Barack Obama's minister, Jeremiah Wright, heads South (literally)

For years, it seems, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has made periodic preaching excursions from his homebase in Chicago to Tampa (anyone familiar with the Windy City's weather -- especially its winter and almost-never-seems-to-arrive spring -- can readily understand the allure of such trips).

Wright, we've learned, annually draws big crowds to sermons he delivers at two predominantly black churches in the area. And next week, he'll be the prime attraction at a revival Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at one of those places of worship.

Think his appearances will generate a bit more coverage than usual?

The St. Petersburg Times' story on Wright's impending visit includes many admiring comments from those who have heard and known him over the years.

Similarly, a Los Angeles Times article earlier this week noted that along with the incendiary statements Wright made from his Chicago perch that now are causing headaches for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, he "also provided uplift. He affirmed the resiliency of the black family, invited married couples in the pews to stand and be cheered, and eventually focused on how to save failing relationships." (Read more here.)

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[Matx]

I see that after decades of fighting the concept of "Separate but Equal" that there are blacks like Jeremiah Wright who want nothing more than "Equal but Separate." Isn't that about it? Doesn't that type of social arrangement benefit the Jeremiah Wright's of the world by allowing them to maintain their own little fiefdom's?

To listen to Obama criticize those who voted for the war for "their lack of judgment" has now become ludicrous in the extreme. At least they were acting on what they believed was valid intelligence at the time.

What's Obama's excuse for sitting in this church for 20 years? Where was his judgment?

This country is in dire economic trouble, political trouble, all kinds of trouble and we just don't need some vapid "feelgood" like Obama at the helm. It's just that simple.

Let him go preach his message of "hope" to his client Rezko's slum tenants who were deprived of heat in the middle of a brutal Chicago winter. I'm sure they'd love to hear it. Perhaps it'll warm their souls.

Otherwise, enough already of Barack Obama. It seems I've met his overzealous, smiling type a thousand times during my sojourn through the corporate world and I'm sorry but his type is always utterly dangerous. Smiling, happy, projecting warmth and collegiality, and then "wham"... stabbed in the back everytime.

Ironically, to make my point, I'd submit that Reverend Wright is experiencing that scenario right now at Senator Obama's hands, isn't he?

Wright is now a liability to Obama so Obama publicly denounces him. One supposes their twenty odd years of friendship suddenly doesn't mean much to Obama anymore. I honestly don't know which one of them is more pathetic.

No matter, thanks but no thanks to both of them.

Matx

[Bill Alton]

Obama has lured liberal/stupid whites/blacks with his speeches, its true what is being said ,due to being black is the only reason he is where he is at. In reality he is of mixed race so he is really neither race. He has no real plans just a lot of empty talk that he is able to sell. This country has for too long ignored the fact that mixing the races is wrong and will be the downfall of this country. We are almost there now wont be too long be for we will reap the wrath.

[Mary Pat]

It has been known for quite sometime that Pastor Wright has a history of some inflammatory sermons, and therefore the only thing anyone should find surprising is how long it took the Obama campaign and the press to address this. This should have been aired quite sometime ago. Obama is running to represent all of America, not black or white America.It is personally and politically naive of Mr .Obama to not understand the significance of this, and this is my problem with him as a candidate. Regarding his comment about his grandmother, I don't think Obama's grandmother is unusual.... and I am sure many black women, and maybe men, felt and maybe still feel uncomfortable approaching a group of whites on the street. I am on guard approaching any group I don't know.

[lhal]

Yes, I also believe the Obama is almost like George Bush. He distorts--with charm--but it's a distortion. Just as Bush tried to use fear as a motivator, Obama is trying to fill Americans with this notion that somehow we're all damaged. We're not damaged. We're fine. We just have some problems that we can solve--without him, I hope.

[ronnie]

to the writer of thie below post ; are you that dense> or just wear a sign saying "hey I am stupid" this was worded from our constitution. hussain hasn't writen anything. this guy hussian thrives on Plagiarism.
By the way if you check your history yuo'll find that Lincoln did not write the gettysberg address and had to be talked int giving it by his aids. he wanted wanted to skip the entire trip to gettysberg for the night ligfe of washington. and john was listed by pravutally every major newspaper and tv station as going down in history as the most do nothing president. and he still holds the title. when martin luther king's widow attempted to have his lifes works (speeches and quotes) put into books she was turned down by every major college she contacted because he kind wrote nothing. he Plagiarised them form other writers. eviodently kings widow got enough money to p[ay to have them published which is a shame on blakcs everywhere.

Jeebus, did NONE of you read or watch the Obama speech? I would love to hear a very cogent and constructive discussion as to what displeases anyone in this forum about the "more perfect union" speech, as I was swayed by it in a definitive fashion.

