HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY, BARACK

[boston bean]

In his 1993 memoir "Dreams from My Father," Obama recounts in vivid detail his first meeting with Wright in 1985. The pastor warned the community activist that getting involved with Trinity might turn off other black clergy because of the church's radical reputation.

When Obama sought his own church community, he felt increasingly at home at Trinity. Before leaving for Harvard Law School in 1988, he responded to one of Wright's altar calls and declared a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Later he would base his 2004 keynote speech to the Democratic National Convention on a Wright sermon called "Audacity to Hope," --also the inspiration for Obama's second memoir, "The Audacity of Hope."

Though Wright and Obama do not often talk one-on-one often, the senator does check with his pastor before making any bold political moves.

Last fall, Obama approached Wright to broach the possibility of running for president. Wright cautioned Obama not to let politics change him, but he also encouraged Obama, win or lose.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/religion/chi-...


Yeah right, he didn't know about the church's radical reputation. No he never took political advice. Yeah right.

[ProSense]

1. "Though Wright and Obama do not often talk one-on-one often" Are you trying to spin personal advice?

n/t

[CatsDogsBabies]

2. Well

Jesus was a radical, Christianity can be pretty radical if it is taken seriously. Did Obama say he didn't know about the Church's radical reputation? Did he use that term "radical"? After last night, I am convinced that Obama is the most honest of them all.

[dkf]

6. I think radical might mean Wright's embrace of GLBT issues.

[SunsetDreams]

3. Policy vs Political move is different...

"Obama approached Wright to broach the possibility of running for president"

Maybe you should have quoted that next statement.

[rucky]

54. totally...and the advice given was of a personal nature

"don't let it change you"

spiritual advice if I've ever heard it.

[Bake]

4. These words make Obama look like a liar.

And they will come back to haunt him.

Bake

[SunsetDreams]

5. yeah it does...

especially if statements are misquoted and taken out of context

[Bake]

7. That's what they DO.

And Obama will be on the defensive again, just like he was last nght, stammering and backpedaling.

Bake

[SunsetDreams]

13. no not at all

Asking for guidance on whether someone should make the move from the Senate, to running for President is completely different

It is not a policy discussion

That's what people DO take things out of context and try to read into it.

Nothing there.

[boston bean]

8. you people are sad. he wrote this in his book, i supplied a link,

[SunsetDreams]

15. I know you did....

but you didn't quote the whole statement...some people will not click on that link and just base their observation on what you quoted since it supports the title of your post.

[boston bean]

21. the most damning part is him vividly recalling in his book...... nt

[Vinca]

9. Which is why, of course, we should also be talking about Hillary

making peace in Northern Ireland ("not" says the Nobel prize winner), bringing peace (with the help of Sinbad) to Bosnia and creating SCHIP (except she's now got a whole lot of people who actually did create SCHIP seriously pissed off). Then, of course, there are the tax returns being held under wraps. We shouldn't have to wait until April 15 to see the 2006 ones.

[rodeodance]

27. You are off focus from the OP---you can start you own thread if you want to change the subject.

[Nedsdag]

61. So rodeodance, you believe that Hillary cannot be criticized?

If so, then you are a bigger fool than you make yourself out to be.

[boston bean]

68. no, i think that maybe rodeo thinks you should address the issues presented here. nt

[roguevalley]

73. personally, I am not afraid of an old black man speaking about

his pain and his experience. I remember when black people couldn't stay in my town overnight, couldn't eat in the same places or use the facilities or hotels. I understand him in a way maybe younger people can't. Think of the degrading tyranny that would mean. Think about yourself in his life and how it would change you inside. Think about being attacked or blamed for anything and having no recourse. I know what the man is saying when he says it. it was his life. You don't have to agree but it is his experiences. Life is changing now. The younger folks have a better time of it but hatred and racism isn't over. It's all around us, including this board. I don't like much of what Wright said but I understand what he is saying and why. Obama isn't responsible for this. Anyone who says so is full of shit. Wright is. There is nothing of benefit for Obama from this, unlike someone else with their skeletons. I'm not afraid of Mr. Wright, I don't hate him, I remember a lot of what drives his feelings. He is entitled to his opinions and Obama is not responsible. Too bad some of you never saw Jim Crow. Maybe you would understand Gergen.

