For the first time in months I'm feeling queasy about our chances

[Rex_Goodheart]

of winning in November. And it's ALL about the "Reverend" Wright.

If what separates Obama from Hillary is judgment then he should have the good judgment to immediately squash this gathering firestorm by denouncing the "Reverend." If he won't then I'm not sold on his judgment. And all you well-intentioned Democrats who are defending the "Reverend"'s statements should have the good sense to stop.

I voted for Hillary in the Louisiana primary, but wasn't disappointed when it became clear that Obama would be our likely candidate. I'm surrounded by Republicans and independents in this state, and all they're talking about today is Obama's affiliation with that church. Face it... the Wright video is BAD news.

Mr. Obama, please restore our confidence. Denounce Wright's racist, lying bullshit.

[MNDemNY]

1. It will be hard for Obama to separate himself from

his "spiritual adviser of twenty years", and the man credited for the title of his book. Obama should go home.This will doom him in the GE.

[buff2]

2. I think he's enjoying what he is doing to our party

:grr:

[anigbrowl]

3. Looks like we finally moved past the Muslim thing

Regarding your OP, Obama has already rejected Reverend Wright's views in one of the debates - same time he denounced Farrakhan.

[anamandujano]

7. He sat by and listened for 20 years and denounced only

when he got called on it.

Par for the course with Obama.

[sniffa]

4. I'm glad you started another thread on this matter

There's not enough of them. Your concern is the gas in the Democratic engine. :patriot:

[paulk]

15. what's this - the Obama tag team?

People can't start threads that question Obama?

Your tactics of shouting down the opposition aren't going to work here.

[Coexist]

33. IF HE WAS SHOUTING, IT WOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE THIS!!!!

DON'T YOU AGREE?!

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

5. He cannot denounce the man who coined "The audacity of hope" like he was just some supporter

Jeremiah Wright isn't some guy who endorsed Obama. He is a man who Obama cites as one of the most formative figures in his spiritual and philosophical development.

The problem is that Obama is a largely unknown figure, new on the national scene, and people are directed to THE AUDACITY OF HOPE as a blueprint for Obama's approach to governing America, and it doesn't help that the book contains a sermon about "the audacity of hope" by a mentor who happens to be racially divisive and all around offensive to most Americans.

So simply saying "I denounce him" today doesn't un-write the past.

This is a non-trivial problem, from an electoral standpoint. (It doesn't make Obama a bad man, though.)

[ExtraGriz]

6. the rethugs are going to have a field day with this for the GE

its his mentor, and the rethugs can edit a lot of 30 second clips from the video...

[sniffa]

25. Will you get your talking points right

Joe Lieberman was his mentor.

[amborin]

8. agree

I'm for Hillary but I'll vote for whoever is the dem nominee

but i'm increasingly worried about dem chances in the GE

agree, totally, if Obama has any sense, he will IMMEDIATELY condemn Wright, dissociate himself from him, and make some statement to the effect that he never personally witnessed those diatribes and now that he sees them on video he realizes Wright is wrong (pardon) and must be rejected and renounced

[Bake]

12. It's too late for that.

This will very likely kill our chances in an election that was ours to win ... or to lose. Once again, Dems find a way to lose.

Of course, SOME OF US tried to tell you. SOME OF US tried to warn you that Obama was too new, too untested, too much in need of serious vetting on the national level. I hope the Kool-Aid was good.

Bake

[DJ13]

9. I see the Clinton memo this morning was still aiming towards a racial divide

Theres a sudden surge of faux outrage today over statements made quite awhile back by someone no longer acting as a Pastor for Obama's church.

You guys need more than one fake outrage to focus on per day, it looks like a staged campaign tactic.

[anamandujano]

10. Blame it on Clinton. That should excuse Obama. Riiiiiight!

[DJ13]

19. Blame it on Clinton.

Not on her, just you.

Im glad you Hillary supporters didnt take her yesterday evening appology for the racist attitudes her supporters had brought into this campaign seriously either.

:rofl:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. This is, of course, race baiting.

Jeremiah Wright is this years Willie Horton.

Well, we knew it'd happen. It's up to us to fight it.

