The Candidates
From CNN:
Obama resigns from controversial church
Posted: 06:22 PM ET(CNN) — Barack Obama resigned Saturday from his Chicago church — where controversial sermons by his former pastor and other ministers had created repeated political headaches for the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination — his campaign confirmed.
The resignation comes days after the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a visiting Catholic priest, mocked Obama’s Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, for crying in New Hampshire during the runup to the primary there.
Previously, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright — former pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ and Obama’s minister for about 20 years — drew unwanted attention for the campaign when videos of several of his fiery sermons surfaced.
In them, Wright suggested the U.S. government may be responsible for the spread of AIDS in the black community and equated some American wartime activities to terrorism.
Obama has said he was not present for the controversial sermons by Wright or Pfleger and had condemned both — most recently saying he was “deeply disappointed” by Pfleger’s “divisive, backward-looking rhetoric.”
Interesting to see how this will play out; probably a smart move overall just to get past the issue, especially after Fr. Pfleger. Also, smart to do it on a Saturday.
May 31st, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Whew…he really REALLY WEALLY wants to be president. Doesn’t he? Willing to renounce his religion even. Contrast this with Romney who told everyone to take a flying leap ’cause he wasn’t going to denounce his religion in order to gain the presidency. C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R, it’s spelled.
May 31st, 2008 at 6:45 pm
As a deeply religious person, to me the ultimate sign of someone who lacks integrity is when they ditch their religion to advance their career. If you was genuinely offended by his church’s hate, he would haver resigned years ago, or at least months ago. He waited till back-to-back months of polling made it clear that his religion was hurting his presidential prospects, and then he ditched it. This is especially damning because he has been running on character because he lacks experience. Will it hurt his campaign? It may not effect his core supporters or even many in the middle. But those who are deeply religious and also those who value integrity will turn away from such a candidate.
May 31st, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I’m not sure if resigning from a church is the same thing as renouncing religion.
Politically smart move though
May 31st, 2008 at 6:58 pm
“Contrast this with Romney who told everyone to take a flying leap ’cause he wasn’t going to denounce his religion in order to gain the presidency.”
Eh…Romney’s preacher wasn’t saying “God Damn America” or relishing in the pain of 9/11.
I’m not one to defend Obama, but I think that comparrison goes a little too far.
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In any case, I’m not sure how much it does for Obama - its becoming like the flag pin issue. First, he takes a strong (and relatively unpopular) position, defends it, but then changes his position when it clearly becomes politically damaging.
Obama can’t say “I can no more renounce Rev. Wright than I can my white grandmother” and then resign from his church.
Nice try, but I don’t think it makes the issue go away.
May 31st, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I actually agree with ACT on this one. Obama looks bad here. He goes to this church for 20 years, gives them tens of thousands of dollars, sticks up for them, says Wright and the church are family, and then he bails on them at the drop of a hat.
He looks weak here. Is this the man we want defending the country? Someone who leaves at the first sign of adversity?
May 31st, 2008 at 7:09 pm
No, smart would have been doing this months ago instead of using the institutional racism driving his church as a “teaching moment” for the rest of us poor saps.
May 31st, 2008 at 7:12 pm
The only thing I can say is better late than never. Depending on what he is saying to go with this decidion, it could help him some. I hope it doesn’t, but I’m afraid it was a good move.
May 31st, 2008 at 7:22 pm
It’s only a good move because the press will now summarily precede to ignore the issue. It’s an awful move if we had a responsible press corps, poised to ask “umm…how it that you attended this church for 20 years, but were never offended, and now in the space of 3 months, you’re offended enough to quit? I guess all these lunatic pastors just started getting extra offensive, in a malevolent plot to stop the “innocent as a doe” Agent of Hope and Change from becoming president?”
May 31st, 2008 at 7:25 pm
politically wise move, although I think that it points to an area of weakness the GOP can use in the fall.
Dems are criticizing McCain for some of his comments and support for people over the years, might the GOP not do the same with the comments from Obamas preachers.
Obama will say that he is not part of them anymore, but if the GOP wants they can pull out any of the Rev Wright speeches over the years and pull out Obamas tax return and his schedule A of charitable donations and show that he financially supported the church.
Obama is trying to get ahead of the horse here, if he succeeds then the GOP loses another legit issue to attack him on
May 31st, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Good thing he’s not just another politician or leaking word on a Saturday night that he left his controversial church after half a dozen highly publicized negative incidents and initially saying he would stand by his church and pastor would look really shady.
