Obama supporters! - A positive place to talk about his campaign

[lilyv]

But she doesn't indicate that her advisor Ickes was on the committee that decided to strip the delegates in the first place!

Details...details...us little people aren't supposed to know that.

 

[sassyat30]

Hey guys. Chris encouraged me to post this...my sister sent it to me in an email this morning. Trinity UCC in Chicago is part of her denomination (and we aren't black ). It's an essay written by the President of the UCC Church.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What Kind of Prophet?
Reflections on the Rhetoric of Preaching
in Light of Recent News Coverage of Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.
and Trinity United Church of Christ


John H. Thomas
General Minister and President
United Church of Christ


Over the weekend members of our church and others have been subjected to the relentless airing of two or three brief video clips of sermons by the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ for thirty-six years and, for over half of those years, pastor of Senator Barack Obama and his family. These video clips, and news stories about them, have been served up with frenzied and heated commentary by media personalities expressing shock that such language and sentiments could be uttered from the pulpit.

One is tempted to ask whether these commentators ever listen to the overcharged rhetoric of their own opinion shows. Even more to the point is to wonder whether they have a working knowledge of the history of preaching in the United States from the unrelentingly grim language of New England election day sermons to the fiery rhetoric of the Black church prophetic tradition. Maybe they prefer the false prophets with their happy homilies in Jeremiah who say to the people: "You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you true peace in this place." To which God responds, "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. . . . By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed," (Jeremiah 14.14-15). The Biblical Jeremiah was coarse and provocative. Faithfulness, not respectability was the order of the day then. And now?

What’s really going on here? First, it may state the obvious to point out that these television and radio shows have very little interest in Trinity Church or Jeremiah Wright. Those who sifted through hours of sermons searching for a few lurid phrases and those who have aired them repeatedly have only one intention. It is to wound a presidential candidate. In the process a congregation that does exceptional ministry and a pastor who has given his life to shape those ministries is caricatured and demonized. You don’t have to be an Obama supporter to be alarmed at this. Will Clinton’s United Methodist Church be next? Or McCain’s Episcopal Church? Wouldn’t we have been just as alarmed had it been Huckabee’s Southern Baptist Church, or Romney’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?

Many of us would prefer to avoid the stark and startling language Pastor Wright used in these clips. But what was his real crime? He is condemned for using a mild "obscenity" in reference to the United States. This week we mark the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, a war conceived in deception and prosecuted in foolish arrogance. Nearly four thousand cherished Americans have been killed, countless more wounded, and tens of thousands of Iraqis slaughtered. Where is the real obscenity here? True patriotism requires a degree of self-criticism, even self-judgment that may not always be easy or genteel. Pastor Wright’s judgment may be starker and more sweeping than many of us are prepared to accept. But is the soul of our nation served any better by the polite prayers and gentle admonitions that have gone without a real hearing for these five years while the dying and destruction continues?

We might like to think that racism is a thing of the past, that Martin Luther King’s harmonious multi-racial vision, articulated in his speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 and then struck down by an assassin’s bullet in Memphis in 1968, has somehow been resurrected and now reigns throughout the land.

Significant progress has been made. A black man is a legitimate candidate for President of the United States. A black woman serves as Secretary of State. The accomplishments are profound. But on the gritty streets of Chicago’s south side where Trinity has planted itself, race continues to play favorites in failing urban school systems, unresponsive health care systems, crumbling infrastructure, and meager economic development. Are we to pretend all is well because much is, in fact, better than it used to be? Is it racist to name the racial divides that continue to afflict our nation, and to do so loudly? How ironic that a pastor and congregation which, for forty-five years, has cast its lot with a predominantly white denomination, participating fully in its wider church life and contributing generously to it, would be accused of racial exclusion and a failure to reach for racial reconciliation.

The gospel narrative of Palm Sunday’s entrance into Jerusalem concludes with the overturning of the money changers’ tables in the Temple courtyard. Here wealth and power and greed were challenged for the way the poor were oppressed to the point of exclusion from a share in the religious practices of the Temple. Today we watch as the gap between the obscenely wealthy and the obscenely poor widens. More and more of our neighbors are relegated to minimal health care or to no health care at all. Foreclosures destroy families while unscrupulous lenders seek bailouts from regulators who turned a blind eye to the impending crisis. Should the preacher today respond to this with only a whisper and a sigh?

