What's Your Opinion of Rev. Jeremiah Wright comments? Will this damage Obama's chances? ( I BELIEVE NO!)

Hello Folks,

Its been a few days since I posted a new blog post, but this post is needed. How do you feel about the comments made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright. **BREAKING NEWS** As I type, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, has stepped down as a member of Barack Obama's Campaign spiritual advisory committee. Is this another "ploy" by Hillary Clinton or a "ploy" by the Republicans. As you can tell, media jumped on this like wildfire....

I truly believe the quick movement of the decision to have Rev. Wright step down was truly the best decision to make. Mr. Obama compares Rev.Wright like a family member who said something out of line (I think we all have a member of our family like this).

Barack Obama vehemently denied the comments made by Rev. Wright and its unfortunate, as going into the next few states for caucuses and primaries, this could make the race turn into a "RACE" related campaign...Mr. Obama already is preparing for the the upcoming attacks that could result from the videos playing on TV and You Tube. Race is going to to be the forefront, and will have to bring his message to his supporters and borderline supporters, in a more focused manner. I believe he will succeed in this challenge...This is yet another challenge for Mr. Barack Obama. Who said this nomination was going to be easy... If it was, it would be FAKE.

My friends and family, WE MUST STAND TOGETHER, STAY POSITIVE and FOCUS on HOW THIS COUNTRY WILL CHANGE IN A FEW MONTHS... We Will See History....

Just Do your Part...Donate to the campaign, talk to you friends, start a voter registration, work at the polls..We all must do "OUR" Part.


****************Courtesy of NPR.Com**************************************************
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday denounced inflammatory remarks from his pastor, who has railed against the United States and accused its leaders of bringing on the Sept. 11 attacks by spreading terrorism.

As video of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has widely aired on television and the Internet, Obama responded by posting a blog about his relationship with Wright and his church, Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, on the Huffington Post.

Obama wrote that he's looked to Wright for spiritual advice, not political guidance, and he's been pained and angered to learn of some of his pastor's comments for which he had not been present. Obama's statement did not say whether Wright would remain on his African American Religious Leadership Committee, and campaign officials wouldn't say either.

"I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies," Obama said. "I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Reverend Wright that are at issue."

In a sermon on the Sunday after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Wright suggested the United States brought on the attacks.

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Wright said. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

In a 2003 sermon, he said blacks should condemn the United States.

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

He also gave a sermon in December comparing Obama to Jesus, promoting his candidacy and playing down Clinton.

Questions about Obama's religious beliefs have dogged him throughout his candidacy. He's had to fight against false Internet rumors suggesting he's really a Muslim intent on destroying the United States, and now his pastor's words uttered nearly seven years ago have become an issue.

Obama wrote on the Huffington Post that he never heard Wright say any of the statements that are "so contrary to my own life and beliefs," but they have raised legitimate questions about the nature of his relationship with the pastor and the church.

He explained that he joined Wright's church, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, nearly 20 years ago. He said he knew Wright as a former Marine and respected biblical scholar who lectured at seminaries across the country.

"Reverend Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life," he wrote. "... 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."

He said Wright's controversial statements first came to his attention at the beginning of his presidential campaign last year, and he condemned them. Because of his ties to the 6,000-member congregation church — he and his wife were married there and their daughters baptized — Obama decided not to leave the church.

Obama also has credited Wright with delivering a sermon that he adopted as the title of his book, "The Audacity of Hope."

"With Reverend Wright's retirement and the ascension of my new pastor, Rev. Otis Moss, III, Michelle and I look forward to continuing a relationship with a church that has done so much good," he wrote.

Also Friday, the United Church of Christ issued a 1,400-word statement defending Wright and his "flagship" congregation. John H. Thomas, United Church of Christ's president, lauded Wright's church for its community service and work to nurture youth. Other church leaders praised Wright for speaking out against homophobia and sexism in the black community.

"It's time for all of us to say no to these attacks and to declare that we will not allow anyone to undermine or destroy the ministries of any of our congregations in order to serve their own narrow political or ideological ends," Thomas said in the statement.

Obama’s Hip-Hop Admirers

If Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee, it’s a pretty safe assumption that he’s going to have overwhelming support from the hip-hop community.

