Rev. Jeremiah Wright. This guy is a piece of work. I do think the media has portrayed him to be worse than he really is. I listened to one of his entire sermons on youtube. When you hear what he has to say IN CONTEXT he comes off as much less controversial than what media would have you believe. I still don’t have much patience for people who perpetuate the victim mentality among blacks. Nevertheless attitudes like that are still far too common in our community.
I don’t think Barack Obama necessarily shares the beliefs Rev. Wright has. He is a politician by profession. I seriously doubt he goes to church for help in formulating his idealogy. My guess is he decided early on in his political career that he needed to join a prominent black church to gain some “street cred” within the black community of Chicago. An Atlanta based politician would likely join Ebenezer Baptist Church, where M.L. King once served, for the same reason. The larger the church the better. It’s the quickest and cheapest way to get your name out there amongst the peeps.
I do think Obama should have seen this coming before his campaign even started. Nothing escapes scrutiny during a run for the White House. You have to be the biggest moron on the the planet to think this story wasn’t getting out. He should have distanced himself from Rev. Wright’s views as soon as he announced his candidacy.
Every time the story goes away Rev. Wright opens his mouth again. I wish he’d just STFU. He’s killing Obama’s chances of winning. If Obama loses either the Democratic primary or the general election 100% of the blame will be placed on Rev. Wright and justifiably so. All he had to do was keep quiet for another 6-8 months and everything would be fine…but NOOOOOOO! He’s got to tell his side of the story…as if anyone really cares. The people giving him air time don’t care about him. They’re just out for some easy headline material. He is certainly that.
There is more than a hint of racism in the way the story is being put out there. People who want to see Obama lose, both McCain and Clinton supporters, are trying (and succeeding) to instill fear in voters. Look what the crazy black man believes. Imagine what he’ll do if he’s elected president. Here’s why I say there is racism involved. Here are a few quotes from Pat Robertson.
“Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It’s no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians.
Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history.”
“The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”
(talking about apartheid South Africa) “I think ‘one man, one vote,’ just unrestricted democracy, would not be wise. There needs to be some kind of protection for the minority which the white people represent now, a minority, and they need and have a right to demand a protection of their rights.” 3/18/92
(talking about Planned Parenthood) “It is teaching kids to fornicate, teaching people to have adultery, every kind of bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism-everything that the Bible condemns.”–Pat Robertson, “The 700 Club,” 4/9/91
I can go on for another hour or so. Here’s the thing though. Most of us (myself included) will read those quotes and say “well that’s just Pat Robertson. Nobody pays attention to him anyway”. Well then…how about you replace Pat Robertson’s name with Rev. Jeremiah Wright? Why does Pat Robertson get away with those statements but Wright doesn’t? If Pat Robertson comes out and supports John McCain do you think the media will dig up those quotes and make him renounce each one of those? I think not.
Disclaimer - My vote for Barack Obama is actually a vote against Hillary Clinton. Obama is too liberal for me but I just can’t stand Billary. I can’t vote for McCain because I don’t like his views either. I’m Pro-Choice, against the war in Iraq and against his amnesty plan for illegal aliens. I can’t take another four years of Bush’ism.