It’s a good idea to create a “reintegration” program that will allow fighters to leave the Taliban with some prospect of employment, education, housing, and other essentials. That’s what the government of Afghanistan, in cooperation with the U.S., Britain, and other allies, is announcing today in London. Just don’t expect a lot of Taliban defectors to make use of the program until security conditions change on the ground.
As it stands now, former Taliban are more worried about their lives than their livelihoods, and for good reason: in the climate of pervasive insecurity that still exists in much of eastern and southern Afghanistan, Afghan and NATO forces do not have the ability to protect the people from Taliban retribution. That means that Taliban interested in self-preservation — which, it is safe to assume, means most of them — will not switch sides until the balance of power shifts, and it begins to look as if they are leaving the losing side for the winning side.
That calculus applies just as strongly to efforts to encourage high-level reconciliation — i.e., to lure high-level Taliban into the government — or tribal engagement. These are both good ideas that have scant chance of success right now. As Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week, “until the Taliban leadership sees a change in the momentum and begins to see that they are not going to win, the likelihood of significant reconciliation at senior levels is not terribly great.”
The problem is that it will take some time to change the momentum on the ground. All of the 30,000-plus reinforcements ordered to Afghanistan by President Obama will not arrive until the end of the summer, at best. Then they will have to go to villages where the Taliban lurk and win the trust of the people. Good counterinsurgency cannot be done quickly, yet the troops know that they are on the clock: Obama has said he will begin a drawdown beginning in the summer of 2011. The Taliban know it, too, and that makes it easier for them to keep wavering Afghans in line by telling them that they cannot trust the Americans to protect them. That very public deadline makes it harder to get momentum and thus sabotages the very efforts at reintegration, reconciliation, and tribal engagement that the administration is now promoting.
Look, we have to remember, talking about this does not help Michelle Obama’s kids.
In all seriousness, it will be interesting to see what the MSM spin is on this. We were told, first, that Wright was misunderstood, not a divisive racist. Then we were told that Wright doesn’t matter – Trinity is a wonderful place. And of course, we were admonished that none of this matters.
Well, it apparently matters to Obama, enough for him to leave the church. So what’s the explanation?
Didn’t Obama say disowning Wright and the church would be tantamount to disowning the black community? So, has he…?
Oh, please. The media and his opponents have descended on that church like locusts. It would never end as long as Obama was affiliated with it. And ease up on all the charges of “racism” at his church. It’s ugly and unnecessary. I understand you have to seize your political opportunities as they present themselves but a little dignity never hurt anyone.
Forget it. If what everyone has seen isn’t prima facie evidence that TUCC has a racist streak a mile wide, then nothing will convince a skeptic at this point. It’s laughable.
Equally laughable (but half the nation will swallow it) is the positive spin forthcoming. Barry the Saint will be praised for performing this act of self-sacrifice, making a Profound Change in his life, for the sake of the nation’s Hope. He’ll be praised for attempting to draw criticism away from this “fine” church that does such good works. That no one sees.
Obozo can do no wrong. Learn it. Like it. Conform.
Not much room left under that bus–he’s going to have to get hydraulics installed or jack up the suspension to fit Ayers and his wife under there at some point.
Just a thought, but have Mrs. Obama and the children also left this church?
“our faith remains strong”
O!
You’re faith in what snake oil salesman?
When, where and by whom was Obama baptized?
ECM,
I love your comment. What we really need now is a cartoon showing that bus with all the bodies piling up underneath it – spiritual mentors, campaign advisors, you name it. And as you pointed out, there are still more candidates left to toss under.
The damage to Obama has been done. He paid a price to win his lefty base during the nominating process; in that process, he defined himself. Now, as he seeks to escape from the homespun suit of his own making, he’ll be excoriated by his opponents for flip-flop, and the story will continue.
What’s interesting about all of this is that there was nothing necessary about it. With virtually no damage to his prospects, Obama could have denounced Wright early and resigned from Trinity; likewise, the “frustrate and cling” statement never had to be made; he could have worn the flag pin from the start; could have acknowledged the Rezco matter, disavowed Ayres and never uttered the “negotiate without preconditions” comment.
