The Irrelevance of Obama's Minister

[housewolf]

From The Coffee House at Talking Points Memo
By M.J. Rosenberg - March 14, 2008, 8:44AM

Here's a surprise. Just as the superdelegates are breaking for Obama, we suddenly are seeing videos of his minister, Jeremiah Wright, saying all kinds of ugly things.

So the same people who are telling us that Obama is a Muslim and controlled by Islamic law are saying that he's a serious Protestant, controlled by his minister. Come on kids, decide on a story line.
...

Of course, not. My rabbi's views are his views. He is my spiritual adviser not my political adviser. In 2000, when Joe Lieberman ran, do you recall articles about the political views of his rabbi? ...

The last time a candidate's religion was an issue was Kennedy's Catholicism in 1960. Kennedy's priest, Joseph Cardinal Cushing, was a pretty old school Catholic with all the old school Catholic political views.
Did that discredit Kennedy as a candidate?

Sadly, it did with alot of people. Bigots across the land cited his church as a reason not to vote for him, cited Cushing and the Pope as scary political influences on a JFK Presidency, howled about what Kennedy's faith indicated about the kind of leader he would be.

But that was 48 years ago and, today, we call the people who used Kennedy's religion against him ignorant bigots. Now we call them political strategists.

more...
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/14/the_irrelevance_of_obamas_mini/