May 31st, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Obama cites Wright’s comments at the National Press Club as the final straw, and yet he makes the point explicitly clear that he is not denouncing the church. He is arguing that it is unfair to continue subjecting the church to the same scrutiny and attention he receives as a presidential candidate. Obama even left the door open to possibly returning to Trinity, saying that it was unfair to remain a member of the church while still running for the presidency.
May 31st, 2008 at 8:00 pm
This is rich.
I can no more denounce Reverend Wright than denounce my white Grandmother or the Black community. And by that I mean I’ll throw them all under the bus when they get in my way.
It’s interesting to see a Presidential candidate who is trying to manufacture a new version of himself before our eyes. Are the American people foolish enough to elect this snake oil salesman?
May 31st, 2008 at 8:13 pm
he is not a new kind of politican. he doesnt represent new politics. hes just another guy willing to say or do anything to get elected. only this time we have the whole media behind him.
May 31st, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Here’s an excerpt from the Q&A at Obama’s press conference tonight:
Q. On the church decision, do you feel this will put the issue behind you politically or do you feel it will persist and, having done this now, do you wish you had done it several months ago?
Barack Obama: Well, you know, uh, um…after the National Press Club episode, as I said, I had a long conversation with Michelle, and also had a long conversation with Reverend Moss. And we prayed on it. And, you know, my interest has never been to try to politicize this, or put the church in a position where it is subject to the same rigors and demands of a presidential campaign. My suspicion at that time, and Michelle, I think, shared this concern was that it was going to be very difficult to continue our membership there so long as I was running for president. And, uh, you know, the recent episode with Father Pfleger, I think just reinforced that view that, uh, you know, we don’t want to, um, have to answer for everything that’s stated in a church. On the other hand, we also don’t want a church subjected to the scrutiny that a presidential campaign legitimately undergoes. I mean that’s — you know, I don’t want Reverend Moss to have to look over his shoulder and see if his sermon vets. Or, if it’s potentially problematic for my campaign, or if it will attract the fury of a cable program. And so, you know, I have no idea how it will impact my presidential campaign, but I know that it’s the right thing to do for the church and for our family.
May 31st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
This is political opportunism, plain and simple. The church that helped Obama find his faith in Christ, that baptized his children…he now condemns and leaves because it’s politically better for him. I’m sorry, but I don’t buy that he’s suddenly grown apart from a church he’s been a member of for the past twenty years. Either he grew apart over time or didn’t care about the comments until the exact comments were displayed in the media. Either way, Obama’s a liar.
May 31st, 2008 at 8:49 pm
How hypocritcal you all said Obama should have denounced his church and left it.
Now he leaves it (but specifically doesn’t denounce it) and he has no character?!
You can’t have it both ways!
I’m not great fan of Obama but please.
May 31st, 2008 at 8:51 pm
If you’ve been following things, a pro-Hillary blog noquarterusa.com has been posting about a video of Michelle Obama at the pulpit of Trinity denouncing white people.
Tonight, they updated it to say that there are new developments and that by monday morning they’ll have more news to report.
Who knows whether this is true and all, but it’s something to keep an eye on.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:04 pm
How to you “resign” from a church?
May 31st, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Did he give them two weeks notice?
May 31st, 2008 at 9:08 pm
I love checking out all these Hillary blogs.
Judging by the posters a solid 50% will vote for McCain and at least 25% more will just not vote, or vote Nader.
They’re praising Sean Hannity and his reporting on the Obama-Khalidi PLO connection.
Saying how they’re all going to McCain’s website and signing up and wanting to donate and max out to him. How they’re being welcomed aboard the Straight Talk Express.
Can’t wait till the latest news on the Michelle Obama video.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Heath,
Obama should have left his church when it WASN’T politically convenient to do so. To paraphrase a saying, “character is what we do when no one’s watching”. When no one was watching, Barack Obama gladly attended this racist, anti-American church, befriended it’s pastors, and used it to stealthily advance his political career. When the eyes of the world turn to the church, and it begins to threaten him, he denounces it, rejects it, and tosses it overboard. This whole charade is beyond political opportunism and crosses into the realm of surreal. It’s as if Barack Obama has mimicked Mike Huckabee’s “I’m not going to run this negative ad, but if I did here’s what it’d look like” every day for about 100 days running and the press continues to cast starry-eyed glances in his general direction. I’ve moved beyond simple dislike of Obama; I loathe him and I find myself increasingly agreeing with Bill Clinton. This is indeed just about the biggest fairy tale ever conceived of.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:37 pm
BTW, for Aron who posted the other day that Gov Palin is an airhead because she referenced the founding fathers when talking about under god in the pledge, what is Obama after this comment, during his trip to Mt. Rushmore yesterday?
