Friday Afternoon Diversion
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Chili Cook-Off Countdown
Barack Obama certainly doesn't need any more monkeys on his back while trying to lock up the presidential nomination and vanquish Hillary Clinton (a.k.a, The Black Knight) once and for all. So after Rev. Pfleger's stunt last Sunday, when Pfleger made disparaging remarks about Clinton as a guest speaker at Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama has decided to sever all ties with the church. About the move, Obama was quoted as saying, "This is not a decision I came to lightly, and frankly it's one that I make with some sadness."
Obama and wife Michelle sent a letter Friday to Wright's successor, the Rev. Otis Moss III: "Our relations with Trinity have been strained by the divisive statements of Reverend Wright, which sharply conflict with our own views."" ... These controversies have served as an unfortunate distraction for other Trinity members who seek to worship in peace, and have placed you in an untenable position as you establish your own ministry under very difficult circumstances."
We'll take our presidential candidate con queso, por favor. Photo by rachelleb
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This is nothing more than a move dictated by political calculus.
Many will see this as too little too late. If the Obama's truly have differences with the church they certainly didn't manifest overnight. The fact that he waited until yet another round of negative attention to act certainly undermines any message of political courage or strength that Obama may try to portray.
I can't believe that the congregation will be pleased by the news either. I suspect that some will view it as a betrayal while others will say he is throwing the church under the bus in order to save his own skin.
I just don't see how this really helps him. Even if the church books someone inflammatory next week there are people who will still make the connection between Trinity and Obama. That won't go away.
Obama has yet to offer reasonable explanations surrounding this issue. He has failed to provide leadership on this topic (the Philly speech turned out to be ineffective at best) and has instead chosen the same political maneuvering that has defined every post Watergate politician.
It is going to be a long summer and fall.
The issue of which church Obama does or does not attend is completely irrelevant, and I wish media folk would get over it. There's nothing left to address, nothing that requires a reasonable explanation because there's nothing to explain. It's not like there aren't actual important issues to discuss, after all.
From a political standpoint, those who consider it important have made their decision and are unlikely to be affected by further revelations. Anything new is simply reinforcement.
what reasonable explanations do you want from him? he's denounced the statements from wright & pfegler and quit the church. you first state that he should have quit the church after wright's comments, then you state it's stupid to quit the church. makes no sense
political maneuvering from a politician? egad!
you sound naive and clearly dislike obama for reasons other than this. no one really thinks this is a serious issue other than dumb rednecks and the media (who love this type of stuff)
My maion point was that I don't think this will make a difference. As Blue said most people who this would matter to have made up their own minds already. I probably should have made that more clear.
I don't dislike Obama. I'm not some true believer to be sure, but I do have an open mind. I happen to believe he is as seriously flawed as the other candidates in this race and to ignore that is truly naive.
I think that the people you surround yourself for decades does reflect on your character both for good and for bad. It reflects on your judgment of other people which is a pretty important skill a President must possess. This entire episode reflects on Obama's honesty as well. Yes we can and should debate the issues that people consider important. But during the course of every administration unforeseen circumstances arise or the situation may change. We need to know and understand as best we can how our President will handle those issues and how he will compose himself in those moments. To understand that we must examine character traits in our candidates and hold them to a high standard. The church matter has been a tough time for Obama and offers a good look into how he handles himself when people are taking shots at him. All of that is why the church issue matters.
I don't think his responses have been entirety honest to this point. He stalls and evades like the best of them. I guess my major concern is that he talks about being a new, bold, strong, and courageous new politician but his actions to this point have not lived up to the hype.
Do I think anyone should vote for or against Obama because of where he goes to church? Of course not.
Do you want to know what the other reason why this does matter? There are a lot of dumb rednecks out there who will vote and this will matter to them. This is going to be a very close race in November and if you want to just minimize and ignore entire voting blocks just because you think they are too stupid or ignorant to make a difference then you stand a very good chance of being bitterly disappointed in November. Don't underestimate anyone in a campaign.
It's unbelievably naive to say that there's parity between these candidates.
On defense, education, health care, and foreign policy there are enormous differences between McCain and Obama. McCain's policies have failed.
Don't let anyone tell you otherwise -- there's a lot of spin in these long posts, but these candidates are not remotely equivalent or similar.
Nobody said they were equivalent. I said they all have serious flaws. There is a big difference.
I don't really like to dismiss voters - or anyone for that matter - as "dumb rednecks". I've known a lot of pretty awesome "dumb rednecks" in the past, and quite a few of them were smart, honest, hard-working color-blind people.
Ultimately, all of those "dumb redneck" voters that are scared of a black/Muslim/America-hating presidential candidate, aren't going to vote for a Democrat in the fall, regardless of who it is.
"dumb rednecks" and "smart, color-blind people" are mutually exclusive. you know zero people that possess all of those qualities. perhaps you misunderstood my definition of dumb rednecks
Way to take a definitive stand Obama!
However obama handled this, it would be considered politically disingenuous. In these types of circumstances I can't see what a politically courageous stand would be. The church is not supposed to be a political organization nor a political affiliation and the expectation in this circumstance is that trinity is one and obama is obligated to treat it as such. The same way I wouldn't begrudge a pro-choice pro-iraq war catholic for remaining in that church, I don't hold it against obama for maintaining his status in trinity. The public seems to want him to treat this as pure politics and are upset when he doesn't take a adamant stand one way or another. This issue isn't something thats clear cut, its a muddied issue of family, community, and faith, I don't know if obama handled it correctly because I can't imagine there is a "correct" way to handle it.
I think this is probably the best thing Obama could have done - its not just him, the followers at Trinity have been under incredible scrutiny, subject to harassment and even bomb threats since Obama's ties to the church became national news. This means Trinity can go back to being a church, which I'm sure they're happy about.
Can people please just get off the whole "his pastor said crazy shit" bandwagon? Pastors say crazy shit. That's their job.
For instance, I'll guarantee you that a few months ago--'round about, say, Easter time--both Clinton's pastor AND McCain's pastor were telling their congregations supposedly 'true' stories about a guy who did a whole slew of bizarre magic tricks, then died, came back from the dead, and flew up into space. Like I said, crazy shit. But nobody called them on it...
Here's another point. There are so many goofy, race-baitin pastors in the African-American community that many African-American politicians have a controversial pastor as a friend or acquaintance.
It's insteresting to note that this sort of thing is let slide for African-American politicians at the local, state, and congressional level. It's almost expected.
However, the presidency is different. This pastor-as-skeleton-in-a-closet phenomenon could also strike the next realistic African-American presidential candidate. Of course, it will be four or eight years before I see if I'm right.
Now it's Hillary's turn to disavow:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/hillarys-prayer.html
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/ehrenreich