Friday, March 14, 2008

Obama’s Minister of Hate

That’s the title of a NY Post editorial today. Here’s part of it. I offer comments below the star line.

The NY Post begins - - -

Which of these outrageous positions of his pastor and longtime spiritual advisor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, does Barack Obama endorse?

That African-Americans should not say "God Bless America," but rather "God damn America" for "killing innocent people"?

That 9/11 was a case of "America's chickens coming home to roost"?

That Zionism has an element of "white racism"?

The one implied by his decision to make a pilgrimage to Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy with Louis Farrakhan - a man Wright's church has hailed for having "truly epitomized greatness"?

These are not idle questions. And certainly not unfair ones.

Just two weeks ago, the Democratic National Committee put out a press release asking the same kind of questions of John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

The attack concerned Rev. John Hagee, a leading televangelist who endorsed McCain's candidacy; the DNC demanded that McCain renounce Hagee's support because of the minister's past anti-Catholic and anti-Muslim remarks.

Noting McCain's statement that he was "not endorsing some of [Hagee's] positions, the DNC asked: "Which Hagee positions does McCain endorse?"

Well, right back at 'em.

Hagee, it should be noted, has merely announced his support for McCain, with whom he's had no longstanding relationship.

Obama and Wright, by contrast, have been intensely close for two decades: The Chicago minister married the Obamas, baptized their children and dedicated their house. He even provided the title of the senator's book, "The Audacity of Hope."

Now ABC News says it has reviewed dozens of Wright's sermons - and found repeated public denunciations of America.

The rest of the editorial is here.
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Comments:

The DNC and the rest of us have every right to ask: “Which Hagee positions does McCain endorse?”

The same holds with Obama and Rev. Wright.

However, in Obama’s case there’s also his close, two decades long relationship with Wright.

That needs explaining, at least as far as I’m concerned.

The more I learn about Wright, the more disturbed I am that Obama would choose him as his spiritual counselor and bring his children regularly to Wright’s church.

A few years back I met a friend I hadn’t seen in a while. How was she?

“Pretty well,” she said, in a way that let me know things weren’t “pretty well.”

What was wrong?

It seems her minister was given to preaching the gospel in such a way that it was clear he didn’t think that Bush administration policies conformed to Jesus’ teachings.

My friend said the preacher never came right out and attacked the President, but you couldn’t miss his intent.

So a few Sundays before, as she was leaving church after service, she said to the minister: “Next Sunday you can save us all 25 minutes by just saying, ‘I hate Bush. Amen.’”

She wasn’t happy about what she’d done. Some church members were mad at her. Looking for a new church was “a chore.” But “I’d just heard enough from him.”

I wish Obama at some point had had enough of Rev. Wright.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

here it is.

http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/03/13/obamas-pastor/?ncid=NWS0001000000000

Anonymous said...

John - Obama is being a little cagey about his relationship to his minister. He needs to spell it out (although that would still not sway my opinion about him).
As far as the 'Zionism being a form of White Racism' someone should remind the "good" minister that about one-half of Israel's Jews are of Sephardic descent and many are darker than the typical Jew of European descent. Someone should also remind him of Israel's airlift to bring of all of Ethiopia's black Falashas (Jews) to Israel and of their subsequent integration into Israeli society.
The only racist here is the "good" minister. He has forgotten (if he ever knew it) Martin Luther King's statement, that what counts is the content of one's character, not the color of one's skin.

Jack in Silver Spring

Anonymous said...

If Obama becomes the nominee, he will definately have explaining to do. If he is not, I guess it matters only to his state's constituancy

Anonymous said...

John: It is up to the democrats to properly vett their nominee. If they don't want to ask him the tough questions, you can bet the republicans sure will!

Anonymous said...

The "Reverend" Wright is quite simply a Sepia version of Adolf Hitler. That's the kindest comment I can make having seen the video of his "preaching." Talk about "hateful!"
Tarheel Hawkeye

Anonymous said...

John - As a follow up to my posting at 12:22 PM, I would direct your readers to the following site:
http://www.ou.org/index.php/
shabbat_shalom/article/37924/

At that site there are pictures displayed of the eight boys slain by an Arab terrorist at Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav. Reverend Wright should observe the boy on the lower right - a black Ethiopian Jew. What would he now call the terrorist?

Jack in Silver Spring