Obama '08?

Finn, I think the Democratic Party and the press have already carried this guy too far and have invested their entire movement in this guy now.

They blithely ignore what he might be really about, because hey, he supposedly gave a great speech, thats it. I still puzzle over that...

okie wrote:

Finn, I think the Democratic Party and the press have already carried this guy too far and have invested their entire movement in this guy now.

Are we talking about the same press who engaged in a feeding frenzy this weekend showing and discussing the Wright video? That press?

Nancy Pelosi on This Week


"If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what's happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic party..."

Roxxxanne wrote:

Nancy Pelosi on This Week


"If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what's happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic party..."

Isnt she the master of understatement!

Is Rev. Wright waving his palms today?

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

nimh wrote:

Welcoming all your input here:

The Wright thing - how much effect will it have on Obama 08?

It will hurt him in the primaries, and it it will hurt him more in the general election (if he makes it that far).

Anything that tarnishes the gild of Obama the New Political Messiah, hurts his chance.

He peaked too soon.

No, I think you are incorrect. In the end, it won't hurt him much at all. B/c statements made by other people are never as damaging to candidates as people make them out to be.

Who is it going to hurt him with in the general - Republicans, like yourself, who already weren't going to vote for him?

What evidence do you have that it's going to hurt him? None, really, just your supposition that it will. I don't really think that's all that good a metric, personally

Cycloptichorn

Rev. Wright is waving good-bye!

Why would anyone want to call this specimen, Rev in the first place?

Sen. Obama declined to comment on Rev. Wright's denunciations of the United States

Obama Disavows Pastor's Remarks

Looks like Barack Obama is kicking his crazy uncle out of the basement.

The Democratic presidential hopeful has compared his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, to an "old uncle" with whom he doesn't always agree. But with the controversial preacher's racially inflammatory remarks and sermons burning up the Internet over the past 24 hours or so, the Obama campaign had to respond with some tough love.

In a posting on Huffington Post late Friday afternoon, Obama called Wright's statements "inflammatory and appalling" and said, "Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue."

Obama also prepared for a blitz of interviews on the major cable television networks in an effort to quell the controversy.

Among his most controversial statements, Wright said African Americans should sing "God Damn America" instead of "God Bless America." And he suggested that the Unites States invited the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with its own "terrorism."

Wright just retired from Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where Obama, his wife, Michelle and their two young daughters attend. But Wright's sermons have been immortalized on the Internet -- unfortunately for Obama.

In one, Wright told his congregation the reason why "so many folks are hating on Barack Obama" is because he doesn't "fit the model: He ain't white, he ain't rich and he ain't privileged."

"Hillary [Clinton] fits the mold," Wright said, delivering a fiery tirade on how "Hillary never had a cab whiz past her and not pick her up because her skin was the wrong color," and how "Hillary never had to worry about being pulled over as a black man driving" and how "Hillary was not a black boy raised in a single parent home."

He also said Hillary has never been called the "N word." (Wright used the actual word.)

On Huffington Post, Obama wrote, "The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church. "

As you can see in this mocked-up YouTube video, Republicans could have a field day using Wright as ammunition in a general election contest against Obama.

Todd Harris, a veteran GOP political strategist, tells us, "There are hundreds of churches in Chicago to choose from but Obama picked the one with a racist preacher who is anti-American and anti-Israel. This guy makes Louis Farrakhan look like Hello Kitty and we're going to have a field day with this."

Obama's "crazy uncle" problem is particularly troublesome for his campaign as he seeks to allay Jewish voters' concerns about his commitment to Israel and his endorsement from Black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan.

ABC News reviewed dozens of Rev. Wright's sermons and found "repeated denunciations of the U.S. based on what he described as his reading of the Gospels and the treatment of black Americans."

Before the senator commented Friday, the Obama campaign put out a statement saying, "Senator Obama has said repeatedly that personal attacks such as this have no place in this campaign or our politics, whether they're offered from a platform at a rally or the pulpit of a church. Senator Obama does not think of the pastor of his church in political terms. Like a member of his family, there are things he says with which Senator Obama deeply disagrees."

UPDATE: This evening, Rev. Wright stepped down from the African American Religious Leadership Committee, which was his only formal connection to the Obama campaign, according to Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor.