Barack Obama's pastor and spiritual advisor for over 20 years was a man named Jeremiah Wright, head of one of the largest and most diverse black congregations in the country. His church's website states their commitment to God, and then commitment to black families, black communities, etc. Um, if any church anywhere published their commitment to white families and white communities they would be vilified, and rightly so. He is blatantly anti-white and appears to blame all whites for all of the troubles of blacks in contemporary America. Wright continually uses hateful, racist rhetoric, and has stated that black Americans should not sing God Bless America, but God damn America.
In a political race in which Mitt Romney was excoriated for his religion, with Reverend Al Sharpton saying, and I quote "As for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don't worry about that," and receiving only minimal criticism for the remark, it would seem that religion does appear to play a significant role in the current election. But should a candidate be judged by what type of person he chooses as his spiritual advisor? By the beliefs he holds? Absolutely. It is relevant. Because what we need (and should demand) in a leader is strength of character and integrity, and a person's values are inextricably linked with their religious beliefs. Mitt Romney's should have been judged by the beliefs of the LDS church and its leaders, at the time President Gordon B. Hinckley, a man who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, and always preached love, tolerance, forgiveness, faith, diligence, and personal responsibility.
Contrast that with the hateful, intolerant, permissive, victimizing of Reverend Wright. This man should not be considered a spiritual leader by anyone, and in my opinion is definitely NOT a disciple of Christ. He masquerades, with varied success, as a Christian, but does not live the values or teachings of Christ, in my opinion. And while Wright was calling the 9/11 attacks a judgement on the country and stating that the white, US government purposefully inflicted the AIDS virus upon blacks, Obama responded to questions regarding his pastor saying things such as they're just words, they're not important, and comparing Wright to the Jewish uncle that says crazy embarassing things but you have to tolerate.
Um, Obama? No, you don't. You denounce such hatred and fight against it. But Barack Obama took a month of hemming and hawing after the March 13 ABC report that broke the story to go from saying Wright's remarks were "unacceptable and inexcusable" but a few days later that he "couldn't disown him" to saying their relationship had been permanently damaged after Wright said that criticism of his sermons amounts to criticism of black churches in general. I believe the reason that Obama was so mild in his reaction was that he actually agrees with Wright. I mean, wouldn't that be why he attended his church for 20 something years? Would a person attend a church regularly for 20 years if he disagreed with its basic tenets?
"Politico describes Wright in this video as "deeply racially confrontational." Which might be an understatement. He rants and rails against "rich white people who run this country," demonizes white people, calls Jesus a "poor black man" oppressed by "Italians," says that Barack Obama "ain't privileged" -- this, even though Barack and Michelle Obama are Ivy-league grads in the top two percent of Americans in income. And so forth. This Wright is a clown.
True, Hillary ain't never been called a n---er, but she also ain't got a racialist, Farrakhan-loving, crypto-Marxist goof as her closest spiritual advisor. Obama has this reputation of being a conciliator, an irenic figure who can move us past the divisive politics of the past. The rap on him is that beneath that 1000-megawatt smile and his massive charisma is a politician who holds views on the hard left of the mainstream US political spectrum. Fair or not, Rev. Wright's big mouth, and the paramount importance he plays in Obama's spiritual life, serve to validate that criticism." (from beliefnet blog)
http://abcnews.go.com/blotter/story?id=4443788
http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/03/barack-obamas-jeremiah-wright.html (good description of the issues)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,256078,00.html (transcript of Jeremiah Wright interview)
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2008/04/29/1460529-timeline-of-barack-obamas-relationship-with-jeremiah-wright (timeline of Wright and Obama's association, with quotes from Obama on the Wright issue on different dates)
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There are three major flaws with your argument here:
1) No one ever brings up the fact that Wright served in the military. Not only that, one of his children have served in Iraq. Considering the fact that McCain's service has brought him so much credibility (and how dare anyone criticize such a valiant veteran) I find it odd that no conservative pundits recognize this service.
2) The only statements by Wright that are cited are those made after Obama took the national stage. Has anyone considered that Wright is simply capitalizing on his newfound notoriety to gain more fame and followship? I challenge you to come up with one anti-american quote by Wright that was uttered before Obama announced his candidacy in 2006.
3) Obama has never espoused Wright's views in his public policy. A person's religious views and their policy views should be separate, and as far as I can tell, Obama's are. I have seen no indication that any of Wright's views have entered into Obama's public lexicon (apart from affirmative action, with which I disagree, but which is fairly common among minorities).
To me the last is the most critical issue. I think Romney's religion should have been completely irrelevant. I think Obama's should too, unless it impacts his public policy.
I also think this is a stark contrast between Obama and Palin. Palin was raised in an intolerant fundamentalist faith. This shouldn't make a difference unless it impacts her public views--and it has. She has stated that the mission in Iraq should comport with "God's plan." Even more disturbing, she stated as an Alaskan politician that a pipeline across the state was "God's will."
When a person's religious views so obviously interact with their public policy decisions, that is when the public needs to be concerned with their religious views--not before.
Between the fact that no controversial statement by Wright can be cited before Obama's candidacy put Wright on the national stage, and the fact that Obama has not let any of his religious views demonstrably color his public policy stances, Wright is a non-issue.
-S-
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