Barack Obama Crashes.....

And soon will be burning. To help you get caught up (If you aren't already), click the video link below.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/03/17/costello.obama.pastor.cnn?iref=videosearch

For the written version: Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11
Honestly the guy says a lot wackier things then that, but I just don't have the time to itemize them.

So it is finally out there, who knows WHY it was allowed to be kept under wraps for this long but it was. Technically the right wing talk syndicate was trumpeting the Louis Farrakhan connections through Barack's "Trinity Church" and were predicting it would come back to haunt him. However since many potential conspiracies brought forward by these Limbaugh and Company tend to carry little weight, I certainly didn't pay very much heed to them.

Essentially this is like Bob Jones University was for George W. Bush (He, probably ignorantly, broke a precedent no political visits to a school which banned interracial dating), this is Bill Clinton's student trip to the Soviet Union, (protested the U.S. in the USSR while opting out of the draft) and perhaps the best comparison, this is JFK's Catholic Church problem. The Catholic church problem is most like Obama's problem in that it rests upon a divisive fear. The debatable, irrational idea is that each of these candidates (Obama, Kennedy) will pay their respective groups favor. Luckily for Kennedy there was not audio or video tape of priests across America essentially ordering by word of God that they parishioners perform their duties as Catholics and vote for him. Do I think Kennedy would have funneled U.S. money into the Vatican? Do I think he would have changed U.S. law to favor Catholic beliefs? No, but perhaps poor, arguably old fashioned, and questionable behavior on the part of some of the Catholic organization at that time allowed this belief to have credibility in a population that was comprised primarily of protestants. Now this is where the two split off, and where Obama's situation gets much more dire.

In the year 2000 the U.S. census records that Blacks and African Americans made up 12.3% of the population. Whites made up 75.1% of the population.

Lets go down through the list now:

George W. Bush and Bob Jones University: Bush apologizes, while it is a REALLY stupid mistake... I think that is exactly how it was interpreted by those who didn't already hate Bush. Of course if we had the foresight to see how Bush's presidency would go we probably wouldn't be so surprised at him making a stupid mistake. Additionally, largely due to George Bush... the interracial dating ban at Bob Jones was overturned after the outcry following W's visit. Some mistakes actually are for the best.

Bill Clinton & his potential draft dodging and his Anti American protests: Clinton with his charm and wit largely is able diffuse this. He was young... he was a student... you know that sort of thing. And anyway it probably helped that he was a Democrat and by default if you are a Democrat you are either ignorant of what your policies of choice do... or you are a closet Marxist. (Or perhaps an open Marxist... After all "It takes a Village".... right?)

JFK: John gave a stellar speech that largely put to rest the fears of Catholic influence. He explained to non-Catholics that he was just like them. (And really.... Catholics outside of some minor theology points, ceremony differences, and that whole Vatican thing... well... they ARE a lot like all of the other Christians. Had JFK been running for office in Northern Ireland perhaps it would be a different story, but different denominations of Christianity turned out less divisive here... largely because class-ism wasn't an issue.

Now Obama has a much steeper hill because he has religion, race (the primary factor), and potential allegations of sympathies towards radical Islamic beliefs and a pastor who met with known terrorist Muammar el-Qaddafi.
from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/us/politics/06obama.html?ref=politics
“When his enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli” to visit Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, Mr. Wright recalled, “with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell.” Mr. Wright added that his trip implied no endorsement of either Louis Farrakhan’s views or Qaddafi’s.

Now apparently Oprah was also a member of Barack's church, however she stopped going in 1986. I'll be curious to know if we ever find out what her reasoning was. Now I doubt that Barack is a racist, or if he has sympathies towards fundamentalist Islamic beliefs. I doubt Barack Obama believes that AIDS was created by the U.S. to keep Africa down. I doubt he believes that all black people owe their problems to rich white men. (things Wright said and preaches) However Barack attended the church for twenty years.... and to deny outright that he knew any of this stuff was going on is even more laughable then Hillary Clinton's accusations of Obama's so called plagiarism.

Obama has to pull a JFK... but again, this is the digital age and there is DAMNING fuel to throw on the anti Obama fire. (Wright's sermons are available on DVD.... sort of funny huh?) To pull this off he is going to have to say that Wright's inflammatory statements... and often ignorant, bigoted and racist statements were just minor blips in an otherwise decent man's sermons. Good luck with that. Jerimiah Wright makes Don Imus look like Martin Luther King.

I'm a little disappointed as a McCain fan... (I use the word fan loosely) that this disaster couldn't have waited till after the Democrats chose their nominee. In all seriousness... honestly I'm a bit disappointed that Obama really couldn't have been what many people hoped he would be. His ability to motivate people, speak positively, and tell people that they have a role to play, was refreshing.... even if I disagree with 2/3 of what he says. I've come to think Hillary and Obama would be equally awful presidents, but Obama's lighter rhetoric on government health care is the primary reason I wanted him to get the nod rather than Hillary. Additionally Hillary will continue the secretive behind the doors style of government that Bush and to a lesser degree Bill Clinton before him were so fond of. Hillary does not believe in communicating with Americans because she thinks we are basically all stupid. If we vote for her... she just may be right. We can not pay for or manage the social programs we have.... In a time of fiscal and economic crisis you can guarantee that it would be a bonehead move to try and expand them even more.