That he failed to do these things, or said other things that were exceedingly unwise, is testimony to his inexperience. That he considered these matters normative is further testimony to how cut off he is from many ordinary Americans, not to mention rank and file Democrats.
Obama has revealed himslef to be a devious fraud.
After months of prevaricating, changing his stories — he wasn’t really a regular at Trinity; ok, he was, but wasn’t there when Wright did his rants; ok, he was there, but didn’t really approve of Wright’s rants; ok, but Wright is retired now; ok, the new pastor is…what? The same as the old…I’m outta there.
Obama preaches about being post-racial, yet is tied to the anti-white, anti-American Trinity with iron bonds. For more than 20 years. Quitting now when the whole sordid Trinity mess has exploded on him says that Obama is just another crappy, sleazy politico.
He is not worthy of the vote of any American.
It is not just his relationship with Trinity, after all Father Flegger is a catholic, it is that he listed, yet again, a religious nutball as an “spiritual advisor”. Flegger has well known radical left past. Then again, McCain is garbage, so what does it really matter?
Obama is certainly ambitious. He’s gone through Grandma, Wright, Trinity…and as Ted noted Michelle and the kids could be next.
Quite a guy.
He’ll throw anybody over the side who has become inconvenient.
Re; the TUCC, don’t you know that Obama “…prayed on it.” So there you go, let’s move on.
Oh, and btw, he’s going to get all classy with Hillary:
“The former First Lady would get the chance to pilot Mr Obama’s reforms of the American healthcare system if she agrees to clear the path to his nomination as Democratic presidential candidate. ” (UK Telegraph) either through the Senate or at the Cabinet level.
Maybe Hillary would like to be Sec. of HHS, but piloting Mr. Obama’s reform package is probably not high on her list.
nepat:
Oh, please. The media would have left the church and its congregants alone if they had not insisted upon getting right back into the news again and again. It’s simple, really. Hold a church service in which the minister does not demagogue about the following while congregants clap, cheer, rise from their seats and shout amen:
the evils of white people;
the imperative that whites surrender their 401k savings to blacks;
the necessity that government confiscate the earnings of people of one race and distribute them to people of other races;
the fact that 3,000 people were incinerated in the World Trade Center because of the evils of white people, and Jewish children and grandmothers are being murdered because of the evils of Jews.
Plenty of Christian churches all around the world hold thousands of services every day in which no such message is preached. That’s because this is not a Christian message. That a presidential candidate thinks it is, is news. It ain’t going away, no matter how supercilious your dismissals. Get used to it.
Rich asks a very good question – “When, where and by whom was Obama baptized?”
Is it in his book? Was he baptized by Reverend Wright at Trinity UCC when he was in his late 20′s? If he wasn’t baptized at Trinity UCC who was the pastor who baptized him?
“Imagine if the roles were reversed and John McCain had attended a white separatist church for twenty years…I would imagine he’d have been forced out of the presidential race by now.”
No doubt that’s true. But it’s also safe to argue that it’s unlikely he’d even be a Senator to begin with. (I should also add an obligatory “…and rightly so” to the end of that thought.)
Does anybody seriously believe that this amoral reptile has a chance of making it to November without the majority of Americans finding out exactly what he is? Only the worst of the worst will vote for him when he stands revealed.
I’m glad that this unprincipled reprobate and all he stands for are going to get stomped in the general election. A democratic repudiation of the left’s vile social agenda is just what America needs.
I agree. McCain would have been knocked out of the primary early on if he attended a hate filled church. It’s unfortunate that the Democrats have chosen a candidate that will be wide open to such criticisms. Democrats seem to go out of their way to try to lose races they should win. This one, I fear, will be no different.
The super delegates have an obligation to pick the best candidate. Unfortunately, they will do the PC thing and pick Obama even though he is clearly the lesser candidate. With his string of losses since the beginning of March, his gloss is beginning to wear off even for Democrats. Obama supporters want to blame it all on racism. While racism is a factor for some voters, they seem unable to consider that the problem is with the candidate’s message.
