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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Spotted in Church

posted by on April 30 at 8:15 AM

I’m not sure this helps Obama out of the Rev. Wright mess, but it does offers a new answer to a question we’ve all been asking since the controversy hit.

I, for one, had settled on the interpretation that Obama joined Trinity to get the cred in the black community that a Columbia-grad egg head would need to advance as a black politician.

However, this far less cynical interpretation (Obama’s intellectual curiosity found more satisfaction in Wright’s critical approach than with the pour-and-stir black churches that crowded the South side) rings true to me.

Footnote: And while this isn’t the takeaway line, it does jump out.

He [Wright] is a staunch advocate for homosexual rights, which is almost unheard-of among African-American ministers. Gay and lesbian couples, with hands clasped, can be spotted in Trinity’s pews each Sunday.

Courtesy TNR.

RSS icon Comments

1

I thought you were gone. Shouldn't emeritus be after your name, or something?

Posted by Mr. Poe | April 30, 2008 8:38 AM
2

Yeah, that's why he went to church every Sunday morning for twenty years. For street cred. Do you think he's black enough, Josh? You and ECB are seriously logically-challenged.

Posted by ss | April 30, 2008 8:39 AM
3

Does Oprah go there to get street cred?

Posted by keshmeshi | April 30, 2008 8:43 AM
4

Please ignore Josh: he no longer exists. Now back to your regularly scheduled SLOG

Posted by Andrew | April 30, 2008 8:46 AM
5

It's a positive among many negatives. But religions are always this way and that. One day your a friend, the next they don't play that. Thank the God's for the Constitution.

Posted by Vince | April 30, 2008 8:50 AM
6

Look, we don't need to know why BHO joined the church; we need to know why he stayed. For twenty years. Why he claims Wright is his spiritual mentor on the one hand, yet "disowns" his shenanigans on the other.

There is simply no logical explanation for this, try as the Obamatons might, to spin this. BHO is either lying or guilty of extremely poor judgment...both of which go to the core of his message of being a different kind of pol.

Face it. He's painted himself into a corner on this one.

Posted by fluteprof | April 30, 2008 8:52 AM
7

Josh,

Do psuedo-pundit wannbes like yourself have nothing better to do with your time than pyschoanalyze his choice in churches from 20 years ago?

Seriously - get a hobby.

Posted by nope not here dude | April 30, 2008 8:56 AM
8

yes, fluteprof. because no one else, in the history of the world, has ever had a mentor who they've disagreed with, let alone a priest or pastor. also, mentor's never change their views as they grow older. and finally, no one has ever become more outspoken when given the opportunity to go on national tv.

clearly, obama knew this guy would go on a rampage to ruin his chances for the presidency. why would you let someone mentor you who's only desire is to destroy you? obama certainly has much explaining to do....

Posted by infrequent | April 30, 2008 9:00 AM
9

Fluteprof-

In the end, it won't matter. Because just like everything else they try to pin on my guy, it doesn't stick. He WILL be the nominee. The sooner you accept it the better. He is a better politician than Hillary in every way, shape, and form. And Hillary's negatives are so astronomically high that she would never be able to succeed in pursuing a progressive agenda anyway. 51 percent of the country flat out does not like her. And that number will only increase. I love how HIllary supporters even want to get into the game of shady connections. Talk about stepping on a land mine!

The bottom line is that if this is the worst you have on Obama, the general will be a breeze. So suck it.

Posted by ss | April 30, 2008 9:03 AM
10

Josh will always be welcome to share his thoughts on Slog. In fact, we've implanted a chip in his brain that compels him to do so at least once a week for the rest of his life.

Posted by Dan Savage | April 30, 2008 9:08 AM
11

It just kills me that this whole Wright thing is even an issue anymore!! I can't believe that one nutty minister is going to "derail" his whole campaign. How many shady characters did the Bush family hang out with and nobody blinked a fucking eye? It's just such an obvious double standard it's sickening.

Posted by double standard | April 30, 2008 9:12 AM
12

Obama was in the state legislature for eight of those twenty years, and in the U.S. Senate for over three; that's twelve years during which he could count on being in Chicago on Sunday morning maybe once or twice a month, not "every Sunday morning for twenty years", since the Illinois state legislature meets in Springfield, not a commuting distance from Chicago, not even from the South Side of Chicago. At most, you're looking at Obama listening to 50% of Wright's sermons but hearing about 100% of his work among the poor, his work for voter enfranchisement, his work for the sick, and his voice for equality of all, including LGBT, white, brown, yellow, and differently abled people. I'd be glad to hear the last of this "controversy" that the Right has created.

Posted by Calpete | April 30, 2008 9:25 AM
13

Arguing with fluteprof is as productive as arguing with UnPC. You're yelling into the wind, guys.

Posted by keshmeshi | April 30, 2008 9:36 AM
14

Obabma's church has something like 10,000 members. I would guess that, like any large church, there are dozens of assistant pastors. So even if he were there every Sunday (which only dorks do), it's not like he would hear the good Reverend every week.

But the simple-minded believe anything, without any critical evaluation.

Posted by Catalina Vel-DuRay | April 30, 2008 9:55 AM
15

Fluteprof has been a vocal supporter of Sen. Clinton for several months on SLOG. I don't believe for a second that if it had been Hillary attending Rev. Wright's church, fluteprof would be so offended. It's hypocritical, but understandable; if you don't like Obama in the first place, of course you'll cling to any opportunity to criticize him, regardless of its frivolity. We've seen it in people who dislike Hillary as well.

