On ensuring that Hillary will never become president. You must be proud.

#1:  Donations to a church really is a risky topic to touch on.  However, donations to a church are not donations to a pastor.  Furthermore, the fact that one magazine issue praised Farrakhan(for social work, I believe..) is pretty marginal in regards to your question.  You're sort of sensationalizing that aspect.
#2:   See Number #1.
#3:   Stop trying to make Obama look anti-semitic.  David Axelrod, Barack Obama's top aide for years now, is Jewish.  Correct me if I'm wrong there..
#4:   Again, stop trying to make him and his church seem anti-semitic.
#5:   I think it's fair to admit that it's hard for anyone to get that estimate right.  However, a rough idea would be suitable.
#6:   Again, that's not the kind of estimate that someone could accurately make unless he goes very often or hardly often.  It's only good for the vaguest of guesstimates.
#7:   Plenty have.  This came up during a recent debate.

But he listened to Wright's tapes while he was at Harvard Law School from 1988 to 1991.  And he says that he's been a member of the church for 20 years, which means he joined the church in 1988.

Do any of those videos correspond to those years?

I wrote a second update that expresses, in part, my reasons for writing this and other recent diaries.

It is impossible to express to those who decry my work how very much I do not like doing this.  But something -- somehow -- has to wake people up before it is too late.  I've written a great deal about the great differences between Barack and Hillary on health care, economic plans, Iraq, and more... but the material above is also fair game because it speaks to WHO this man is.  And his dissembling excuses in the last week have also informed us about WHO this man is.  

Read my update above, at the end of the article, for more.  I doubt any of you attacking me will agree with anything I say.  It would be silly to expect you to see beyond your own views.  

But I can tell you that the revelations of the last week have profoundly affected how AVERAGE Americans view Obama.  And they do not like what they are hearing and seeing.  

I live surrounded by such "average" Americans -- fine people -- people who work hard, have served our country's military, dedicate much of their time to help others -- and they will not vote for Barack Obama.  You have my word on it.  And that terrifies me because that means we'd end up with McCain.  Unless the Democratic party wakes up and nominates its most experienced, most able candidate, Hillary Clinton.

I've never been more wrong in my initial assessment of another human being than I was of you.

"Numerous Republican senators have mentioned that, despite his rhetoric about "reaching across the aisle," they saw little or no evidence of such in his short time in the Senate."

This is a pretty silly critcism.  It's been my impression that Repuplicans tend not to heap praise on Democratic front-runners in an election season.  

Excellent work, as usual.

Hillary 08-Hope is for losers! That or Hillary 08: see Obama might be as bad as I am, vote for me!

they'll believe it from a person who believes it. this isn't that person.

Not in light of the vicious, racist (!), unAmerican comments of his pastor for 20 years.

"no bedrock voting American?"

What the hell does that mean?

The preaching of his church is very divisive.  The paster has been a significant figure in Obama's life.  I want to know how much they share in common, because it will surely reflect the way Obama govern the country.

If Obama disagreed with the church ideology, why he didn't walk out 20 years ago.  Why do it now when it threatened to hurt his candidacy.  If that's the case, for me it shows that Obama doesn't have the strength to stand up for his believe.

If Obama didn't know, why did he told Rev. Wright that he might be a problem later on in the campaign.  Obama told Wright that he might have to disassociate himself from Wright.

If Obama knew,  why he told us last week that he didn't know.

I think a lot of people want Obama to answer these important questions.  It will help us gauge how Obama will govern this country as president.

I'm pretty sure she's not a dem, or if she is one, she's not a Hillary supporter, after one would expect at least one postive diary if she supported Hill.

Nobody (at least around here) seems to understand that this goes past the patriotism and anti americanism of the pastor. What kind of pastor or church condones breaking a comandment in a sermon? The church doesn't even come off a Christian with that kind of statement.

Taking the lords name in vain IS breaking a comandment.

But they recently claimed that they have received $250,000 of Rezko cash.  I hope Obama plans on returning more Rezko cash to charity.