McCain and the the Republicans will not hold back in pointing out Obama’s limitations and faults. The Democratic elite and the media perpetuated the myth that HRC was running an extremely negative campaign, when in actuality it was no more negative than most national campaigns. The result is that the Democrats did not properly vet their chosen candidate.
Ellen…About that cartoon with his grandmother, mentor, and supporters under the bus? You need to add a dozen “roosting chickens”on top.
In the same way that “The Great Depression” permanently change the way many people thought and behaved, “Bush Derangement Syndrome” has permanently changed the way the left, and the MSM, think. This psychiatric disorder began during Viet Nam and has now become a psychosis which prevents victims from accurately perceiving reality. The lemmings will follow the lead rodent over the cliff, and take many of us with them.
Steven from Indiana
All these revelations have raised the stakes in this election. Sure, they hurt Barry with a lot of folks in key states. On the other hand, he might still win, thanks to the general dissatisfaction, the GOP’s paralysis and Maverick’s semi-coherence. That Barry will by then have nominally disassociated himself from the fever swamp — Trinity, NOI, Kos, HuffPo, Jimma fans, friendly Paulbots, itinerant anti-Semites, whatever — will not matter. All the arthropods will interpret it as a vindication. They’ll be out of the woodwork in swarms.
Obama is an opportunistic BS artist. At the core, he has to agree with many of those statements or he couldn’t have remained there -period. He disgusted me with his mamby pamby way of not dealing with J. Wright months ago. Unfortunately, this hand picked, crafted Dean candidate (Obama never ran a grass roots campaign of his own ever – and it hasn’t been built on 50 dollar donations, take a look at the millions raised from Minority Business and the dirty Chicago Combine)- he is a sham and a half, a liar. Bottom line is the New Dem. Party is all about bowing to the likes of Al Sharpton and friends. Hopefully with nearly half of Clinton supporters voting for McCain we can keep this opportunistic buzzard away from the White House.
I ran around with some guys that wore white sheets with pointed head gear………I just hung around with them for twenty years and attended their functions all these years…..I did not know what they were doing….Now that I am running for president I need to get away from them but I am not saying they did any thing wrong………….Stupid….do you really think the public would believe that tale
Michelle Obama says America is mean? Preachers at Trinity aren’t mean? The Obama’s true hateful character is coming through loud and clear.
#25 Ken
Hugo Black, liberal Supreme Court Justice, and Sen. Robert Byrd, dean of the Senate, can make that claim.
For all we know, he’ll govern like a centrist.
Bob Barr is looking better and better, though.
I think Obama can win the general election. As Obama takes each of his problems off the table, he will claim anything McCain says about him as an “attack” and “old politics.”
I believe it is time for Americans to embrace the new politics of Obama – where character is no longer an issue, flipflopping on whether or not you’ll talk to our enemies, the vote of the people doesn’t really matter, delegates are alloted according to exit polls and what you believe may be inside write-in votes you aren’t able to look at.
HEY — we ARE on the edge of a change in our culture! VIRTUAL POLITICS! That’s it! That’s the CHANGE!! I understand now!!
Obama 2008!! Yippee!!
This candidate has no steady persona — who is he REALLY is the question. A man for all audiences might be the answer — a Harvard Law School accent/tone/message when speaking to rich San Francisans — a highly emotional gospel twang when addressing ‘hope’ to the masses beneath his mistakenly self-perceived elite self.
Where’s the media in all this? Pitiful reporting performance. This candidate has no substance whatsoever. How many more proofs does he have to deliver before they get it? Remember the under the table NAFTA messages to Canada? The rhetoric truly is sometimes eloquent but mostly empty. Does he ask himself, ‘Which day is it, who am I?’
Hey, Grumpy….If McCain wins maybe you could move to Italy and share a 2 unit town-home with Susan Sarandon. You could each spend late nights banging on the common wall and playing loud music to annoy one another. She could invite Lester over for tea, and you could invite???me.
We could all go together and watch Obama being sworn in as President of the EU.
Steven from Indiana
P.S. I do enjoy your posts, though.
