What do *you* think about Obama distancing himself from Rev. Wright?

[lwcon]

[mudesi]

1. I think I DON'T CARE

Distractions, distractions, distractions.

[NorthCarolina]

14. I agree....much ado about nothing

after all, it wasn't like Obama was writing the Reverends sermons for him. To say "well he attended that church", and I say so what...big deal. How many go to Catholic services and hear about the sin of birth control and then go home to pop a birth control pill or stop at the Walgreens for a pack of Trojans? Afterall, if you attend the church then you MUST agree with 100% of everything that is said within it's walls, no?

This entire affair has been nothing short of faux outrage manufactured by GOP right wingers and implemented through their media outlets for no other purpose than to create discourse amongst Dems, and to bloody up the Dem nominee in the hopes of preventing a real clobbering in the GE campaign.

I think real Dems understand this, but there will be RW infiltrators that will continue to post the "Importance of the Rev. Wright" BS. Just tune 'em out....they'll hopefully all be gone from here soon.

[napi21]

2. I said Wright was out of line. I really hope that "it's not too little to late"!

Voters are a bunch of finicky creatures. I hope the MSM plays Barack's presser as often as they played Wright's speeches!

[goletian]

3. obama fucked up.

i think he a made a huge mistake of validating this as a legitimate political issue and saying that it upset him so when wright has nothing to do with him. i think he made a HUGE mistake here. whether or not it will hurt him remains to be seen, but i know im displeased.

[casus belli]

37. It was Wright making those connections

I'd be inclined to agree if Wright hadn't insinuated that Obama denouncing his remarks was just political posturing. I think that Wright inadvertently made this a very personal issue by stating that Obama was just a politician doing what politicians do.

[goletian]

42. i dont think he was necessarily makin that connection

he was just saying he answers to someone else. people may consider him divisive, but he speaks the truth, imo. complaining about america for slavery and war is better than complaining about it over gay parades and the aclu like the religious nuts on the far right.

[RBInMaine]

39. It was the correct move. Wright should have practised the "reconciliation" he preaches. Instead,

too negative, too defensive, and too off base on matters like US intentionally spreading aids, the whole matter being an attack against the entire black church community and not just him, and then implying that Obama's Philly speech was mere political posturing, well, that broke the camel's back. Obama still credits him with a lifetime of work in building a very large and respected ministry, but he had to decounce this guy quite forcefully given that Wright chose to grandstand rather than more humbly speak about how to heal the nation through ministering. Wright made some positive points, but others were just plain over the top.

[Maddy McCall]

4. Political Opportunism.

He knows this man. He's known him for two decades.

He planned for this moment. He and write talked about it a year ago.

In a New York Times profile of the Obama-Wright relationship in April 2007, Wright himself predicted such a split based on the controversial remarks that were already under some scrutiny. “If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me,” Wright told the paper over a year ago. “I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.”


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/29/politics/main4056166.shtml

[Yes We Did]

8. I think it's more like this...

I think what pushed him over the edge was when Wright said he was going to be in Obama's ear trying to influence his policy decisions.

But... We'll never know, will we?

[EFerrari]

16. The context is different, isn't it? He said that he will be in Obama's face, too,

if he gains the White House. He didn't say that he would be at Obama's ear like Satan whispering to Eve unless I missed that part somehow. :)

[Raine]

9. Whoa...

that's really interesting, I don't know exactly what to think.

[DerekJ]

10. So what's your problem with the man. He is apolitical nuisance, but as a person, what do you've

against him?!!

[Raine]

5. Very glad he did it

now hopefully we can move on to important things.

[jobycom]

6. Hehe. All weekend it was "See how great Wright really is?" Now it's "Obama should dump the fool!"

I can smile at least at my consistency. I've said all along I love Wright and don't like Obama. Still say that. His betrayal is about what I expected. Just wait, liberals and progressives. During the GE, we'll be in his way, too.

Don't know whether to :rofl: or :cry:.

[lwcon]

11. I did a breakdown of all the constituencies Obama threw under the bus...

... in his Fox News appearance:

http://www.correntewire.com/after_the_fox_barack_obama_chris_wallace_and_me

It's getting mighty crowded under there!

Liberals and progressives are waaaay under the bus already. The good news is the Chablis is fine!

