieAZ49]

48. He didn't hoodwink and bamboozle the November vote

they can take their snake oil show down the road

[David Dunham]

39. Obama donated $25,000 to Wright's church last year. That's a clear tie to Wright

[Cali_Democrat]

42. LOL. Nobody argued that he never had ties to Wright. n/t.

[boppers]

50. "All Obama has to do is call Wright's comments despicable and reprehensible and the story will die"

Wrong.

Just like Hillary's game with Farrakhan, they will ask him to repudiate the comments.
Then renounce the comments.
Then reject the comments.
Then disavow the comments.
etc.

The whole game doesn't have anything to do with Wright, it's all about "catapulting the propaganda", by repeating the same BS in an echo chamber, to create negative associations about the candidate.

The GOP thanks you for your brave service in repeating it on DU.

[Rex_Goodheart]

61. How is guilt by association a "logical fallacy"?

If Clinton regularly went to meetings presided over by David Duke wouldn't you have cause to consider her racist?

Dems are f**ked, and it's because Obama was not fully vetted before mass hysteria fueled his campaign. It's doubtful that millions of young white Americans would have flocked to Obama if they had seen Wright's racist lunatic rants and had heard that Obama called the jackass his mentor.

[JTFrog]

62. But Hillary regularly goes to meetings presided over by Doug Coe.

And at his meeting they do things like plan the war on Muslims because Muslims have too many children and we kill too many of our own.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2003/03/0079525

[indimuse]

64. very true..

And the MSM has ample more material...

[indimuse]

63. problem...

He was attacking Hillary...from the pulpit...wasn't just words...was an attack on Hillary and campaigning for Barack!