caveat: there may be more to show the various sides of reactions to the press conference, and this is representative of what I’ve found today.
Barack Obama at press conference this afternoon re resigning from Trinity United Church of Christ
“This is not a decision I come to lightly … and it is one I make with some sadness,” he said at a news conference after campaign officials released a letter of resignation sent to the church on Friday.
“I’m not denouncing the church and I’m not interested in people who want me to denounce the church,” he said, adding that the new pastor at Trinity and “the church have been suffering from the attention my campaign has focused on them.”
Obama said he and his wife have been discussing the issue since Wright’s appearance at the National Press Club in Washington last month that reignited furor over remarks he had made in various sermons at the church.
“I suspect we’ll find another church home for our family,” Obama said.
“It’s clear that now that I’m a candidate for president, every time something is said in the church by anyone associated with Trinity, including guest pastors, the remarks will imputed to me even if they totally conflict with my longheld views, statements and principles,” he said.
Obama said he had “no idea” how the resignation would “impact my presidential campaign, but I know its the right thing to do for the church and our family.”
“This was a pretty personal decision and I was not trying to make political theater out of it,” he said.
Following are reactions from a spectrum of blogs including African American writers:
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some reactions by African Americans at blogs:
Dr. Boyce Speaks blog here, “Why doesn’t Senator Obama just cut to the chase and denounce all of us? I think that might make things easier, since there are hundreds of thousands of African-Americans who agree wholeheartedly with Pastor Jeremiah Wright. It might seem that simply getting rid of the entire black community would give him fewer headaches. Black people are just too much damn trouble…”
at AverageBro.com here… I’m sure this won’t appease the horde of conservative talkin’ monkeys who want to hang Barry from a figurative Magnolia tree. They’ll say this move was pure politics (and let’s be honest, at this point, it is). They’ll try and connect Obama to Pfleger, and by proxy Farrakhan, and by proxy, the Beelzebub. They’ll call on him to not only denounce TUCC, Rebb’n Wright, Rebb’n Moss, and Pfleger, but also all of Black America who even remotely agrees with such as assertion…
A reaction from the right: From Start Thinking Right “Trinity Magazine a Trumpet Call to Obama’s Link to Extremism‘…”And right from the start, I simply could not believe that a man as intelligent and articulate as Barack Obama clearly is – a graduate of Harvard Law School and editor of the Harvard Law Review – could be so completely ignorant of the basic theology and teaching of a church he attended for over twenty years..
from an Orthodox Catholic at Christian Forums who relates how the Trinity Bookstore, to his or her thinking, contained few Christian books, but rather political books, The writer quotes a concern the Catholic church has had for a time. This is only one Catholic’s opinion, just as people in any church each have their own opinions about ‘how it all ougha be.’: …””…it would be illusory and dangerous to ignore the intimate bond which radically unites them (liberation theologies), and to accept elements of the marxist analysis without recognizing its connections with the (Marxist) ideology, or to enter into the practice of the class-struggle and of its marxist interpretation while failing to see the kind of totalitarian society to which this process slowly leads.”
– (Author: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect, now Pope Benedict XVI; written in 1984)
And some thoughtful humor in the headline here at Moue Magazin: Churches Need To Ban Videotaping, …”If the presidential candidates were all (or mostly) atheists, they wouldn’t have religious leader skeletons in their closet. What would the media talk about if it wasn’t for a black reverend saying “God damn America” or a white pastor saying that Hitler was a decent guy. They might have to report on things that matter or something…
and these last two contrasting ones from commenters at poligazette: from Billy:
Italy for Obama
Sweeden for Obama
Russia for Obama
Australia for Obama
Britian for Obama
France for Obama
China for Obama
Japan for Obama
South Africa for Obama
Canada for Obama
USA for Obama
and the The World is behind Obama!!!!!
God Bless Obama!!
…from SK:What a set of comments here from Obama fanatics who are just plain blind to what happens around them. There is no difference between them and Obama that they dont see whats happening just like Obama did for 20 years. And on all sites I have seen, the Obama bandwagon or the first to comment enmasse to make sure that the general opinion is in his favor. They have a fantastic online system. But what an opportunitistic .. is this Mr Obama. For 20 years he does nothing but but quits now because he clearly sees it is hurting him. If not for the hurting his chances, he would have stayed with the church and that my friend is called flat out lie and opportunism. There is no moral or ethical values here. Here you have a candidate who will do anything, flip flop for his convenience
and from one of our commenters at TMV, in case you missed it on previous Obama Resigns post: from Runasim: This is a sad day for America.The dark forces of superficial judgmentalism and denigration have won again. Obama has stood for talking to those you don’t agree with in order to discuss and debate and, ultimately to understand one another. Trinity Church has been a good platform, where preachers with varying viewpoints could preach and enter into discussions with one another. The church and Obama have both been pushed into untenable positions by the rabid wolves among us who only understand conflict, demonization and denunciation. ‘Appropriate’ speech and the adoration of symbols instead of substance have won.I fear this means that no good flesh-and-blood man can ever emerge as a leader. The US demands paper cutouts and will likely get them. And the country takes up positions in its warring camps. It’s a very sad day, indeed.