Honestly, I've listened to several of Jeremiah Wright's sermons, and I think they're pretty good. I'm not sure what new thing he's said that Obama's so outraged, but this has more and more the feeling of throwing your grandpa under the bus to me. I'm disappointed.

Listen to the Press Club speech, look at the transcript (posted by Fox News of all places! and check out the Bill Moyers interview. He's not right about HIV, but most of the other stuff he says? Not outrageous at all. Listen to the audio for full audience response and obnoxious questioner effect.
Audio http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/28/midday2/
Transcript http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/04/28/transcript-rev-wright-at-the-national-press-club/

I have listened to all of Wright's recent speeches and several sermons. The way Wright conducted himself at the press club was disgraceful. Did you listen to what Wright said about how blacks and whites learn at the NAACP event? Just wrong or overly simplistic. On stage hugging Kwame Kilpatrick? Just wrong. Some of the things he has to say are valid, even important, but why now? Why is Wright mugging for the cameras at such a critical time in our nation's history? I don't see much spiritual in his grandstanding. And make no mistake, Wright is not the black church. He is a member of the black church which has as many dimensions as the congregations within it.

I'll have to watch the Press Club one when I have another slot of time. Last night while waiting for my video to render, I listened to two sermons—the Chickens Home to Roost and another one—and I thought they were amazing. Fantastic. So he must have really flipped a switch with all the attention given to his words, if now he is being discredited by Obama. Or else Obama is being forced to unmalcolm his image a bit, as clearly Wright is blackifying it with all he believes in and speaks (forgive me my equalization of "black" with "radical" i know its a shortcut, but face it, mainstream white america does not want to simmer in the pride of blacks to overcome their chains and history, which is a lot of what wright was talkinga bout in the stuff i heard, great stuff). I do trust your view carmen, but before I can write on it, of course, I'll have to see that last piece. thanks, all.

Nez, it is very important that you watch Wright at the NAACP dinner and watch his Press club speech including the Q and A. In a pulpit in front of his congregation is one thing...the other, well is another.

will do, carmen. i get the feeling from writing i've seen, in addition to trusting your take on this, that he's bugged out a bit under all the lights.

I made a full defense of Wright on my last podcast and the only thing I find annoying about this is that now Wright wants to hug the camera lens, which would not be bad if the MSM would not get hysterical about his "comments". What I'm really afraid of is that Hillary then wins the nomination and McBush wins in the fall. That would be the real tragedy, but nobody would see that as a scandal....

But that's not a scandal cuz McCain and Hillary "I'll Obliterate Them" Clinton are not dangerous. It's passionate black men that endanger this world!

I haven't seen or heard the Rev. ever, but I try to read the transcripts. If Carmen is alarmed, so am I. I would guess my tastes in politics are far more radical than Carmen's and I always expect that if I like what someone is saying, they are probably not electable. The problem is perhaps the the Rev. has perhaps proven himself to be too smart by half. I can go along with most of what he says, but there are some stretches. His belief that Farakhan

I haven't seen or heard the Rev. ever, but I try to read the transcripts. If Carmen is alarmed, so am I. I would guess my tastes in politics are far more radical than Carmen's and I always expect that if I like what someone is saying, they are probably not electable. The problem is perhaps the the Rev. has perhaps proven himself to be too smart by half. I can go along with most of what he says, but there are some stretches. His belief that Farrakhan is somehow greatly revered outside of the Nation of Islam circle is just one example of hyperbole. I think it apt that the Rev. and Luis are pals. I think it a great mistake that Obama did not connect the dots about this Rev. gent sooner. Most of what Wright says seems quite tame to me, but certain expressions indicate a large degree of irresponsibility and buying into and promulgating urban myth.
Yet, the real problem is not Wright, really, who cares what he thinks? I don't. For those who need me to say it, I am very unlikely to accept anything that comes from the direction of any pulpit in any faith. There isn't much peer review in that profession, no matter what the building might be labelled: temple, church, mosque, or sweat lodge.
Wright can say and do what he pleases. The Field Negro calls him a crab. Carmen is alarmed. The Obama ship is now taking on water.
The man is uncouth. I am sure the neocons are at a meeting somewhere shouting "Praise the Lord!".
Bob Herbert suggests that Wright is doing this on purpose. I don't know. What does Carmen think?
Can no one save us from the curse of the Republicans?

Funny, a close girlfriend and I were just laughing about Wright. The prepared remarks were fine...but the Q&A...dancing, flashing Q signs and bugging eyes. Not cool. Of course those are now the clips on loop. I would have been fine with Bill Moyers. And I will argue with anyone asserting that black brains and "European" brains are different. Anyone.

Thanks for the insights Carmen, I was over at your site looking for other views.
Nez, one of my comment bubbles zipped off accidentally with its tail clipped off.
Carmen, I have been waiting for Field to feature Wright in one of the dreaded right column positions, I suspect it may be Lawn Jockey. I think Field is holding off because he does share a lot of the Wright views and has said so. I looked for an NPR transcript to read what Field says about the situation, but apparently NPR sells the transcript.
I will watch for further Wright commentaries from Nez and Carmen.
All joking aside, I am speeding up my citizenship process in the DR. I still have three years to go. If McCain gets elected I hope Fernandez allows me to appeal for emergency status. I should have started the process in 2000. What was I thinking?

@RC don't leave!!! Stay and fight! (writing about Wright tonite.)

The entry on firedog lake yesterday was excellent. Church is not the pastor. It is the community. I think the speech in question - in its entirety was right on - not PC, but accurate! Why is a pastor's comments in the election? Oh, yes, only on the left wing - not MCCain and Haggee. I am disappointed that Obama is disagreeing with the pastor - I feel he is caving in. Disappointment.

