Maureen, you just proved tom's point. There's a lot more to Paul Robeson than being "a great singer." Perhaps you should read up on him too, before being so resolutely flabbergasted by Wright.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Robeson

"It is unthinkable that American Negroes will go to war on behalf of those who have oppressed us for generations... against a country [the Soviet Union] which in one generation has raised our people to the full dignity of mankind. -- Paul Robeson

Maybe one day that pet rock will begin to walk and talk, but for now, I'd worry about that big giant Hillary, and her falling bean stalk.

Hawaii is one of my favorite places in the world. And I agree that it can be really laid back, especially for tourists. But if you are basing your analysis of Obama based upon the reports from one of your friends, I might suggest the google. Did you friend get called a Haole while he was over there?

Assault case highlights racial tension: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Feb/28/op/FP702280362.html

Create a sovereign government based on race: http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?27ecda0b-c00d-44b1-a700-def10cae78f8

When I read about Obama's struggle with his racial identity in Hawaii, of all places, I knew something wasn't quite right. We have a friend whose son (Irish) lives in Hawaii and Inasked him about racial tension. He had visited the island to see his son and told me that it is one of the most relaxed places in the world.

I know that Paul Robeson was a great singer but I could do without your disdain, based on my ethnic origins and the fact that I'm a woman. It's difficult to stay polite with someone like you and the temptation is to tell you to "Get knotted", as we often say here to silly, irritating people, but I can see that you are already quite twisted so I'll save my breath to cool my soup and hope your vocabulary will soon extend beyond your preoccupation with the nether regions of the body. The best of luck in your endeavours.

Tom Payne's already responded much as I would, so I'll just add this:

"This man, Obama, has rejected his white American mother when it suited him for political purposes and that disloyalty, far more deep-rooted than your political expediency, sticks in my craw."

What on Earth are you talking about? Please find me the links to evidence where Obama ever disavowed his mother, before, during, or after South Carolina. That's complete horsepuckey. Even when in Selma, Alabama, one of the touchstones of the civil rights movement, he reminded the crowd that his mother was white.

Do you mean because his first book is entitled Dreams from My Father? If you'd read it, you'd know his mother and grandparents loom large in his life, and he honors all of them.

Also, with all due respect, maureen, based on this comment, your remarks on Hawaii earlier, and others you have made, it would seem you have very little understanding of race in America, either throughout our history or on the ground today. But, hey, at least you're not openly aggressive about it like ShawnWM, so that's good for something.

a segregationist church? How novel. Is is Bob Jones? Have you read a history book without pictures? Marcus Garvey? Fredrick Douglas? Paul Robeson? The African experience in this country is complex; so is Obama. You want Bill Cosby? Knock yourself out. The trend of the election is not his fault, unless you blame him for out-organizing, out grassroot funding, outthinking, out working, and out flanking the presumptive, and presumptuous, nominee. Damn him anyway, first not black enough, now too black. What he's got that you can't handle to too many delegates. Grow up. I know you have the capacity. If Hillary gets it together legitimately (not with the "seat MY delegates from Fl. and Mich. crap) and wins, I've vote for her without hesitation. I fear that what she will have done to get "the prize" will make a third Bush term more likely than not. But that's the black guy's fault, right? Read some Malcolm X or some of MLK's more fiery orations. They're not easy for prim white folk to stomach, but the truth is occasionally inconvenient.

Quite frank;y, what does it matter what Obama says now that the heat is on? The Jeremiah Wright story was all over the Internet for quite some time so that even I, on this western outpost of Europe had read about his "trenchant" outpourings. It was only when the video was shown which clearly demonstrated Wright's hatred for America that people recoiled. There's no doubt but that Bush and his cohorts have done a lot of harm in the world but that does not justify the deats of innocent people in New York, many of them non-Americans and all of them free of guilt in the neo-con odyssey as far as I'm concerned.

Are you taking me for a fool? Obama's response was pathetic and, what's more, nobody has bothered to explain what attracted him to a segregationist Church in the first place because, despite all the humming-and-hawing, that's clearly what it is. Michelle Obama was a member of that congregation and introduced her Hawaiian- born husband to that particular cauldron of hatred. This man, Obama, has rejected his white American mother when it suited him for political purposes and that disloyalty, far more deep-rooted than your political expediency, sticks in my craw. In California, he suddenly remembered that the woman who brought him into the world was not an African-American and neither were the grandparents who raised him and cared for him. Is it literature you want, KcM? How about it being "sharper than a sepent's tooth to have an un ungrateful child". I haven't quite worked out who is pulling his strings but there's little doubt about the manipulation. In an earlier post the fellow who rejoices in the name of Mack and is an Obama supporter, came at me and. unwittingly, destroyed his own argument when he wrote of people walking out of church in Ireland when they were opposed to what the man in the pulpit was preaching. Yes, they did and that shows a hell of a lot more courage than "Yes we can".

A year ago nobody would have thought the Republicans had a hope in the 2008 election but now what's the betting. Mr. Talking-through-both-sides-of-his=mouth has given them a bonanza. Good night.