Posted by: Enkidu | March 20, 2008 at 07:05 PM

[blueyed devil]

Obama doesnt know what its like to be a white man in a black world .being called racist while you are surrounded by thousands of black racists passing laws against giving a white man a job .being called a blue eyed devil in front of young children being beaten and shot at by beautiful young black men who laugh as they run away leaving you bleeding in the street I have lived in a black world as a white man and its a hell of alot worse than it is for a black man in a white world .a black man can treat a white boy like a dog and its a ok cause everyone knows white people are racist

[A Voice Crying in the Wilderness]

God works in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform! The likelihood of Rev. Wright's sermon contents costing Mr. Obama the nomination, as well as the presidency, are almost 99.9% sure. However, what it may have cost Mr. Obama given the loss of both, cannot be compared to what it may have saved him from: "a country full of narrow-minded people who don't have the capacity to judge "fairly" and "equitably" in any given situation."

[lhal]

MAXT! It's worse than that. Obama has said he didn't vote for the war. Of course he didn't. The vote happend years before he was in the Senate! THAT's what I've been saying...he's a weasel-worder.

[Jonathan]

I am glad that I voted for Hillary Clinton. Senator Obama has confirmed my worse nightmares. That he is a racists and doesn't like America. We can't be blamed for what was wronged from past injustice here in America. What has happened in the past should stay in the past and we as a nation should move forward.

That is why I must urge any of the remaining states that are up for grabs to vote for Hillary Clinton in double and even triple digit leads before it is too late and John McCain Fries wins the election and 4-8 years of more republicanism and more of the Bush-Cheney policies that have plagued this country into an economic downward spin of uncertainty.

We as a nation can't afford to give McCain Fries the election away because Barack is a bone head for tolerating racial comments by J. Wright? I urge you to watch or by The Golden Girls on DVD and find the episode where Dorothy "Bea Arthur" is friendly with a supposedly well know author Barbra Thorndike. Forgot the actress name. Anyway, they became close friends and the rest of the girls in this episode felt left out of their friendship so they decided to go to the Mortimer Club an exclusive club supposedly in Miami to make up. Well Sophia who was played brilliantly by Estelle Getty had a date who was Jewish and couldn't go to the club because this character TOLERATED AND BELONGED TO A CLUB
that tolerated Anti-Semitism. Dorothy ended the friendship and the rest is history.Same thing is happening here.

If you belong to a group or a club in America that praises Anti-Semitism, Anti-White, Anti-Black such as the KKK Klan, I FEEL THAT YOU SENATOR OBAMA SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF! HOW CAN YOU ALOW THIS KIND OF BIGOTRY AND HATE SPEW INTO YOUR FAMILY? HOW DO YOU TOLERATE IT AND PREACH YOUR MESSAGE OF SO CALLED CHANGE WHEN IN REALITY YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A PHONY! I HOPE PEOPLE IN AMERICA SEE BARACK OBAMA FOR WHO HE REALY IS AND ALWAYS BELIEVE IN THIS PHOLOSOPHY"ONCE A POLITICIAN ALWAYS A POLITICIAN". AND THERE IS ABSOLUTLY NOTHING THIS MAN CAN DO OR SAY THAT WILL MAKE ME CHANGE MY MIND. LET US ALL PRAY THAT AMERICA ISN'T TOO LATE AND THAT WE CAN SEND A RELIABLE DEMOCRAT LIKE HILLARY CLINTON INTO THE WHITE HOUSE BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. IF IT DOESN'T HAPPEN, I THINK THAT HOWARD DEAN SHOULD STEPDOWN AS THE DNC CHAIRPERSON.

[Mimi]

Obama is great! He is inspiring. He is intelligent, spiritual and genuinely a great leader. They don't come by that often.
You go ahead rant. He is not a racist. He is both races and he has seen both sides and understands the true meaning of racial misunderstanding. Fearful people always focus on the negatives. Your Masters have spoken on the radio the TV and print and you repeat it on the blogs.
It is truly amazing Obama's His speech was all about coming together and having one voice so the people can have the power to change things around in this country so our children can have a decent education, health care and decent life. You hateful angry people are so focused on your own hatred that you project it out towards him,
Your life is not going to get any better you'll be stuck in the box you live in for a long time to come.
You are the echo of corporate power. I

[Dorothy S.]

It is sad that Rev. Wright's comments came out at this late date. I am a member of a UCC church. If my paster said what he said about anything political, he or she would have been fired on the spot. That church should be required to pay taxes as they are preaching politics. Now we have someone who gets the nomination who will never be electable. The so-called super deligates had better think more than "Twice."

