Easter Sunday: Voters ponder Obama and Rev. Wright. What do YOU think?

One of the most remarkable things about the ongoing controversy over Barack Obama's angry pastor is the sharply differing reactions, even among those who seem to have so much else in common.

New polling suggests the wildfire Internet spread of the newly-retired Rev. Jeremiah Wright's most inflammatory sermons has scorched off some national popularity of Obama, who's based so much of his political message on being "post-racial," not militant, not angry, pro-unity.

But that now can seem contradictory to many with Obama's intimate 20-year association with a black nationalist who rages about "the U.S. of KKK-A," suggests the country invited or deserved the 9/11 attacks and believes the AIDS epidemic is a government conspiracy to kill blacks.

For a sample video of Wright's sermons, click on the Read more line below.

Then, Obama continued to expose his two young daughters to such views In a congregation whose loud, demonstrative cheers clearly endorsed such extreme statements, while claiming he'd not heard them.

(UPDATE: In his sunrise Eastern sermon at the Trinity United Church of Christ, titled "How to Handle a Public Lynching," the replacement for Rev. Wright, the Rev. Otis Moss III, did not mention his predecessor by name but likened his recent public treatment to that received by Jesus, who was crucified. "You picked the wrong folk to mess with," a defiant Moss told the enthusiastic holiday congregation. He also appealed for donations to a special "Resurrection Fund," which he did not describe.)

As reported here last week, Obama's chief political strategist, David Axelrod, admitted being sufficiently worried more than a year ago that they un-invited the pastor from giving the invocation at Obama's campaign announcement in February, 2007.

At the same time, some black and white voters say they were moved by Obama's ensuing speech as a long-awaited invitation to begin an honest, calm and cleansing national dialogue on race.

It's a topic clearly on the minds of voters in Pennsylvania, one of the largest....

states to weigh in on race and the race for the Democratic presidential nomination between Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, who's trailing in money, delegates and the popular vote but leading in Pennsylvania and using Obama's success to raise more money.

Recent items on the issue in The Ticket have elicited many hundreds of Comments, baring feelings of sympathy and support, naked anger and even racism that had not been expressed in that forum before the sermon videos unlocked the issue for public debate. To see such Comments, click on virtually any of the links in this item. And check that section at the end of this item.

Just as talk radio and television are preoccupied with the matter, so were a surprising number of shoppers and employees this weekend in the mega-mall known as King of Prussia, in the Pennsylvania town of the same name.

Dereck Cummings is an openly gay man and a former Jehovah's Witness who says he isn't in the habit of judging other people on their lifestyles or religion. But Cummings can't shake the disturbing feeling there's something worrisome in the incendiary sermon highlights, something that keeps nagging at him as he tries to decide how to vote in

his state's Democratic primary election April 22. "If that's been your priest for that many years, it affects who you are," said Cummings, an assistant store manager in the suburban shopping mecca outside Philadelphia. "Those thoughts come across, Sunday after Sunday, and that just scares me."

His co-worker, Stacey Hermann, couldn't care less, saying the statements fade given her concerns over taxes and education. "He isn't responsible for what another person says," Hermann said, shrugging.

King of Prussia mall is the commercial center for a sizable population of swing voters, whose willingness to go back and forth between Republican and Democratic presidential nominees makes them crucial in general elections.

So their take on the latest bruising to Obama matters for the upcoming primary and signals how fertile the ground is for Clinton or, later, Republicans to try to take advantage of the issue politically. Since the controversy erupted, for instance, polls show Obama support plunging sharply among white males.

In the mall's food court, several self-described swing voters said they were not bothered by Wright's words, though they did not like them. "It's unfortunate," said Judy Wolstenholme, a retired phys ed teacher.

"You don't want someone out there with a history of preaching hatred. I think it might hurt [Obama]. He should have been a little stronger in putting down those theories. But it only bothers me if I believe he isn't smart enough to rise above that message, and I don't think that right now."

Still, Wolstenholme, a registered Republican, said she likes both Hillary Clinton and likely Republican nominee John McCain better than the Illinois senator, as does her husband.

Joshua Snyder, a theology professor at nearby Villanova University, said he thinks the Wright sermons probably sounded very different in church than they do blasting out of computer and television screens.