Vibe magazine crystallized his status as an icon in the rap community, remixing his first name into the hipper “B-Rock,” and shortly before the crucial primary and caucus in Ohio on March 4, Jay-Z recorded a robo-call saying that “it’s time for Barack Obama.” The Chicago-based rapper Common told CNN that there’s simply “a love for Obama” among fans and practitioners of the genre.

The question is, will Barack Obama return the embrace if and when he becomes the nominee?

Yes, the tidal wave of hip-hop support feeds into the notion that the Obama campaign really is a new and unprecedented movement. Previously unengaged surrogates rousing the young people surely must be a good thing. And it’s hard to resist the help of megastars who come attached to legions of fans and free media.

On the other hand, the Obama campaign would probably not be in terribly great danger, in a general election, of losing the hip-hop vote to John McCain. In fact, the temptation will doubtless be there at some point for them to appeal to socially-conservative-leaning white voters by visibly distancing the candidate from some of his less politically correct admirers.

Take Mos Def.

The critically acclaimed rapper and actor told an audience at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan last week that he supports Mr. Obama for president, explaining, “You have this extraordinarily engaging, charming, very well-spoken, passionate yet somehow very subdued, above-the-fray type of character politics hasn’t really seen.” He added, “The best-looking guy for the job, at this point, is a black guy. I’m cool with that.”

Mos Def (born Dante Terrell Smith) is also a 9/11 conspiracy theorist. A song that has popularized the notion that America was behind the attacks features a chorus in which he says, “Bin Laden didn’t blow up the projects,” and another rapper, Jadakiss, says, “Bush knocked down the towers.”

During his appearance at the 92nd Street Y, at which he spoke with Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis, the rapper said in response to an audience question about 9/11, “I live in a different America. I’m from a different America, where conspiracy is real. Where people have conspired to murder good people.”

And here’s how he explained his doubts about the official explanation of who was behind the attacks: “I’m highly skeptical. Especially given the fact that there was a whole dialogue going on between Afghanistan and the states during that time when the government was calling for ‘you got to give us Osama,’ and Afghanistan was saying, ‘O.K., but we’re not just going to give him to your government. There has to be a mediating country. There has to be a government to mediate this.’ From my recollection, Osama was saying ‘Fine. If you’re saying I did this, I’ll come and defend myself against these charges. But I’m not just going to surrender myself to your government.’ And these different diplomatic measures that were taken around this issue were rejected by the U.S. It was like, ‘Either you’re going to do exactly what we say, or game is off.’”

While the conspiracy explanation drew sustained applause that night, it’s hardly the kind of thing a candidate—especially one whose national security credentials have been challenged—is likely to get too close to.

Of course, Mr. Obama’s hip-hop support is broad and diverse, and much of it has already been an unqualified boon.

Rapper-producer Will.I.am extolled the virtues of Mr. Obama on not one but two videos that instantly became viral on YouTube. Less notable rappers, like underground sensation Nocando, lent his support to Mr. Obama, saying in a pro-Obama video, “So, you heard about the man with the 16-month plan/pull everybody out of Iraq and not war with Iran.” Queens-based rapper Jin released a song titled “Open Letter 2 Obama,” which was catchy enough that the campaign now features it as a ring tone on its official Web site.

This week, Mr. Obama was endorsed by Russell Simmons, the hip-hop mogul and entrepreneur. Mr. Simmons has long ago crossed over into politics—endorsing Andrew Cuomo for office in 2002 and 2006, plus making trips to Albany during the George Pataki years to reform the Rockefeller drug sentencing laws.

Mr. Simmons, who brought rap music from the predominantly black audience into middle-class consciousness with groups like Run D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys and solo artists like L.L. Cool J, explained his choice by saying that Mr. Obama “has and will continue to transcend race in America.”

Mr. Simmons has also been a staunch opponent of calls for more oversight of rap lyrics, instead calling for the industry to regulate itself.

This should be no more controversial, on its face, than any white Hollywood executive setting up in opposition to censorship of movies. But given the unprecedented nature of the Obama candidacy—potentially the first black major-party nominee in American history—it’s not hard to imagine conservative critics (if not others) trying to make something of it.

So far, Mr. Obama has stuck to the rhetorical middle ground on the subject, criticizing the cultural prevalence of the sort of violence and profanity in rap music without criticizing rap itself.

