I feel that Wright betrayed Obama yesterday. Under those circumstances, what was Obama to do?

[Danger Mouse]

It's very sad, but by calling Obama's speech on race 'political,' he was sabotaging Obama.
It was time for Barack to let go.
It was probably hard for him, but necessary.

[MNDemNY]

1. The fact that it was "hard" shows a lack of good judgment.

And for a candidate who is running on judgment, it's all that much worse.

[scheming daemons]

2. You're a moron.... it's always hard to end a friendship/ marriage/ relationship......

...ask Hillary why she didn't divorce Bill.


Same thing. Relationships are complicated..... and ending them is hard.

[MNDemNY]

4. And you are foolish to believe that this issue is done.

If they were that close, how, then , could Obama have been unaware of Wrights many comments? OK maybe he did not hear them in the pews, but did he never talk to his fellow congregants?To give him a pass on that obvious lie would be disingenuous.

[ProSense]

3. Ask Hillary why she's still paying Mark Penn millions, but stiffing small business owners. n/t

[MNDemNY]

6. I would not pretend to defend her judgment.

[Danger Mouse]

8. I would say that at the point when she realized he was purely toxic to her...

he was pushed out.
The same goes for Obama.
I think both showed good judgement, to a point.

[ProSense]

18. Penn isn't out. He's still on the payroll, just not as chief strategist. n/t

[Danger Mouse]

5. Why did Clinton keep Mark Penn on her staff so long, then...

when he was single-handedly damaging her campaign?
Friendship goes a long way.

[MattNC]

15. you're comparing

the judgment regarding one's pastor to the judgment on the biggest foreign policy disaster in a generation, if not ever?

[MNDemNY]

17. No I'm not.

[MessiahRp]

23. Hillary's been associated with some questionable religious groups as well...

http://thecurrent.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/clinton-fellowship.php

Religion as a whole is questionable in nature. Preachers or Pastors in particular can be a dicey group of people to defend. Everybody chooses to preach upon which topics they believe the most in and interpret different texts in whatever way fits their beliefs.

However the problem seems to be that Obama attended the church of a loud mouthed pastor who decided to use historical events in incorrect context to go after political enemies. Well congratulations because you just realized what most pastors have been doing for quite some time. Maybe most pastors aren't as inflammatory or blunt with their words or accusations but listen closely because you'll hear current events constantly being exploited in a way that relates it to God, Jesus or their interpretation of that text.

In the end religion and church is a place of propaganda. To spread one set of beliefs that go beyond spirit to political realms.

And I hate to awake you from your slumber but any candidate that has gone to church has likely been in the presence of such exploitation.

How else would these churches keep their congregations interested if not making this relate to current events? The need to enslave spiritual beliefs to fear is what keeps the pews full, the donations flowing and the powerful in power.

Rp

[Bluebear]

7. But Obama said he couldn't disown him any more than he could the black community.

Was it hard, or politically expedient? I was impressed by Obama's momentous race speech, and now he seems to be doing what any politician would do.

[Danger Mouse]

9. Wright was turning on him. He defended him, and was stabbed in the back as thanks.

Was it the right thing to do?
I'm not sure.
But I feel it was necessary.

[Bluebear]

10. Obama's first mistake: banking so much of his campaign on Faith

He stressed so much that he was Christian, probably to stop the "Muslim" BS. So his faith was examined in the loosest of terms (hunting down old sermon tapes), and from then on, Obama and Wright became inextricably linked. :(

[Danger Mouse]

11. Unfortunately. It was a very difficult position for Obama.

Honestly, I think he went too hard against the Muslim 'bs.'

People in this country get hung up over the stupidest shit.

[marions ghost]

21. that's how I see it...

Classic. Betrayal.

Speaking rhetorically, until you have been betrayed by someone you trust and admire (and defended) you can't understand the emotional roller coaster it puts a person on.

IMO it was absolutely necessary for Obama to cut the ropes and cast the Reverend off on his own raft. Wright is a liability for Obama's campaign no matter how much you admire his past good works. He would have gotten a lot further with his message if he could have cooled it but he lost perspective.

