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Tony_Balony
Joined: 12 Apr 2007
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 Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:16 am Post subject: Obama Attended Hate America Sermon |
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Obama Attended Hate America Sermon
Sunday, March 16, 2008 7:14 PM
By: Ronald Kessler Article Font Size
Obama claims he was completely unaware that the Reverend Wright�s trademark preaching style at the Trinity United Church of Christ targeted �white� America.
Contrary to Senator Barack Obama�s claim that he never heard his pastor Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. preach hatred of America, Obama was in the pews last July 22 when the minister blamed the �white arrogance� of America�s Caucasian majority for the world�s suffering, especially the oppression of blacks.
Senator Obama has sought to separate himself from his pastor�s incendiary remarks, issuing a statement Friday rejecting them as �inflammatory and appalling� but failing to renounce Wright himself for his venomous and paranoid denunciations of America.
In his press release, Obama claimed, �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 [United Church of Christ] or heard him utter in private conversation.�
Appearing on cable news shows this past weekend, Obama claimed when he saw recent videos that have Wright making such comments as �God damn America,� he was �shocked.� Obama implied that the reverend had not used such derogatory language in any of the church services Obama attended over the past two decades.
If Obama�s claims are true that he was completely unaware that Wright�s trademark preaching style at the Trinity United Church of Christ has targeted �white� America and Israel, he would have been one of the few people in Chicago to be so uninformed. Wright�s reputation for spewing hate is well known.
In fact, Obama was present in the South Side Chicago church on July 22 last year when Jim Davis, a freelance correspondent for Newsmax, attended services along with Obama. [See: �Obama�s Church: Cauldron of Division.�]
In his sermon that day, Wright tore into America, referring to the �United States of White America� and lacing his sermon with expletives as Obama listened. Hearing Wright�s attacks on his own country, Obama had the opportunity to walk out, but Davis said the senator sat in his pew and nodded in agreement.
Addressing the Iraq war, Wright thundered, �Young African-American men� were �dying for nothing.� The �illegal war,� he shouted, was �based on Bush�s lies� and is being �fought for oil money.�
Obama spoke in Miami Beach at 1:30 p.m. that day but had plenty of time in a chartered jet to attend church and speak at the National Council of La Raza. The church has Sunday services at 8:30 a.m., noon, and 7 p.m. EST.
Obama�s most famous celebrity backer, Oprah Winfrey began attending Wright�s church in 1984. Last year, Newsmax magazine reported that Winfrey abruptly stopped attending years ago, and suggested that she did so to distance herself from Wright�s inflammatory rhetoric. She soon found herself a target of Wright, who excoriated her for having broken with �traditional faith.�
The Reverend Wright�s anti-white theology that Senator Obama expressed surprise over is evident on the church�s website. The site says the congregation subscribes to what it calls the Black Value System, which is described as a disavowal of �our racist competitive society� and the pursuit of �middle-classness.� That is defined as a way for American society to �snare� blacks rather than �killing them off directly� or �placing them in concentration camps,� just as the country structures �an economic environment that induces captive youth to fill the jails and prisons.�
�In the 21st century, white America got a wake-up call after 9/11/01,� Wright wrote in the church-affiliated magazine Trumpet four years after the attacks. �White America and the western world came to realize that people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just �disappeared� as the Great White West kept on its merry way of ignoring black concerns.�
The Relationship Unravels
Senator Obama now is attempting to minimize his long and close relationship with the controversial minister.
On Friday, John McCain�s campaign distributed a Wall Street Journal op-ed �Obama and the Minister� written under my byline based on my reporting for Newsmax going back to early January of this year.
