The Obama oblations

There is something both poignant and galling about the candidacy of Barack Obama.

Any American, regardless of party or race, has to find it heartening that the country has reached the point where a black candidate for president sweeps so many primaries in states with overwhelming white majority populations.

We have all seen the crowds enthralled by Barack Obama’s rhetoric and theatrical style. Many of his supporters put their money where their mouths were, so that this recently arrived senator received more millions of dollars in donations than candidates who have been far more visible on the national stage for far more years.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that Barack Obama has been leading as much of a double life as Eliot Spitzer.

While talking about bringing us together and deploring “divisive” actions, Mr. Obama has for 20 years been a member of a church whose minister, Jeremiah Wright, has said “God Bless America” should be replaced by “God d… America” — among many other wild and even obscene denunciations of American society, including blanket racist attacks on whites.

Nor was this an isolated example. Fox News Channel has played tapes of various sermons of Jeremiah Wright, and says it has tapes with hours of more of the same.

Mr. Wright’s actions matched his words. He went with Louis Farrakhan to Libya and Mr. Farrakhan received an award from his church.

Sean Hannity began reporting on Jeremiah Wright back in April 2007. But the mainstream media saw no evil, heard no evil and spoke no evil.

Now that the facts have come out in a number of places, and can no longer be suppressed, many in the media are trying to spin these facts out of existence.

Spin No. 1 is that Jeremiah Wright’s words were “taken out of context.” Like most people who use this escape hatch, those who say this do not explain what the words mean when taken in context. In just what context does “God d … America” mean something different?

Spin No. 2 is that Barack Obama says he didn’t hear the particular things Jeremiah Wright said that are now causing so much comment.

It wasn’t just an isolated remark. Nor did the enthusiastic responses of the churchgoers suggest this anti-American attitude was news to them or something they didn’t agree with.

If Barack Obama was not in church that particular day, he belonged to that church for 20 years. He made a donation of more than $20,000 to that church.

In all that time, he never had a clue as to what kind of man Jeremiah Wright was? Give me a break.

You can’t be with someone for 20 years, call him your mentor and not know about his racist and anti-American views.

Story Continues →