Quote from princessa:
i realize that i'm not going to change any opinions by speaking here. most of you guys are dyed in the wool republicans and probably all white males. and, as they say, where you sit is where you take a stand. i expect most, if not all of you to condemn obama and pastor (especially the latter) as racist while believing that you all are blameless in this regard and hold no racist tendencies whatsoever, an assertion i would seriously question. like jesus said (paraphrasing) "take out the log in your own eye before you remove the twig in someone else's eye." my guess is you're all angry and that's why you gravitated to this thread. i came here for a different reason.
when i look at the background from which obama came, african muslim father, white mother from midwestern u.s., raised partly in indonesia with asian stepfather, partly in hawaii, going to a rich kid's school (punahoe), going in a wayward direction before righting himself again, having no affirming role models in his environment as a "black" male, i try to see what his motivations are and where he is going.
i tend to be rather cynical and question the motives of all politicians. obama is no exception. but i would explain his actions as follows.
he has always had a way with people. he went to harvard law school and was president of the school council. went to work for a law firm in chicago where he met his future wife. at some point along the way, someone probably told him he would be good at politics, because he had a way with words. since he was in chicago, he set his sights on local government and went about building a base. chicago is one of the most racist and racially segregated cities in the country, so it doesn't astound me that the black church there would be particularly vocal about the obstacles its parishioners face. he chose a particularly large black church on southside chicago to build his name in social outreach and build a political base.
the strength of the democratic party is social outreach. people who vote democrat are either non-affluent or believe in social outreach/equity/justice. that's it. if you're rich and white and don't much care about anyone who is not, then you don't vote democrat. end of story. to build a base in the democratic party, obama would have had to build a name for himself in social outreach and what better way than to join a church doing just that? could he have joined a touchy feely multiracial church and accomplished the same goal? i doubt it , considering he was in chicago and not san francisco. i doubt he would have dreamed, twenty years ago (or even ten) that he would later become the frontrunner candidate for president in 2008 and have some words his pastor said come flying back in his face. i don't think he joined the church because he had any racist tendencies. i don't think he has a racist bone in his body. but people who were stung by the words of his pastor are going to take offense and pick at everything he says and does because they feel like "how dare you say we're wrong". hopefully, those who believed in his message from the beginning or were leaning his way will see past the hype and realize he's still the same person he always was, the least racist person running for president.