First, Barack Obama hasn’t quit TUCC. He simply doesn’t take the wife and kids there any more.
He resigned partly, he said, because of a “cultural and a stylistic gap.” What? So he agrees with the racially divisive, hate-filled junk that Wright and now Moss preaches–and that the TUCC congregants support and apparently encourage–but would just say things differently to a broader audience?
Liberal/leftist, naive, inexperienced Obama continues to insult everyone by expecting them to join his lie, the lie that what he says is true, that he is a unifier, that he’s “above” race and for equality, etc.
He’s a fraud, an arrogant and narcissistic whiner, disconnected from and disdainful of America. And, whether he and his minions like it or not, no amount of disingenuous politically expedient actions of his, especially when pushed into a corner of his own making and due to his inability to simply shut up and stop trying to impress us all with his glibness, will undo that.
#30 Steven
Thanks for the compliment, backhanded though it is.
I wouldn’t mind spending some time in Italy, and I’d have tea, or chilled Prosecco or Orvieto, with Susan Sarandon without preconditions, even though I don’t share her politics.
You can come over for some beefsteak florentine, polenta and cuttlefish, or whatever the regional cuisine might be.
I would miss skateboards, Oprah, spun sugar, hot dogs and July 4 fireworks after awhile, and come back to a hopelessly deadlocked government (McCain in White House, Pelosi, Reid and HRC in Congress).
PS:
If lester wants to come, he needs to bring a shift key.
The question remains, does America want a president who adheres to a racial supremacy philosophy?
Why has it taken centuries for the catholics to denounce and reject the catholic priests? They still hace not. The USA is so racists and hypocrical..
It took twenty years because he believes in what was said and is as undecisive about his relationships as he was when voting present over 100 times since he has been in the senate.
Obama somehow doesn’t quite pass the “smell test.” If his hypocrisy and pandering to do whatever is politically expedient and his lowlife, suspicious associations aren’t turn offs, then we all need help–maybe even institutionalization. Obama is a huge racist douchbag, as is his wfe, aka “crazy Aunt Esther.” Somehow Hillary and McCain look awfully appealing compared to this empty suit.
Obama is the first affirmative action candidate and the rules will be bent and remade to clear his way.
How did this inexperienced candidate with so many unsavory associations get so far along in the nominating process without being vetted? This is the question Democrats will have to wrestle with after November.
Give it a rest. You all are showing your true colors. He left the church because the MSM has been a thorn in the church’s side for months – just sitting and waiting for an event like this to “PROVE” that this church is “RACIST.” You know who is racist? All the scared white folks out there who just need an excuse not to vote for Obama because… OMG LOOK, HE’S A CLOSET BLACK SEPERATIST. HE’S OUT TO GET US.
Give it a break. 400+ years of slavery, and what have black folks ever done to you? Was there ever a revolution here? Was there any kind of war they waged on you? No. So, question… WHY THE FEAR?
Trinity speaks bluntly about race. So, what. The stuff coming out of these priests mouths are the same kinds of talk I as a white person have heard in my own home, but with the roles reversed. Same kinds of things I’ve heard white coworkers and friends say about black people. LET’S STOP PRETENDING THAT RACISM DOESN’T EXIST ON BOTH ENDS. And let’s not demonize Obama because scared white people have magnified a few incidents of people saying something off-color.
BTW – not defending these priests, but aren’t you more offended that what they’ve said – remove HOW they said it – what they’ve said is… mostly true? Forget the crazy AIDS claim, but address Wright’s speech about what America has done and what the consequences were (911). The CIA calls this “Blowback.” It’s a known fact that we trained Bin Laden to fight the Russians. We then continued to dick around in the middle east, creating our own problems. Bush doesn’t learn and attacks Iraq – FOR NO REASON, mind you. Except to “spread freedom.” whatever that means (while you scaredy cats let our phones be tapped and get less free at home). Goddamn right we are damned. We are bringing hell upon ourselves and you fat SUV white picket fence triple latte mcdonald-kids are letting it happen.
This is America – land of the free, damnit. Love it or… FIX IT. We are the Government.
