Letters to the Editor
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@ Bah, Hutman! Here you seem to have drank the Kool-Aid.
Apparently you have never heard Obama speak off the cuff, during debates and interviews. He speaks as fluently as anybody in politics.
Hillary is obviously so much better at debate. If Obama is so good at debate, as you say he is, he should accept her challenge for a free form debate. Wouldn't he, therefore, run rings around her? NOT!
Obama is good at interviews if his interviewers are kind to him. He is a stunningly good speech-deliverer. At press conferences, not so much.
Just a word of warning: McCain relishes debate. He may have that whiny voice but he is great off the cuff. He is simple and direct. Simple and direct in debate is not Obama's forte.
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thanks LeCastor for the video
I've been wondering where it was.
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Now that the Wright controversy is over
Now that the Wright controversy is over, can we expect the gatekeeper of the proper conduct of religious figures, Joan Walsh, to look into "The Family"? Reverend Coe, the stealth pastor to the powerful, is waiting for an expose. Can we hope that the crack investigative reporters at Salon will take a teensy weensy peak into that? Come on, Joan.
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@ Carol Richards, Xrandadu Hutman
I bet you're excited at the prospect of going from one "sincere" president to another!
Whether Bush or Clinton, Bill were insincere is irrelevant to whether Obama is sincere or not.
It must drive you crazy to see all the fine folks who think of Barack as just a basic guy with some political skill.
Yeah, a little. I feel like normal-thinking people have been possessed by a religion that makes no sense. I feel like I see through him relatively easily. I also feel like i'm starting to be vindicated.
Would you vote for him in the primary?
I voted for Hill-dog, back on super tuesday.
If Obama's insincere, then every human is insincere...Or let me put it another way: If Obama's an actor, then he's a full-time actor....a very committed Method actor. Stanislavsky would be proud.
Hardly. I will never be president, because I wasn't born in the US, but also because I would never join a church (any church, or synagogue) just to get my religious cred in order so that I could run for serious office. Obama sells his wares of unitedness and the beautiful land of hope that he himself knows he cannot make happen -- he's just a politician, as cynical and ruthless as the rest of them (including Hillary and McCain). Remember the StraightTalk Express? That's the same kind of political gimmick as "change we can believe in," except in Obama's case, it has the added unpleasantness of having religious overtones (the sincerity of which many people are starting to doubt, and rightfully so).
Do I think Hillary is religious? No, I think she goes to church for the same reasons as Obama. But at least she didn't try to sell herself as a pure, immaculate demigod of hope. You don't get to be a Senator from Illinois by being a sweet and innocent. Puh leez. And anyone who falls for his shtick is as gullible as the people who fell for Dubya's "regular guy" image.
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Obama's dismissal of the Black Church and affirmation of Black killings by NYPD thugs
Today was Obama's greatest fear at what point do I shed my Black persona and step on Black folks for the greater prize..
Today was Obama's whitest day and his Blackest day instead of being a man he now looks like a wimp bending over and genuflecting to the racism of liberal whites and the right law and order slugs on the right..
Obama would never trash the religions of jews, arabs, asians but he never has a problem with stabbing Black folks in thier pews when he is trying to make way with white voters..
Obama made a lethal mistake today his true or lack of colors surfaced..
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Logic
If we accept that guilt by association makes the Wright sermons and Obama's history with Wright's church a valid story, then it makes sense for Obama to hold the press conference he did today. But then it also makes sense that the press (including columnists like Will) be open to raising questions about who other politicians/leaders are associating with in order to understand who they are. For example, the way I see it, Rush Limbaugh's Operation Chaos is more than just anti-patriotic rhetoric--it is anti-patriotic action. He seeks explicitly, openly to disrupt the election process, and what could be more basic to democracy than the election process. How much have either Bush or Cheney been villified for their associations with Limbaugh? Who has called Limbaugh an anti-patriot? Has anyone asked how often Bush and/or Cheney sit in his church? How often they support his cause financially by listening to the ads on his program? Are there mentors that we don't know about in Hillary's and McCain's lives? Seriously, the logic used for all this concern about Obama's connection to Wright should bear out in more ways than one. (My preference by far would be to change the logic, but somehow that seems too much to expect.)
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And Nary a Word About Douglas Coe, Joan?
Wow. You're quick, Joan. Got your post up right away. Well, I challenge you now to expend some energy and focus on Hillary Clinton's ties to Douglas Coe and The Fellowship. Or does that not matter?
It's truly sad that you've given Hillary a pass on her association with what Babara Ehrenreich rightfully called "Hillary's Nasty Pastorate." Douglas Coe and his merry band of evangelicals make Jeremiah Wright seem quaint. Unless an organization that has built relationships with some of the great thugs and killers of this century doesn't disturb you nearly as much as a black minister with some dumb ideas.
And yet, Hillary has embraced this organization and spoken glowingly of it. Did she not know the Fellowship's past history in 1993 when she joined? Perhaps she might have enlightened herself over these past 15 years.
So come on, Joan, enlighten us with your pearls of wisdom on this issue. After all, you seem very concerned with the religious affiliations of the candidates. Just not Hillary's.
Until you write truthfully about Doug Coe and the Fellowship, you'll be nothing but an intellectually bankrupt, partisan shill for both Hillary and the mainstream media. So I challenge you, Joan. Write a piece about this issue. Here's a start.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/ehrenreich