...or was Karl Rove seen at the Trinity United Church of Christ?

A message to white, conservative America...get over yourselves.


Our friends on the right are having a gay, old time (not like "Larry Craig" gay) clucking their tongues and shaking their heads over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the sermons he preached while Barak Obama was within earshot. It seems that Rev. Wright made a few inflammatory statements that would not have gotten him invited to a communion breakfast at the local VFW hall. Heaven forfend!


Forget that George Bush traveled to South Carolina on his knees (not like "Larry Craig" on his knees) in 2000 to kiss Jerry Falwell's ass. That would be the same Jerry Falwell who blamed the 9-11 attacks on gays and lesbians. I guess all outrageous rhetoric is not created equal. However, tempting thou it is, this rant is not about George the Lessor.


The Obama/Wright issue is a red herring on so many levels that it's hard to know where to begin. Let's start with Rev. Wright.


The Reverend is a Navy and Marine Corps veteran. (Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh had better things to do.) Before his recent retirement he had been the pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ since 1972. His list of achievements and honors would fill a book including praise from Presidents Johnson and Clinton. But he is also a 67 year old black man in America. His experiences with racism are typical of his generation.


His denunciation of the treatment of black Americans at the hands of the white establishment is entirely understandable and entirely justified. Blacks in this country have endured 400 years of slavery followed by another 100 years of Jim Crow segregation. People can get pretty angry in 500 years. Just because things have finally begun to improve somewhat since the 60's, is no reason to think that African Americans have forgiven and forgotten. Being less of a second-class citizen is still to be a second-class citizen. If, as a white person in this country, you believe that Black people have gained full equality, that you probably also believed "Mission Accomplished".


As a white person living in the United States I have at no time, or for any reason, been discriminated against. I have never been stopped by the police for being in a wealthy neighborhood. I have never been watched in a jewelry store or asked by mistake to park some one's car in front of a restaurant. No one has ever called me a racially-based name. (All slurs against me have been intelligence-based)


White America has no idea what it means to be black and therefore no idea how they might react to the systemic degradation of their race. You simply have no frame of reference.


Yes, Barak Obama attended Sunday services at Rev. Wright's church in Chicago and he heard many of the pastor's over-the-top sermons. To suggest that the Senator took every word to heart is nonsense. None of us agree with all of the opinions of our friends and mentors. Even John McCain has had to distance himself from the opinions of some of the people that have endorsed him. Besides, I thought all you conservatives liked church-goers.


Barak Obama is black. Sooner or later that fact had to come up. Rather than sidestep the issue the Senator from Illinois addressed it directly. That sort of candor was missing from the discussion of George W. Bush's drug use, or the Clinton's recent tax returns. Obama's treatment of his friendship with Rev. Wright stands in stark contrast to how Hillary Clinton tap-danced around the Bosnia-sniper statement. (not like Larry Craig tap dancing.)



Obama supporters can remain secure in the knowledge that most of the electorate who have been offended by the sermons of Reverend Wright, weren't wearing Obama '08 buttons anyway.

They wear buttons that say "Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms Should be an Advertising Slogan".