It appears that Rev. Wright is actually trying to undermine Obama

[brentspeak]

Wright is smart enough to know that Obama would be much better off if he (Wright) were to stay out of the spotlight. But Wright is actively seeking the spotlight -- and doing so in as inflammatory way as possible. He knows that he can easily sink Obama's chances.

[anonymous171]

1. That's why Obama should cut him loose.

They obviously weren't that close is Wright insists on hurting Obama's chances.

[2rth2pwr]

18. "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community."

“As imperfect as he (Wright) may be, he has been like family to me.” And, “I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.”- Obama

[JoFerret]

44. I disagree. But I cannot speak to Wright's motives

Seems to me he is mighty steamed and maybe he is steamed at Obama too.

[msmcghee]

2. There's nothing like a true believer . .

. . who's taken the bit in his teeth.

[nsd]

3. Yes, that's why Obama needs to cut this guy loose.

[lisa58]

4. I disagree....

...it's early enough in the process for Wright to get out there, show himself, take responsibility for himself, separate himself from the campaign and not be a factor in the general.

If he stayed in the shadows and remained a mystery, the GOP could paint him any way they wanted.

[MNDemNY]

5. Funny.

[David Dunham]

6. Correct. Wright does want to harm Obama.

[MNDemNY]

28. Clearly, his actions DO harm him,

it would be really sad to think it is intentional.

[Andy823]

23. You have a good point.

If all this crap gets vetted during the primary, the republicans will not know how to go after him in the GE, and that's what has them worried. They have a ton of stuff on Hillary, and are just waiting to get it out. If Wright is the biggest problem Obama has, it will be old news by the time the republicans start going after him in the GE.

[lisa58]

29. Thank you Andy

[bushesass]

7. I believe Mr Wright just buried Obamas chances.

You would have thought someone would have told him to Shut the **** up! I am so mad right now I could scream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SeattleGirl]

10. And who are you or anyone else to tell Rev. Wright to shut up?

What, you're so scared of a black man who doesn't just sit down and be quiet that you are demanding that HE SHUT THE FUCK UP????

What is WRONG with you?

[Innocent Smith]

22. He is bushesass

I thought that was clear from his username. ;)

[cali]

25. Sometimes discretion truly is the better part of valor and has jackshit

to do with telling anyone whatever color they are to sit down and shut up.

[SeattleGirl]

33. Discretion?

:shrug:

[Forkboy]

46. Welcome back!

[SeattleGirl]

8. Are you kidding me??

Please say you are kidding.

Rev. Wright is doing what he has a perfect right to do: speak on his faith, his views, etc. I highly doubt that he called up Bill Moyers, the NAACP, or the National Press Club, begging to be heard so that he can throw Obama "under the bus." Are you kidding me?

Rev. Wright is not the pastor of his church any more, but even if he was, are you kidding me?

John McCain is hanging out with blatant racists and homophobes, whereas Rev. Wright is talking about learning to see ourselves and each other in a different, better way, but he's trying to undermine Obama? Are you kidding me?

WTF is the matter with people, especially those who have an Obama avatar I see responding on this thread???

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

[azmouse]

11. I would like to know what they are thinking, too!

[ProSense]

16. There must be a convention going on:

a gathering of knee-jerk psychologists and wishful thinkers.

[SeattleGirl]

17. Apparently so.

But as I said, what I really don't understand are the people posting in agreement with the OP who have Obama avatars. WTF?

[redstate_democrat]

9. He's pissed Obama didn't do MORE to defend him in the media

He feels like he has been unfairly attacked. He doesn't care about politics,etc. It all boils down to being true to who you are as a man, a black man, in America and he probably feels like he was lynched in the media and Obama didn't do enough to help him.

[SeattleGirl]

14. I'm not sure he expected Obama to do a lot.

The Reverend Wright is a grown man, he knows who he is, he knows where he's coming from, and he struck me as being just fine with standing up for himself.

[cliffordu]

12. The only place this is a crisis is in the MSM and here on GD:P

MSM being the 24 hour pastorbating stations.

[lisa58]

13. lol

[Irishonly]

37. I Haven't Been Watching

I started yelling at the TV again and I still feel it is not normal to scream at a box so I took a break. Pastor Wright is a wonderful man. He speaks to his audience and if people don't have anything better to do than dissect his every comment out of the context of a whole sermon they need to worry about their own lives and get involved with other things.