Stop being manipulated by race baiting. it’s a church. They talk about race bluntly. Get over it. My folks like to call blacks off-color things. If you blew up some of their words and put it out on blast in the media, you would think that’s all they are.
Oh, and HIllary doesn’t suffer from “entitlement”?” of COURSE she does. It’s just cause the words white and black were blurted out callously and carelessly both with Pfz and Wrgt. If you take race out of it — what they’ve said is controversial because they are speaking truth to power.
And you scardey cats don’t like that, know why? Cause you like Power speaking Lies to the powerless.
Enjoy spending $100 filling up your escalades while China continues to bankroll your debt, you fools.
Go ahead, put in another Republican. Go for it. Rome has almost fallen.
(sigh)
Seth Halpern wrote:
“That Barry will by then have nominally disassociated himself from the fever swamp — Trinity, NOI, Kos, HuffPo, Jimma fans, friendly Paulbots, itinerant anti-Semites, whatever — will not matter. All the arthropods will interpret it as a vindication. They’ll be out of the woodwork in swarms.”
Seth, those words hit the nail on the head for me and that sentiment is the biggest reason why I do not think I can support Obama. I haven’t given up all hope for Obama in the long run. Perhaps 8 years or so from now, he can come back and really be the type of mainstream consensus candidate that some hoped he would be. But, for now, I can’t help from seeing him as a stealth candidate backed by some of the most odious elements of the radical left. The last thing our country (and even the Democratic party) needs right now is an ascent by the radical left. I hope voters will not be sanguine about such a prospect simply because they believe that the radical right deserves punishment.
#40…It’s called “displacement.” Sorry about your family.
Steven from Indiana
(Sigh)
In response to: nepat Says:
May 31st, 2008 at 7:26 PM
Oh, please. The media and his opponents have descended on that church like locusts. It would never end as long as Obama was affiliated with it. And ease up on all the charges of “racism” at his church. It’s ugly and unnecessary. I understand you have to seize your political opportunities as they present themselves but a little dignity never hurt anyone.
GIVE ME A BREAK!!!…. Let’s just imagine for one little moment the word BLACK replaced for White in these hateful rantings and ravings……..with all the white paritioners JUMPING out of their seats with frenzy ……….QUITE a different RACIST version would “emerge.”
It’s sickening, just sickening.
Why the fear and outrage over Trinity Church?
1. Because lots of us who had no intention of voting for Obama nonetheless were encouraged by the idea of a real viable black candidate for the presidency. We saw it as a step ahead for the country. A Trinity Church, where ugly racisms of all kinds have a comfortable institutional home dashes those hopes.
2. Because all of us have seen decent people destroyed with charges of “racism.” Geraldine Ferraro after a lifetime of service is thrown aside like a rag for one rather naive remark. OK, we think, we’ve signed onto this rather high standard for the good of our society. To bigotry no sanction! as Washington said. But then it turns out that the standard doesn’t apply to some people. People don’t like being treated unequally, duh!
2. Because some of us live on the south side of Chicago and we wonder what people passing on the street are thinking. How comfortable would most white people be with neighbors or co-workers who belong to Trinity Church?
From one white person, to many others here… let me help clear something up for you:
Blacks in this Nation are not racist. Racism is to exercise your predjudices and perceived superiority through power. The political establishment is still run by a white majority in this Nation. You can call the actions of the Trinity Church whatever else you like, but for goodness sake, don’t throw the charge of racism out there.
I hate to say it to my fellow caucasians, but the way some of you are acting about this campaign for the Democrat nomination, I could almost swear we are living in the 1950′s and 60′s again…. you’d think a ‘Negro’ just walked into your home uninvited for Thanksgiving dinner. I digress….
Just because there were civil rights legislation passed 4 decades ago does not mean all is finished and all is forgiven, and it does not mean that the civil rights era will die with the civil rights generations.
Lastly, if Black Liberation Theology and Prophetic sermons scare anyone, I would challenge you to truly listen for God’s word in their message, and then decide if the greater meaning beyond the context of 30 second sound bites is more uplifting than it is threatening.
