Common water cooler question: does Obama believe what his mentor/pastor does about whites?

[jackson_dem]

To add more fuel to the fire there is the fact Obama, in his first book, admitting to being angry when young against his mother's race. You think the rethugs will offer context for that in their ads if Obama is our nominee? :eyes:

If Obama truly believes what he preaches about "unity" and "post-racial" politics why didn't he leave the church long ago? Even now he has not condemned Wright for his racism. He should reject and denounce him, who he considers to not be controversial, which suggests a lot about what he thinks about Wright's views. Can you imagine a candidate saying Farrakhan or Duke isn't controversial?

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/656107/does_barack_obama_have_a_jeremiah_wright.html

Jeremiah Wright is the main man of water cooler talk today. It may just be my opinion, but I think that Barack Obama definitely does have a Jeremiah Wright problem.

I work in a large corporate environment. You will find blacks, whites, Democrats and Republicans, and you will find they all have one thing in common. They all think that in a world that is so focused on race issues, an individual as radical as this man does not shine a positive light on Barack Obama's quest to be the next President of the United States.

The Clinton camp and the McCain camp as well will use every sound bite they can get their hands on so that everyone can see and hear the teachings that Jeremiah Wright delivers to his congregation. Just hearing these words spew from the mouth of this man will make people wonder. And that is all it takes to change a vote; just being unsure about someone. Common consensus is that this country needs a President that is for ALL of the people. Not SOME of the people. We need to move forward as a country. Not backwards.

Barack Obama has been running a very strong race against Hillary Clinton. In voicing his bigoted opinion, Jeremiah Wright will cause many of Obama's supporters, red and yellow, black and white, to rethink their votes. A common question now is whether or not Barack Obama feels or thinks about white people the way that his pastor does. How could one not believe that he believes the words of his pastor - his teacher?

My father was a minister as well. I know from experience, that if a person does not like what the preacher has to say, they promptly find another church to go to. Water cooler comment today was that in light of this latest from Wright, people wonder as well about some of the remarks that Obama's wife has made.

Jeremiah Wright is without a doubt, an incredibly bigoted racist. Mr. Wright paints an evil picture of hatred against the white race. How does Jeremiah Wright, spewing so much hatred, NOT hurt Barack Obama? Several of my co-workers, white voters and black voters as well, have paused to rethink their opinions of who should be our country's next president

I don't think this is over for Barack Obama. If he truly feels that he can be the leader of all men and women in our country, and respect all people regardless of race, he should publicly denounce the things that Jeremiah Wright is saying about white people. I feel that for him not to step forward and clarify his position on the whole issue of race once and for all, can, and will, hurt his campaign.

[bigtree]

1. The overwhelming response from folks at my job was that McCain would benefit

. . . because of the aversion of most of us to these divisive confrontations on race. The feeling was that, if republicans managed to stay above this they would attract voters wanting to avoid the type of racial confrontations which have occurred between the two Democratic campaigns. The hook against Hillary Clinton was that her advancement might set off Obama's black supporters and spark some larger confrontation nationwide. Far-fetched and hysterical, I think, but I could see the parameters shaping around a rejection of the Democratic campaigns if this escalates into a full-blown, divisive racial back and forth.

I suggested a summit between the two. Lots of agreement there.

[jackson_dem]

2. Clinton is already losing 90% of the black vote so she has nothing left to lose

We know the Obama campaign will at some point try to play the race card and blame this on Hillary but it was Fox and ABC who bought the videos of their own volition.

McCain has an asset on the race issue in that he adopted a kid from Bangladesh. Since he doesn't have a racist pastor he can subtly contrast that with the disconnect between the hypocritical Obama's public words and private actions. So even Obama's "post-racial politics" image can be undercut with McCain. He really has no cards, aside from the classic race card to use against McCain. Hillary is our only real hope to beat McCain.

I agre. If the rethugs just stay silent it will help them. I think they will mostly do that but some will not be able to resist an opportunity to attack us. Let's face it, if the rethugs nominated someone with a David Duke clone as his pastor we would be screaming from every rooftop. It is sad principles on the core Democratic belief of opposing racism don't apply to St. Obama.