Barack Obama became a Christian after hearing a 1988 sermon by Jeremiah Wright called “The Audacity to Hope”. Obama gave the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, which I attended, called “The Audacity of Hope”. And his book is entitled “The Audacity of Hope”.
Now that Senator Obama distanced himself from Reverend Wright, what does that tell you?
Nothing.
You first.
If it says anything, it says that Wright is not the man he once was. Public figures are not caricatures, one-dimensional beings with a set list of attributes. They can change over time just like anyone else. Obama took his inspiration from a younger Wright, but cannot stand by the current Wright.
It tells me that people are complex and not one dimentional cartoon characters. We can admire and take inspiration from people who may do other things that we disagree with…even violently disagree with. In fact, if you look hard enough at ANYONE who you admire or look up to you are bound to find flaws or character faults that you don’t like so much.
I doubt that Obama has lost his message just because he has run up against some attitudes in a man he admired/admires that he can no longer tolerate…or who’s nature he was previously unaware of. It doesn’t change the fact that the man DID inspire him in the past and perhaps set his feet on his current path. Our nation was founded by great men…but they were great FLAWED men.
All part of being human, ehe?
-XT
Well, since the theme of Obama’s message originated with his pastor of 20 years, now that he denounced his pastor, how can he keep his message. So, yes, I think he has lost his message.
I can admire Hillary Clinton who stood by Bill Clinton even when the right were calling for impeachment. She knew, as many know today, that a sex scandal is nothing compared to the challenges facing the nation. But it’s not about being flawed. It’s about a message. Hillary Clinton’s book “It Takes a Village” comes from an African proverb. And she had been an advocate for health care and moving this country forward.
Does Obama understand the challenges facing the nation? I think he can within ten years. I think Clinton has developed her message in the last ten years. And now with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy, it only shows the hollowness of Barack Obama’s message.
Reverend Wright, more than Hillary Clinton or anyone else, showed how hollow Obama’s message really is at bottom.
How amazingly shortsighted.
Edit: Simplistic may be a better term. Do you have anything to say against the notion that humans are not one-dimensional unchanging cardboard cutouts? Far as I can see, you just skipped right on by those posts.
I don’t really follow your logic, here. It appears to be something like, “Rev. Wright says X. Obama likes X. Then Wright says Y. Obama doesn’t like Y, therefore he can no longer like X.”
How does that work, exactly?
I am NOT short-sighted. I want Hillary Clinton for two-terms and then Barack Obama for two-terms. Or, I’d two terms of Clinton and Obama and then two terms of Obama-Edwards.
Barack Obama and John Edwards have similar messages of hope.
Now - stick to the OP. :mad:
Isaac Newton seriously pursued studies in alchemy and the occult. Does this mean we should just toss aside his theories on mechanics, which are still in use today?
The OP is a picture-perfect example of the problems with using an ad hominem.
I did, as did others. Will you respond to the posts or just slam Obama?
If John Edwards was in the race instead of Barack Obama then we wouldn’t have this debate.
I’m tired out GD turning into an ad hominem of the OP, but what can you expect with the SDMB. Bring it on!
To paraphrase the immortal words of Inigo Montoya…I dinna think that word means what you think it means…
-XT
I was paraphrasing John Kerry. Bring it on! 
That’s because we shouldn’t be having this debate at all.
There’s an ad hominem here alright, but it’s apparently not where you think it is.
Obama’s lost his message? Wait a minute…
Here it is! I found it between the couch cushions, along with an old hairbrush and some spare change.
Can we get back to some meaningful issues now?
It feels weird even talking about this. Of course he hasn’t.
Getting back to a real issue…wtf is up with the ad at the bottom of the thread asking the breathless question of whether Obama is a Muslim or not?? I thought this board was about fighting ignorance and all that. :mad:
ETA:
And now this is the ad at the bottom of my own page:
Mind, I’m all for banging married white women (my own wife would qualify), but wtf is that doing in this thread…or on this board?
-XT
MHO, if anyone’s “lost” the message that inspired BHO to do what he’s doing now, it’s Rev Wright.
If you’re talking about another message, please clue us in (or at least me — I’m kinda dense).
Maybe Wright lost his message? Maybe the message (“hope”, bipartisanship, whatever) is something greater than a single person or two people or whatever?