Hopefully he goes back on my new favorite news channel, Fox. They're the only ones with the jouralistic standards, ethics, and bravery to ask the questions everyone should be asking.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/17/2326 53/485

/snark!

If you think Obama offers no specifics, you haven't been paying attention.

An opportunist = someone who wants lots of different people in an electoral coalition.

an answer is fair game.  

Or, Obama could say, those comments are a personal matter and I won't comment.  If he said that he'd be at 70% negatives overnight, so he must respond.

"This is as un-American an idea as any I can imagine. You are calling on a candidate to answer questions about his church?  "

No, we are expecting as voters for the candidate to answer questions about hate speech, regardless of the venue it is spoken in.

In the family where I grew up if someone came in and spoke anything that hinted of racism, or told a racist joke, they were yelled out of the house and told not to return. That included relatives, neighbors, whoever. There is no way we would tolerate that poison around us.

I do expect a candidate who is asking for our trustand support  to lead this country to answer questions about the hate speech we have just seen on video from the person Obama cites as his "mentor" and "spiritual guide."

How do you know what the average sermon and service is like?  

With all due respect, perhaps you do not have a full picture of Wright and the church.  I ask you to read the Wright sermon from which Obama took the phrase the audacity of hope and then tell us what you think of those ideas.

The full text of Jeremiah Wright's "Audacity To Hope" sermon in 1990:

   Several years ago while I was in Richmond, the Lord allowed me to be in that city during the week of the annual convocation at Virginia Union University School of Theology. There I heard the preaching and teaching of Reverend Frederick G. Sampson of Detroit, Michigan. In one of his lectures, Dr. Sampson spoke of a painting I remembered studying in humanities courses back in the late '50s. In Dr. Sampson's powerful description of the picture, he spoke of it being a study in contradictions, because the title and the details on the canvas seem to be in direct opposition.

   The painting's title is "Hope." It shows a woman sitting on top of the world, playing a harp. What more enviable position could one ever hope to achieve than being on top of the world with everyone dancing to your music?

   As you look closer, the illusion of power gives way to the reality of pain. The world on which this woman sits, our world, is torn by war, destroyed by hate, decimated by despair, and devastated by distrust. The world on which she sits seems on the brink of destruction. Famine ravages millions of inhabitants in one hemisphere, while feasting and gluttony are enjoyed by inhabitants of another hemisphere. This world is a ticking time bomb, with apartheid in one hemisphere and apathy in the other. Scientists tell us there are enough nuclear warheads to wipe out all forms of life except cockroaches. That is the world on which the woman sits in Watt's painting.

   Our world cares more about bombs for the enemy than about bread for the hungry. This world is still more concerned about the color of skin than it is about the content of character--a world more finicky about what's on the outside of your head than about the quality of your education or what's inside your head. That is the world on which this woman sits.

   You and I think of being on top of the world as being in heaven. When you look at the woman in Watt's painting, you discover this woman is in hell. She is wearing rags. Her Georgefredericwattshope tattered clothes look as if the woman herself has come through Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Her head is bandaged, and blood seeps through the bandages. Scars and cuts are visible on her face, her arms, and her legs.

   I. Illusion of Power vs. Reality of Pain

   A closer look reveals all the harp strings but one are broken or ripped out. Even the instrument has been damaged by what she has been through, and she is the classic example of quiet despair. Yet the artist dares to entitle the painting Hope. The illusion of power--sitting on top of the world--gives way to the reality of pain.

   And isn't it that way with many of us? We give the illusion of being in an enviable position on top of the world. Look closer, and our lives reveal the reality of pain too deep for the tongue to tell. For the woman in the painting, what looks like being in heaven is actually an existence in a quiet hell.

   I've been a pastor for seventeen years. I've seen too many of these cases not to know what I'm talking about. I've seen married couples where the husband has a girlfriend in addition to his wife. It's something nobody talks about. The wife smiles and pretends not to hear the whispers and the gossip. She has the legal papers but knows he would rather try to buy Fort Knox than divorce her. That's a living hell.

   I've seen married couples where the wife had discovered that somebody else cares for her as a person and not just as cook, maid jitney service, and call girl all wrapped into one. But there's the scandal: What would folks say? What about the children? That's a living hell.

