Obama's Problem Now Isn't Wright, Or Rezko

Unfortunately for Barack Obama, his potentially campaign ending problem now goes well beyond any specific issues surrounding his pastor of twenty years, or his corrupt political godfather, Tony Rezko. The man has now lost the very rationale for his entire campaign for the presidency: change. A candidate steeped for twenty-years and to his own benefit in everything that's old, corrupt, utterly uninspiring and ultimately downright divisive simply can't claim the mantle of change with any genuine credibility. His magic is gone.

What is the one word most associated with Obama up until now, after all - the one so associated with the man as to have become a running joke? Change! That word has served as the entire rationale for the man's run for the presidency, has it not?

So, what did this great agent of change do when confronted with the usual slime of Chicago politics? Did he stand up boldly and work for change? Or did he simply go along, playing the system for his own benefit like so many uninspiring and ultimately disappointing politicians before him? The answer should be obvious to any objective observer now.

And the same is true of his behavior when confronted with the far too old and wholly unproductive, if not dangerous, rhetoric of a Jeremiah Wright. There was no bold confrontation from Barack Obama, no real call for change, or a speaking of truth to the old and mostly unproductive, when not actuallly destructive, powers within the circles in which Obama ran.

No, there was just the typical hamster of a politician running the same well-greased wheels of corruption and race-baiting rhetoric that have been the big city liberals stock in trade and path to power and its retention for decades now.

Barack Obama may remain an agent of change in his mind, his rhetoric, and his wife's wishes, but in reality, he's now just more of the same - and with far less experience, wisdom and clout than his chief opponent in the Democrat primary, Hillary Clinton.

Okay, so Obama has "denounced" his pastor of twenty-some years, the one who married him and baptized his children, so on and so forth.

In the handful of years Senator Barack Obama has spent in the national spotlight, his stance toward his pastor has gone from glowing praise to growing distance to — as of Friday — strong criticism.

Just yesterday we learned that Tony Rezko did more to help Obama than had been previously revealed. True, the judgment issue he's been pounding Hillary with is now off the table as a plus for Obama. But even that isn't his real problem now.

In an "intensive interview" with the Chicago Tribune's David Jackson on Friday, March 14, 2008, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said that indicted political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko was a "more significant fundraiser" in Obama's "earlier political campaigns than previously known." According to Obama, Rezko "raised as much as $250,000 for the first three offices Obama sought."

Obama said that he "hoped" the interview "would quell the lingering controversy over his relationship with Rezko" and said that "voters concerned about his judgment should view it as 'a mistake in not seeing the potential conflicts of interest'," Jackson wrote.

Whoop-di-freakin', samol, samol, do!

Comments

[Jeffersonian]

The Casablanca defense: "I am shocked, shocked! to find gambling going on in this establishment!" "Your winnings, sir." "Oh, thank you."

Obama won't even stand up to his preacher, yet he wants to talk face-to-face with the likes of Kim and Ahmonnajihad. A tower of Jell-O, he is.

[BobInStamford]

Good thing all he has to face is a broken, sickly old man. Whew!

[Scrapiron]

Now the KOZ crazies want to link the Huckster with Wright. By the way they're both Revrunds you know. I'll bet anyone a thousand dollars even as crazy as I view the Huckster to be you will not find one sermon preaching black hate and KKK love. Any preacher that preaches 'hate' anything other than sin is a phony preacher. What branch of what religion approved the hate preaching church of 'Wright'? Time for the christians in this country to start checking out the phony 'religions'. Religion and Christianity are two totally different things. One spreads the word of god and one uses god's name to enrich themselves. You pick which is which and put Wright, Je$$ie and $harpton in the right one.

[bl]

These comments by Pastor Wright were taped by church personnel, then produced into DVDs for distribution to expand the reach of the church. The church boasts membership in the 7,000 range, if I'm not mistaken. Now, since this was marketed through the church, and was titled "Best Of", how/why is it being portrayed by Obama as taken out of context, or not representing the typical sermon content?? A "Best Of" title indicates, to me, that the content is a highlight of these sermons, the Cliff Notes summary of these sermons, if you will. This will be very dificult to smooth over for Obama, even his leftist loyal supporters can sense when the're being conned.

[seekeronos]

Well said, ScrapIron... that was spot-on.

[Worst President Ever]

"Any preacher that preaches 'hate' anything other than sin is a phony preacher." I basically agree. But that makes for a whole lot of phony preachers out there.

Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and of course, McCain supporter John Hagee.

[Terry Gain]

Good thing all he has to face is a broken, sickly old man. Whew!
Posted by: BobInStamford | Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 12:47 PM

McCain could live to be 140 but there's no way he'll ever be as imbecilic as the know-nothing, anti-surge surredercrat boob.

[Rhod]

Wright's cover is that he's not preaching hate, but righteous anger. He's a theological idiot, but also consistent with Cone and Black Liberation Theology as well as some forms of activist Catholicism - a la the Berrigans, which links itself to soft Marxism, cosmic injustice and other revolutionary bullshit.

It's my guess that neither of the Obamas would be caught dead in a Southern black church with standard Gospel traditions, for class reasons. What they heard from Wright was near the frontier of the specifics they heard and discussed, and believed, at Harvard and in radical progressive circles. They were familiar with it, through and through.

Obama will survive all this for THAT reason. Intellectual credibility is never assigned to Wright's analogue on the crazy right, who are simple rednecks. Progressives will ascribe a kind of truth and insight to Wright's yammering, because that's the tone and fradulence of the age we live in. Obama might even climb in authority because of it.

Western Civilization will expire along with Judaeo-Christianity, or when both are rendered completely absurd and fatuous by rabble-rousers like Wright and others. That's my problem with Obama. Not that he's titilated by Wright's absurdities (worse things have happened), but that he expended his considerable mental talents on a twenty-year involvement with a goddamn buffoon and a dubious theology. That's a question of judgement.

[Candy]

Was it this bulletin?

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:nt4eOi3GJ_YJ:www.tucc.org/upload/tuccbulletin_jan21.pdf+TUCC+Rev.+Michael+D.+Jacobs&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

[seekeronos]

Interesting analysis, Rhod. I sincerely hope that you are wrong, as touching on Obama's survivability.

For this reason, I would much rather this had surfaced in July or August than now, because by then it will have been mostly forgotten in the heat of the Obama/McCain contest.

[Rhod]

Seek, I don't think it will make any difference at all in Obama's viability. So much about him had already been discounted by his supporters, that this will pass. For one thing, Wright's social gospel was simple, radical progressivism ornamented with a version of Christianity, not the other way around. Because it also has broad appeal to The Left, which is, in the end, just a class marker and kind of snobbery infused with collectivism, Obama's stock might even rise.

[dw]

Yes indeed, the Obama campaign is over, he might as well drop out now.

Even a child should know by now that all this kind of thing will be old news in less than a weeks time. To say its destroyed his campaign is just risible.

Have you lost all ability for serious analysis? The whole McCain hatred fiasco broke your opinionator or something.

[David M]

The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the - Web Reconnaissance for 03/17/2008 - A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.

http://thunderrun.blogspot.com/2008/03/web-reconnaissance-for-03172008.html