Obama's Speech in Response to the Wright Controversy

Quoting the extremist crazies at Hillaryis44.com means nothing. They are irrelevant in that their a tiny part of that base on one side or the other that won't change under any circumstance.

 

He said what people want to hear. Good for him. I'm not buying it.

 

Buying what, exactly?

 

No, B-Bob, desperate is having to hastily cobble together a speech on an uncomfortable topic because you are being decimated in the court of public opinion by your racist pastor's rants. Make no mistake, this was an effort to stop the bleeding. He'd have preferred to save this for a more opportune time, but had to play the race card now before it was too late. This is a serious issue, and as mentioned, it's not so much a race issue as it is a judgment issue. His link to Wright shows horrible judgment, and makes Obama's words about racial healing hypocritical (as Wright is such an open racist). His attempts to distance himself from Wright are laughable, given their close personal relationship over 20 years. The reason he joined that church was to create a base for him in Chicago and establish ties to actual black people -- something he didn't have after growing up in a white community, with a white mom, and attending Columbia and Harvard. He had to gain some street cred with his people. So when it's convenient for him, he's a member. Now when he's out there running for President, it's a politically inconvenient linkage, so he tries to run from it. He's a hypocrite, pure and simple, and no flowery words or razzmatazz changes that. Sorry

 

Well, I'm shocked.

 

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This part was just plain funny.

 

Except that he didn't run from it. In fact, he did the exact opposite. It's almost as though you didn't even read/hear the speech.

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way


But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.


In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:


"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild."


That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.


And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.


I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.


These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.



Where, exactly, did he run from it?

 

It was a great speech on Race. However, he didn't answer the questions Obama detractors wanted to hear. In fact, he kinda contradicted some of the things he said to the media prior to this speech.

Here's a paragragh from the draft of the speech that seems to contradict earlier statements by Obama:

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

Didn't Obama say to the media the last couple of days that he didn't recall hearing any of Wright's controversial statements, at least not the ones on youtube or on tv? Maybe he didn't but Obama implied that he hadn't heard anything like them either. So now in his speech today, he says he did hear them?

He still has to explain how he could be a member of that church for 20 years and not know anything about Wright's bigoted views.

The mainstream media is going to say CASE CLOSED and move on. However, I don't think that many people are going to let this go. This is just the beginning of more racial tension and divide for the Democratic party.

 

Yes, I am sure if he merely answered those questions, the detraction would cease immediately!

The funny thing is that the standard anti-Obama line is that "he has no substance, he jsut talks about things in an interesting way, rather than boring speeches about policy!" - which makes it ironic insofar as they only focus on supremely irrlevant details.

None of these details seem to have much traction. We've gone from Obama being a secret muslim to Obama being a radical christian in the span of a week, even more quickly than we went from "black people don't trust obama" to the "only black people want obama!" line.

Obama detractors, answer me this: how come you suck so much at detraction?

 

Because he's BSing the American public.

Last week he says to everyone he never HEARD Wright say those things at church. Now in his OWN speech, not only does he say he HEARD these things, but is now asking us to come together and not just talk about our divides but that we must act! How can Obama ask us to "do our part" when the first instance leading to multiple instances of his pastor using hate speeches for over 20 years he did not act himself? He let it side for 20 years. And to add INSULT TO INJURY - Obama rewards him by asking him to join his campaign as spiritual advisor?

But just three weeks ago, when asked about his church at a campaign event, Obama replied: "I don't think that my church is actually particularly controversial. It is a member of the United Church of Christ. It's got a choir. We sing hymnals. We talk about scripture. You would feel at home if you were there."

This speech was politically driven, nothing more, nothing less.

That is why people are having a hard time believing his JUDGMENTS which this whole thing is about in the FIRST place.

 

I was hoping he said something like this, "Mr. Meowgi, I am cutting the NASA budget because I like hearing you squawk."

 

Sounds like you should vote for John McCain.

Your reading comprehension is lacking though.

Obama said in his speech that he heard Wright say controversial things. Before the speech, Obama said that he did not hear the "God Damn America" sermon. There is no contradiction here.

 

Obama said on TV that he didn't hear that "God Damn America" speech or OTHER controversial speeches in person at church and if he did, he wouldn't tolerate it. OK..so now in TODAY's speech he says...he HAS heard OTHER controversial sermons. So which is it? Did he hear them or not? If he did hear them then why did he let it slide for 20 years?

His EXACT WORDS today...

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes.

That is a contradiction to what he said to the media the last few days.
I'm not sold on McCain either.

 

This answers my question perfectly - thanks very much.

 

It baffles me that people can't understand this. I always say at work though: the more transparent you are, as a leader (or potential leader), the more you're going to get nailed by your detractors. Honesty has a huge political cost.

And here it is in honest, detailed speak. He was not present for the "hate America" speech. Check. He did, however, hear other comments in other sermons that he disagreed with. Check. What exactly is confusing?

Again, you don't like him or his message, absolutely fine. But to obsess over and spin the what-speech-exactly-did-he-hear-and-was-he-asleep-or-awake-and-and-and-(gasps-for-breath)... not productive, and definitely not interesting. To say today's speech avoids something just blows me away, if someone reads it. To say what T_J says, that it's a political ace-in-the-hole that Obama is playing earlier than he wanted... okay, that's cynical spin but at least it's interesting.

 

Maybe you shouldn't vote this year.

There's always John Taylor Bowles...

I'll add the smiley to show I'm joking:

 

... yeah but ... TJ did not even read the speech ... and ... would have wrote what he wrote no matter what was in the speech

 

So now we have reached the point of hacking what Obama has said in an attempt to find something - ANYTHING - to hang a hat on to discredit him or make him out to be a bad guy.

To me, that is what makes this election so difficult. If it ends up being Obama and McCain, it will be a campaign between two men who I believe are good guys.

I am not an Obama supporter, but I do not believe that he is a bad person or somehow morally disqualified to serve.

I believe that Obama and McCain are good men who want what is best for our nation. I believe that the two disagree on what actions will be best for our nation over the long term.

 

I said earlier he gave a great speech on the bigger picture - Race issue in this country. It will be a speech that many people will talk about for some time. However, all I'm saying is that he didn't answer the questions his opponents wanted. He's going to need to do a lot more on this issue. This isn't going away. He also contradicted himself in his own speech. He talks about "changing" and "doing our part". Was he doing his part for the past 20 years as a member of Wright's church? Was he doing everything he could to maybe Enlighten his Pastor? Was he doing his part then? For him to say in his speech we need to act, where was his actions? How can you support his Pastor but not his views?

 

If the detractions were so weak, why does Obama feel the need to come out and give the speech he did today.

Maybe some of those detractions were legit.