(His campaign did not respond to requests for comment on this article.)

During an appearance last year in Manhattan at a conference hosted by Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, he said, “I know there has been a little contest between the rappers and Reverend Sharpton about what’s appropriate and what’s not. Let me say this. I haven’t just singled out the rappers, I’ve said I’ve heard those words around the kitchen table in some homes. I hear them in the barbershop. I hear them on the basketball court. We all know all of us have been complicit in diminishing ourselves, and engaging in the kind of self-hatred that keeps our young women and our young men down.”

At one point, Mr. Obama raised his voice above the crowd that was at times cheering his name to say, “We’re not going to be able to change politics unless we do a little bit to change ourselves.”

Roller coaster rolls on......

Good Morning All,

Last night was one of the most "nail-biting" nights in the Democratic race. With a landslide victory by Obama in Vermont, 3 Loses followed in Rhode Island, Ohio and slim victory by Clinton in Texas. We still must band together "strong" and "push this change" Change is not going to happen easy, but we must do our parts. There is a possible chance that Florida Governor Charlie Crist, may enact another primary for the voters of Florida to have their votes counted, tallied and utilized by the Democratic Party. If this occurs,we must do our "PART!"

Hillary Clinton is on the news saying, "No Democrat won the Democratic Bid" without a victory in Ohio...she's going to use this against Barack to show her experience and leadership abilities...Well, how about for a new change, where if a candidate doesn't win Wyoming, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and all the remaining state, they don't get the bid. Clinton has a new wind under her sail, and we must stand fast and "address" issues swiftly and still get our message out...I really think the last 3 days, really hindered Mr. Obama in getting his message out.

I suggest you all (if you haven't already), sign up on BarackObama.com and begin receiving email notifications to assist in making phone calls (via their interface) to voters in Wyoming, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania in the next few weeks.

Statistically, Hillary Clinton cannot overtake Barack Obama's "pledged" delegate lead with close victories...As you all know, the Democratic delegate process is "proportional" based on different criteria in each state. So, don't get down, discouraged or confused..."This is Not Over"...and we all are ready to "Write a New Chapter in American History"!

The Democrats are in a "sticky" position as Sen. John McCain (damn! Can he please raise his arms above his head, once!) that he will pick his spots on when to attack either one of our candidates. This race needs to end quickly so we can "UNIFY" the group, and begin speaking our "MESSAGE" to combat the next election.

When all the dust settles in the next few weeks, it will be up to the Superdelegates (unfortunately) to decide who they support and want as the Democratic nominee.

So, Get Ready, Because "WHAT TIME IS IT??!?!"


GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMEEEEEE TIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

JWFIII

Great Ad! Check out Barack Obama's new TV Ad

The Obama Campaign used the words of Former President Clinton against the Clinton Campaign!

Saturdays for Barack...

Hello All,

As you can see from my recent photos on the blog, I finally got my Barack Obama T-Shirt. I went around Fort Lauderdale today wearing my shirt and enough people were looking and I loved every minute of it. People began to converse with me involving Obama's campaign and from what I saw-everyone is "Fired Up and Ready to Go"! and then you had some look at the shirt and become pissed...I heard someone say under their breath, "This is only going to last for 1 more year...So, Is that what people think? Oh really, well, let's not take the "shine" off Obama's movement. Barack is not going the fix everything immediately, he's going to have alot cleaning up to do...As he said, its starts from the "BOTTOM TO THE TOP"! That's how Change occurs......So, Let's do our part...

So, with that my friends, I would like to institute the "T-Shirt Saturdays for Barack" movement. Let's get the support going "visually" to the masses.

Provided below are a few links to different vendors selling Barack Obama T-Shirts...

1) http://store.barackobama.com/Shirts_s/110.htm
2) http://store.barackobama.com/Shirts_s/111.htm
3) http://www.cafepress.com/buy/barack+the+vote
4) http://www.cafepress.com/jdpdesigns.113190299
5) http://www.obamashirts.com/
6)http://www.depresident.com/shop/cpshop.pl/liberal_shop.liberal_shop.1139001+barack-obama-for-president-t-shirts-and-stickers.html 7)http://www.democraticstuff.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1030&Click=135&gclid=CMWZ2PK87ZECFQWnlgodPS5MyA
8) http://www.obamaofdreams.com/noname.html
9) http://www.flippinsweetgear.com/shirt/obama_tshirts

Please help me start "our" movement until Barack is in the White House on January 20, 2009 (Yes folks, that's MLK Jr's "observed" Birthday) to represent Barack to the thousands!! I know we can do it!! So, Get your shirt!!