"When people preach, they tend to get bombastic," Snyder said. "You can use it as a sound bite, and especially in white suburbia, that helps to perpetuate a stereotype."

But in the construction site of a new jewelry store in the mall, union workers said they were deeply offended. "It was unbelievable the way the reverend was talking," said David Terrano, a carpenter. "It makes me worry that, if Obama's president, he's going to be thinking about things that way."

Cummings and Hermann work together at the Ann Taylor store, where another co-worker said the off-duty conversation frequently veers toward politics.

"I listen to what Rev. Wright said, that we brought 9/11 on ourselves," said Myisha Upshur, a Philadelphia resident. "It sounded very callous. If I were listening to that and I lost someone in the 9/11 attacks, I would be very hurt."

Still, she said, "I appreciate that Sen. Obama didn't say, `I'm never going back there to church.' We all have friends we don't agree with. That doesn't mean we should turn our backs." Hermann said she's voted for Republicans and Democrats and that her decision next month won't be affected by Obama's church history.

But Cummings' gay life experience teaches him differently. He said he was "dis-fellowshipped" from the church of his childhood when he came out of the closet but that he still finds traces of those early influences in his thinking. He wondered, can Obama really avoid being influenced by Wright's angry words the same way?

"It rubs off," said Cummings. "And that doesn't go away easily."

Now, it's YOUR turn. Click on Post a Comment below here and let's see how you feel and what others have to say.

--Christi Parsons

Christi Parsons writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington Bureau.

                                        Photo Credit: AP Photo/Trinity United Church of Christ

Comments

[Ronald]

If we weren't so easily duped by soundbites, this story would have never gotten the play it has. I challenge everyone to listen to the entire sermon in question. On the other hand, our inability to pay attention to anything for more than 30 seconds will end up a benefit to Obama . . . this story will pass when every one has heard enough of it. I want to know when Hillary is going to release those tax returns. And, since you are in California, can you report how that fraud trial against the Clintons is going out there? Somehow, any soundbites from it are conveniently being moderated away!

[Ken Chicago]

I'm a registered Republican.

It wouldn't be necessary for us to be having discussions about race and class if the Democratic Congress had done the job for which they were elected to office,...that is, they should have impeached Chaney and Bush for treason and for their crimes against humanity. The war in Iraq was engineered to enrich the stockholders of the Carlyle Group, and that's just what it's doing, to the tune of some billions of dollars weekly. Bush and Chaney are common criminials who are using U.S. troops and the U.S. treasury to fight a private war against a nation that has done no harm to us in any way.

The American people have been duped into believing that the economic crisis is because of bad management by banks, while the reality is that the Republican party decided "God damn, America, give us your money and get out of our faces."

I bless the Dixie Chicks, Jeremiah Wright. and Michael Moore for having the courage to keep me from falling asleep to the tune of the Patriot Act and NAFTA.

Do you realize that soldiers who are deployed in Iraq are required to sign an affidavit that they will lose all of their financial assets if they so much as speak disparagingly of the military campaign in Iraq? Anyone who lived through Viet Nam knows that that war was meaningless . The war being fought in Iraq doesn't score any better than Viet Nam. EXCEPT that it's making more money for Blackwater, Halliburton, and the Carlyle Group.

Every American who works needs to understand that there are other ways to use investment funds besides wars that will return big rewards. We could be putting our money into organic and locally grown foods, and into Tesla Motors and improving the quality of life on our planet. Instead we have come to be seen as a pariah to the rest of the people with whom we share the earth.

[Harley]