He did express curiosity about the filming of a chase scene in “North by Northwest,” Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 classic starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint that included a death-defying scramble over Rushmore’s presidential faces.
“How did they get up there in the first place?” he asked ranger Wesley Jensen.
“They didn’t. It was a movie set,” Jensen told him.
“Pretty spiffy, isn’t it,” said the Illinois senator, summing up his overall impressions.
If George W Bush had said that in 2000, he’d have been laughed at for days.
I’ll take Palin over Obama any day.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Maybe he sucked me in but he seemed sincere in the pc Matthew.
Or maybe I’m just sick to death of Sean Hannity! He needs help with his obsession. I swear to god people like him will ADD 5 points to Obama this fall.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Too little, too late.
May 31st, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Did you see what Obama’s spokeswoman said tonight in regards to Clinton conceding on Tuesday:
“He’s not going to wait by the phone like some high school girl waiting for a date”
Can Obama and his team be any more arrogant and sexist?
As if he hadn’t already pissed off Clinton’s female base enough, now he goes and ridicules all teenage girls as lovestruck losers. Check some of the Clinton blogs and this is already getting big play. On top of sweetie and other things, they despise Obama.
The white women/soccer moms/suburban/swing/reagan dem/whatever you want to call it is out there for the taking.
They don’t want to vote for Obama. They can’t stand him. All they need is a reason to vote for McCain.
May 31st, 2008 at 10:21 pm
I smell an endorsment of McCain by Geraldine Ferraro before the convention. Think about it since 1984, 2 out of the 5 living former VP candidates for the Dems will either be endorsing McCain or not supporting Obama. The McCainocrats are a reality. “Obamacans” are a media-manufactured myth.
May 31st, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I basically agree with what Buck is saying. Romney is a much stronger person that Obama is, not that that’s hard to do. Catholics, Mormons, and Jews usually have a different attitude than Mainline Protestants do. If you are a Mainline Protestant, you could live in one community and go to a Methodist church and then move to another community and go to a Congregational church. You often just go to whatever is closest. They are not as denomination-specific. For Obama to leave now is too little, too late though. I think he also sounded foolish saying he’ll look for a new church in January. Some of us have visisions of him looking for one a little earlier than that, like maybe around November 10. As far as the Ferraro thing, do you think that will actually happen?
May 31st, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Another important excerpt from Obama’s presser…
Q: There have been a lot of people looking at your church, and rightly or wrongly, they look at it and they see a controversial church based on what they see in the media, or what have you, and there probably are going to be a lot of people who are not going to be happy with the reason why you left, which it doesn’t appear as though you’re denouncing the church, how do you — ?
Obama: I’m not denouncing the church, and I’m not interested in people who want me to denounce the church, because it’s not a church worthy of denouncing. And, you know, so if they’ve seen caricatures of the church, uh…and accept those caricatures despite my insistence that that’s not what the church is about, then there’s not much I can do about it, right?
May 31st, 2008 at 11:06 pm
#19
You leave a church by asking them to remove your name from their membership records. Then you stop attending and you stop associating with any official of the church.
May 31st, 2008 at 11:07 pm
As a Catholic active in politics, the comments made by Rev. Pfleger were not only unacceptable, but very disappointing.
There is every reason for Obama to leave Trinity for the sake of his family and his campaign. He should have a private chaplain instread.
If Rev. Pfleger is supporting a pro-abort Obama, then I am ashamed that he isn’t following catholic teaching as he should be, not only that but violating canon law.
Timing had little to do with it. Saturday is a Saturday, and the American people can sniff out any hidden agendas that Obama might possess.
May 31st, 2008 at 11:10 pm
This man is crazy and he must be stopped.
Can we just reduce all Obama coverage to that sentence?
I don’t understand. At all. He is absolutely the most ridiculous candidate for President in recent history. Why is he even being mentioned? It is UNBELIEVABLE. McCain, Romney, Clinton, Huckabee, Thompson, Edwards…whomever, they all take/took the fall for their misgivings and closet skeletons. Obama, however, has a fantastic and completely soul-less press team that makes every single story into a vast conspiracy against Obama. He makes liberal Democrats like Kucinich and Pelosi look mainstream and rational.
We have people as unbelievably crazy as him in our party.
They’re called “Tom Tancredo.”
Seriously. If he wins this election, his staff should get a medal.
