Your comment is exactly the kind of down-to-earth perspective that is needed, as political debates veer off into the never-never land of absolute good and absolute
evil.

Thank you for a reminder that people can, indeed, keep both feet on the ground while contemplating the comples ideas and divisions confronting us.

Thank you for Moderate Voice. Thank you for T-Steel, also. And a big Thank You for the people here like Macan, whom I do NOT agree with. This is America and we can and should speak.

For me, this Wright matter has a Bottom Line: “What does Obama think?” From what I have seen of his life, he has sought to bring people together. It is amazing that Oprah and Michael Jordan are also listed as members of this church. Apparantly people belong to this church AND seek an integrated society.

I love my faith and my Church, a neighborhood Roman Catholic church. Women are not allowed to say Mass, which is a huge deal because only the Priest can consecrate the Host; the hierarchy of my Roman Catholic Faith say of homosexuals, “Hate the sin and love the sinner.”

I KNOW that what the Roman Catholic Dogma says is not as hurtful to many people as what Pastor White says, but, one could say practicing Catholics are anti-women and anti-gay. Evaluate those of us who are Roman Catholic by our actions and our faith in action.

And evaluate Obama by his life. If someone sees that Obama is motivated by hate, if someone sees that Obama is in his words and actyions equal to the worst things Pastor Wright preached, then don't vote for him.

As a political issue this is a good one for people looking for a reason to denounce Obama (”who knows what he is hiding in his heart?”), but as a matter of morals and ethics and personality, the Obama whose speeches, interviews and biography I have seen is a loving person.

Obama isn't perfect and I have high hopes that he grows in office, that he helps America repair its broken public and political life.

But just as I favor Women being allowed in the priesthood and marriage for homosexuals, even as I love attending 11:30 Mass every Sunday, participating in Kairos, Emmaus, and other Retreats, pray several times a day for guidance and in praise and thanks, I want to be evaluated by my imperfect attempt at living a good and moral life, not by the imperfect leaders of my beloved Roman Catholic faith. I pray for Pope Benedict even as my heart leads me through prayer in other directions.

I would put more crediblity in the Newsmax story by someone who has actually been to the church and listened to a service than a progressive publication from Minnesota that does not seem to understand what church membership means.

When Barack Obama was running as a black man for a state senate seat in an majority black district, it benefitted him to attend a large, black only church. He used his church to make connections for political reasons. He used the church to improve his public speaking style.

However, Barack Obama was operating under the, then, conventional wisdom that a double standard applied to black politicians. That double standard is that whatever is said in front of an all black crowd does not count in politics for non-blacks. I love how the spin has changed from “It's a black thing, you would not understand”; to Barack Obama did not know about the racist beliefs of a man who Senator Obama quotes in his autobiography; to the Rev. Wright is senile and gone now, pay no attention, to everything that Rev. Wright said is true and thus justifies Senator Obama political beliefs.

Nodding in acknowledgment of black history seems like the most natural thing in the world. to me. Of course, he had to have known about the anger, if he knew anything about the history of black America. Rev. Wright is part of that hsitory, part of the angry generation. Obama heard him through the prism of knowing black history, and what I see is those willfully ignorant of it now surprised to hear that there was ever good reason for that anger.

Acknowleging the past idoes not mean that one has to be stuck in it.
Obama is of a new generation, and he makes choices and embraces ideas based on today's conditions. He should be allowed to define himself, in today's world, without the need to disavow the past. He is not radical in any sense of the word, and that's what should count.

Consider how ridiculous it would be to demand that the descendants of slave owners purge their family's or community's lore of any fond references to those ancestors.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/s...

Scroll down to the Youtube video. It's quite powerful, actually.

The fact that you state some well respected Blacks attended this church tells me all I need to know. Barak Obama wanted to rub shoulders with the powers that be. He may or may not agreed with the message.

That was irrelevant. What was important was the need for power. Power begits power. Barak Obama is no different then any other power hungry politician. He has simply packaged his greed in an unrecognizable box.

He liked the man. Perhaps he shared the views. Perhaps he didn't and just turned a blind eye.

But Senator Obama … what I have seen of him … is a smart man. Inexperienced, but smart.

He could not not have known…over 20 years…about Wright and his views.

I am sure Senator Clinton's agents — such as the worthy Mr. Blumenthal — are scrouging for video and evidence as I type. (I have too much respect for Senator Clinton's ruthlessness to place much faith in her statements).

Hahahaha…

CBS News tried to take down a sitting President of the United States on the basis of badly forged faxes from a long-time Bush-hater.

But to “get” an individual of Obama's stature, nothing short of time-stamped video of Senator Obama front and centre during a Wright sermon about “Whites, Jews and AIDSs: The Real Story” … certified by a rabbi, a cardinal, and a mullah…with DNA evidence of Senator Obama on the tape…along with his finger prints…and notarized by 5 Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States…will suffice!!!

http://www.minnesotamonitor.com/showDiary.do?di...

What I hope is that some of these folks come forward and defend the church against these attacks based on a few sermons. White America might be shocked just how many of its favorite black people actually attend this church.

As noted by Newsmax, on July 22 last year Senator Obama sat and nodded in the pew while Wright denounced “white arrogance” and the “United States of White America.”

“Wright's strong sentiments were echoed in the Sunday morning service attended by NewsMax.
Wright laced into America's establishment, blaming the “white arrogance” of America's Caucasian majority for the woes of the world, especially the oppression suffered by blacks. To underscore the point he refers to the country as the “United States of White America.” Many in the congregation, including Obama, nodded in apparent agreement as these statements were made.”

http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/20...

She questions why others feel they the right to tell blacks just how angry they are alowed to be and compares ithis to telling a rape victim that she's overreacting.

This has to be undestood in the context of black history and generational evolution:
:the submissive generation the angry generation, and now Obama's generation.I I hope Obama does some forceful educating work.

In terms of princple, though not necessaritly politics, his refusal to distance
himself from the church is absoutely the right thing to do.