The op-ed included details of a sermon Wright gave at Howard University blaming America for starting the AIDS virus, training professional killers, importing drugs, shamelessly supporting Israel, and creating a racist society that would never elect a black man as president. [See: �Obama�s Minister�s Hatred of America.�]
Obama�s campaign quickly responded to the Wall Street Journal op-ed, posting a statement on the Huffington Post. In his statement, Obama acknowledged that some of Wright�s statements have been �inflammatory and appalling.�
Saying he strongly condemns Wright�s comments, Obama continued, �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.� [emphasis added]
Again, Obama moved to narrowly distance himself from specific comments Wright had made, while still praising his minister in recent interviews for leading him to Jesus and preaching a �social gospel.�
Obama went on to claim that he first learned about Wright�s controversial statements when he began his presidential campaign. But this assertion conflicts with the fact that just before Obama�s nationally televised campaign kickoff rally on Feb. 10, 2007, the candidate disinvited Wright from giving the public invocation.
At the time, Wright explained: �When [Obama�s] enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli� to visit Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, �a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell.�
According to Wright, Obama then told him, �'You can get kind of rough in the sermons, so what we�ve decided is that it�s best for you not to be out there in public.'� Still, Obama and his family prayed privately with Wright just before the presidential announcement.
Apparently Obama never foresaw Wright�s sermons making national television or becoming a sensation on YouTube. But lending graphic detail to the saga, ABC News and other networks began running a 2003 sermon in which Wright said, �The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing �God Bless America.� No, no, no, God damn America, that�s in the Bible, for killing innocent people ... God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.� [Click Here to see video]
Obama has described Wright as a sounding board and mentor. Wright is one of the first people Obama thanked after his election to the Senate in 2004. Obama consulted Wright before deciding to run for president. The title of Obama�s bestseller �The Audacity of Hope� comes from one of Wright�s sermons. Obama�s �Yes We Can!� slogan is one of Wright�s exhortations.
Apologists for Wright have said that what he says is normal in black churches, and many blacks claim such preaching cannot be understood by whites.
�If you�re black, it�s hard to say what you truly think and not upset white people,� the New York Times quoted James Cone as saying. Cone is a professor at Union Theological Seminary and the father of what is known as black liberation theology.
But Juan Williams, a Fox News commentator and author of �Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America,� tells Newsmax that Wright�s sermons reflect �the victim mindset that is so self-defeating in the black community and one that is played on by weak black leadership that chooses to have black people identified as victims rather than inspiring them as people who have overcome. In posing as victims, they say the most prejudiced and vicious things, not only about whites but about America. They call it theology. In fact, it�s nothing but bigotry.�
In failing to condemn Wright himself and claiming that he was unaware of the preacher�s hate-filled speech, Obama is continuing a longstanding pattern.
Obama often refers to Wright as being "like an old uncle, who sometimes says things I don't agree with." Wright is not Obama�s �uncle� � a person born into a blood relationship � but a man he has cultivated for decades as a close friend, mentor and adviser.
After Newsmax broke the story on Jan. 14 that Wright�s church gave an award to Louis Farrakhan in December for lifetime achievement, Obama again sought to denounce his minister�s action without criticizing Wright himself.
Like Wright, Farrakhan has repeatedly made hate-filled statements targeting Jews (calling Judaism a �gutter religion�), whites, and America. He has called whites �blue-eyed devils� and the �anti-Christ.� He has described Jews as �bloodsuckers� who control the government, the media, and some black organizations.
After the Newsmax story, Obama issued a statement purportedly addressing the issue.
"I decry racism and anti-Semitism in every form and strongly condemn the anti-Semitic statements made by Minister Farrakhan," Obama said.
Again, Obama was careful not to condemn Farrakhan himself or Wright who had spoken adoringly of Farrakhan and put their church behind the award to the controversial Nation of Islam leader.
�When Minister Farrakhan speaks, black America listens,� Trumpet quoted Wright as saying. �His depth on analysis [sic] when it comes to the racial ills of this nation is astounding and eye-opening. He brings a perspective that is helpful and honest.�
Obama adroitly said, �I assume that Trumpet magazine made its own decision to honor Farrakhan based on his efforts to rehabilitate ex-offenders, but it is not a decision with which I agree.�
In fact, Trumpet is published by Wright�s church using the church�s offices. Wright�s daughters serve as publisher and executive editor.