May 31st, 2008 at 11:12 pm
This (again) shows what bad judgment Barack Obama has. How can you go to a church for 20 years and then decide all of a sudden that it isn’t what you want HALFWAY THROUGH your run for the POTUS position?
Mr. Obama is withdraw membership from this church. While this church may have plenty of good things it does, it smacks of hate-mongering and divisive speech. Mr. Obama is in a world of hurt, IMHO.
May 31st, 2008 at 11:14 pm
#32 should have said “Mr. Obama is RIGHT to withdraw membership from this church.” Sorry about leaving out a word.
May 31st, 2008 at 11:21 pm
I wonder what it looks like when a whole church is thrown under the bus?
May 31st, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Look, it’s not like Barack is throwing Jesus Christ under the bus, he’s withdrawn his membership in the church. An especially embarrassing church for him lately.
May 31st, 2008 at 11:33 pm
For someone supposedly a fluent speaker, he isn’t making much sense.
May 31st, 2008 at 11:37 pm
I’m more talking about everything in context. Not just the church. The “throwing under the bus” of the church doesn’t really matter- he’s already in trouble because he didn’t do that earlier and everyone sees through it. But everything in context just blows my mind- Ayers, Rezko, Wright, all of the other pastor problems, the mansion, Anti-American statements by his wife (going to be pretty tough to denounce her), his wife’s thesis, the fact that he lost the popular vote, the fact that he lost two states (that I know of) and still won more delegates, the fact that two states that voted strongly against him aren’t being seated, all of this on top of no experience…the list goes on FOREVER. The maneuvering that the Obama campaign has had to do to get here is unbelievable. Like I said, if he wins this, it will be a miracle. His resume is hardly more impressive than mine. And I’m still in college with an absolutely dismal GPA (i’m exaggerating, but you get the point). When does the media say, “Hang on! Maybe we picked the wrong guy here!” or are they playing with us to see just how egregiously awful of a human being they can make president?
Blood pressure up.
May 31st, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Jim,
For the record, I never called Governor Palin “an airhead.” I did, though, succinctly respond to her rather cringeworthy gaffe, grunting an “ugghh”.
And, with that said, like you, I’d take Palin over Obama any day.
June 1st, 2008 at 12:00 am
Palin should not be selected because she is a woman (although the polls show Obama is trouble with white women). She should be chosen because she can present a new clean image. The entire county hates the GOP in congress because of Jack Abramoff, Mark Foley and trhe out of control spending.
June 1st, 2008 at 12:05 am
oh and I doubt McCain will onyl serve one term, as on a recent trip to Columbus the Dispatch reporter stated that McCain looked more fit than most of the 50 year old reporters on the bus. His recent medical release and his 90+ year old mother, I highly doubt McCain will onyl serve one term.
Where I would be worried is with Obama. Clearly a heavy smoker, and they only released a one page summary of his health. Obviously they do not want voters to see the actual medical documents that show he still smokes. Why don’t the press ask these questions?
As a former smoker, you do not chew Nicorette several months after you quit. It is only supposed to be used as a short term bridge. At least that is what my doctor told me.
June 1st, 2008 at 12:19 am
Clarence,
Re: Ferraro, I wouldn’t rule it out.
Have you seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTvzB85C_NE
June 1st, 2008 at 12:55 am
Off Topic: I’m going to Boy’s State tomorrow. I was just curious to see if any of you have attended when you were younger and if you could give me any pointers, advice, etc. Thanks. I hope it will be a rewarding experience.
June 1st, 2008 at 1:18 am
Congratulations Spud! Keep up the good work.
June 1st, 2008 at 2:36 am
I’m not from the USA. But this makes me remember when Erique de Borbón was pointed as the next french king… if he converts to catholicism. It’s said he said something as “Paris worths a mass”.
Obama seems to go to whitehouse.
Politics is not about character or principles. Is about how you use them to win.
June 1st, 2008 at 8:29 am
With all this Obama religion talk, it makes it easier for McCain to add Romney on the ticket. Romney’s biggest Achilles heel? His religion.
The dems will NOT be bringing up religion at ALL, because it opens the door to more Obama religion talk..and they DO NOT want that surely.
June 1st, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Barack’s third brilliant move to “get past the issue.”
Yeah, like McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis, and Kerry gpt past the issue of being too far to the left.
One can get past things, but there has to be TIME to test the getting past.
Obama, join a tame Methodist Church and come back in seven years.
Also, divorce that angry bi**h that tells the world you stink in the morning.