Letters to the Editor
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Crazy Uncles, the DCCC, the UCC and Chi Town vs. DC
Sweet Jesus, can I ever relate to Obama in this McClelland hatchet job. I was raised in the Disciples of Christ Christian Church, a virtual twin of the UCC (both trinitarian Christian, both non-doctrinaire beyond the trinity thing), both inclined to develop unique congregational personalities based upon location. My particular DCCC, crazy uncle and all, evolved from a virtual storefront-style inner city church to hotbed of late 1950s -- early 60s radical leftness (and I was radicalized by my association in turn), didn't mind the gay congregants nor the resident atheist, but then it went way above and beyond my pretty big comfort zone, so I left, hooked up with the Moorish Orthodox Church (not so much radical as open-ended and delightfully unhinged), an offshoot of the Moorish Science Temple (which moved to Chicago from Newark back in the early 30s), a group which had given accidental and reluctant birth to the Nation of Islam as an apostate splinter group. Frying pan into the fire, just like that. Gave up the faux liberals for the fez-wearing lunatics who to this day are the one crew I know I can rely on when every sane person has cut me loose (not that that's ever gonna happen, but it is comforting to know they're there).
So, having said that, McClelland, what exactly was your point? Aside from the one on the end of that ice pick you're wielding, I mean.
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Strange Cult
All of Barack Obama's "virtues" have been shown to be illusions, yet his followers still follow.
The post-racial candidate's history as an enthusiastic member of Wright's racist church is as racial and divisive as anyone can get.
The ethical candidate let a slumlord buy him a house.
The principled candidate has a paper trail of wrong button pushes and "present" votes.
The unifier has a wife that hates America except during those times in which her husband is a presidential candidate.
Yet BO's followers still follow.
Fascinating and more than a little weird.
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Please lolcait and others
We already know that Clinton and McCain have no shortcomings and that a man lucky enough to be half-black in America should show his gratitude by becoming an Episcopalian. Please add something new to the discussion.
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The crazy uncles in Obama's attic
"Khalidi has gone so far as to say that 'we owe reparations to the Iraqi people.'"
You're joking, right? This is crazy? Not the view that seems to prevail in Washington--that the U.S. has given that ungrateful country a "gift" by causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands and creating the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War?
Perhaps you think us so very noble for giving a few hundred Iraqis asylum in this good, generous land.
I expect this kind of crap from my TV--not from *Salon.*
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and your point is?
Cause I really don't see one in the entire essay. He has friends with a wide variety of viewpoints. We have a clear enough idea where he stands based upon his voting record and policy proposals. His name is the only one on the ballot.
I don't care what Obama's pastor says. How does that relate to my daily life? When you start writing articles like these you are virtually saying we should investigate every person the candidate has come into contact with throughout their lives.
You have a lot of weak points. How does Obama going to this church fill out his weaknesses. Most people consider young men of any race who attend Columbia and Harvard to have a very strong resume and much potential. Also, you try and make it sound his sole motivation for joining the church was politically motivated. If so, why didn't he leave the church when he became a US Senator? Your illogical and improbable leaps of logic are astounding.
I am actually disappointed that Salon published this hack journalism.
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The Crazy Skeletons in Obama's Closet
The problem isn't so much what Wright's "intent" was when he preached these sermons it's the meaning that lies behind them. I've heard statements exactly like Wright's before in a more obscure, at least to white folks, radical black philosophy called "critical race analysis", which states that ALL WHITES ARE RACISTS because white culture is, by default (BY DEFAULT!!), racist. Most black studies scholars or any black person with a class in black studies knows about this. Wright's sermons are at minimum based in the basics of this philosophy.
Regardless, the point is, it would be the height of ultimate blind naiveté, savvy as he is in his own black culture at least, for Obama to have NOT known what Wright's views were and what exactly what he stood for. To think that Wright never said any of this in front of Obama ever or that Obama in his 20-year relationship with this church DIDN'T ever have a single clue about Wright's strong beliefs are is to say the least ludicrous.
So either Obama is truly clueless (scary thought if it weren't so idiotic) or he knew exactly what Wright preached...but expects us to believe he never heard what was obvious right in front of his face....FOR 20 YEARS.
The real deal breaker here is not Wright's beliefs or what he preached, it's that Obama thinks (or hopes) that most whites are clueless enough (because most blacks know better), blindly in love with him enough, shut up with white liberal guilt enough or just willing to go along enough to get the Presidency back, that this will all fall away and no one will ask too many questions of him. And while he might be right about his most extremist followers or even perhaps about the Democrats in general, when this comes down to the general election, this will never simply just pass under the radar. This isn't even close to done or even half-baked. It's only just the beginning.
Obama apologists are burying their head in the sand on this one...and that will only make it worse.
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besides
The fact that you americans get so hung up about this or that politician's religion is pretty pathetic. At times it feels as suffocating as Tehran around here. It's the problem with an inscrutable god and its many interpreters - you can never please everybody.
(and I'm not even gonna comment on Clinton shills screaming about anti-americanism - I mean, what is there to be proud of, really? this country was built on slavery, genocide, discrimination and imperialism - and never, ever had to own up to it, so please have some decency when you start off on your America is the greatest country ever - no, it is not).