Having gotten away with sidestepping Wright�s adoring comments about Farrakhan, Obama told Jewish leaders flatly in Cleveland on Jan. 24 that the award was because of Farrakhan�s work with ex-offenders. To date, no news outlet has pointed out that Obama�s claim is false.
Obama went on to explain away Wright�s anti-Zionist statements as being rooted in his anger over the Jewish state�s support for South Africa under its previous policy of apartheid. As with his claim that the award to Farrakhan was made because of his work with ex-offenders, Obama made that up. Wright�s statements denouncing Israel have not been qualified in any way.
On Fox News� Hannity & Colmes on Friday, Obama said he would have quit the church if he had �repeatedly� been present when Wright made inflammatory statements. He was not asked why he did not quit the church when it gave an award to Farrakhan.
Having considered Wright a friend and mentor for two decades, Obama now often mentions that his pastor recently retired. Wright suggested to the New York Times last year that he and Obama might have to do something of a distancing act in the run up to the election.
"If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me," Wright was quoted by The New York Times. "I said it to Barack personally, and he said, �Yeah, that might have to happen.'"
Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com. View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via e-mail. Go here now. |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:34 am Post subject: |
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| I think Obama's mother is white. Obama does not strike me as someone who hates white people at all. Just as there are people in the white community who make incendiary comments, there are those in the black community who do who happen to be their friends. I had a good friend who made all kinds of racist statements. I didn't care for her statements, but I still liked her as my friend. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:56 am Post subject: |
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| Adventurer wrote: |
| I think Obama's mother is white. Obama does not strike me as someone who hates white people at all. Just as there are people in the white community who make incendiary comments, there are those in the black community who do who happen to be their friends. I had a good friend who made all kinds of racist statements. I didn't care for her statements, but I still liked her as my friend. |
I think Obama is a good person. On the other hand he wants to be president of the US, not head of the school board.
Standing up to someone like his Pastor is acting presidential. If he was there and he said nothing then he failed the test. |
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agentX
Joined: 12 Oct 2007
Location: Jeolla province
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:10 am Post subject: |
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Sorry guys and gals, but you should know better than the trust Right-Wing media hacks like Kristol.
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/kristol_bungles_key_fact_in_an.php
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The error is in trusting the source without checking.
The truth is that Obama did not attend church on July 22.
He was on his way to campaign in Miami. |
Sorry if you all were misled. But now you know what the average FOX viewer feels like- led around the barn by the wily farmboy. I gotta come up with better metaphors. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:18 am Post subject: |
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| agentX wrote: |
Sorry guys and gals, but you should know better than the trust Right-Wing media hacks like Kristol.
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/kristol_bungles_key_fact_in_an.php
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The error is in trusting the source without checking.
The truth is that Obama did not attend church on July 22.
He was on his way to campaign in Miami. |
Sorry if you all were misled. But now you know what the average FOX viewer feels like- led around the barn by the wily farmboy. I gotta come up with better metaphors. |
Does anyone in Korea get Fox News? |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:50 am Post subject: |
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| In his sermon that day, Wright tore into America, referring to the �United States of White America |
You'd have to be some sort of afro-supremacist, anti-American radical to refer to the USA in such terms. Probably the kind of racial agitator who would call the US The United States Of Lyncherdom. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:05 am Post subject: |
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| lacing his sermon with expletives |
I wonder if those were any of the same expletives that John McCain is famous for using.