[Saturday]

10. If Obama was too dumb to know what Wright was teaching

after 17 years of sitting in his pews and regarding Wright as his mentor then he is too dumb to be President. His body language last night screamed "I'M LYING"!

[SunsetDreams]

17. not to me...

I'm an RN and I know something about body language, but everyone has an opinion I guess

[JoFerret]

11. Sounds so creepy

to this atheist.

All the religion stuff does...not just Obama's. But his sounds very creepy. That "come to Jesus" moment.
Like GWB's lies about walking on the beach with Billy Graham.

[NDambi]

47. It's freaky isn't...religion has ruined many of lives...its unreal

[JoFerret]

59. The compulsory religion required of politicians

makes many hypocrites unecessarily

[NDambi]

The whole religion thing is bogus to me, period. Faux superiority disease..

[Texas Hill Country]

12. They will dig and find him in the audience or to have bought a tape of one of those sermons...

just waiting for the inevitable... 20 years and he didnt know... yeah right.

[boston bean]

23. I think you are right, that will be next. nt

[zulchzulu]

14. So a Hillary Clinton supporter is telling Obama something about honesty?

Wow. But hey, try to keep distorting the issue.

Do you want to talk about Hillary's book written by a ghost writer?

[Nedsdag]

63. Exactly!

Missing billing records? Enacting the Irish Peace Accords?

This heifer is a major tool.

[eallen]

16. Where did Obama say he didn't know the church's reputation?

Oh, wait. That's just you putting words in Obama's mouth. Perhaps you should follow your subject line.

[Pavlovs DiOgie]

18. More from that article

"What I value most about Pastor Wright is not his day-to-day political advice," Obama said. "He's much more of a sounding board for me to make sure that I am speaking as truthfully about what I believe as possible and that I'm not losing myself in some of the hype and hoopla and stress that's involved in national politics."

and

"Obama has said he is particularly inspired by Wright's ability to draw followers from all walks of life--celebrities and welfare recipients, PhDs and GEDs. It is a gift the senator aspires to emulate."

That seems quite consistent with what I know about Obama. Down to earth, as much as a politician can be. He's trying to keep his head amidst all the craziness of being in the spotlight and having so many people whispering in your ear. I'm glad he's being proactive at keeping himself level.

He wants to unite the country. One might not want to unite the country - many hate all republicans and want to keep fighting with them, but I like the idea of working WITH people to get what you want. This article helps to confirm this about Obama.

[shenmue]

19. Let's not talk about the truth, now...

That's not allowed in the Obama Worship Society.

Obama never answers difficult questions, and neither do his followers. If you doubt him, they're going to call you a racist. That's how they do it.

[susankh4]

20. Damning

And oh so contrary to the original purposes of the founding fathers.

I am flaberghasted that Obama's political sponsors did not catch this.

Such a sad time for the Dem party.

[boston bean]

22. It is a damn shame for the party. Kennedy and Kerry should especially

held feet to the fire on this. They had to have known. They are too powerful to have not know. And now our party is split in two because people refused to vett Obama.

[NDambi]

49. tell hillary to release her tax rerturns..you know her personally right, you know she's not hiding

anything...

You guys are pathetic in your attempts to dance between the rain drops!

No way Clinton wins anyway..she's damaged goods...

[Rex_Goodheart]

24. His performance last night on Fox was dreadfully weak

and dishonest, I feel.

We're screwed.

[rodeodance]

28. I have heard others say his attempts at damage control last evening was modest at best.

[Catherina]

25. These words coming from a rabidly partisan Hillary supporter. Oh the irony!

Don't you have anything more productive to do?

File your nails? Shower? Dust? Help Hillary find her tax returns?