I think if this was Hillary Clinton or John McCain attending a church like this and then after that they said "typical black person" their career in public life would be over. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would be picketing their homes and asking for an apology. Yet the media has praised Obama for reading a speech (maybe prepared for him) from a teleprompter and in that speech he admits he lied about knowing about the remarks, calls his grandmother a racist and throws her under the bus. Now all is forgiven inside the beltway and in the mainstream media. I really have to ask, what the hell is going on? Why do we allow black public figures to do things that we would NEVER allow a white. Simple, white guilt. Even though we in this generation have done nothing still we are reminded of things that happened not in out lifetime like slavery and things that no longer are like Jim Crowe. Neither of which Barack Obama himself has had to deal with. He is a Harvard educated, Hawaii born man who really hasn't faced any adversity. We are suppose to forgive him for attending that church? We are suppose to forgive him for thinking white people of any generation are "typical" if they see a black man on the street and want to cross it? I don't know about anyone else but I am offended. He gives a speech lecturing America about what we need to do to bridge the gap while he and his campaign have played the race card at every chance that has popped up. Whether it be from Hillary's LBJ remarks or Gerladine Ferraro actually telling something that was true. Obama and his campaign have used race to bash the Hillary camp over the head throughout this election. So does he want to unite or does he just want to say he wants to unite while his actions say that he is a divider. I think I'll base my opinions of Obama on his actions. Remember, George W. Bush ran on the "uniter not a divider" and look where those words took this country. As Hillary says, "Actions do speak louder than words."

[Michael Moore]

I was surprised by reading on Friday about how manipulated the sound ites are. In the most offensive soundbit shown on cable networks, Dr. Wright is quoting Ambassador peck, a white US Ambassador the day after 9/11. Trinity Church is being unjustly accused. Fox should be ashamed. For the story go to
to read the accurate story read http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/21/9599/74572/652/481424.
Trinity church has done great things and deserves better than the treatment they are getting.
Mike Moore

[K_Hussein]

A lot of people seem to blame Rev. Wright or Obama for injecting race in the campaign discussion.

Get real!

The real blame goes to the Hannity/Limbaugh/McBush, Fox neo-con slime machine. Until the MSM explores the true origins of the out-of-context smear and examines how it was used to manipulate voters' opinions, the smear will keep its traction all the way to November. It's incumbent on someone in the MSM to speak up about this new McCarthyism of character assassination, guilt by association, and "patriotic correctness." Is there no 21st century Joseph Welch or Edward R. Murrow to speak truth to America? Perhaps Rev. Wright's sermons this week will make the point, if only the MSM will dare to report it.

"At last, sir, have you left no decency?"

[Marks]

Any clips with Fox News logo on it, should be thought of as circumspect and with an agenda.

Rev. Wright's ranting has Hillary in it. Black Jesus reference. We are challenged trying to determine Jesus skin color, it varies in different Church's and drawings.

To me, Obama is the opposite of Rev. Wright. He had to hear that fiery rhetoric and think of another way to win elections. He had to find a different path how to talk with citizens. Get others to believe in social causes with him. He had to be different than Rev. Wright.

When Obama gives a speech like he did last Tuesday, he no way sounds like Rev. Wright. Obama is more positive in every way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU

To suspect 8,000 people in Obama's church as cult members hating the government, that's wrong. Too many people have a different mind that could see right ways and wrong.

Obama never had to be the key person to tone Rev. Wright down. Wright had authority from other Church groups. Wright traveled nationally and gave similar ranting rhetoric and was accepted.

It wasn't every sermon Wright damned America for decades..

For 20 years, Obama hasn't spiritually injured himself at that church. He hasn't risked his wife and daughters.

They have excelled as a family in the 20 years so that negativity didn't rub off on them. The Obama's know how to work with people instead of arguing.

Many Corporate boardrooms lack diversity when Rev. Wright rants who runs America.

AOL executives explained it this way, people wanted to work with friends. A friend of a friend got them an executive job.

Those people had all white friends. Hiring new people for diversity reasons they didn't think was right. It sounded weird, they were saying diversity is a stranger they don't want to know.

AOL has tanked in recent years, the executives backgrounds so much alike, they couldn't figure anything outside the box to fix their corporation and marketing problems. The all white executive boardroom was a failure of thought and process.

I

[Herbert]

Both are a couple of demagogues and liars, and inciters of violence

[jacob]

Ok, this Wright stuff is disturbing, very. But the bigger problem I have for Mr. Obama is his pattern of saying one thing and then distancing himself from those words when the opposite is revealed at a later date. That is called "spin", people. We have a need and right to know Senator Obama from every angle and what he believes when he talks of equality and a "vision" for America.