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| �McCain used the f-word,� the former senator said. �McCain called the guy a �sh�head.� The senator demanded an apology. McCain stood up and said, �I apologize, but you�re still a sh�head.� That was in front of 40 to 50 Republican senators. That sort of thing happened frequently.� |
http://www.azcongresswatch.com/?p=1893 |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:19 am Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
| You'd have to be... |
But the South settled down, especially post-1968. One difference, then, is that while Mark Twain sarcastically wrote about a problem that currently plagued the South, the unforgiving Jeremiah Wright is bitterly castigating the South for something that ended, decisively ended, decades ago. African-Americans are well represented in all three branches of fed govt today; indeed, Obama might just take the presidency. We also see African-American governors, sheriffs, etc., at the state and local level. African-Americans vote and serve on juries as well. This problem, especially lynching, ended long ago. And this guy is stuck in a time warp, cultivating bitterness that need not be cultivated when healing and a forward-looking vision are most needed today.
Also, I have not used "the South" three times here accidentally. Both Twain and this unforgiving minister unduly privilege the South when discussing "the United States." The South is not "the United States" but merely one part of it. Other sections experienced different historical trajectories, especially with respect to African-Americans. "The United States" fought a long, bloody war against the South. The American govt then attempted Congressional Reconstruction, and civil rights legislation under FDR, Truman, and finally LBJ. Let us not forget the 14th Amendment and decisions like Brown. It took so long because state and local conditions die hard. Ours is a national govt that has a history of balancing its power with states' rights, since the Federalist-Antifederalist debates, debates which persist today in one form or another. The national govt has never been able to simply march into state X, Y, or Z and impose its will. You, Twain, and Obama's former minister are wholly ignoring these good-faith efforts and actual developments to incorporate African-Americans into American society as equals, On the Other Hand. So my answer is that you do not necessarily need be an antiAmerican radical to say such things, although that is exactly what Wright appears to be -- just very narrow-minded and unwilling to explore the larger context, which is what anyone who sees logic in "the United States of White America" or "the United States of Lyncherdom" must be.
This represents irresponsible, emotionally-driven, identity politics, then. MLK would probably have walked away from this just as Obama has. Why aren't you? |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:40 am Post subject: |
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| You, Twain, and Obama's former minister are wholly ignoring these good-faith efforts and actual developments to incorporate African-Americans into American society as equals, On the Other Hand. |
Well, I'm pleased to hear that I'm part of the same social clique as one of the greatest writers of all time!
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| this unforgiving minister is bitterly castigating the South for something that ended, decisively ended, decades ago |
Actually, I think his "United States Of White America" crack was meant as a comment on race relations generally, not specifically about lynching and segregation, which I'm sure he knows have ended.
And, while I don't have any direct quotes handy, it wouldn't surprise me if you, Gopher, when arguing with some self-righteous Canadian nationalist on Dave's, have drawn attention to the generally abysmal state of white/indian relations in Canada. You might not call it The White Dominion Of Canada, seeing as how you're not a firebrand minister, but the general point would be the same.
But you can let me know if I've misrepresented your position, and that you would never in a million years dream of drawing attention to some negative aspect of Canadian life when arguing with a Canadian nationalist. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:47 am Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
| Well, I'm pleased to hear that I'm part of the same social clique as one of the greatest writers of all time! |
You are welcome. You do write well.
| On the other hand wrote: |
| And, while I don't have any direct quotes handy, it wouldn't surprise me if you, Gopher, when arguing with some self-righteous Canadian nationalist on Dave's, have drawn attention to the generally abysmal state of white/indian relations in Canada. You might not call it The White Dominion Of Canada, seeing as how you're not a firebrand minister, but the general point would be the same. |
My position on "abysmal Indian conditions" has usually been that I would rather be an Indian in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or the United States than anywhere else where Western Europeans colonized Indian peoples and cultures. Latin American Indians, especially in Chile, Guatemala, Peru live in abysmal conditions.