So, Who's with me??

Great Article From Politico.com

AUSTIN, Texas —They are so sorry.

In the course of the primary campaign, and perhaps in a preview of the fall election drama, Sen. Barack Obama has accepted the apologies of three United States senators, a former senator, CNN and various lower-level supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Most of them have apologized for saying something insensitive about Obama’s race, his name or his heritage. And the dynamic of outrage and offense this campaign has proved race to be a much touchier subject than gender. At times, Obama’s campaign has sought to downplay burgeoning outrage. At others, the candidate has stoked it for political advantage.

But most of the flaps ended the same way: with Obama forgiving the alleged offender. Sometimes he’s accepted the apologies graciously, sometimes sternly, but always in line with his message. And that message of reconciliation — often explicitly racial reconciliation — is a central part of his campaign’s appeal. With a general election that appears likely to open him to more Republican attacks, and more line-crossing, the campaign ritual of offense and forgiveness appears likely to be repeated often this year.

“There is no better way to appear magnanimous and above the fray than in gracefully accepting an apology,” said Chris Lehane, a California political consultant who supports Clinton. "In this case, it actually represents not only a chance to come off as a good and hale fellow, but to also drive his central message of being a unifier and a new kind of leader.”

The first apology of the cycle set the tone. On Jan. 2, 2007, before Obama’s campaign formally began, CNN aired a story about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden that ran under the headline, “Where’s Obama?”

"We also want to apologize personally to Sen. Barack Obama,” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer said on air. “I'm going to be making a call to him later this morning to offer my personal apology."

The first Obama rival to stumble was Sen. Joe Biden, who called Obama “clean” and “articulate” in an interview with a New York weekly days before he launched his campaign. The words struck some as racially charged, and Biden spent the first day of his campaign apologizing.

"I deeply regret any offense my remark in The New York Observer might have caused anyone,” Biden said.

"I didn't take Sen. Biden's comments personally, but obviously they were historically inaccurate,” Obama responded.

Later that month, the Clinton campaign staged its first official apology, from South Carolina State Sen. Robert Ford, who said Obama wouldn’t be able to win the White House because he is black.

Then, for months, the offenses and the apologies faded.

But the apology and forgiveness cycle began again as the race heated up in Iowa and New Hampshire in December, and the seminal day for apologies was Dec. 13.

The previous day, Bill Shaheen, a New Hamphire grandee and Clinton’s co-chairman there, had told The Washington Post that Republicans would ask Obama, “Did you sell [drugs] to anyone?'"

On the 13th, Clinton was forced to apologize to Obama on the tarmac at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

“I accepted her apology,” Obama said, adding that he’d told her “that it's important for those of us who are the candidates to send a clear signal down to all of our surrogates that we're going to do things differently."

The two had met on their way to the high-stakes Des Moines Register debate in Iowa, where apology and forgiveness would be, unexpectedly, a theme when Biden’s old remarks resurfaced.

Biden was challenged on a series of statements that had been taken as insensitive, and Obama, unprompted, rushed to his side.

“I’ve worked with Joe Biden, I’ve seen his leadership, I have absolutely no doubt about what is in his heart and the commitment that he's made with respect to racial equality in this country,” Obama said. “So I will provide some testimony, as they say in church.”

It was a moment that seemed to capture the observation of the conservative writer Shelby Steele, who has spoken of a school of black figures whose crossover appeal came in part “by saying to whites in effect, in some code form, 'I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. I'm not going to rub the shame of American history in your face if you will not hold my race against me.' Whites then respond with enormous gratitude. ... And so they tend to be very successful, very popular.”

When the Register debate ended, a spokesman for Clinton e-mailed supporters a statement from Shaheen, who resigned from Clinton's campaign, with a statement that he “deeply regret[ted]” the comments he’d made.

But the apologies continued. A little more than a week later, another top Clinton supporter, former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, made an apparently positive reference to Obama’s time as a child in a “secular madrasa.”