Oh Carmen, I left in 1979. One can fight from other places, the internet allows that now. I feel more involved now than when I lived in NYC.
I am trying to get the DR passport because I am worried. I live in PR, but PR residents are second class citizens. Check that out, you would be amazed.
I need to be able to hit the highway with papers if it comes to that, but more so, I need to invest time in traveling the interior mountains and abandoned agricultural areas of the Cuban jungle. I guess you know that isn't possible with a US passport. One CAN buy happiness, or at least I think so. Meanwhile, I shall continue to contribute my minuscule opinionations to the liberational flux of blogolandia.
If McCain gets elected in November you will see many more individuals fleeing the US. I've a lot more to say about this, but I'll send you a site you can get the info from. Sorry, I let you down by leaving, but I didn't have whatever it takes to live through the Reagan years. And now they are sanctifying that cretin. What is wrong with the US citizens?

I was turned onto this site by Feministing so this is my first post here, bear with me. I too have agreed with a lot of comments Wright has made (outside of his HIV conspiracy). A lot of this misunderstanding has to do with peoples inability to relate to people that are of other races, other religious denominations, etc. If you dont know, you just dont know. Ideally speaking, Americans understood Obama when he said the 11oclock on Sunday is the most segregated hour in America, but somehow I think a lot of people have missed the point he was trying to make. It is ok to equate the positions of a black presidential candidate's pastor with those of the candidate himself, but there really wasn't much concern for the fact that Bush spoke with Rev. Jerry Falwell at least once a week for his entire presidency, prior to Falwell's death. Falwell who was a known bigot, jingoist, misogynist and racist. I guess it only matters if you damn America (how this is anti-American is beyond me since it obviously expresses feelings of concern for the country when taken in context). No one cared that our president was speaking with him on a weekly basis. I hope this next statement is not taken the wrong way, but I guess it wasn't enough for whites that blacks took on their white religion of christianity because apparently whites can't stand the way blacks have interpreted christianity for themselves.

I am posting here because a handful of people have expressed sadness that Obama is now distancing himself from Wright's most recent comments and I think we have to remember that he is running for president of the US. Given the anti-american sentiment people think stems from Wright, Obama has no choice but to separate himself from his once spiritual advisor. Unfortunately, it is the nature of politics. (just as an aside, when Huckabee gave a sermon as a minister during Christmas time, you just knew he would never be the GOP nominee) Some things really are a given in a political race in this country and one of them is falling on any side of the extreme.

hola stacey, bienvenida. welcome to UMX! i'm glad you felt moved to comment.

you say a few things. but the one i choose to respond to now is one expressed at the end; that those rooting for obama ought not lament over some fallen image of him. because in this nitty gritty world of politics in the USA, one has to play strategy. pick ones battles. bend here, flex there, swing hard here. yes. i agree. i have said this from the start. and HELLO. he is a black man who, reaching for such a seat of power, has to move twice as quick, prove ten times as much, sleep half the time. and the feat is something to behold. i mean he is facing the CLINTON apparatus! an african american (junior) senator named barack hussein obama facing the clinton machine—and kicking ass. wow. think about it!

honestly, i am still impressed over the fact that there are TWO historical runs happening. it really is a shame that all gets lost in the heat. but yes, i agree. he has to walk a very fine line. it's like one of those pathways in indiana jones...duck the pendulum blade! roll! move left! JUMP!

Probably the value of this year's Democratic Party primary race is a lot larger than many persons realize right now.
Whatever the outcome, future candidates will know where the land mines are and future voters will no longer have to stretch their brains and preconceptions around the idea of Madame President or Mr. African American President.
I just hope hope hope we don't have to plow through four more years of the Bush Doctrine under McCain.
I have spasms when I imagine that.

It is quite amazing how a candidate can kick ass as you say without saying too much about the actual issues. Then again, we all know the presidential platform becomes the DNC platform once the nomination is secured so it doesnt matter too much now what either Clinton or Obama says about what they would do if elected. However, the first step to holding office is to get elected. The message Obama gives us is one of hope and that we can do better, together. His continued use of the phrase "a more perfect union" has really struck a cord with me and a lot of people I know. I can't stop saying it, it's so catchy. His ability to brand his campaign as the movement for change that we can affect together is so strong even Republicans are coming out and saying they would vote for him, as well as a slew of Independents. I think this election has revitalized the US and has highlighted the need for more involvement of the citizenry in the political process. There are going to be more blacks, more single women and just more minority voters in general in this election than ever before - all groups whose numbers suffer during a presidential election.

I, too, am impressed by these two historical runs and its a shame that a lot of the fervor of making history has been clouded by these other issues. Though this is quite a blanket statement I don't feel too bad saying that I don't ever expect to see a minority candidate out of the GOP in my lifetime (im 30) so for the Dems to be pushing two candidates is completely aw inspiring. Thanks for the response!

its interesting that the meme of obama not talking about the issues continues to float. of course he has spoken of the specifics many times. but those aren't always the phrases and soundbytes that get flitered down to news clips and such. why? they arent snacky. though to tell you the truth, i agree with you. its his agenda, or rather his behavior and philosophy that attracts me. i'm sure they won't look too different on issues.

OH yeah. and that vote for authorizing this disastrous bloody mess in the middleeast thing. that won't go away.

i'm betting the GOP will run a minority in your lifetime. but you can believe it will be someone along the line of Malkin or Gonzales or Clarence Thomas. it won't be like they would ever look out for the plight of their people. it will be the type who fills the visual quota and in fact would prosecute their own parents in the name of pleasing the racist heart of the GOP.