[boston bean]

31. Catherina, he is the one who is lying, face reality. It's over for him. nt

[Catherina]

65. Lol! You're too funny

Your track record is that it was "over for him" before every single primary.



Look closely at that pic MassDemm and the look at this closely http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FvyGydc8no

It's not working. Can't you guys find another tactic? Is there really nothing more in your arsenal than these dire predictions of gloom and doom if Cluster Bomb Hillary doesn't get elected to save us from the Iranian Guard the same way she saved millions from WMDs in Iraq?

[mrreowwr_kittty]

From the looks of GD-P, they are all cowering in fear

Terrified that hordes of militant radical ungrateful black racists are about to descend upon them and...I dunno...take their blanky or something.

I had no idea there were so many oppressed white people on DU.

[boston bean]

33. This thread is about Obama lying. What don't you get about that. nt

[mrreowwr_kittty]

41. Really? Because it sure looked liberally sprinkled with white victims of "black racism"

[Catherina]

72. Obama lying lol

You never give up. MassDemm, go buy yourself a drink on me because I'm sure you can't possibly be as clueless as you're deliberately pretending to try to push your candidate along. I hate you and love you at the same time.

Really. Give me the name of an Obama supporter near you and I'll send them a money order because if you were on my team, I'd probably love you for your fierce loyalty.

[Catherina]

45. I know. LMAO about it too. I read a Hillary supporter post

about how watching the Faux assemblage of Rev Wright speaking "struck fear into my heart". The melodramatics to exploit the hidden fears of White people are too funny. None of the White people I know care about Wright's comments. They're more concerned about Hillary's vote for war and cluster bombs as well as her repulsive campaign. I think America's evolved enough that it really doesn't care about the paranoid, freakish fears of a minuscule movement of "old-guard" White people anymore.

[NDambi]

50. "I had no idea there were so many oppressed white people on DU"

Ha Ha...they will tell you its about his lying, but its about so much more, they're just too cowardly to say it, so they dance about and around it..label it a bunch of other things.

As a black woman, I see it all the time. I know who and what they are...even if they aren't willing to admit to themselves.

[Catherina]

57. Amen.

Your children are so clean, would you like to be my maid? Can you teach me to drive a stick? Would you like to go home for Christmas?
What are you staring at? I've always been good to you people, how could you be so ungrateful?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6ha7TK13_0

Nice to meet you NDambi.

[NDambi]

62. Nice to meet you Catherina...

[Catherina]

66. Allow me to introduce myself

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us — don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

Emily Dickinson

[NDambi]

67. I'm nobody too

[Catherina]

71. Check this out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ky8Hvq-F0U
"Si Se Puede Cambiar" by Andres Useche

[Maribelle]

35. 'rabidly partisan'? Surely you could have come up with a more hateful term than that, no?

[golddigger]

43. You forgot to add to you drivel, shut up and be a good little woman

because all women should know their place right. Why didn't you go farther and say you should stay at home and be barefoot and pregnant.

[durrrty libby]

26. Obama has dumb judgment and he is a liar. Time for him to exit

Larry Elder is going off on him right now.

He called Wright a combo of David Duke and the 3 stooges


He obviously has no respect for BO or his "crazy uncle"

[Maribelle]

29. A major problem I have with Wright's preaching being passed off as merely anger ...

is the clear emotional manipulation being used by him and by those attempting to negate those aspects some are interpreting as hate.

I hail from a old 'celtic' family that for generations fought against segregation. There are even pictures in the family album of one of my grandmothers that traveled to an NAACP meeting at the New Ocean House in Swampscott Massachusetts during the early '60s. There were mostly white people in the pictures; but also some extremely famous black people, as well. One picture in particular is of my grandmother there with an unnamed beautiful black woman, arm in arm, beaming proudly. Family research discovered this woman was the former wife of the basketball giant Bill Russell. This was a perilous time for white people that went against the segregation laws of Alabama. The proverbial bodies were floating in the swamp. The hate coming from a few racist people dominated conversations, yet did not deter my family, quietly and persistently fighting on.