I’m glad that Trinity Church and its people are out there, saying what needs to be said. America needs a sobering view of its policies towards the welfare fo all individuals in this Nation, as well as around the world.
For the record: I’m white, Lutheran, and Republican, and I stand behind the Black Church, their Theology, and their good works in Christ’s name.
Why did it take 20 years? Simple. It took 20 years because under the sheets, Barack Obama buys into what UTCC is selling hook, line & sinker. He’s only throwing them under the bus now for political expediency. “A new kind of politics” my ass. Under the bright shiny new coat of paint, it’s still the same ‘ol big governement, blame-America-first, cave-in-to-our-enemies, liberal jalopy. Nothing new to see here, folks.
I believe Mr. Obama is like-minded with the teachings at Trinity Unity Church. I believe this because of his words and actions. His weak and scripted apologies, to the American people re Wright and then to Hillary Clinton re Pfleger, as well as the timing to distance himself from these individuals, and now the Church. Only when it has threatened his political position has he acted ; and acted in highly calculating ways. I am left to conclude that his actions and statements reflect an individual that really doesn’t understand that this is so horribly wrong.
I am 65 years old, I have been in this kind of church all of my life, you must remember during our forefathers days, it was the only meeting place for our community, where ideas were express and what was going on in our communities. Today we have many more avenues of information. Young people must learn of our past to ensure our future.
Oh, people like you should just give it a rest. All along you’ve been looking for something to blame Obama for or to hang around his neck. Now, you’re acting like kids with a present. After having looked at some of the other articles at this website, your agenda is clear. I can’t take anything you say seriously.
A 50 something year old white female Obama supporter
Like a lot of people, I really don’t want to vote for John McCain. Mainly, because he’s a rich guy who thinks the purpose of government is to make rich guys (and rich women, like Cindy) richer. Ugh. Also, he’s a little bit nuts. Not his fault, being tortured for six years makes you nuts, that’s human nature, but in the Senate he didn’t have his nutty finger on the nuclear trigger.
But the stupid Democratic Party managed to find somebody even worse. Wasn’t there a movement afoot about ten years ago to get the Democratic Party back into the mainstream? What happened to that?
Anyway, my mother is going to write-in Hillary. My brother and sister are going to vote for Nader. I’m in a swing state (NM); I guess I’ll just have to vote for nutty John McCain.
It took McCain 20 years to compile an unprecedented record of political pandering and flip-flopping.
Just 4 months ago, McCain was onstage with John Hagee and Rod Parsley, two of the most intolerant religious extremists in America, thanking them for their support and praising their “spiritual leadership.”
A McCain administration would be a feast for corporate lobbyists–just like the current Bush administration has been.
Either Democratic candidate (Obama OR Clinton) would be better than McCain.
Until Sen. Obama completely denounces the church, he attended and financially supported by way of his contributions, and he takes a stance in defending the non AA communities as having the right to live in this country without being slandered, trashed, and asked to give up their assets… his supporters can continue dreaming as to his chances of winning the election. It doesn’t matter what the MSM tries to hide or misrepresnt, this is spreading through the white and other communities like wildfire.
trichogaster – Have your mother check on her state’s rules for write-ins. Many states do not allow this and will discount the vote or give it to the Dem. candidate.
It’s comical how people keep trying to give Obama the benefit of the doubt. For 20 years he was a member of a radical, racist, America-hating church. His close friends all seem to be radical, racist, and America-hating. Yet Obama himself shares none of these views? Riiiiiiight. Wake up, people.
I wish the MAIN STREAM MEDIA would stop covering for Obama, Jennifer research and report his drug use and gay sex and bring it out in the open, YOU would be a hero for that, we don’t want a president that is a drug user and a bisexual. which is the least of the problems (gay sex)
Ralph
Obama’s stated reason for leaving the church: “It’s also clear that Reverend Moss and the church have been suffering from all the attention my campaign has visited on them.” There were reports of homebound members of the church being harassed by media (and opposition researchers) and Obama figures if he cuts ties with the church, then church members will be left alone to live and worship in peace.