Still, he apologized.

“I want to sincerely apologize for the remarks,” wrote Kerrey in an open letter to Obama. He went on, in the letter, to lavish praise on Obama, calling him “among the two or three most talented people I have ever met in politics.”

“Of course Obama accepts his apology,” an Obama spokesman said.

The edgy comments and swift apologies paused for Obama’s surge through Iowa and Clinton’s New Hampshire comeback before restarting in South Carolina, where BET founder Robert Johnson, a Clinton backer, compared Obama’s past drug use to the Clintons’ service to African-Americans.

"I'm writing to apologize to you and your family personally for the uncalled-for comments I made at a recent Clinton event," Johnson said in a statement a few days later.

Later, Clinton herself would apologize for comments made by her husband, including the equation of Obama’s South Carolina victory with that of Jesse Jackson, which gave some offense.

“If anyone was offended by anything that was said, whether it was meant or not, or misinterpreted or not, then obviously, I regret that,” Clinton said in a question and answer session at the State of the Black Union in New Orleans on Feb. 23.

(The one person who has issued no apologies is Bill Clinton himself, whether out of stubbornness or the understanding of what a gift each apology is to his wife’s rival.)

And as the campaign came down to its home stretch in Ohio and Texas, she was still on the defensive on yet another racially charged subject, this time for the allegation floated by the Drudge Report, and adopted by Obama’s aides, that Clinton’s staff had circulated a photograph of Obama in traditional Somali dress.

“That's not the kind of behavior that I condone or expect from the people working in my campaign. But we have no evidence where it came from,” Clinton said.

Obama responded with studied graciousness, just a day after his campaign manager, David Plouffe, had stoked the flames by accusing her campaign of "shameful, offensive fear-mongering.”

“I take Sen. Clinton at her word that she knew nothing about the photo. So I think that's something that we can set aside,” he said

The many instances of accepted apologies have been some of Obama’s best moments and his rivals’ worst. He’s been able to rise not just above the fray but above Clinton and Biden.

“It's simple. He's Teflon,” said Jim Jordan, a Democratic consultant who worked for the campaign of Sen. Chris Dodd. “It goes to his core integrity, the way he projects it, to his political and rhetorical skills, and that’s a quality that’s enormously important.”

For Obama, the general election is still obscured by a hard-fought primary, and he is racing around Ohio and Texas, delivering a message that highlights his rivals’ errors.

“If we would just come together, all of us, across the divisions that have plagued us for so long — black, white, Hispanic and Native Americans, young and old, rich and poor, ... then there would be no problem that we could not solve,” he said in the Dallas suburbs.

The presumptive Republican nominee has already had a taste of a dynamic in which any off-kilter attack on his likely rival could have him begging forgiveness.

On Tuesday, a talk radio host, Bill Cunningham, introduced McCain to an Ohio crowd by attacking Obama and dwelling on his little-used middle name, Hussein.

McCain swiftly responded. “I regret any comments that may be made about” Clinton and Obama, he said. “I will take responsibility in any offense that was inflicted.”

The next day, there was a different culprit, but the same offense: The Tennessee Republican Party sent out a press release dwelling on Obama’s middle name.

And again the spotlight turned to McCain, who was asked about it at a San Antonio press conference.

“All I can say is that I have made my position very clear, and I have made it time after time and I made it yesterday,” he said.

Tonight in Fort Worth, Texas

Hello Folks,

I'm signing in after a few days of "inactivity". I was lucky enough this evening to be part of the Barack Obama "Texas" Rally in Fort Worth, Texas. I saw Obama's message first hand, and I must say I'm more impressed with seeing him speak with my own eyes "Up close". His message and his appeal I noticed in the state of Texas (which has seen its tragic moments, JFK's assassination to Emmitt Teele's murder). The crowd was so diverse (Black, White, Asian, Latino, Pakistani,etc). It was an amazing sight...Once Obama entered the room, the crowd went crazy (from doing the wave, to Latino's chanting "Si, Se Puede" (or Yes, We Can"). Mr. Obama transcends his message so calmly and with confidence only seen by some of our greatest leaders. HE truly embodies what we need in this country, RIGHT NOW. It was an honor to be in his presence and I look forward to the next few months (in doing what I can to help bring this campaign home!)