   I've seen divorcees whose dreams have been blown to bits, families broken up beyond repair, and lives somehow slipping through their fingers. They've lost control. That's a living hell.

   I've seen college students who give the illusion of being on top of the world--designer clothes, all the sex that they want, all the cocaine or marijuana or drugs, all the trappings of having it all together on the outside--but empty and shallow and hurting and lonely and afraid on the inside. Many times what looks good on the outside--the illusion of being in power, of sitting on top of the world--with a closer look is actually existence in a quiet hell.

   That is exactly where Hannah is in 1 Samuel 1 :1-18. Hannah is top dog in this three-way relationship between herself, Elkanah, and Peninnah. Her husband loves Hannah more than he loves his other wife and their children. Elkanah tells Hannah he loves her. A lot of husbands don't do that. He shows Hannah that he loves her, and many husbands never get around to doing that. In fact, it is his attention and devotion to Hannah that causes Peninnah to be so angry and to stay on Hannah's case constantly. Jealous! Jealousy will get hold of you, and you can't let it go because it won't let you go. Peninnah stayed on Hannah, like we say, "as white on rice." She constantly picked at Hannah, making her cry, taking her appetite away.

   At first glance Hannah's position seems enviable. She had all the rights and none of the responsibilities--no diapers to change, no beds to sit beside at night, no noses to wipe, nothing else to wipe either, no babies draining you of your milk and demanding feeding. Hannah was top dog. No baby portions to fix at meal times. Her man loved her; everybody knew he loved her. He loved her more than anything or anybody. That's why Peninnah hated her so much.

   Now, except for the second-wife bit, which was legal back then, Hannah was sitting on top of the world, until you look closer. When you look closer, what looked like being in heaven was actually existing in a quiet hell.

   Hannah had the pain of a bitter woman to contend with, for verse 7 says that nonstop, Peninnah stayed with her. Hannah suffered the pain of living with a bitter woman. And she suffered another pain--the pain of a barren womb. You will remember the story of the widow in 2 Kings 4 who had no child. The story of a woman with no children was a story of deep pathos and despair in biblical days.

   Do you remember the story of Sarah and what she did in Genesis 16 because of her barren womb--before the three heavenly visitors stopped by their tent? Do you remember the story of Elizabeth and her husband in Luke I? Back in Bible days, the story of a woman with a barren womb was a story of deep pathos. And Hannah was afflicted with the pain of a bitter woman on the one hand and the pain of a barren womb on the other.

   Hannah's world was flawed, flaky. Her garments of respectability were tattered and torn, and her heart was bruised and bleeding from the constant attacks of a jealous woman. The scars and scratches on her psyche are almost visible as you look at this passage, where she cries, refusing to eat anything. Just like the woman in Watt's painting, what looks like being in heaven is actually existence in a quiet hell.

   Now I want to share briefly with you about Hannah--the lady and the Lord. While I do so, I want you to be thinking about where you live and your own particular pain predicament. Think about it for a moment.

   Dr. Sampson said he wanted to quarrel with the artist for having the gall to name that painting Hope when all he could see in the picture was hell--a quiet desperation. But then Dr. Sampson said he noticed that he had been looking only at the horizontal dimensions and relationships and how this woman was hooked up with that world on which she sat. He had failed to take into account her vertical relationships. He had not looked above her head. And when he looked over her head, he found some small notes of music moving joyfully and playfully toward heaven.
    II. The Audacity to Hope

   Then, Dr. Sampson began to understand why the artist titled the painting "Hope." In spite of being in a world torn by war, in spite of being on a world destroyed by hate and decimated by distrust, in spite of being on a world where famine and greed are uneasy bed partners, in spite of being on a world where apartheid and apathy feed the fires of racism and hatred, in spite of being on a world where nuclear nightmare draws closer with each second, in spite of being on a ticking time bomb, with her clothes in rags, her body scarred and bruised and bleeding, her harp all but destroyed and with only one string left, she had the audacity to make music and praise God. The vertical dimension balanced out what was going on in the horizontal dimension.