The only people pointing to Sen. Obama's church as an example of poor judgment are those looking really, really hard for one. I think there's a good counterargument: Had he known that he was going to be running for President in a few years, certainly he would have avoided controversial relationships.

But avoiding interesting people limits your perspective.

Posted by C | April 30, 2008 9:57 AM
16
Obama - “What particularly angered me is his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks was somehow political posturing,” Mr. Obama said. “Anybody who knows me and anybody who knows what I’m about knows that I’m about trying to bridge gaps and I see the commonality in all people.”

I thought that Wright was one of the those that knew him. Who does know him? Who are his long time people?

Calpete - just for the record, the state senator job is part time and he retained his residence in Chicago. I doubt he stayed in Springfield over weekends as it is only a 3 hour drive.

If you have any details of the actual things he has done for the poor, voting rights etc. that would be helpful.


Posted by McG | April 30, 2008 10:02 AM
17

Obama has known about Wright's controversial views for at least over a year, and we've known he knows for that long as well.

New York Times
April 30, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/us/politics/30obama.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

On the Sunday after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Mr. Wright said the attacks were a consequence of violent American policies. Four years later he wrote that the attacks had proved that “people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just ‘disappeared’ as the Great White West went on its merry way of ignoring Black concerns.”

Provocative Assertions

Such statements involve “a certain deeply embedded anti-Americanism,” said Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative group that studies religious issues and public policy. “A lot of people are going to say to Mr. Obama, are these your views?”

Mr. Obama says they are not.

“The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without justification,” he said in a recent interview. He was not at Trinity the day Mr. Wright delivered his remarks shortly after the attacks, Mr. Obama said, but “it sounds like he was trying to be provocative.”

“Reverend Wright is a child of the 60s, and he often expresses himself in that language of concern with institutional racism and the struggles the African-American community has gone through,” Mr. Obama said. “He analyzes public events in the context of race. I tend to look at them through the context of social justice and inequality.”

Despite the canceled invocation, Mr. Wright prayed with the Obama family just before his presidential announcement. Asked later about the incident, the Obama campaign said in a statement, “Senator Obama is proud of his pastor and his church.”

In March, Mr. Wright said in an interview that his family and some close associates were angry about the canceled address, for which they blamed Obama campaign advisers but that the situation was “not irreparable,” adding, “Several things need to happen to fix it.”

Asked if he and Mr. Wright had patched up their differences, Mr. Obama said: “Those are conversations between me and my pastor.”

Mr. Wright, who has long prided himself on criticizing the establishment, said he knew that he may not play well in Mr. Obama’s audition for the ultimate establishment job.

“If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me,” Mr. Wright said with a shrug. “I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.”

Posted by chicagogaydude | April 30, 2008 10:08 AM
18

@15 good point. i keep momentarily forgetting it was only a few months ago we had to convince people that obama wasn't a muslim (as far as we know).

of course, if obama was a muslim, but joined a christian church to try to dispel the rumor, he'd be willing to denounce his pastor. but he probably choose that church, because as an america-hating muslim, he agreed with the message. i can't believe how clear it is becoming...

Posted by infrequent | April 30, 2008 10:08 AM
19

I call bullshit on this. I expect Obama to be fully accountable for everything Wright says. He wants to be president? He should be accountable for everything every one of his past acquaintances says. Where's his high school music teacher? I heard she's an elitist. And his gym teacher? He said something somewhat racist once. When is mister high-and-mighty going to account for those? I suppose he'll just throw them under the bus as well.

Posted by saynayer | April 30, 2008 10:11 AM
20

I can't believe I'm responding to McG here-- someone who can't take a moment to search "obama civil rights" or "obama poverty" or "obama voting rights".

But here's a short list.

You know Obama's first job was as a community organizer, where he helped communities organize themselves enough to get their apartments tested for asbestos and local community/job-training centers built. He headed a huge voter registration drive on the South Side, 150,000 new African-American voters. In IL he passed a law against racial profiling-- one of the nation's first-- and reformed the death penalty system, which had executed something like 13 later exonerated people. In the Senate he worked to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act.

As an attorney Obama worked on cases where the firm represented community organizers, pursued discrimination claims (wrongful firing), and on voting rights cases.

He created the Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income working families (about $105m in tax relief) in 2000 and succeeded in making it permanent in 2003.

Obama helped the IL Early Learning Council to expand early-childhood education. In the US Senate, his very first bill was to increase the maximum Pell Grant. He had a new plan to create Teacher Residency programs. He's a member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee.

In 2003, Obama passed legislation that expanded IL health care coverage, and cosponsored both the Healthy Kids Act and The State Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007.

I suggest that if you have a question about Obama's record on specific issues and you'd like to see his positions at the same time, you should look at the Blueprint (a pdf) in the proper section for every issue under Obama's Record.

Sorry about the length, McG! This looks almost like an unPC post... I hope it makes more sense.

Posted by C | April 30, 2008 10:40 AM
21

If that portion jumps out, why not bold it like all the other silly bold portions in other posts.

Is that a mandated format at slog? Must all posts have one phrase in bold?

Posted by Fiend | April 30, 2008 10:48 AM
22

The left never hollered when Bush got the blessings of Falwell? Please people, hypocrisy, left or right, sucks.

Posted by Vince | April 30, 2008 2:24 PM
23

I disagree that Wright is a Falwell of the left.

Posted by V | April 30, 2008 10:43 PM

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