My position is that Canadian nationalists who preach, as you say, self-righteously, about abysmal Indian conditions in the United States, do not really care about "abysmal Indian conditions" inasmuch as they have merely seized on a convenient pretext to bash America. Because if they truly cared about "abysmal Indian conditions" they would see they have bigger fish to fry than the United States -- for example, the Guatemalan military that continued to hunt them down and murder them en masse with helicopter gunships only two decades ago, or Peru's Sendero Luminoso's brutal insurgency and President Alberto Fujimori's equally brutal response to it through the mid-1990s. Why are their priorities so out-of-whack if it is not antiAmericanism? Either that or Canadians are not the worldly-wise cosmopolitans they brag they are when they cite passport numbers and they simply do not know about these things...
In any case, surely you must recognize that Wright's position is entirely unreasonable?
Last edited by Gopher on Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:57 am; edited 1 time in total |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:55 am Post subject: |
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| My position on "abysmal Indian conditions" has usually been that I would rather be an Indian in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or the United States than anywhere else where Western Europeans colonized Indian peoples and cultures. Latin American Indians, especially in Chile, Guatemala, Peru live in abysmal conditions. |
Well sure. But then you're basically saying the same sort of thing about Spain that Wright was saying about the US, albeit in less inflammatory tones.
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| You do write well. |
Back at ya. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:00 pm Post subject: |
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| In any case, surely you must recognize that Wright's position is entirely unreasonable? |
Well, stripped of the rhetorical fireworks, how exactly would you characterize Wright's position? If he's saying that racism continues to hobble the advancement of African-Americans to some degree, I'd probably have to go along with that, just as I would agree that the same thing is true about indians in Canada.
But if he's saying that the US is unique in dumping on marginalized cultural groups, I would disagree. But I don't think that's what he's saying. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:03 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
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| My position on "abysmal Indian conditions" has usually been that I would rather be an Indian in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or the United States than anywhere else where Western Europeans colonized Indian peoples and cultures. Latin American Indians, especially in Chile, Guatemala, Peru live in abysmal conditions. |
Well sure. But then you're basically saying the same sort of thing about Spain that Wright was saying about the US, albeit in less inflammatory tones. |
But, assuming I was on a mission to attack racism and especially "abysmal Indian conditions," it would not be unreasonable to criticize the Guatemalan govt and military for using gunships to murder tens of thousands of Indians, or to critique Sendero Luminoso and the Fujimori Administration.
I want to emphasize this difference, On the Other Hand. Because I am not criticizing "Spain," "Chile," "Guatemala," or "Peru" with one fell swoop. I know that multiple Spanish factions, beginning with B. Las Casas, made the case for Indian rights throughout the colonial era. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:06 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
| But if he's saying that the US is unique in dumping on marginalized cultural groups, I would disagree. But I don't think that's what he's saying. |
He is speaking as one who scapegoats, hates, and despises the United States. He colors the entire thing and its entire historical experience with one broad, simplistic brush.
This position is not helpful when it comes to attacking enduring social problems in America. He might have just alienated the next president, and severely limited his options on civil rights, for example. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:14 pm Post subject: |
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| But, assuming I was on a mission to attack racism and especially "abysmal Indian conditions," it would not be unreasonable to criticize the Guatemalan govt and military for using gunships to murder tens of thousands of Indians, or to critique Sendero Luminoso and the Fujimori Administration. |
True, but Wright was a preacher in the US, addressing specifically American issues, so that context has to be taken into account. When I lambaste my fellow Canadians for the shabby treatment of indians, I don't feel obligated to mention that, yeah, Australia and the US treat their aboriginal populations badly as well. Though there are other contexts where I might.
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| I know that multiple Spanish factions, beginning with B. Las Casas, made the case for Indian rights throughout the colonial era. |
Well, I guess if a preacher is expected to take "multiple factions" into account when delivering a sermon...
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| Matt 23:13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Though I have to admit that there are some scribes and pharisees who are trying to do the right thing, and I certainly don't want to be understood as condemning all of them." |
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