Maybe it's good that Obama gets the job of severance over with. I have no doubt that this was a hard, hard day for him--the worst so far. I'm sure it is a mixture of sadness and relief.

Now he should be able to move past this.

[JuniperLea]

32. What any politician would do... flip flop

Yep. You can't hold a man up one day and throw him under the bus the next and expect people to just go with it... unless they have consumed mass quanitites of your flavor of kool aid...

I think Rev. Wright rocks! He walks the talk and he's done a hell of a lot of good for his parishoners and for Chicago as a whole. We need more like him.

The only thing I haven't heard the Rev talk about is homosexuality... I hope he truly does love all of God's children. At this point, I'd vote for Rev Wright over Obama in a nano second.

[2rth2pwr]

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

"I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother."

[Danger Mouse]

20. And then he stabbed him in the back.

Obama was obviously hurt and betrayed.

[2rth2pwr]

29. I think he was too. But, I don't think he was surprised by the man's views.

[backscatter712]

13. The thing that wins it for Obama...

is that it shows that Obama is slow to anger. He's not the usual politician who plays gotcha, jumps on the slightest perceived offense and shows fake, calculated outrage.

He gave Wright the benefit of the doubt. He gave him the chance to make amends on his own terms. He didn't immediately throw him under the bus. Wright had ample warning, and caused multiple incidents of provocation before Obama let him have it with both barrels.

No, it's obvious that Obama didn't fake this, or use this just to score points. Obama did this because Wright was behaving badly and causing significant damage not just to Obama's campaign, but to the reputation of the black community, the Democratic primary and political discourse in general.

[marions ghost]

25. yep...you said it well !

not only did Wright do damage to Obama's campaign, but to "the reputation of the black community, the Democratic primary and political discourse in general."

Absolutely.

[NashVegas]

14. Which of Wright's Statements Do You Disagree With?

[Danger Mouse]

19. Calling Obama's speech on race 'political'.

It was insulting to Obama and damaging.

[NashVegas]

22. I Thought This Was an Interesting Statement

What I mean is what several of my white friends and several of my white, Jewish friends have written me and said to me. They’ve said, “You’re a Christian. You understand forgiveness. We both know that, if Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected.”

What was the PA speech about, if not damage control?

[Danger Mouse]

24. It had a poltiical purpose, but it was much broader than that...

and Wright, of all peoeple, should've realized this.

[spoony]

28. And it implies he wasn't entirely sincere

Which he certainly sounded to be as far as I could tell. It was a major highlight in an ugly primary season.

[mmonk]

16. I thought so too. Everybody is saying Obama threw him under the bus

but I saw it as Wright grandstanding and hurting Obama while the wolves watch.

[marions ghost]

26. Exactly

"Wright grandstanding and hurting Obama while the wolves watch..."

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Wright was asking for it.

[Yossariant]

27. Betray him right back. Stop me if you heard this one: Two busses were driving down the highway...

:rofl:

[JoFerret]

30. Mutually assured destruction.

.

[JuniperLea]

31. Obama should have embraced their differences

instead of throwing Wright under the bus. Wright said nothing wrong.

[CatsDogsBabies]

33. I agree

I don't understand all the hype about this. I didn't watch any of the Wright stuff from the week-end. I also didn't watch the previous Wright hype. From my perspctive, as someone who will not watch the MSM coverage of the issue, it seems that this second Wright hype-session is a lot more short-lived than the first one. People aren't really that interested in it.

I, too, understand why this would be sad for Obama from a personal perspective. Normally, when relationships fracture and when people move apart it doesn't happen overnight. But, sometimes there comes a point when a friendship or a relationship with even a family member reaches a point of no return, and this is sad.

[Bensthename]

34. Agreed.. Obama had to do it. Seems Clinton supporters are pissed.

They see this story stopping and it is killing them. It is so obvious from their posts.

[rocktivity]

35. Yep--Barack HAD to let him go

Just like Wright wanted him to.

Now they can't use him as a weapon against Obama anymore. Sad...

:evilgrin:
rocknation