I’m ready for the attacks on Senator Obama over his pastor’s views to be over.
And, yes. I watched the speech.
Anyone who has a close relationship with their pastor has experienced what Barrack Obama described today. And there’s no reason to think that the Senator shared his pastor’s views on any issue at any time. In fact, he explicitly said today that he didn’t.
For me, the two most relevant pieces of the speech are these:
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.
[snip]
[Trinity] 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.
I go to church, and like Senator Obama, I’ve sat quietly in my seat listening to my pastor say things which with I’ve disagreed, oftentimes strongly. But that doesn’t mean that I believe him to be any less a man of God.
God is perfect. Men are fallible. Which means men like Pastor Wright are fallible, too. Pastor Wright brought Barrack Obama closer to God. That’s his life’s purpose. He is not a man of politics. That’s Senator Obama’s territory. And to hold Senator Obama responsible for Pastor Wright’s views is, in my view, totally unfair.
I hasten to add, it’s equally unfair when the media try to indict a conservative politician for attacking the religious views of his or her church. So let’s attack the double standard, but let’s not attack the candidates.
Related Posts
» The Post In Which I Disagree With Marshall
» Jeremiah Wright Represents the Worst of America
» Responding to Cam’s Response
» If We’re the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For, What Have We Been Waiting For?
» A Dear John Letter
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March 18, 2008 - 7:30 pm
Since when has a conservative US politician ever been criticized for his religious affiliation? It seems that the more outlandish and/or insane the church, the louder the Republican candidate will trumpet his or her membership, and the harder the party faithful will fight to get them elected.
Obama did a good thing today. His reluctance to throw his former pastor to the wolves - despite the political expediency of doing so - speaks volumes. What’s more, the criticism coming out of the very same mouths that once praised the likes of Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed, and Jerry Falwell rings so hypocritical that any sane person has to stifle a laugh.
Sorry to rant in your comment section - love the blog, keep up the good work!
March 18, 2008 - 8:44 pm
Marshall, I do think Obama can be fairly criticized for his association with Pastor Wright and for his lack of public (or apparently private) denounciation of Wright’s vile comments.
We can choose freely where we worship, and I for one would not worship at a place where a pastor said such hateful things. I might confront the pastor first, and if not satisfied, then leave.
Just recently one of the priests in the church where I belong included “Patriotism” in the same list of foibles as alcoholism, sexual addiction, and co-dependency. He was trying to point out how these things make you blind to reality. Ummmm, I took a little offense to a priest equating patriotism with sexual abuse and let him know with an email. We had a good exchange and I’m pretty sure he won’t do it again.
I don’t make a habit of rebutting homilies, but if I do, it’s been because of a perceived slam against the military. I would never tolerate a priest who continually rails against the military.
Why should Obama tolerate a pastor who continually spews hatred against the majority of citizens of the country for which he wants to be president?
March 21, 2008 - 7:33 pm
I don’t hold Obama responsible for Reverend Wright’s (loathsome) views.
I do hold Obama responsible for his craven failure to repudiate those views, and distance himself from them, until Wright became a political liability in the midst of a presidential campaign.
It’s one thing to sit quietly through the sermons of a preacher you occasionally disagree with. It’s another to maintain a 20-year association with, give significant sums of money to, and raise your daughters in, a church whose pastor devolves into foaming-at-the-mouth racist and anti-American nuttery with alarming frequency.
March 23, 2008 - 12:52 pm
People choose their church because they agree with the message the church promotes. It makes perfect sense that Barack chose a church that promotes black liberation theology that God has to be black, and that gives an Afro centric focus. The theology is nothing less than black Marxist nationalism. The subtext is that whites are the fault of all their problems and to hate the white folks.
Now many blacks get seduced by this ideology and Barack was trying to identify himself as a black to get acceptance in south side black Chicago for his political ambitions. It worked for him in the local sense.
It is just for a national campaign, being identified, as a member of Black Nationalism is similar to a white being affiliated to the KKK.
This is deadly to his national campaign if he gets to be the nominee.
Now on the personal issue, if Barack did not agree with the philosophy, then why stay with the church for 20 years and decide to allow his children to be brought up in this hate speech environment. Barack did not have the moral courage to walk out or to address his disagreements with Rev. Wright. Now either Barack agreed or did not have the courage to disagree. Shows a flawed character. How can he stand up to America’s enemies?
Also the church has a decided anti Israel and pro Palestinian slant. Note that Hamas, a terrorist organization had a pastoral letter published by the church.
The impact of the videos has a devasting impact on the voters. This is a deal breaker.
What I cannot understand is how he thought this would not come out as the church sold the DVD’s. Perhaps he never thought his candidacy would go so far and then he was stuck. He could not bring it up and as long as the Clintons did not he thought he might be safe. The month before he was addressing a Jewish group and got a question from the audience that quoted Rev Wright and asked for an explanation. Barack gave the answer that Rev. Wright was like a crazy uncle and shrugged it off.
I would never vote for a candidate that willing and voluntarily chose to affiliate for 20 years with and anti American group and that hated whites and pushed Black nationalism. Most of Americans would not also.
May 1, 2008 - 1:30 pm
[…] few weeks ago, when the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright first hit the front pages, I wrote a post defending Senator Obama. I argued that it was unfair to hold the Senator responsible for what his […]