Does not build his character, but rather, it reveals his character, or lack thereof!

Here is the problem:

The basis of this latest attack on Obama is that he isn't enough of a flag waving fanatic.

The people more inclined to wave the flag fanatically (After ejaculating all over it) haven't really had their doubts about Obama settled by it, because frankly who cares about real issues when you can slam a person for what his pastor said?

The history of highly patriotic people like, well, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, the KKK and GW Bush doesn't phase the species of invertebrate known as "Patriots", because they do not believe in actually electing leaders to be anything other than cheerleaders.

That Obama is not a super-patriot alligned with super-patriots should not be held against him. As a lot of letters here show, patriots are wankers.

I have yet to hear of a really terrible president who has been anything other than a super-patriot. Perhaps it is time to elect a president who is not so enamoured to the country as to miss its flaws, such as its massive debts, the gap between rich and poor, the endemic racism, sexism, idiotocracy and downright shockingly bad media.

Or you can just stick with the rah-rah boys and girls that landed you in Iraq.

It's bad enough that Obama belonged to a racist church for 20 years but when the Republicans start publicly examining his relationship with the Nation of Islam it will be all over for the Democrats in this election. Of course they will wait until he gets the nomination and hold off until nearer the general election to let loose the real bombshell.

Do we really want the White House crammed with Nation of Islam cronies?

According to Debbie Schlussel debbieschlussel.com "Cynthia K. Miller, a member of the Nation of Islam, was the Treasurer of his U.S. Senate campaign.

Then there is Jennifer Mason, another member of the Nation of Islam. Mason is Obama's Director of Constituent Services in his U.S. Senate office and is also in charge of selecting Obama's Senate interns.

Other Nation of Islam members, including consultant Shakir Muhammad, held important roles in the Obama state senate campaign."

Eloquent as he is I doubt whether Obama can explain how the noxious and insane ideology of the Nation of Islam can help the U.S. solve its racial problems. Should we follow the Nation of Islam's call for a separate area of the United States for blacks only.

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Clinton supporters: please let me know why I should be filled with moral outrage over this...

He is Muslim, He belongs to an Anti-American church, his middle name is Hussien, He is associated with Nation Of Islam,etc.

I await your Mark Penn-approved talking points. Please hurry, I have a lot of message boards to troll.

Thanks.

Over the past week, I have switched my Pennsylvania primary vote from Hillary to Obama. I was really on the fence, since H and O are so similar in terms of policy--and neither seem very progressive, to be honest. And I calculated that Hillary might have a better chance of beating McCain. These days, on is urged to vote for a candidate out of such cynicism and media speculation, but if I can vote for someone I really want to vote for, so much the better. And who really knows about who might beat McCain? Have we not learned a great deal about the fallibility of media speculations about voting behavior?

My change of vote has nothing to do with charisma or hero-worship (we don't have a TV, I read the speech online), it's a reasoned investment in the possibilities of an Obama presidential campaign and presidency. Of course he had to say something to distance himself from his pastor's rhetoric; but I think he took the opportunity to broaden the discussion in a potentially productive way. Rather than just responding to criticism, a defensive move, he made a bold and much riskier speech about racial attitudes in general, running the risk of offended both blacks and whites (and some have been offended, genuinely and otherwise).

A fair reading of the speech reveals an effort to engage both sides of a very stratified American populace, urging for unity around a common project in more explicit and less "coded" language than I've heard to date in the campaign. It made me think, for the first time, "What if this guy were president? What message would this send to non-white people? What message for the world about who we are as Americans? What might be the positive consequences for our everyday social relations as well as our strategic foreign relations?"

I'm not saying the guy is perfect or innocent of political motives--or even very progressive in terms of policy. He certainly does not seem to offer the possibility of truly dismantling the unholy union of corporate and military interests that governs our very undemocratic system of crisis capitalism. But....the possibilities of dealing frankly with race issues are so compelling. And who else am I gonna vote for? I never had a very good reason for voting for Hillary anyway.

A final note: a provocative and thoughtful exploration of racial issues is not a "lecture" on racism. Nowhere in the speech does Obama tell anyone how to think and feel about race or how to act on their beliefs. When people are invited to think deeply and conscientiously about something that makes them feel defensive, that's when you hear this childish retort, "Don't lecture me!" Racism will not end with politeness; it's structural and experiential and it's gonna take a great deal of discussion and actual policy change to deal with it.

MJ Hasty

Reverend Wright just told the truth. We enslaved Africans, brought them to these shores and then continued to exploit their descendants for many, many generations. If there is a God, I'm positive this is exactly the kind of stuff that gets you damned. So suck it up and let's move forward.

Obama's speech was brilliant. As the product of a black African and a white American, I can only say, let the healing commence. What a perfect metaphor he is to take us into the new century.

And I certainly hope that all of you who cry "guilt by association" lay off the Fox news and right-wing talk radio.

It's so refreshing to hear a politician just speak in plain language after 8 long years of Orwellian Bushie double-speak.

Hilary, girl, go back to the Senate. Let this man take his rightful place as the next President of the United States.