Reply #5: Thank you for your response

[RedShoesBlueState]

And thanks for the opportunity to discuss. I should start by saying that I understand what Senator Obama was trying to say in his speech. I too have people I love who have said ugly things. But those people are family, and you can't pick your family. I love them unconditionally, because that's what families do.

However, I would never belong to a church, or call somone my spiritual advisor, who said some of the things Wright said. For me, the one that is the most deeply disturbing is his contention that the government created the HIV virus to kill Black people. At the very minimimum, I find it to be a huge lack of judgment on Obama's part that he would affiliate himself with someone who said such a thing. And by the way, I don't care if he was in the church that day and heard that sermon or not. If they were so close to each other, you can't tell me that Wright wouldn't have shared that idea with a parishioner who is in politics, who is a United States Senator. Surely they discussed politics of all sorts, if they were close.

So, I guess what I would say is that my concern is not so much about Obama's speech as it is that it's too little, too late. It was damage control that failed, in my opinion. And what disturbs me the most is that my party did such a lousy job of investigating the candidates' backgrounds -- that they didn't find this information two years ago and say "Whoaaaa....." -- so that we wouldn't have gotten to the point where we are now, seemingly stuck with what seems to be the inevitable candidate, a candidate I do not think is electable.