   And that is what the audacity to hope will do for you. The apostle Paul said the same thing. "You have troubles? Glory in your trouble. We glory in tribulation." That's the horizontal dimension. We glory in tribulation because, he says, "Tribulation works patience. And patience works experience. And experience works hope. (That's the vertical dimension.) And hope makes us not ashamed." The vertical dimension balances out what is going on in the horizontal dimension. That is the real story here in the first chapter of 1 Samuel. Not the condition of Hannah's body, but the condition of Hannah's soul--her vertical dimension. She had the audacity to keep on hoping and praying when there was no visible sign on the horizontal level that what she was praying for, hoping for, and waiting for would ever be answered in the affirmative.

   What Hannah wanted most out of life had been denied to her. Think about that. Yet in spite of that, she kept on hoping. The gloating of Peninnah did not make her bitter. She kept on hoping. When the family made its pilgrimage to the sanctuary at Shiloh, she renewed her petition there, pouring out her heart to God. She may have been barren, but that's a horizontal dimension. She was fertile in her spirit, her vertical dimension. She prayed and she prayed and she prayed and she kept on praying year after year. With no answer, she kept on praying. She prayed so fervently in this passage that Eli thought she had to be drunk. There was no visible sign on the horizontal level to indicate to Hannah that her praying would ever be answered. Yet, she kept on praying.

   And Paul said something about that, too. No visible sign? He says, "Hope is what saves us, for we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he have hope for it? But if we hope for that which we see not (no visible sign), then do we with patience wait for it."

   That's almost an echo of what the prophet Isaiah said: "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." The vertical dimension balances out what is going on in the horizontal dimension.

   There may not be any visible sign of a change in your individual situation, whatever your private hell is. But that's just the horizontal level. Keep the vertical level intact, like Hannah. You may, like the African slaves, be able to sing, "Over my head I hear music in the air. Over my head I hear music in the air. Over my head I hear music in the air. There must be a God somewhere."

   Keep the vertical dimension intact like Hannah. Have the audacity to hope for that child of yours. Have the audacity to hope for that home of yours. Have the audacity to hope for that church of yours. Whatever it is you've been praying for, keep on praying, and you may find, like my grandmother sings, "There's a bright side somewhere; there is a bright side somewhere. Don't you rest until you find it, for there is a bright side somewhere."
    III. Persistence of Hope

   The real lesson Hannah gives us from this chapter--the most important word God would have us hear--is how to hope when the love of God is not plainly evident. It's easy to hope when there are evidences all around of how good God is. But to have the audacity to hope when that love is not evident--you don't know where that somewhere is that my grandmother sang about, or if there will ever be that brighter day--that is a true test of a Hannah-type faith. To take the one string you have left and to have the audacity to hope--make music and praise God on and with whatever it is you've got left, even though you can't see what God is going to do--that's the real word God will have us hear from this passage and from Watt's painting.

   There's a true-life illustration that demonstrates the principles portrayed so powerfully in this periscope. And I close with it. My mom and my dad used to sing a song that I've not been able to find in any of the published hymnals. It's an old song out of the black religious tradition called "Thank you, Jesus." It's a very simple song. Some of you have heard it. It's simply goes, "Thank you Jesus. I thank you Jesus. I thank you Jesus. I thank you Lord." To me they always sang that song at the strangest times--when the money got low, or when the food was running out. When I was getting in trouble, they would start singing that song. And I never understood it, because as a child it seemed to me they were thanking God that we didn't have any money, or thanking God that we had no food, or thanking God that I was making a fool out of myself as a kid.
    Conclusion: Hope is What Saves Us

   But I was only looking at the horizontal level. I did not understand nor could I see back then the vertical hookup that my mother and my father had. I did not know then that they were thanking him in advance for all they dared to hope he would do one day to their son, in their son, and through their son. That's why they prayed. That's why they hoped. That's why they kept on praying with no visible sign on the horizon. And I thank God I had praying parents, because now some thirty-five years later, when I look at what God has done in my life, I understand clearly why Hannah had the audacity to hope. Why my parents had the audacity to hope.