[Caroline Miniscule]

>>Hiliary is wealthy,

>>She has not struggled,

>>>She has never been called a Nigger

Hillary may never have been called a Nigger, but since she's a woman who grew up in the 60s and 70s you can bet she was called the equivalent. (Much like black men call black women today. Ever listened to "gangsta rap"?)

Obama is wealthy too. So is his wife, come to that. So are a lot of people of color - actors, athletes, politicians... - How in the world could that happen in a racist America, I wonder.

[Umbria]

Here's a very nice summary of the blogosphere action on Obama's latest gaffe. My grandmother is just a "typical white person" :-) Click on "Recommend this" to keep the article alive.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/03/obamas-mother-is-just-a-typica.php

P.S: Here's the audio clip. It's also embedded in the article.
http://www.youtube.com/v/SxmEz8H33ZI&hl=en

[Caroline Miniscule]

>>> In reality he is of mixed race so he is really neither race.

On the contrary. Get all mixed-raced people together and no one will be able to claim to be "superior," and no violence would arise from that human trait that one race, tribe, or club is superior to another.

Make sure they're all atheists, and you won't have any violence over which God is the just and true God.

That'd be the way to peace on Earth.

[lhal]

If Rev. Wrights words were preached again and again in an ISLAMIC temple on US ground, there would be a terrorist watch on the place and the leaders, and the words would be condemned by most Americans. But nooooOOOOOoooooo. Barack Obama says this is his uncle and he loves him. So, hating America is, then, ok.

[RC Price]

Sunny Florida posted "We have a need and right to know Senator Obama from every angle. . ." THis is a joke, right?
You didn't know squat about George Bush because he succeeded in hiding everything about his past and you didn't care less. George W. Bush was the biggest fool in the country, and he got elected. Now, a professor of constitutional law at one of the most prestigious universities in the world is running, and you want to know every detail of his life? This is deserving of only a sneer. America deserves its fate.

[Marks]

>His Grandmother is a typical white person?

She isn't? Is there something special about her? That's a way to describe her. White older lady ( I don't know her age) in a blue dress.

How harmful is that? We are judged from a distance by color of skin and gender characteristics.

Folks don't know her, so they claim Obama threw her under a bus, flippantly.

Who knows how conversation went between his Grandparents, his mother and since he didn't really know his father, the way they talked to each other.

What did his Grandparents say about his father to him?

I can imagine Grandma describing Barack as her black grandson to others. Is that shameful?

Maybe his mother said, she's just a opinionated white lady in a fit with her mother. Barack heard that as a child.

Imagine the time period of Barack's family, moved from Kansas to Seattle, then to Hawaii. His mother marrying a Kenyan and having a child. 1960.

Straight talking people, who helped raise him. There were real to each other. Obama's mother married a black guy and they had a black child.

His Grandparents had their beliefs and a way they talked. Only Obama knows and he's lovingly familar with his Grandmother. He isn't saying anything that shames her.

[Boris]

In response to the following from "Steve":

"Nice puff piece, real touching, kumbaya,yada,yada. This is not gossip mongering -you never once heard your preacher accuse a "white" govt. of injecting black people with AIDS, of building bigger prisons to incarcerate people of color, that 3000 innocent citizens died because America's chickens came home to roost. I doubt your pastor impugned Condi Rice, Clarence Thomas & Colin Powell because of political affiliation."

The government deliberately infected black people with syphilis in early 20th century. Under Reagan, government pointedly refused to consider AIDS (then called GIDS) an official disease much less epidemic, and refused to fund research for it. So while Wright's suspicions may be factually wrong, there is a kernel of truth in his distrust for government (particularly when it comes to the treatment of black people.)

America has the largest per-capita percent of incarcerated persons IN THE WORLD. And guess what: a disproportionate number of them are blacks, incarcerated due to unfair and heavily biased drug laws (as well as generally race-biased law enforcement and jurisprudence.)

3000 citizens died on 9/11 from what even the CIA officially calls "blowback". Go and research U.S. ties to (and funding of) Afghan mujaheds (including Bin Laden) during the 80's; research U.S. complicity in formulating and encouraging the rise of radical "jihadist" theology throughout the Middle East, as a counter to Soviet ambitions in the region; research U.S. support for horrifically oppressive regimes in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, with their radical teachings and totalitarian policies, and the blind eye U.S. turned to the proliferation of radical Saudi madrassas all over the world.

As for the black neocons you mentioned, aren't they the ones trying to turn a blind eye to black ghettoes and black crime, pretending everything is honky-dory and proposing that it's every man for himself and let the strongest (and wealthiest) survive?

Welcome back to reality, brother...

