Talk Amongst Yourselves

Ah, an excellent question. My answer is no, he has not. Obama's white mother took care of that when she had a kid with a black guy named Barack Obama Sr. Huge swaths of this country are about as open to a black or mixed-race president as China is to open political discussion, or as the Denver Nuggets are to making a decent team effort.

Yeah, that's why he's ahead in the polls (as of right now) with really nothing to stand on besides - what was it - oh...right... hope and post-racial healing...hmmm...heavy stuff...

it is a topic very handy for distracting people from rising gas prices and a war that keeps killing innocent young Americans. The ones with broken equipment and a post tour of duty health system that is embarrassing at best and criminal in all likelihood and tax breaks for companies with profits in the BILLIONS and a major city that could run out of water (Atlanta) or housing prices dropping 20% in some places. I say keep up the wright talk. As long as there is no call to face the reality of the economic, education, social security, Medicare, military, healthcare, infrastructure, racial issues then we are all fine. Oh - the dollar is falling like a rock and oil cost $90 more per barrel than when Bush the ECONOMIC EXPERT took over. Yes, take the words of an inner city preacher and dissect them because quibbling over that is much more important than asking about McCain's free jet usage or his ties with a man who wants to bring about Armageddon (Hagee. His CLOSE SPIRITUAL ADVISER - Where is the liberal drive by media on this?!?) or his desire to keep innocent Amercians in harm's way for 100 more years. Kudos.

Well, Obama is not running on experience, he's running by saying that his judgment trumps the experience of those in D.C. What does this say about his judgment when, in his own words, he knew this man for over 20 years...judgment matters in solving the problems mentioned..judgment matters in picking the right people for the right posts (yes, by all means throw in your attacks on Bush here). That is why this is all important...

I think the Wright issue is tired and irrelevant. Parsnip does establish a clever syllogism to demonstrate why it does matter, however. I guess following P.'s logic, Obama has nobody but himself to blame if he dies by the sword of shitty character associations.
Regardless of what side you're on, we could all do with less Jeremiah Wright and more issues. Clearly Obama did not invite the Wright issue into the campaign rhetoric; it would be refreshing to talk brass tacks.

Experience? A quick cherrypicked list I threw together-

James Buchanan- 10 years in the HOR. 12 in the Senate. Secretary of State under Polk. Considered by many historians to be the worst president ever.

Abe Lincoln- 2 years in the HOR (1847-1849).

Franklin Pierce- 4 years in the HOR, 6 in the Senate. An awful president and future Confederate douche even though he was from New Hampshire.

FDR- Governor of New York for 4 years. No national offices held until his first term as president. Okay, he was assistant secretary of the Navy for a little.

Andrew Johnson- 6 years in the Senate, 10 in the HOR, and was gov. of Tenn. Nearly destroyed what was left of the country.

Teddy Roosevelt- was VP for a year and Gov. of NY for like a few months.

I think living in a city where the Obama love grows out of every tree and where everyone here seems to think he does no wrong has skewed points of view. First of all the majority of the presidents mentioned above did not do their own campaigning. It was a party boss or party elders who set the campaign slogans. Obama has set his own campaigning themes and a major one is that his judgment is superior to those of his opponents (substantively there is little or no difference b/w HRC and Obama).

Fine, if he's selling his judgment as a major reason why he should get the votes, then it is fair to look at his past and see how his judgment has fared. He has no legislative achievement in the senate to speak of so we are left with other venues. The people who he chose politically and personally to hitch his star to matter. Whether it is liked or not Bill Ayers and Wright were political and personal choices. His judgment in associating for DECADES with these two matters. Again, he is selling his judgment as a positive trait and if he's doing that then we have every right to question him.

This whining about talking about issues is ridiculous. The issues are so oversimplified by politicians that what they promise and what they actually effectuate are apples and oranges. Besides, why should I pick him over Over Hillary when they have the same positions on every freaking issue...hmmm...let me think...his superior judgment?

unfortunately, the question remains to be determined by the media. Hopefully the whole Reverend Wright thing will go quietly into the night now that it has made such a big splash. The media is just using this to bring the man down since he is actually trying to run a real campaign. He needs to just stick to pandering to voters ala Hilary Cliton. Sadly, my advice to Obama is to sell out now and get real once you get elected, as it is the only way to get elected in this country of brainwashed morons.