   And that's why I say to you, hope is what saves us. Keep on hoping; keep on praying. God does hear and answer prayer.

in town, and trying to figure out which church will give you the most street cred with the local electorate, you'll join a church in which you do not agree with its ideology, and pretend to agree with its ideology as long as it furthers your political goals.  

You will use your entire family as props, and have a pastor that you don't agree with baptize your children.  You'll even let the guy marry you and your wife, as long as his picture makes the local papers and helps you get local black voters.

But, when it comes time for a national election, in which you need more white votes, you'll try to ride the fence - attempt to distance yourself from the pastor and his views (to get white votes), without making it look like you're throwing him under the bus (so you don't lose the black votes you've spent 20 years lying, scheming, posing, and posturing to gain).  

If this incident shows anything, its that Obama is every bit the shameless, selfish, cocky, arrogant, money-grubbing, lying, scheming, conniving, ladder climbing CAREER POLITICIAN that Hillary and all other politicians are.  

All while his supporters chant HOPE and CHANGE and say he's DIFFERENT.

what is so wrong about trying to hold Obama accountable for his actioin?

Susanhu is not trying "to do" anything to Sen Obama.  I want to know what Obama really believes in.  And I think it is important that he address the issues about Rev. Wright.  The best answer that I want from his is that he went to that church for political reason to get the church goers base for his supporters.  that's the only reason that I can accept.  

And I'm sure that Sen. Clinton will be hold accountable and go through the gruesome QA if she went to the "same" church.  We need a fair president that will not favor one ethic group over the other.  This is a very serious matter.  

"...an incredibly gifted progressive politician" are you serious-can you please post and site examples of this?
  So just how is this progressive?
  Progressive-what exactly does that word mean to you?
  "Gifted" about?  What's his economic plan-Check HIllary's site she has many solutions to this-Obama stated he did not feel that the President should be the "Chief Opperating Officer"
  He had 26 bills passed in the STATE legislature nothing really of any significance though and before that he pretty much sat on the fence for several years...

I'm sorry but please define YOUR interpretation if "Progressive" and "Gifted"

Again, I ask you please post and site examples as this would be very enlightening to say the least.

 Thanks. Namaste.
 

But remember, they're all just trying to get their questions answered. Susanhu just has a lot of concerns. They're not trying to tear down Obama, just get their questions answered.

/SNARK

Why is that any of your business?

Go back to KOS, troll.

No shit, since when did democrats demand a democrat turn over records of how much money they gave to their church.

The Obamatons won't argue issues, shalca.

They want to discuss how he makes them 'feel'.  How he makes people faint, and makes pundits' legs shiver.

This is hardball.  If he can't discuss issues then he will be a soft target for the Reptilthugans.

Durbin is a shill for Obama.  These are flat out lies.

I'm confident that Obama can make his own decisions about how to run his campaign. He's done quite well with that so far. And a new PA poll has him closing the gap with Clinton.

A lot will happen between now and November, so it's pretty impossible to say what people will do then.

I don't know how the story will play out and what impact it will have.  I don't have a crystal ball (and neither does anyone here).  

But I do believe that this is about the best timing for this story to break. Right before PA or in October would have been terrible.  

Scope, I agree with what you said 100%.  

I have to say that Wright is NOT in the same category as Duke and bin Laden.  I have neither seen nor heard anything from Wright to suggest he believes in killing anyone (bin Laden), nor is he arguing for second-class citizenship for a group of people based solely on the group's skin color (Duke).

There is no doubt in my mind that this situation has probably made Obama unelectable nationally. Fair or not, this is what happens in presidential politics, and Obama comes across as a not very convincing uniter when he has been hanging out with Wright for two decades.  But, seriously, I don't think it's fair to pillory Wright quite this much.  

That's a bit absurd. I don' think that David Duke and Osama's organizations do charitable works. Honestly, if they were donating to a Osama and Duke org for money that was being used for the sole purpose of doing charity, I wouldn't give a crap.

Since when is donating to charity a bad thing?