[ME]

I hope you all realize that all your comments stress is a huge divide among blacks and whites in America!! And a real lack of tolerance for your own neighbors. How could you possible suggest with so much hate in your words because you disagree on religion and race, that your candidates (Clinton and McCain) could in anyway lead the free world and get us all from this mess of "hate the US" going around the globe?

[John Sinclair]

The funny thing is that the Rev. Wright is Right. Why sugar coat how screwed up our country is? Just because you are an American and love your country does not mean that you have to close your eyes to what we have become. More people need to speak out about the evil and corrupt state that our so called 'elected' leaders have lead us to. Remember the story of how Jesus cast the tax collectors out of the Temple? This is what we face today. What would Jesus Do? He would revolt against the Serpent of Corruption that is our Government.

[Robert]

You knew it was only a matter of time before, talk radio and anti-Obama types would inject race into the conversation.

This has been the tool to control pea brains for years. It also help reduce the amount of people participating in the voting process so we continue to vote idiots into office.

McCain and Clinton are the same as re-electing Bush. Maybe it will take America dying at the hands of idiots before the people finally wake up.

[Arzinia Richardson]

After reading most of the comments above, it is plain to see why Bush was elected twice, and Americas dream is tanking. It seems Amercians believe they understand things, they have no idea about and refused to ask , or notice what is happeing around them..Obama may be, and I hope he is, the "Tar Baby" from hell . Amereca needs a bath..

[carmela]

It is time for the Clinton team to fold up their tents and call it quits - something the democratic party should have encouraged them to do well before. There is no chance that without Michigan and Florida that Hillary can catch up in delegates or popular vote, without some real dirty backroom deals. The people have spoken against her divisive, arrogant, egotistical candidacy over and over again.

And what about those so called big march 4 victories? well it turns out that over 100,000 republicans in both texas and ohio cast votes for Clinton - almost all (probably) deliberately to skew the race - as has been amply verified from exit polls. This was an even larger effect in Mississipi - which is how Obama lost the white male vote. Can anyone else explain those 38000 votes from registered die-hard republicans in the most extremely red portions of the state who suddenly came to Love hillary? does anyone know any republican who would ever vote for her? please, those of you who would come forward - I know I'd like to meet one and frame him/her for safekeeping.

But this is the hole the democratic party establishment by supporting Hillary long after sunset has dug for itself. Would the wright sermon snippets be a problem? sure . But in the end - those would be an issue among those who wouldn't vote for Obama anyways, whether race was always going to be an issue for them or just the fact that Obama does not have the established lobbies and special interests behind him. Ultimately, for Hillary to somehow emerge on top now would arrive at such a cost to the demcratic party that a win in Novemebr would be impossible.

They would become the party known for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory - yet again. Hillary's fate wll be the same as Gore's and kerry's. And the party will have itself to blame.

The main thing I'll be sorry for in such a case is the country - that once united country - now in the process of sticking the knife in the back of its black population, and its most enthusiastic young citizens who frelt there was something worth looking forward to other than 100 year wars, rising oil prices, declining environment, shaky security, eroded liberties and all-but-gone sense of leadership in the world. This is the country without obama will lose the one person who could do something about the monumental challenges we all face. The outcome of this loss will unfortunately be for all of us to bear, whether we saw it going in and tried to do something about it, or not.

[Charley]

Obama's speech said it perfectly. And now we get to see if the knucklehead vote is that much bigger than the educated vote.

[Joshua]

From what I can gather from watching Obama's speech and the reports from three different news channels over the past week, Jeremiah Wright did say some ignorant things and I think Obama, while if not aware of the comments all over the press, was aware that Wright regularly made controversial statements. In an interview with Anderson Cooper last night, he admitted this, but he said that the controversial comments he heard were not the ones that are all over the press. Should he have quit the church? That was his choice, but clearly he believed that Wright's overall positive message outweighed the ignorant comments that he was present for. Does anyone really think that Obama, a Columbia and Harvard - educated man believes that AIDS was created to kill black people? Mike Huckabee is defending Wright because he says that pastors do a lot of speaking, and some of it can get emotional. Those same controversial comments have been echoed by many people in the past and are born from the frustration of feeling ignored by the adminstration and targeted by racists. Wright's comments were plucked from just a few emotional sermons over a span of decades. You can't honestly judge Wright based on such a limited sample. Nor can you judge Obama for supporting him.

The Jeremiah Wright issue is just a reason for people who already don't like Obama - for whatever reason - to rally against him. They will keep pressing it in an attempt to keep him from being nominated and eventually elected. I believe that Americans will get tired of hearing about it and will eventually become a non-issue. There are simply more important things to our country right now.