Funny that no Republicans ever get thrown under the bus. That would be divisive.

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[Bluebear]

7. Oh my stars, where are all these "inappropriate" votes coming from?

Until today, Wright was being lauded as correct/speaking truth/being lynched. Now that Obama has selected to "disown" his comments, look at the poll results. Caramba.

[xchrom]

13. donnie mcclurkin all over again if you ask me --

and yeah it's all premeditated.

this is what all this religiosity gets you -- from the right or the left.
and i'm a church goer.

[Bluebear]

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

As I said on an earlier thread, he stressed so much that he was Christian, probably to stop the "Muslim" BS. So his faith being so much on display became a target. They hunted down the old sermon tapes, and from then on, Obama and Wright became inextricably linked.

[xchrom]

18. well dems have been CREAMING for a way to 'look' more religious

as an answer to the right -- and it's not working out so good.

i don't think barack is/was doing it as answer to any kind of muslim bullshit-- i think it's a phony device that he's been thinking about for a long time.

and it'sot just him either -- i mean he's not solely to blame -- but when you lookat meeks, mccklurkin, wright ets -- this is quite a big BAD wave the Holy O has stirred up for himself.

and he deserves it as far as i'm concerned.

[lwcon]

19. If Obama were such a great orator and change agent

He could have been the first outed atheist president. Instead he had to snuggle up to "faith" to fit in.

I'm not a fan of Hillary's faithiness, either, but she doesn't rub our noses in it the way Obama does, and she got it through childhood indoctrination. I just have a hard time seeing how a smart guy like Obama, raised in an atheist household, suddenly started believing in a sky god. It happens, so maybe he really believes that stuff. I'm not sure whether it's worse that he could be duped at that age, or that he's doing it for show.


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[lwcon]

17. Weird, innit?

First thing this morning, the word from DU was that Wright was a beacon of civil-rights hope. Suddenly, not so much.

The National Press gig was transcendent and uplifting, but suddenly now it's a Shrillary dirty trick.

Yoda said "always in motion is the future." I didn't know the recent past was so volatile, as well....


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[Two Americas]

24. it is very, very disappointing

This is a chronic problem - compromise where we should not by saying "Wright is a lunatic" and fail to give a little where we should go easy by saying - "those stupid morons in rural America, who needs 'em!!"

I just can't believe that so few people are defending Wright and have done a complete turnabout in 24 hours. THIS is exactly the sort of thing that causes the public to reject the party.

Stand for something Democrats.

Something other than "we are the smarter superior people and anyone who can't see that is too stupid to join our club anyway."

This was a golden opportunity, and there is no reason why we cannot back Wright AND reach out to rural voters on economic issues, and make tremendous transformational progress on racial understanding and reconciliation at the same time. The opportunity was right there in front of us to do great things. We just need courage - for once, show some courage and stand for principle, rather than cynically playing the game and going for the expedient thing to do.

The challenge is not, and never was, to choose between principle and expediency, between idealism and practicality. We sacrifice principle for practical gain, and then we lose both. As Democrats, can we not yet see that the most practical things we can do are also the same things that honor our principles and express our idealism?

[newmajority]

12. Wright probably said it best himself on the Bill Moyers interview

He's a preacher. Obama's running for President. Playing to two entirely different crowds.

Nothing I've heard from Jeremiah Wright offends me in the least, and I'm white. But it's obvious that the whore media will continue to use soundbites out of context and try to use them to attack Obama. And obviously, Obama has to address things on that level.

If we had a fair media in this country, they would be going after Hillary's domionazi pastor Douglas Coe just as hard, and she would be the one calling press conferences to distance herself.

And once this officially becomes a two man race, I sincerely hope some attention is paid to Grandpa McLoony's nazi freak spiritual advisors Hagee and Parsley.

[GetTheRightVote]

20. for one thing Hillary's bus would be off its wheels after all those people she has

thrown under it, lol. The pastor is a church leader not a political leader, the two are completely different but i still feel that the pastor may have wanted some of the light to shine on him even if it cost Obama problems.

Let's think about this for a moment, Hillary has thrown all US Citizens under her bus while letting Nafta grow and expand with her friends in other countries especially India so please give me a break if her numbers for once are higher then Obama. I really wish people would start to really thing about the media and their spin machines. Just try it once....

