here's my basis for this question, recent news...
Analysis: Wright does Obama little good By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
Mon Apr 28, 7:05 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is going after his critics on an incendiary tour that is doing his one-time congregant, Barack Obama, little good.
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After weeks of staying out of the public eye while critics lambasted his sermons, Wright made three public appearances in four days to defend himself. The former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago has been combative, providing colorful commentary and feeding the story Obama had hoped was dying down.
"This is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright," Wright told the Washington press corps Monday. "It has nothing to do with Senator Obama. It is an attack on the black church launched by people who know nothing about the African-American religious tradition."
Wright's tour couldn't come at a much worse time for Obama, who is campaigning for white working class voters in Indiana and North Carolina. Many of Wright's most controversial comments are angry condemnations of the United States for its treatments of blacks 鈥?thoughts that were applauded by the black church leaders in his audience Monday but risk offending white voters.
An Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Monday suggests the Wright controversy may be hurting Obama among whites. His Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton is doing better than Obama among whites in head-to-head matchups with John McCain. Among white respondents, Clinton gets 43 percent to McCain's 48 percent. Obama gets 38 percent to McCain's 51 percent.
Obama said Monday, after Wright's latest comments, "None of the voters I talk to ask about it. There may be people who are troubled by it and are polite and not asking about it. It's not what I hear."
"I have said before and I will say again that some of the comments Rev. Wright has made offend me and I understand why they have offended the American people. ... Certainly what the last three days indicates is we're not coordinating with him."
Wright showed no concern for how he might be affecting the presidential race. He suggested Obama was distancing himself only because of political motivations while he, the former pastor, was trying to do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
"If Sen. Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected. Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls," Wright said. "Preachers say what they say because they're pastors, they have a different person to whom they're accountable. Whether he gets elected or not, I'm still going to have to be answerable to God November 5th."
Although many of the clips of Wright that have been dogging Obama's campaign were from sermons that were several years old, the pastor repeated some of the same ideas for television cameras Monday.
He criticized the U.S. government as imperialist and stood by his suggestion that the United States invented the HIV virus as a means of genocide against minorities. "Based on this Tuskegee experiment and based on what has happened to Africans in this country, I believe our government is capable of doing anything," he said Monday.
Asked whether he owed the American people an apology, some in the supportive crowd shouted, "No!" Wright argued that his fiery nature was appropriate since the United States has never apologized for slavery or racism.
The North Carolina Republican Party is airing an ad that shows Wright with Obama and says the candidate is "too extreme for North Carolina." All three presidential candidates are talking about that ad to criticize one another.
Obama's campaign says McCain isn't doing enough to get it off the air. McCain himself responded that he's told the state officials to take it down and there's nothing more he can do.
"I am not going to be a referee," McCain told reporters at a news conference in Miami Monday. "I have made my position very clear on this issue. And I do not believe that Sen. Obama shares Reverend Wright's extreme statements or views, whichever they be."
Clinton used the issue to make a double swipe 鈥?saying she thinks McCain could do more to stop the ads, while reminding voters that she would never have a pastor like Wright.
"I would not have stayed in that church under those circumstances, but I regret the efforts by Republicans to politicize this matter," she told reporters while campaigning in North Carolina.
As Obama has grappled with how to respond to Wright's most controversial statements, he has described him as akin to an uncle who sometimes says things you don't agree with. He seemed reluctant to disavow his longtime pastor, although Wright didn't extend the same courtesy to Obama.
"I said to Barack Obama last year, `If you get elected, November the fifth, I'm coming after you because you'll be representing a government whose policies grind under people,'" Wright said.
___ I don't know much about the Rev. White except to say that I have heard of his racist remarks. I cannot seem to understand why blacks (and I am one) seem to make such a great deal of a past that we did not live through. If a man is angry the way Rev. Wright seems to be, his anger should motivate him to help those who feel repressed, help them move forward. Why waste your time denigrating who you feel caused your situation. I am here to tell each of you that I have made my life what it is today. It is because of the men and women before me (of ALL races) that I have had the opportunities in my life.
Sure, there were times in my life where I was treated as a second class citizen. Those times gave me stregnth. People only believe in what they can see, feel, touch, hear and smell. I have learned in my life how to interact with others and this has allowed me to grow. Education and the understanding of others offers a great deal.
For the Rev. Wright, I feel as though he wants to move all races and classes of people backwards.
If I didn't get "edjumacated", it would have been my fault. If I did not have faith in others, faith would not be given to me. If I do not trust others, they will not trust me. Get off of your bandwagon, Mr. Wright, and see the world through clear glasses. Anyone stuck in ancient times are only there because they refuse to move on.
It really embarrasses me, at times, when I have to listen to others speak of the likes of people like him. As a minister, he does not lift people up as a nation, he sends fear through souls. I for one cannot, nor will I, allow ANYONE to tell me I am not worthy as a citizen of this country or a child of God because of the color of my skin.
Eleanor Roosevelt said it best when she said, "No one can make you feel inferior unless you give the right to." Rev. Wright, you have given into your own fears and are expressing those fears in a way that spreads like fire. You may represent the fearful, but you do not represent me, not on ANY level.
So, for those of you who read this, look inside of yourselves and believe in what is there. No one can change you, but you. No one can give you the life you want, but you can earn it on your own. Don't listen to the nay-sayers such as this man. He will do more damage to you than you will ever imaginge because the more you are told something, the more you will believe it. Why not tell yourself constantly that you are worthy of every cell God has granted you with? I have faith in people and believe with all of my heart that one day all of us will understand and just move on. its beyond ridiculous If he said that then I'm definitley not a fan anymore.. a vote for mccain is a lot easier than analyzing all of that |