“What we really need now is a cartoon showing that bus with all the bodies piling up underneath it ”
Maybe you can use McSame’s bus and load it will all the lobbyist is has on his staff to hold Obama’s bus down. To bad, it will take more than one bus to fit all the fat lobbyist that work with Mr. McBush.
Unfortunately Obama lost his chance to look principled when he failed to leave Trinity after the first few “sermons” on how the US government invented AIDS as a form of genocide against black people.
To answer your question about why he stayed 20 years: (1) Probably most of the sermons were not inflammatory; it’s hard to produce an interesting sermon every Sunday, let alone an inflammatory one. (2) It is uncontested that the church as a whole (and even the preacher) did a lot of good things for the community, which may have been important to the Obamas. (3) In all likelihood both Obamas had long-standing friendships within the congregation.
To attend a church (for 20 long years) that dwells on racism and hatred towards white people then turn around and make speeches about unity and change is tantamount to hipocrisy and grandstanding.
Forgive me but the degree of hypocrisy over this subject is unbelievable! Obama is damned either way by you people. Why can’t you just take the time to read “Dreams From My Father”? It was written 13 years ago and reveals his entire search for his spirituality. Or is it too easy for you to just spread baseless negativity? Give me a break!
If McCain had attended a white suprematist church, he would be history. The rules are different for Obama. Because he is differently pigmented, we are not allowed to make comparisons. Let’s be racially fair and balanced. Obama should be held to the same standard that would apply to any less pigmented candidate.
You know, it’s not that hard to leave a church – I’ve done it, and I am sure a lot of others have too. I didn’t agree with what was coming out of the preachers mouth, and so I left. Simple. One day I said to my husband, “you know, I can’t stomach this any more. I don’t agree with it, so I’m not going back”. I didn’t have to lose any friends, and when the church got into some preacher trouble of its own (he had an affiar with the woman who sat nect to his wife in choir), I was the first to call and offer my support.
Obama was in this church to run for office, plain and simple. He’s always wanted to run for president, and this was his stepping stone. Oprah left this church, and the last time I looked, she was doing alright. You don’t stay in a church you are uncomfortable in for twenty years, unless you are incapable of leaving for another reason. His children are not babies, and he and his wife have been married for some time. I agree with the other posters – he had no problem with any of this rhetoric until it become too hot for his campaign. That makes him just another politician, not the second coming.
And by the way, just because you do good works, doesn’t make you immune from criticism. Churches (and Christians) are SUPPOSED to help others. You don’t deserve extra credit for doing the job description, for crying out loud.
What is happening to the Democratic Party is truly sickening. I really cannot believe the idiocy of the Democrats nominating this man. It’s bad because he may lose but even worse because he could win. It leads me to start agreeing with what the Republicans have been saying about the Democrats for the last 20 years. I have voted Democratic every time since Hubert Humphrey, but I went ahead yesterday and sent McCain money. Yes, McCain is bad, but Obama is so much worse it’s incalculable.
Another timely move by Barak Hussein Obama. Numerous presidents have been known also by their middle names…William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, Ronald Wilson Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, George Walker Bush.
It’s your name…don’t run from it…be proud
McCain: wants to keep us in Iraq for years to come-no matter what is happening there, will make health care LESS affordable to everyday Americans, wants to overturn Roe v. Wade and force many women into back alleys again–just like the 1950′s, favors tax policies that will BANKRUPT America and deflate our currency even further–raising gas prices in the process, runs a campaign dominated by corporate lobbyists, just like Bush.
Obama: wants a responsible withdrawal from Iraq to focus more on Afghanistan, wants to make health care MORE AVAILABLE to Americans, will protect a woman’s right to choose, favors tax policies that give middle America a tax break–but which also give the U.S. a chance to reduce the national debt, won’t be held hostage by big business.
Is McCain REALLY preferable to Obama?
I don’t think so.
NO MCCAIN IN ’08!
