Obama quits church
9 Responses | Leave a Comment »
The article says:
ABERDEEN, S.D. - Barack Obama said Saturday he has resigned his 20-year membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago “with some sadness” in the aftermath of inflammatory remarks by his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and more recent fiery remarks at the church by a visiting priest.
“This is not a decision I come to lightly … and it is one I make with some sadness,” Obama said at a news conference after campaign officials released a letter of resignation he 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.”
It’s the right decision. I think Obama is handling the situation like a winner, and he’s doing it in a manner that maintains his personal loyalty while distancing himself from people who either don’t care or don’t know how to care about his campaign. I just hope Hillary doesn’t use his late separation from his church as a further tool to attack and discredit him.
Leave a Comment »
Share
Entries (RSS)
DONKEY
3:41 pm | Jun 01, 2008that he should have to quit the church in order to help his campaign is an annoying and stupid aspect of politics. i agree with what rev wright said.
SamuraiJack
2:18 am | Jun 02, 2008Obama did the right thing. I’m surprised at the lack of judgment displayed by his former pastor and his church though.
On the other hand, if every church was as entertaining as Obama’s, I’d probably be going to church every weekend.
nightshade
4:17 am | Jun 02, 2008Obama shouldn’t have had to quit his church in order to stay competitive in his campaign. What bullshit.
jaehwan
12:05 pm | Jun 02, 2008While I think that Obama definitely had to quit his church to stay competitive in the race, I think it’s also true that Obama had some strong personal issues with what was coming out of that pulpit, i.e. he wasn’t comfortable with the idea that whites used AIDS to destroy black people. I think he feels that the rhetoric had some historic reasons for existing, but that it’s no longer a valid way to see the world. So I think it’s political AND personal.
nycjoc
7:21 pm | Jun 02, 2008I may agree with you Jaehwan but he should have tried educating people who thought that way and not try to sell some statement that things are different so don’t believe the hype. If there is a history of the US doing or being complacent in the harming of Blacks folks then he should have address it why that is not the case and saying things have changed doesn’t cut. (Particularly at his church since it was his church family.)
And I’m with Nightshade he should have to quit his church over politics but that’s what happens when there is a religious test for candidates. (I am so sick of religion being used in elections measure the morality of a person running for office.) I think my biggest problem with this is how it was perceived by my family and I know more than a few black folks; he left his church to make white folks feel more comfy. They know its part of the game but it still leaves a nasty taste in their mouth.
I saw something like this coming though because he has to look like he is a scary Negro to be elected. Hence why we get this nice little conversation of him being post racial.
nycjoc
7:25 pm | Jun 02, 2008I meant:
He should have addressed it. and then explained why…
…Nightshade, he shouldn’t have to quit his church…
…in elections to…
…he is not a scary…
Sorry rushing at work. I’ll be careful next time.
jaehwan
12:08 am | Jun 03, 2008nycjoc:
This is where the politics comes into play and also where he’s probably feeling something without saying it. In this case, I think he has to just sit and take it without being too conspicuous. After he is elected, he can say something, but before then, it’ll just drive wedges between the races, even if Obama is right, and then he’ll lose, which won’t give him the opportunity to do what he is capable of.
I’ve been bragging about reading an 800 page book on Abraham Lincoln, and Lincoln’s situation was much the same. While it isn’t clear whether Lincoln saw black people as equal to whites, it was pretty clear throughout his career that he wanted to get rid of slavery. He was planning to announce the Emancipation Proclamation for a long time because it was what he truly believed, but he knew that it was political suicide to do so without gaining some momentum, so he waited until the Union army won a major battle (Antietam) before announcing. The whole time, people like Salmon Chase and other members of his Cabinet were shouting at him and telling him to do something, but he kept waiting until he knew he could win it.
For Obama, I think the presidential victory is his major victory, and even then, he probably will have to wait before getting really serious about discussing race. Yes, it’s kind of jacked up and unfair, but it’s the way democratic politics often works. Politicians need to move lots of people at one time, and sometimes it takes a bit of momentum before everyone can jump on board.
DONKEY
2:52 am | Jun 04, 2008So do any of the republicans have to quit their churches for their campaigns? there is plenty that go on in those churches to offend people but you never see it being a controversy.
jaehwan
11:14 am | Jun 04, 2008To be fair, Republicans sometimes do get into their own religious problems. Look at McCain and his relationship with Hagee. He had to reject Hagee’s endorsement, and if McCain went to Hagee’s church, he’d probably have to quit too.
As for other Repubs, they openly believe some of the offensive stuff coming out of their churches. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bush’s church had some anti-Islam tendencies because Bush himself isn’t exactly a fount of tolerance when it comes to non-Christian religions.