I shuddered when I first listened to a YouTube clip of one of Wright's "fire and brimstone" extreme rantings. From the onset of listening to this first clip, I was taken aback by the pastor's "fire and brimstone" being directed at the United States, white people, and seemingly Hillary Clinton, and not at your typical target of "fire and brimstone": the devil. Other news clips of other rantings by Wright have only magnified the problems of strife this pastor was preaching.

Some today attempt to pass off the hatefulness in the pastor's speeches as anger and frustration from someone who loves this country. I clearly define the pastor's speeches as abusive, too similar to the words that fly out off the forked tongue of an abusive husband that attempts to blame the wife for his emotionally abusive tirades: I love you but it's your fault I am this screaming maniac because of the things you have done to make me angry.

Perhaps we can now understand Michelle misspeaking about "for the first time in my love I am really proud...." if she was frequently a listener to this pastor, and supporting his rants by not quitting that church.

Obama will seemingly continue to twist the truth on this, just as he is doing on Rezko.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

30. You poor thing. Those militant unpatriotic black racists must be making your life hell.

I had no idea so many white people on DU were so oppressed. And you have relatives who helped black people one time! Why, those ungrateful savages! How dare they still be angry!

[Maribelle]

32. Your extremely weak response merely shows off...

your extremely forked tongue. Have you been able to get the ends into your ears yet? Why, I'll bet you have, hero.


Please post some pictures - - it would give us all a great laugh.

[boston bean]

34. They are back to the one talking point that is used to try to shut people up. and that is calling

anyone who questions o, a racist.

[Maribelle]

39. Playing the race card has been part of Obama's plans since the beginning.

Obama and Axelrod have been hand and hand on this for a long time - - in the governor's race in Massachusetts; in the mayor's race in Philadelphia.

And so today, it seems, they are running out of cards to play.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

40. So sayeth yet another white victim of the mean black racists. nt

[mrreowwr_kittty]

37. You just showed yourself to be the privileged entitled little whiner that you are

Much like your candidate.

"My grandmother did stuff for black people!"

[Maribelle]

48. Pictures of the tips of your tongue in your ears yet?

We are all waiting.

[NDambi]

52. lol

[NastyRiffraff]

36. Excellent post, Maribelle

Don't let them get you down. It's inevitable that the kook-aid drinkers will fire back, implying "racism" to your post. It's all they have.

Some of Rev. Wright's statements are insulting to those who fought oppression and segregation, white and black. They go against all that MLK stood for. Can you imagine MLK saying anything close to "God Damn America"?

[mrreowwr_kittty]

38. Read some of MLK's speeches and essays.

Not just the ones deemed acceptable for white peoples' consumption. He was scathingly critical of this country, and rightly so.

[Maribelle]

55. The Measure of a Man

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s reasoned and sensitive arguments called out to the American conscience. His social philosophy of nonviolent activism was deeply rooted in all his arguments.

The violence contained in the rants of Wright are in direct opposition to the passionate and eloquent words of MLK.

[Barack_America]

42. Um, Obama said that he was not aware of the specific comments in QUESTION.

He did not say that he had never heard Wright say anything controversial.

One, or several, does not equal all. It's simple logic.

The grasp (or lack thereof) of simple logic demonstrated around here is really shocking.

[boston bean]

58. I hope that is his defense when he is questioned about this. nt

[NDambi]

44. hater

[boston bean]

46. Obama is the one who can't seem to tell the truth. It's from the Tribune for goodness sakes

and it from O's book.

That makes me a hater?

[NDambi]

60. Hmmmmm..Hater

[barack the house]

51. Wright ain't on his campaign team and is retiring . Give it up.

[boston bean]

53. Obama just lied yesterday. sorry this aint going away. nt

[Maribelle]

56. He was up until yesterday morning. Wright was on Obama's spiritual advisory team.

- - - that's exactly what Obama said last night.

[usrbs]

64. Until a day ago he was in the campaign - on the African American Religious Leadership Committee

[Little Star]

69. Honesty, Barack barely knows thee.

[Quixote1818]

70. Where is the punch line? nt