Friday, March 14, 2008

Obama Repudiates Wright Statements, But Has He Created His Own Trap? (PLUS REZKO AND OTHER UPDATES)

As we reported below, Barack Obama has been subjected to a firestorm for his association with the minister of his church, Jeremiah Wright, and the incendiary statements made by Wright from the pulpit. See below for the background links. Obama came out quickly and made a pretty strong repudiation of Wright's statements and distanced himself as much as possible from Wright, athough Obama previously has discussed his close relationship with him. See here for Obama's statement.

It was a smart political move for Obama to move quickly on this, as Wright's hate-filled sermons have been getting heavy play on YouTube. But, I wonder if Obama may have fallen into a trap of his own devising. In attempting to distance himself from Wright and his hate speech, Obama stated:

"...Rev. Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life. In other words, he has never been my political advisor; he’s been my pastor. And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn. The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation."

Okay, well you know what this means. The various powers-that-be are going to be trying to get their hands on records that somehow show exactly which Wright sermons Obama ever attended and heard in person. Who knows if this kind of information is available (i.e., did the church keep attendance records, contribution records, etc.), but if it is, they will match up dates of attendance with the DVDs that are available of Wright's sermons, or any other records (disseminated text records?) to see just what kind of damning statements Wright may have made in Obama's presence. Obama has bought himself time for now, but may have created a bigger problem for himself than he realizes, depending on what evidence can be uncovered.

I don't know much about Wright, but from the videos I've seen, I find it hard to believe he gave a lot of warm and fuzzy 'come to Jesus' sermons. Was Wright always a different man in Obama's presence? We shall see soon. But even if so, doesn't this also call into question Obama's judge of character, considering he was supposedly so close to Wright? Is Obama essentially claiming he had NO IDEA that Wright held these views?

I don't think we've heard the last of this by any means...

UPDATE: REZKO GATE- >> Well, interestingly enough, Barack Obama chose today (yes, a Friday, of course) but more importantly, the same day the Pastor-gate story is taking the Internet and MSM by storm, to finally 'come clean' about his relationship with indicted political maven Tony Rezko. Anyone see any coincidence here on the timing?

Obama reveals a bunch more details about his relationship with Rezko, including the fact that Rezko raised about $100,000 more for Obama than Obama previously admitted. Also interesting is that Obama thinks he is exonerating himself when he states that it was Rezko's idea, not Obama's, for Rezko to buy the vacant lot next door. Huh? Of course it was "Uncle Tony's" idea. And do ya think Uncle Tony might also have implied that he would refrain from developing that lot for as many years as it took for Obama to save up to afford to buy it (if ever), and offer to let Obama use it as part of his property as much as he wanted in the meantime? Naw, never happened...

Does anyone think that Obama's latest attempt at misdirection will take the heat off the pastor story? I don't. You know why? Because the Rezko connection is not easy to understand, and most importantly, there's NO VIDEO. On the other hand, there's lots of video out there available of the firely pastor Wright spewing his venom all over the Internet. And, it'll be there for an awfully long time, perhaps forever, but quite probably longer than the Rezko story lasts.

One last word on the pastor- does anyone really think that the Obamas belonged to that church for 20 YEARS and never had an idea that their pastor was a white-folk hating, blame America zealot? If so, we can only shake our heads and wonder how the U.S. will survive if we elect a president that is such a poor judge of character.

THOSE LIBERALS CAN BE VICIOUS: Some advice to Dem candidates.... don't claim to be a champion of liberals, prgressives, gays, etc. and then don't deliver-- they will crucify you. Check out this uber-liberal blog post I found while researching what the other blogs were saying on this scandal. It does an EXCELLENT job of deconstructing Obama's 'repudiation' statement. I think they started off mad at Obama because he did not come through on supporting gays rights as they thought he should, and somebody took a LOT of time to tear holes in his statement you could drive a Mack truck through. After reading that post, I am really starting to wonder if this could be it for Obama.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

According to public records, 8000 parishoners worship with Pastor WRONG. That the Obama family has been a part of that membership for 20 years it's hard, if not impossible to believe that Pastor WRONG never uttered what is all over the media today. That vicious guy can't help himself. And isn't that the very same Pastor Mr. Obama sought guidance from over the years? That's what he has stated on a number of occasions.

No, we haven't walked in the shoes of African Americans. But it's impossible for me to understand how anyone, Black or White, can or would subscribe to the hate America rhetoric coming from that guy. Why didn't the Obama family find a place of worship closer to their own values and beliefs over the past 20 years?

One would think that the current Americal Idol has feet of clay.

Anonymous said...

Did you watch Obama being interviewed on FOX News nationally last night? He surely wasn't that "orator" with the ability to charm the unsuspecting. You can see his uneasiness and his lack of clarity in trying to explain to Major Garrett, who did the interview, all about his 20 years in that "church".

TA, you are right in pointing out that it's hard, impossibly difficult, to imagine that never in 20 years did his Pastor not give sermons that went beyond civil. In today's Tribune Obama tries to say that his Pastor is a product of the 60's as an explanation for that kind of rhetoric. Sorry, sir, that "dog doesn't hunt". Obama should resign from that place of worship sooner rather than later.

At the end of the day this calls into serious question his judgment on many significant levels. Hopefully the next 6 months will help ferret out the REAL Barack Obama.

Anonymous said...

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake has hit the Oregon coast and Atlanta has been hit by a tornado. Obama, Seals and other Democrats point to Bush and the Iraq war as the likely causes...developing story.

Anonymous said...

Interesting audios of Obama explaining the Rezko influence on the Tribune website.

All that spin just makes him sound siller and sillier.

Rezko helped Obama buy his family home but other than that had no influence over him on anything at all. But when Obama wanted to run for office, the first guy he called was Rezko. But then, he really wasn't a friend. Just a very casual acquaintance.

Anyone who has time should listen to him stumble and explain and "give some background" on this whole mess. And you will reach the same conclusion I did.

There is more to this story than Obama is telling us.

But then, he is the "honest" and "righteous" candidate running, right?

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:44, all that spin is making me dizzy, how about you? Not only does our state's junior senator look and sound silly, the hole he's digging is getting deeper and wider with each TV spot. He seems uneasy, not that smooth talking, righteous, never blemished new kind of hero. Stay tuned. I think this ride is going to get might rocky very quickly.

Anonymous said...

TA,

Today's Daily Herald spills the beans on why Dan Seals will not really be supported by the national Democratic Party. It's what we all know to be true -- Bean needs Kirk to survive, ergo the DCCC needs Kirk to keep Bean.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=154626&src=3

Sparty

Anonymous said...

TA,

In light of the Rev. Jamie Wright scandal, do you or anyone else know what religion Dan Seals belongs to? What church/synagogue/mosque does he attend? Does he have a pastor?

BD

Anonymous said...

So much for EBG's claims that Kirk has neglected Afghanistan. Turns out he's the leader in the House on the subject!

http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=125662

Anonymous said...

TA:

Note EBG is writing things in support of Obama's preacher.

Anonymous said...

TA:

Seals told everyone that he worked for Lieberman until his base turned against the senior senator. When will he stop running the Obama pics?

Publia said...

BD-
I assumed that the Pup doesn't bother with religion. Nowhere is there any mention of any religion or house of worship. No one online reports belonging to a house of worship that he does. I have been extra curious about this one, but I thought I was the only person.