To say that Clinton +/or Obama is at fault for the direction the Democratic campaign has headed, is ludicrous and short-sighted. America is a melting pot of races, genders, culture, etc. and we each have a personal interest in seeing "ourselves" in our President. With that connection comes passion and emotional investment. However, it also must be tempered with information about the candidates (good and bad, without negative "label" attached to said information) so that we can make informed choices, rather than only emotionally-driven ones. To Americans: try to take off the blinders of opinion polls, media spin, mud and excitement. That person is Senator Clinton. She has worked hard and diligently for all Americans, and spent years building strong relationships because she has a passionate vision of what America can be, not just because she's running for President. Vetted, intelligent, tested and hardworking.

Senator Clinton is the right choice for me in '08

[lukas24]

There was no full disclosure or high road taken by Obama today because on Friday he said the completely opposite of what he says today. His speech was motivated as a forced political response to prevent a fatal blow to his presidential ambitions.

Obama now admits that he was in the pews when some of the statements were made. Nice how he changes his tune mid scandal.
He gave an interview with FOX News where he stated
that had he been in the pews and heard any of these statements, he would have left the church and never gone back.

Also, something that bothers me about his speech is that
he seeks to loop in Hillary's campaign for playing race card:

We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card . . .Or, at this moment, in
this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time."

Last week Obama DID POUNCE on Hillary Supporter on all Major News networks!!!!

Sorry, I did vote for Obama in CA now I won't - I will vote for either Hillary or McCain because Obama LIED (as described above).

[Patrick Henry]

It isn't about racism, it is about hatred, paranoia, stupidity and bad judgment.

Obama's spiritual leader is spouting mindless venom about America and white people is general. That unequivocally disqualifies Obama for at least the next four years until he develops some solid values and figures out who he is as a human being and an American. He is simply not mature enough to be President yet.

We don't need a 1970's Coke commercial - rather we are electing a President.

[JOSEPH]

I JUST DECIDED AS A SUPER DELEGATE TO VOTE WITH BARRACK OBAMA BECAUSE HE IS THE ONLY CANDIDATE THAT IS ABLE TO UNITE THE PEOPLE AND THE POLITICIANS. MY FELLOW POLITICIANS ARE ALSO CONSIDERING THE SAME. LET'S ALL WORK AS A COUNTRY TO GET THROUGH THESE DIFFICULT TIMES AHEAD.

[Alan W]

I think the media should drop it. And stop running that video. Give it a break and stop trying to inflame people.

[Keith Brown]

This commentary does not reflect well on America. To judge a man on video clips that are being shown out of context should be an insult to all americans. If the media or the public would have taken the time to really investigate these clips and Rev. Wright the following would be learned:
The clips are being shown out of context;
The broader message is not of hate or racisim;
Rev. Wright is a man of God who is passionate for the lord and his country;
Fox News started these clips knowing that America would be outraged;
The owner of Fox News is a Clinton Supporter.

The media should be reporting the news not creating it as Fox News has. This is what we should be outraged about not these soundbites that were edited to provoke exactly what is happening. America wake up and take notice on how you are being manipulated and then do something about it.

By the way the entire sermons of which these clips were taken and others can now be found online.

[Linda E.]

It's amazing that people will deny everything they have heard Senator Obama say and what he has represented in his public life - his management style, his campaign based on grassroots organizing, his collaboration throughout his career, and instead say - I wonder if he'll come out later with something sounding like Rev. Wright? Obama is NOT Wright; he has built something different in his career.

People have short memories - Wright wasn't just complaining about slavery. He grew up in the era, which many of us can remember, when most African Americans in the South couldn't VOTE, couldn't be on a jury, held no public office, were not on police forces, couldn't try on clothes in stores, couldn't SHOP in some stores or sit at a Woolworth's lunch counter, couldn't sit where they wanted on a train or bus.

Wasn't it Jerry Falwell who said the Hurricane Katrina disaster was deserved because of America's stand on homosexuality? Isn't that outrageous? Weren't there priests and religious groups who urged on the people who killed doctors for performing legal abortions and abused women who tried to use them, all within the law? Isn't that outrageous?

We do separate ourselves from other generations. My father was prejudiced but my life has been more free than his was. Senator Obama was an adult when he started at Wright's church, not a child. By the example of his own life we can see he has made different choices about how to approach the world. He urges us to do the same, not to continue to live with all the past's wrongs.

Wright's church obviously has good going on - it has built a strong membership that reaches out to people in need: that ministers to people in prison, people with HIV/AIDS, children needing mentoring. Why doesn't that good work get more press?