Is Pastor Wright to be ridiculed and condemned for refusing to play the court prophet, blessing land and sovereign while pledging allegiance to our preoccupation with wealth and our fascination with weapons? In the United Church of Christ we honor diversity. For nearly four centuries we have respected dissent and have struggled to maintain the freedom of the pulpit. Not every pastor in the United Church of Christ will want to share Pastor Wright’s rhetoric or his politics. Not every member will rise to shout "Amen!" But I trust we will all struggle in our own way to resist the lure of respectable religion that seeks to displace evangelical faith. For what this nation needs is not so much polite piety as the rough and radical word of the prophet calling us to repentance. And, as we struggle with that ancient calling, I pray we will be shrewd enough to name the hypocrisy of those who decry the mixing of religion and politics in order to serve their own political ends.

March 17, 2008
__________________

 

[chris1gill]

Thank you for posting this stirring essay. I think it should be posted in every Obama thread and sent to every newspaper IMHO.... But yet still, people will not get it, as it too requires some level of academia to do so.

 

[NewJersey]

Thanks for posting that Sara.

 

[sassyat30]

Thanks for posting that Sara.

No problem.

I wanted to share, as I thought it was exceptional.

 

[NewJersey]

From Politico.com:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/

This, from the tail end of an AP story, is the first hint of news I've seen out of Clinton's White House schedules:

She was also involved in helping her husband win congressional approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement, a deal she now criticizes and says she would try to change.

Her schedule for Nov. 10, 1993, shows her speaking at a NAFTA briefing closed to the media, with 120 people expected to attend.

The image from the WH papers is there (didn't copy here).

 

[chris1gill]

No problem.

I wanted to share, as I thought it was exceptional.

And it is! I say post it everywhere you can!

 

[chris1gill]

Top Hillary Supporter Ed Rendell Hit Up George Soros For Money To Fund New Michigan Primary

"Top Hillary supporter and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell privately appealed to billionaire George Soros for cash to help fund a new primary in Michigan -- a request that Soros is declining, a source familiar with their conversation tells Election Central.

A Soros spokesperson confirmed the account.

The private appeal by one of Hillary's most important national supporters to one of the wealthiest men in the country is yet another indication of just how hard the Hillary camp is working behind the scenes to get a Michigan revote-- and how many backstage angles they're working to make it happen.

According to the source, Rendell told Soros that they were looking for around 15 or 16 people to come up with the needed funds. "He said that the total figure they needed was $10 to $12 million," the source says."


http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/exclusive_top_hillary_supporte.php

Wow... talk about getting desperate...

 

[chris1gill]

OK Guys, you have to go watch Bill Maher on the Hardball website

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/

Loved what he had to say about yesterday's speech written by adults for adults, he was complimentary.... He said many things, some of which were provocative for those on the other side of the aisle.

 

[JARNJ3]

OK Guys, you have to go watch Bill Maher on the Hardball website

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/

Loved what he had to say about yesterday's speech written by adults for adults, he was complimentary.... He said many things, some of which were provocative for those on the other side of the aisle.

Ok I went!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Bill Maher.

Thanks for the link. I don't get MSNBC.

 

[chris1gill]

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/fiveyearslater

I think this may lead to today's speech, I don't know if it's the entire speech, but it was marked from today (I already streamed it & this video doesn't say how long it is)

There is another conference tomorrow on the economy & Obama will be on Larry King tomorrow.

I feel bad for anyone who missed today's KO, it was outstanding....

Has anyone been utterly shocked (but not surprised) at Cheney being asked by someone from ABC about the 2/3rd's at home that felt the troops needed to come home & he said "So", "it doesn't matter water people think", while laughing.... He was so flippant, I just shook my head

Oh, and the President says things I cannot repeat without too many adjectives... It was hit on on many shows today KO did a good job with it. One thing he says is that we can't go home because of the world's economy, yup, this must be helping the economy...