[lwcon]

22. Yeah, I wish...

"people would start to really thing about the media and their spin machines."

Hillary detractor Carl Bernstein admits that she tried to stop NAFTA:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ahXDVLesZSA

But please, spin away.


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[Tactical Progressive]

21. Obama and the truth just don't mix

How has he dealt with this situation? By both lying for weeks and now finally throwing Wright under the bus once Wright wouldn't bow to Obama's lies.

Pretending that "the person I saw yesterday was not the person I've come to know over 20 years".
Sure he isn't. He's all changed from before, huh Obama?

Watching Wright over the past few days, it's been pretty clear that he's no dummy who 'misspoke' about anything he believed in. Or that the media or Obama's opponents were "taking a few words out of context" and making Wright out to be something he isn't, as Obama has been lying.

And Obama was with it for decades. Not "I wasn't there for that sermon". More flat-out Obama lies.

Publicans have already started noticing how Obama lies about all this stuff. The only people who apparently haven't noticed it are the Obama-loving media, but they're catching up to all the the conflicting statements. They seem puzzled. What about the phony 'high-road' 'new politics' storyline they've been fabricating about Obama? It's almost like they believed their own bullshit and now they don't get it. (This is a whole new perspective on the media: they might actually believe their own bullshit!!)

Now suddenly this is all so new to him and he's disavowing it. So he throws Wright under the bus for what he and his wife have been part of all along. The last thing he could have done was stick by the guy he's been with for decades. His mentor. They guy whose words he wrote about in books. Under the bus. No wonder it doesn't sit right with Wright. Obama has shown no respect for the truth nor his long-time pastor.

I've noticed that since the very start of the primary campaign, Obama lies over just about everything. It's an innate behavior with him, and something like this shows it clearly. People have finally noticed. Unfortunately those people are Publicans. But the media is catching on even though they're trying not to. Most importantly, Democrats need to catch up to Obama's utterly dishonest, smearing, low-road, race-baiting campaign before it's too late.

Hillary told everybody this would happen if Obama got so much as a little bit of scrutiny. But the mainstream media didn't want to give Obama even a little bit of scrutiny. Until Publicans fired a single shot over the fence they probably wouldn't have.

[LSK]

23. other - I DONT CARE

Theres a war going on, global warming, recession. Who fucking cares about this manufactured distraction.

[Warren DeMontague]

25. Other: I think that as much as some people would like to talk about this endlessly

it ranks up there with Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears in terms of shit that has absolutely ZERO relevance to the problems facing this nation and planet.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

26. When Playing Politics

and when running for ANY public office - I mean from City Council on up - the POLITICALLY wise thing to do is to not embroil yourself in things which your opponent can use as a weapon to hurl at you like a chimp hurls its own shit.

I voted for Obama in the primaries here. I am driving around with a Obama '08 bumper sticker on my car. I have sent him money we can not afford.

I feel that Obama should have fucking never stepped foot in any controversial place and that particular place of worship can not be called "uncontroversial" - It is the nature of the political beast. Just as a savvy politician wouldn't go into stripper night clubs nor attend the controversial Washington Prayer Breakfast. A person running shouldn't even go to a dumb-assed Hooter's for chicken wings and a coke. So hitching your wagon to Reverend Wright was a piss-poor political move.

People are sending hard earned money to the candidate of their choice and every time one of them fucks up it hurts their chances of WINNING THE NOMINATION.

Both of the Dem candidates have enough shit to hurl back at them. This helps no one but McCain. :shrug:

[lwcon]

27. It's not black and white, as it were...

Without the cred he borrowed from Wright, he doesn't have so much as his second book title, let alone his South Side bona fides.

As I said in another thread, live by the sword, die by the sword. Religion is all about unearned credibility. If he hadn't played it that way, he'd just be a charming centrist atheist egghead.

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[lwcon]

28. 50/50, eh? (As of now, anyway)

Half of the respondents say Obama was fully justified, the other half split among the other answers.

Man, this country is divided!

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[mtnsnake]

29. Choice 3 without a doubt

Nobody who's a Democrat should've distanced themselves from this man, not Obama, not Hillary, not any Dem....but especially not Obama after all the loyal years they had together. You don't go flushing all that right down the drain for political purposes without having it come back to haunt you.