It should be plainly evident to anyone but those with some type of bias, or lack of common sense, that obama has shown that he agreed with the racist, marxist, theology/ideology that TUCC preaches daily and continuously displays to the public, otherwise obama would not have been there for one day, much less 20 years. The recent disrespectful claims and ranting by the church’s preachers, leaders and guests who claim that white people owe black people because their forefathers put them into slavery is ridiculous. White people don’t owe anything to black people. White people don’t owe them for their ancestors in Africa selling them into slavery and for white people’s ancestors putting them into slavery as white people alive today had nothing to do with any of it, just as the black people alive today were never slaves either. I am tired of hearing that white people owe the black people anything more than mutual respect that we must all earn from each other. Black people have the same rights, and same chances for success as every other American. Depending on ones definition of success, it takes education, a good work ethic, and a little luck to be successful in America. From what I have researched, and witnessed, I do believe that obama is a racist. One cannot go to a church that repeatedly condemns white people and not be a racist. Further, I do not believe that obama can listen to and participate in a racist, marxist, socialist doctrine for 20 years and not agree with it. Osama’s list of accomplishments is less than notable in either legislative body that he is or has been a member of. Obama does not have the credentials necessary for me to vote for him as POTUS . I will vote republican straight down the ticket to show my complete dissatisfaction with both, the selection of this unqualified, racist/marxist candidate along with the demarxistocrat party’s leadership for helping said candidate hijack this nomination. The demarxistocrat party is in for a rude awakening come November. Funny, but the thought of Divided Government looks like a much better option/proposition when given that the opposite is an obama racist, marxist/socialist presidency.
McCain 2008!
I agree. If John McCain, or any Republican had attended a church with racist overtones, there would be wild calls for him to stap away from the presidential election. Obama at best was oblivious to the goings on and messages conveyed by his church, and at worst a conniving person who thinks we are fools.
Has it ever occurred to you knuckleheads that the good reverend has only recently gone crazy, and that 20 years ago he did not make insane comments like the recently-taken video portrays? Ever wonder why there is no video from 20 years ago? Hmmm… Ponder that, knuckle-draggers.
In my experience, well-meaning white people have “bucked it up” as Affirmative Action made many aspects of modern life more difficult for our children (college admissions, first jobs, etc.) And now to watch laughing, ranting, raving black people howl in derision of a national figure because of her race and gender tells me that maybe enough is enough.
Those laughing, cheering Parisioners in the latest video tell me all I need to know about what Obama knew and and when he knew it. Forget what the sermonizer is saying. You go to Church with the people in the pew next to you. For 20 years. Put this ugly scene together with Michele Obama’s Princeton thesis and, darn if we aren’t about to elect a black racist President of the United States.
In general is Obama has used Poor Judgment REPEATEDLY! Obama proved Rev Wright was correct!!! politically correct, that is. The fact that it is “painful” and took 20 years suggests he agrees with these racists “under the covers”. He resigned not necessarily because he wants to but because it is the only course open to him. Imagine if the roles were reversed and John McCain had attended a white separatist church for twenty years. Would his resignation after two decades cure the concern that he had lived some sort of weird double life, cavorting with racists but talking about equal opportunity in his public life? he’d have been forced out of the presidential race by now. So the question remains: was Obama the least observant church congegrant on the planet (racism and anti-Semitism at Trinity? No!) or a hypocrite.
WE DO NOT ACCEPT OBAMAS POLITICAL DAMAGE APOLOGY!!!
SHOCKING Obama words: what he really thinks of white folks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI77cU3jsFs
http://www.dontvoteobama.net
Are yo ukidding me! John McCain sought out the endorsement of two racist ministers. Both of these stories have gotten one-one hundreth the coverage the supposed “liberal media,” yet you claim that they have gone easy on Obama’s story. Are you just not paying attention? Were you asleep for the 90 days of constant Rev. Wright coverage?!!! Did you notice that Reverand Hagee has gotten about 90 seconds of coverage? Wake up, fools!
The church should give Barack Hussein Obama his money back,or part of it.
By the way why do everybody seem not to use Mr Obama midle name?
So very often I usualy hear HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON!If Barak supporters do not like his name or are afraid to use it,maybe he should change it before the GE in November.