OMG About worst persons in the world, it's as bad as could be...

 

[NewJersey]

OK Guys, you have to go watch Bill Maher on the Hardball website

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/

Loved what he had to say about yesterday's speech written by adults for adults, he was complimentary.... He said many things, some of which were provocative for those on the other side of the aisle.

Watching it now - I love his line that Obama will be the Jackie Robinson of politics.

 

[chris1gill]

Watching it now - I love his line that Obama will be the Jackie Robinson of politics.

You aren't going to like the Worst person in the world
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23716643#23716643

Downright dangerous for Obama....

 

[NewJersey]

You aren't going to like the Worst person in the world
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23716643#23716643

Downright dangerous for Obama....

Jesus, Hannity is a freak! I can't believe that post was kept up on his website for 24 hours.

 

[chris1gill]

Jesus, Hannity is a freak! I can't believe that post was kept up on his website for 24 hours.

This just doesn't bode well with me.... This is the way Hannity keeps his viewer's & they freaking believe what he says! Do you think someone like this wouldn't act?

 

[NewJersey]

I really loved this part of Obama's speech today:

If you believe we are fighting the right war, then the problems we face are purely tactical in nature. That is what Senator McCain wants to discuss – tactics. What he and the Administration have failed to present is an overarching strategy: how the war in Iraq enhances our long-term security, or will in the future. That's why this Administration cannot answer the simple question posed by Senator John Warner in hearings last year: Are we safer because of this war? And that is why Senator McCain can argue – as he did last year – that we couldn't leave Iraq because violence was up, and then argue this year that we can't leave Iraq because violence is down.
When you have no overarching strategy, there is no clear definition of success. Success comes to be defined as the ability to maintain a flawed policy indefinitely. Here is the truth: fighting a war without end will not force the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own future. And fighting in a war without end will not make the American people safer.

 

[chris1gill]

He just had an excellent interview with Anderson Cooper....it was very very good.... answers people have been asking were answered further, some answered yet again.....

 

[NewJersey]

He just had an excellent interview with Anderson Cooper....it was very very good.... answers people have been asking were answered further, some answered yet again.....

It's never enough though.

 

[arminnie]

I really debated about posting this. It is extremely vitriolic, but I do think it sums up how Hillary is viewed by many. These are two emails from two long-time PA Democrats.

COMMENTS BY FIRST PA DEMOCRAT

I have had the privilege of a business meeting with Hillary Clinton when I was trying to open a significant business in Niagara Falls NY. First, let me say that I am a liberal democrat that believes this country would be much better off with a woman as president.

That being said, if you held a gun to my head and told me to vote for Hillary, I would say pull the trigger. I have never met a person in my life that has exuded such pure evil!

Anyone that knows me will tell you, I don't say something like that lightly!
Vote for Obama, hell Satan instead of Hillary, never have I been so afraid in my life and I am serious!

COMMENTS BY TRUE DEMOCRAT NUMBER TWO

When Henry Clay ran for president in 1848, he was warned his anti-slavery views would be widely unpopular, to which he famously replied, "I would rather be right than be president." Hillary, on the other hand, would rather be president than anything else. She's been prepping herself for this since Bill's reign. Her campaign reflects this in its low-blow, vitriolic, crocodile-tear, whatever-poop (edited) -will-stick-to-the-wall tactics.

I agree that a woman can/should be president, but not this one who cynically bought a house in New York so she could establish enough residency to run for Senate and who's been dodging scandals with her husband ever since Arkansas. There is no emotion that Hillary wants you to see that hasn't been calculated for its political effect - watch the candid shots of her at speeches/meetings when she doesn't think the camera is on her if you want to see the real Hillary.

 

[chris1gill]

It's never enough though.

And for many it may never be enough, but when cooler heads prevail, more gets done... hopefully somebody out there is watching the show and getting a picture of the true man..

Arminnie, that first post is disturbing in its analogy, but I don't think either of your two friends are too far away from a great many others' thoughts..... are they voting for Obama or just against Hillary?