[UALRBSofL]

13. OP don't worry about that

Whoever comes out of this and goes into the GE, they will win. After the screw up of Bush, people are ready for a democrat president.

[NYCGirl]

14. Your concern is duly noted, and will get all the consideration it so richly deserves. NT

[Lerkfish]

16. actually, I'm queasy because Clinton's kamikazee campaign is already bollixing up

the eventual nominee in order to set up a president MCCain.

[Cha]

20. The picture on this campaign button makes me "queasy"..

[Strelnikov_]

22. Yea, that's what's giving me the drizzles

Nothing like a political murder/suicide to have one reaching for the Pepto.

[loveangelc]

17. sadly, i partly agree. He should have had judgement to see this would be a terrible thing.

Republicans will play him over and over and show the picture of him with his pastor, and him saying he was his mentor in commercials.

[scheming daemons]

18. "Mr. Obama, please restore our confidence. Denounce Wright's racist, lying bullshit."

He has.

You need to grow a set... seriously.


You panic WAY too easily and I'm glad you're not on the campaign.

You're letting the likes of Hannity scare the bejeesus out of you.

[Cha]

21. Things like this seperate

the stalwarts from the not so much.

[Ronnie]

27. Are there enough stalwarts

to win in the general election?

[Cha]

32. With hilary and mccain on same ticket?

[amborin]

34. dems should be scared

whoever the nominee is, they'll have a very tough time against right wing tactics

have you skimmed any right wing web sites?

believe me, they're creating a war chest profile to use against O

right now O needs to take quick proactive steps to condemn Wright and get him off the campaign committee, etc...

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

23. Take some pepto you'll feel better.

[bling bling]

24. You're simply letting "them" control the message. Nothing more, nothing less.

Obama ought to just go ahead and let one of his surrogates leak something on Clinton so we can all pay attention to her for awhile.

It's a game. You're being played.

Obama doesn't have to denounce anything. He should announce he is insulted by anyone who thinks he's not patriotic and change the message. In this country we're allowed to have friends and associates who hold different viewpoints from ourselves. It's how we learn. It's the whole red state/blue state thing. He should STAND UP for himself not defend himself. Put the ball back in their court.

If he starts playing the defend himself against everyone he knows game we'll lose before we even get started. I'm tired of this game of faux outrage over his church. It's unAmerican and we ought to try and stop the madness. The Democrats will NEVER win until we change the rules the Repubicans wrote.

Enough fear.

[Beregond2]

28. Pastor

What a load. If Dubya's vile religion didn't sink him, why would a black pastor pointing out that the country is run by rich white men? How is that racist? It is a fact.

There has never been, and will never be, a candidate without baggage that can be used against them. My God, has there ever been one with more of it than Hillary? The answer is to keep asserting a positive message, while attacking your opponent on the issues.

[bling bling]

30. Exactly. Don't get stuck "defending" against obnoxious accusations.

They are simply using the same playbook as the last 2 elections. When will we LEARN from it?!

[Bake]

35. Most baggage doesn't say "God Damn America."

I can't believe anybody interested in winning in November isn't condemning this shit.

You will lose. That caption is fatally toxic to a campaign.

Bake

[ContinentalOp]

26. I know, I have been starting to worry too!

But then I realized, wait a minute, this is exactly the point of all of these attacks. Try to crush our enthusiasm, get us to vote for Clinton out of fear, and depress Democratic turnout. I don't think it's going to work. I'm confident that Obama will have a good response to this when the time comes. Who is really talking about this now except for right wingers and interestingly, some "Clinton supporters" on DU?

In fact the timing of this almost makes me wonder if the Obama campaign didn't help get it out there right now, while Spizer is dominating the headlines. Better now than in October. By then it will be old news, he will have been asked about it directly and he will have a great response prepared. Sure the ultra right wingers will still harp on it through November but that's to be expected.

[Strelnikov_]

29. I agree. There may still be chance Clinton gets the nomination n/t

[SeaLyons]

31. This will be a huge problem for the democrats

....let's see Obama's "judgement" tested. How will he handle this firestorm. Or maybe the question is "how CAN he handle the firestorm" after being a member for 20 years. I just don't know. What a big fat stinken problem for the democrats.