[ziza merwin]

I am a independent that typically leans toward right of center. This revelation about Obama and his church have convinced me to vote for anyone BUT the Senator from Illinois. Just call me a "typical old white woman"!

[Lexi]

OBAMA DEEPLY OFFENDED THE PEOPLE OF PA, OH, AND NJ WITH HIS SO-CALLED "RACE SPEECH"

The people in these States tend to be some of the oldest families in the nation and, in particular, abolitionist families whose ancestors defended the Mason-Dixon Line and died in record numbers. The deadliest military battle in American history was at Gettysburg, PA, where nearly as many people were lost in one battle than in the entire Vietnam War.

When he went to the birthplace of America, Philadelphia, and lectured those people on the history of race in America, they were furious and it shows up in the polls. Obama is in freefall against both McCain and Hillary in those 3 all-important States. Democrats can't lose one of those States this year, let alone all three.

People are saying: "A guy born of a Kenyan father and mother from Kansas is lecturing us about race history in America? He's got no connection to the Civil War and slavery whatsoever."

He's done in those 3 States and, if nominated, will get blown out because of it. It's that simple. It's over already.

[question]

people must say sorry for seeing Obama's photo in Muslim clothes.
People must say sorry for saying Obama's full name.:Barick hossein Obama.
but Obama don't need to say sorry for conditionally love America.
Obama don't need to say sorry for comfortablelly listioning to Wright's following sermon:

God damn America.
America Deserve 9/11.
White people inject AIDS virus to black people...

Obama don't need to say sorry for saying his Grandmother is a racist,his grandmother is also a typical white person.
that is , a typical white person must be a racist.

Obama don't need to say sorry for refusing American flag.
Obama don't need to say sorry for not honoring his country--put his hand oh heart.

Obama don't need to say sorry for believing in Wright for over 20 years.

Because Obama has good judge, he is always right. he never need to say sorry.America own him for ever.

[Marcy]

I attend a mixed non-denominational church in St. Louis, Mo. If my pastor ever preached of hate and bigotry I would get up out of my seat and never return. We go to the churches that most agree with our own way of thinking and believing. You can't tell me Obama does not feel the same way as this "pastor" or we would have done the same. God bless you all on this day of resurrection and celebration. God Bless America and God Bless President George W. Bush! And I pray that you find a church that preaches love and colored blindness! Amen!

[HoraceManoor]

who's callous? more than a million iraqis are dead who'd be living today had we not gone to war against the iraqi people, yet americans don't care -- americans hardly care about their own casualties in the war -- americans excel at one thing: hypocrisy -- travel the world & you won't find any other place where folks come close to being the hypocrites americans are

[Lynn Maytubby]

I WILL VOTE FOR OBAMA.

[David]

If reporters didn't keep making this controversy a big thing, it wouldn't be.

[Wanda]

There is a philosophy out there of black supremacy, usually espoused by black intellectuals. These sermons smack of that philosophy.

My question is this: in less than 50 years, non-Hispanic whites will be a minority in this country. When that happens, how will they be treated?

As we all know, revenge is a dish best served cold.

[dora dobrin]

if he was at odds with what the minister said, why did he stay in the congregation for years....the minster did not just begin stating such befiefs. if he felt being a member benefited his career ,in congress,because of his district, then he should be consistent and not disown because it is not longer a benefit.

[Bridget Guildner]

I think if our cable "journalists" had done their jobs, this wouldn't be half the issue that it has been. I challenge every American to watch the 9/11 sermon in context. Wright was quoting George H.W. Bush's Ambassador to Iraq, his words were spliced together and completely distorted by Fox News - but then respectable news organizations reported it as fact and neglected to even order the video of the sermon themselves. The least the press needs to do is confirm that they're showing reliable, unmanipulated footage.. This is the largest failure of our so-called "free press" that I have ever seen in my life.

Watch the context of the 9/11 sermon here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOdlnzkeoyQ

[Paul D.]

Overblown. I know and like people that have point of view I don't agree with. I myself am guilty of saying things I probably should not have said. Who isn't!!

Obama should be judged by his words and actions. Going to Harvard then becoming a community organizer is not the typical path to running for president. The man will be great.