[smalll]

30. And, WHAT WILL WRIGHT DO NEXT?!?! (Vote in my poll too!)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5743838 :hi:

[candelovsky]

31. Wright's comments were appropriate

Most of us in this forum agreed with them a while ago. I don't know why most have changed their opinions only because leader Obama did so. Whatever happened to independency?

[EffieBlack]

40. I didn't have a problem with everything Wright said . . .

But I did have a problem with how he handled the questions at the Press Club. He seemed to be purposely trying to mock Obama and essentially called him an opportunistic liar - after Obama practically fell on his sword for him several weeks earlier, taking tremendous political heat for things that Wright said.

Rev. Wright is a brilliant man and a wonderful minister. He was outstanding on Bill Moyers and knocked it out of the park on Sunday night at the NAACP. It is inexplicable to me why he went to the Press Club on Monday and behaved as he did - the only explanation I can come up with is that he really didn't know what he was getting into, that he didn't understand that the Press Club podium is not his pulpit and the media asking him questions are not his parishoners. I think he was completely out of his element and didn't know it. But nevertheless, Obama could not stand by and continue to defend a man who had taken off after him.

I don't blame Obama. I think that anyone with any self-respect would have had to stand up and call out personal attacks like this. I don't like it and I don't feel good about it - it makes me extremely sad to see this. But I fully understand why Obama did what he did today.

[Jed Dilligan]

32. I think "expediency" might be the wrong word, but I picked #2.

I think that Rev. Wright and many people in the black community that Obama had to do what he did and that him being President will be worth it. I just hope it flies with the whites.

[demwing]

33. OTHER - Obama's A Grand Master

This was a media event, Wright was in on it, and went off exactly as planned.

[Arkansas Granny]

34. I've been really confused over Obama's reaction to the reports of Rev. Wrights

comments for some time now. When the clips of Wright's sermons started playing a few weeks ago, Obama said that he hadn't heard those statements. Then later, he admitted that he had heard Rev. Wright make statements like that.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/14/politics/main3940680.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3940680

Later still, he claimed that he would have left the church if Rev. Wright hadn't resigned.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/28/obama-had-wright-not-retired-id-have-left-church/

Then during his speech on race he says "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. . ."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23690567/

And today he's outraged by Rev. Wright's remarks.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/30/america/29textobama.php

Have I missed something or did I hear something wrong? It seems to me that he has been all over the place with his statements on Rev. Wright.

[Seabiscuit]

45. Obama isn't just all over the place about Wright. He's all over the place on a lot of things.

Health care, taxes, etc., etc., etc.

That scares me a lot more than any of Wright's lunatic ravings.

[hedgehog]

35. I heard Obama say tonight "he's not the man I met and knew 20 years ago"

and that's enough for me. I can well see how two people can come together in agreement for a while, then go off on different courses.

[smalll]

38. So you actually LIKE the pod-people defense.

:rofl:

[EffieBlack]

36. I think Wright is a good, brilliant man . . .

But for some reason, he went seemed to purposely go after Obama on Monday - after he had presented himself so impressively over the weekend. I was terribly disappointed in him - and he's not a friend of mine. I can only imagine how Obama must have felt in the face of this.

Obama had to do what he did today. But the whole thing is very, very sad to me.

[EFerrari]

44. He didn't bring up Obama, that was in the questions after.

How do you think he went after him -- asking.

[abburdlen]

41. Other

Two US servicemen were killed in Iraq today. Do you think their families give a f*ck who Rev. Wright is?

[MadBadger]

43. Wright is a good man, but made a fool out of himself and Obama at the National Press Club

And his comments about Obama doing what he did as a politician were completely out of line, so Obama was right to react.

[Stinky The Clown]

46. I think he fucked up the whole thing ..... to our detriment come November if he's the guy.

When this first surfaced, he should have told the press to take a fucking hike. Instead, he tried to finesse it.

Bad move.

Amateur move.

And if anyone on his campaign staff knew about any of this before it broke, then THEY are amateurs for not inoculating against it early ..... with a similar posture.

How hard would it have been to say "He's my pastor. He has his views and I have mine. So do most members of the clergy. Like (name every whack-job asshole Xtian Right conservative hate monger). No run along and cover REAL news, you asswipe."