The controversy about Senator Obama and his pastor is a difficult topic. Ironically there is very little that is black and white about race issues in the United States. Initially Senator Obama’s speech regarding his pastor seemed passable. While some reported it as a remarkable historic speech on race, something remained unsettling about the speech and the incident as a whole. The previous article “Obama’s Jeremiah Wright Problem” by acrediblepresident (see below) put correctly idetified that problem as ‘hate’. When hate and religion mix it has created some of the worst tradgedies in human history. While no one thinks that an epic tradgedy will emerge from the preachings of Senator Obama’s church, there’s a need to call it like it is. When churches on either the right or the left used their pulpit after 9/11 to preach hate or further a political agenda, it was incredibly calous and decidedly un-Christian.
This is not an issue that is resolved for Senator Obama and his candidacy, or for the voters. The cue from his speech that sparked doubts was his comparison of his grandmother to Pastor Wright. For those who have or had a grandmother that they loved, even if she was prone to making politically incorrect remarks will have difficulty seeing these two cases as comparable. Also, Senator Obama’s invocation of Geraldine Ferraro was decidedly political and didn’t connect with the rest of his speech. Neither is a tragic flaw, but brings into question the purpose and the sincerity of his speech. Also noted in acrediblepresident’s article there is still little known about Senator Obama. He has capitalized on his excellent speeking ability, but given the people very little content. The task now is on him to show who he really is beyond the promise of hope and change. This glimpse into his religious life still gives many of us an uneasy feeling, and he needs to explain why hateful speech is okay for some, but not for others.
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