[bigtree]

15. why are some folks wrapping themselves up in him, though

. . . praising him and all, in their support of Obama?

He's caught in the middle of his black supporters who don't want to reject Wright and those political folks who say he should push off of the reverend. Then there's Wright himself, stirring the pot, distancing himself from Obama. Complicated.

[Ed76638]

45. I can tell you from my own perspective

Spite played a huge role. I didn't appreciate the enourmous amount of hate he was recieving for making left of center arguments. Plus, his detractors were using race to attack him. They did the same thing to Michelle Obama for aparently not being proud enough of America. I decided I wasn't going to have any of it.

[Skidmore]

19. I wonder if Wright isn't trying to make it easier for Obama

to distance himself from Wright. I think it is admirable that Obama refused to disown the man. It demonstrates his capacity for loyalty and caring.

[AZ Criminal JD]

49. Loyalty is not an Obama trait.

He stabbed his political mentor, State Senator Alice Palmer, in the back after she introduced him to the black community in Chicago. He got her knocked off the ballot on technicalities --- what else do you use a Harvard education for? -- and then ran for the job himself. In this campaign he has thrown his own grandmother under the bus calling her a racist and a "typical white person."

[Shine]

20. I don't agree. I think he's simply trying to clear his name and his church

which is fully within his right....or Wright. :D

I don't think he's doing anything nefarious, he just wants to present his point of view more clearly.

From what I understand, and mind you, I haven't heard his full speeches, he's actually quite impressive and eloquent.

I believe Americans are smart enough to see the distinction between the two men, and furthermore to understand that what REALLY matters are the issues facing us, NOT whether or not Obama agrees with every single word Wright says.

What's more interesting is to think about why the MSM keeps feeding the fires of division within the Democratic party.

They get off on all this shit and it's annoying as hell. :grr:

[Quixote1818]

32. Then do it after Obama becomes President. nt

[SeattleGirl]

34. Why?

He was smeared in the hear and now by the M$M. Why should he wait until January '09 to try and clear his name IN THE M$M?

[Quixote1818]

39. I don't know if you noticed, but he isn't doing a very good job clearing his name

All the polling I have seen seems to indicate it's backfiring on him and Obama. Not the MSM is going Ape-shit with it. I agree with what he said 100% but he is not helping himself. This idiot country will never take the time and open their minds to truly understand him.

[JuniperLea]

21. I'd take Wright over Obama for Prez any day

He is much closer to the truth, and his opinions are much more like my own than Obama's.

I don't think he is trying to undermine Obama... that wouldn't be a Christian thing to do, and I doubt Wright would go there. I think Wright is trying to take the heat off his church. His church is a wonderful thing... they have helped so many for so long. His church is worth saving... is Obama?

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

24. Yeah, I think Obama has to just flush him once and for all...

Wright, while having some correct opinions about society's problems and past sins, has gone off the deep end into places that are just plain whacky. Today's performance went over the top. Wright does appears to be trying to deep six Obama. Barack, now has the opportunity to cut him loose completely.

[hannybal]

26. I don't think he is

I think Wright is hurt, because he's smart enough to not attack Obama with force until he becomes president, at least. Wright wants Obama to win, IMO.

[Raine]

27. Obama needs to throw him under the bus

since that is what Wright has done to Obama...return the "favor".

[SeattleGirl]

35. Aw, jeez.

Are you high?

[Raine]

40. Uh, no...

KO says the same thing, he doesn't appear to be high either.

[americanstranger]

30. I think they're working together.

Another couple of weeks of this, and even the Clinton campaign is going to be sick of it.

I think they've got this all worked out to completely take the issue away from McCain. Obama (with Wright's help) is looking forward.

- as

[Quixote1818]

31. I agree, I think he decided this was his chance to take the spotlight and he is taking advantage

of it. He is making the rounds and writing a book. I don't think this is about Obama but himself. He is selling out for the fame and the opportunity to be a major black leader.

[SeattleGirl]

36. Selling out?

I don't think he's doing that at all.

The fucking M$M threw him into the spotlight. He was retiring anyway, and already writing his book.

Just because those things coincided doesn't mean he is selling out.

