Friday, March 14, 2008

Obama on his Pastor

On My Faith and My Church

3 comments:

Brian said...

This is getting ridiculous.

Obama's strategy team needs to be more aggressive in countering these attacks...while at the same time, keeping him on message in terms of the issues.

Right now I just see attention focused on what someone's Pastor said years ago. (why isn't Clinton getting this kind of scrutiny?...and why hasn't McCain been held to account for actually accepting the endorsement of a known bigot & hate monger? This is much worse than anything Obama has or has not done, yet Obama is getting all the scrutiny).

Obama should be using this time to focus on issues... who has the best plan...and hammering away at Clinton and McCain. Instead he is giving weak responses to these attacks. I don't recall hearing one plan from Obama in the past 1-2weeks.

The media seems to be in cahoots with Clinton in this smear effort.

I am having more doubts about Obama's candidacy. Not because he's not a good choice or that he doesn't have what it takes... but because of his inherent vulnerabilities as a Black person running for the highest office in one of the most racists Countries on earth. This is the very reason that I did not believe he would make it. I anticipated the racial attacks... the smears, the swiftboating... I saw much of this playing out in my mind a year ago... This is why he did not seem viable. But I must admit... the attacks have been worse than I thought (and I thought I had the worst case scenarios covered). This is worse at least in terms of the Primary season... I didn't think we would see this kind of smear camaign until the General Election...with the legendary Republican machine.
But as it turns out... Obama is fighting two Republicans this election season instead of one.

And I also thought Clinton would be a poor choice for a candidate as well... because she is so toxic. But she has turned out to be more of an evil witch than I thought.

Neither candidate was my first choice... and we are seeing why. And it may be confirmed in November.

This has been like watching a horror movie that I have seen before.

And like one of our readers mentioned...this stuff is beginning to take a toll on the brain. I knew that the race nonsense would come up... (this is why I wasn't enthusiastic at first with Obama's candidacy). I knew the racial attacks, and that his intelligence and competency would be in question...because of his race (because we have to be 3 times as good as others...just to sit at the same table....just to be able to eat their crumbs.) I knew he would face these kinds of attacks because the U.S.A. is a nation that is racist to the core. Always has been...and will continue to be for several more generations. But I guess I am a little surprised by how brazen, aggressive and poisonous Clinton has been.

It is confirming many of the suspicions and feelings that I have had regarding race in America and how Whites feel about their priviledge, how they feel about non-whites, etc. Of course as a Black man in his mid-30's...I already knew much of this...but it's interesting when the confirmation is played out on a national stage.

At this rate... Obama may not make it to April 22nd... let alone to the final contests in June and ultimately to the Convention.

It appears as though Clinton (with the help of her friends in the corporate media) is trying to destroy Obama....to politically assassinate him so that he becomes so damaged for the General Election that the Superdelegates will end up choosing her. She wants to destroy his viability.
But as a consequence...she may end up destroying her Party's chances of winning in November.

One thing is for sure... this is making me hate the American political process even more.

The psychological warfare from the political candidates (especially Clinton) is beginning to take a toll. I would much rather hear about the various plans to fix the Country... that's if it can survive George Bush.

We are now facing a situation where the U.S. dollar could collapse, causing a global recession...or Depression conditions Worldwide.

On top of all of that... I have to deal with Hillary Clinton offending me as a Black man with her surrogates... I take the attacks on Barack Obama personally, even though he was not my first choice to be the nominee for Progressive change. That's what Hillary just doesn't understand.

A couple of days ago... she came out with some sorry apology... (I didn't even click on the yahoo article link)... She's TOO LATE.

How can she tout herself as a good candidate for Black people...without understanding the impact of what she has been doing? And I hate to even frame it that way... "candidate for Black people" ...because that is not how I want a politician to sell themselves to me... I want them to treat me like an American.... not a "Black American". I wish we could take race out of the mix... I wish Black folks would stop looking at politics from the race angle... it has limited their perspective for so long. So called "Black issues" are becoming American issues. But for the purpose of highlighting the irony... I wanted to raise that point, to show that she really doesn't know much about Black folks.

She clearly doesn't understand life for Black people at the ground level... she's only connected with Black elites... not with the masses of hard working, law abiding, struggling Black folks...who still hope for the American Dream (whatever the Hell that is... i'm not sure I know anymore).

The way that she thought using Bob Johnson would give her Black support and help catapult her to the nomination is just laughable. Clearly she did not have a clue. If she would have done a little homework on Johnson.... perhaps she would have figured out that Johnson is not loved by all Black people.

This whole election season is starting to become a drag. It's starting to affect my psyche too.

rikyrah said...

AI,

We knew that they would be going after Wright. He tells the truth too much.

Obama spoke about what Wright SAID.

He did not and would not repudiate Wright himself and made that clear.

Hasn't been a Black religious agitator YET, in the history of A-MERRY-CA that hasn't been labeled as UNpatriotic....by a bunch of mofos, that, if they'd had their say, our Black asses would STILL be the back of the bus.

Well, you all know I believe Trinity's gotten a bad rap, and it's because it's an activist church.

If it was a Sellout Prosperity Preaching Hustling ' I gots mine, you gets yours' church....nobody would say ANYTHING about it


As far as the commentators:

David Gergen, for an older White guy, damn near halfway gets it. Him bringing up Fredrick Douglass & July 4th, and then bringing it up to the present with a student who says that TODAY - her family doesn’t celebrate July 4th…and then, NOT allowing Wright’s patriotism to be questioned…..that’s a wee bit too deep for the average White viewer out there.


and AI,

better now, than 7 days before the PA Primary.

With the news about Bear Stearns, they'll be forced to discuss issues.

OF COURSE, it's a double standard with regards to Obama. we knew that would happen.

Constructive Feedback said...

[quote]But as it turns out... Obama is fighting two Republicans this election season instead of one[/quote]

Angry - Why is it that even the bluest of blue Democrat gets labeled as a "Republican" in your "good guy/bad guy" scheme?


Rikyrah -
[quote]We knew that they would be going after Wright. He tells the truth too much. [/quote]

Obama "DENOUNCED" the 'truth' that Wright spoke.

I have no problem with Wright providing "uncomfortable details" on the other side of the results of American policy. My problem is that he and others are Consumer Capitalistic Co-Conspirators - ingesting all that America feeds them and not saying a word about the murderous past while eating it.

When Wright was a Marine - a bullet fired from his gun and killing someone that America told him was ITS ENEMY would have been just as fatal to this other person if a White descendant from a slave holder had shot the bullet.

While I full reject "America love it or leave it" as a repressive statement - I advance the notion of "America - Stop Being A Capitalistic Consumer Co-Conspirator within a system that you resent and condemn at a fundamental basis".

Indeed Rev Wright has traveled overseas plenty of times. Unlike the enslaved ancestors that we all have in common.....he chose to use his American credentials to COME BACK HOME.

Some of you are able to write long novels about all that America has done in this world. The story about how much they chose to CONSUME IN AMERICA absent the same duress imposed upon the enslaved person is equally as SHORT in their rhetoric.

This, my dear, is called SELECTIVE OUTRAGE.