[uponit7771]

38. If he cuts Wright loose he cuts blacks loose too.

[CatsDogsBabies]

41. I disagree

just because Obama and Wright are both African American doesn't mean that everything that Wright says can be attributed to Obama or that everything that Obama says can be attributed to Wright. Nor does cutting Wright loose mean that Obama is cutting all African Americans loose - that makes no sense to me, unless you just see African Americans as one big mass and not as a group of individuals.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

42. Obama doesn't have much of a choice at this point...

The press club performance today was just off the wall and clearly showed no regard for Obama's best interest. He should have let Barack know that he wanted to speak out and worked with him on the timing and tone. If Wright was a true friend and mentor then he would not have done what he did today.

At this point I think that Obama has a tough choice to make. What he has to do politically is completely disown him. In no uncertain terms, Obama has to completely write him off, leaving dual tread-marks on his head. Given the book deal that will follow in the fall, Obama needs put this to rest, forever.

My personal belief is that Obama trusted and looked up to this guy and that Obama tried to show him some loyalty. Wright showed today, though, that he is more selfish then anything else.

[Ed76638]

43. I'm not buying that spin.

Wright spoke actual truth. He siad because he feels as pastor he's accountable to God, no matter what the politics are.

When wright said it was an attack on the black church, it was true. Remember, it was Sean Hannity who first brought this up because there was this church in Chicago, where Barack Obama attended, that promoted the African traditions & culture, and because lord knows we can't have any of that in America, Hannity called it a cult and labeled it racist.

[Name removed]

47. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NorthCarolina]

48. If there are folks truly unable to draw a distinction between Obama and Rev. Wright

then they really have no business voting in a National election and subjecting the entire country to the backlash of their intellectual inadequacies. We've already suffered 8 years of hell as a result this type of simplistic/uninformed "thinking", and I seriously doubt the nation could withstand another 4 or 8 years of it.

I'm voting for Obama, not the Reverend Wright. Wright may be Obama's former Pastor, but he doesn't speak for Obama, nor does he speak for the campaign. Priests regularly speak against birth control, but is it logical to assume that 100% of Catholics agree with this because they attend worship services?

The Reverend Wright issue is nothing more than media manufactured controversy, and it has no rational bearing on Obama's electibility.

[bushesass]

50. no rational bearing on Obama's electibility?

Tell that that to the american people come November. I know you guys dont want to admit it but as of right now Obama is over. But when you are whining like little girls trying to figure out what happened and looking for an excuse look no further than Mr Wright. If Obama has any chance at all he has to completely disown his pastor.

[NorthCarolina]

51. Well, if that's true that American's cannot make a distinction then it certainly confirms the theory

that America has indeed been "dumbed down". Sad epitaph for a once great nation.

[CitizenLeft]

52. I don't think he should disown him...

...but I'm getting a strange vibe from how this is being beaten to death by the pundits now. They're all saying "woe is Obama, Wright is out to harm him." Hmmm. This may actually work in his favor. Imagine this meme of the "awful" "un-American" Wright out to sabotage Obama's campaign because his ego was bruised? Not sure this wouldn't effectively defuse the whole "controversy" following their logic. Obama the victim of Wright... instead of his ally. It might actually shield him from some of the backlash.

BTW, Rev. Wright, to me, is neither "awful" nor "un-American," just spouting the punditcrap.

[Tribetime]

53. Clyburn just on CNN said with uncles like Wright who needs 527's

He also said it's time for Wright's generation to pass the batton to Obama. I figure if Clyburn said this that Obama will come out with some statement soon.

[Myrina]

54. ding ding ding

:applause: Hit the nail on the head there! Now we just have to follow the money to see who's encouraging him to do so.

Hillary, is that YOU behind the curtain?? :shrug:

[robcon]

55. I agree with the OP. The undermining of Obama is intentional.

Wright is, I believe, angry that Obama distanced himself from Wright a few weeks ago, and is making a calculated attempt to undermine Obama now.

It may be that Wright believes that Obama agrees with his racist, ethnic and religious bigotry, and he believes that Obama was "forced" to distance himself by the media.

I don't believe for a second that Obama agrees with Wright's bigotry, or his wacky theories about AIDS, "God Damn America", etc., but I think Wright is getting his revenge for Obama's perceived "betrayal."

[nolabels]

56. Often anger turned on others aimed for nonconstructive purposes.....

often boomerangs. There might be plenty of reasons to be angry about but there is even more reasons for finding understanding