Michelle Obama on Diversity, Comfort Zones, and America

If every time Barrack or Michelle Obama speak and it needs to be clarified, I really think they should learn to speak correctly. I do not understand why don't they say say the truth that they hate America and what it stands for and run on that!

They definitly do not know what the world is like, Go to france and live there unleass your a born Frenchman you are discriminated against, remember the riots, go to Iran, Syria and so forth unless your Muslim you are ostracized or worse. I am tired of hearing Obama defame America with his bumper sticker Change comment.

And if he does not believe in what his pastor said, then why is it that it seems everything he or his wife says is anti-American? (Or does he not know where his wife stands yet)

Ok. So only the Obama's can talk about race. Only the Obama's can help with the "race issues". Clinton mentions how she would not have had a Paster like Wright----suddenly the Obama camp yells at her for mentioning it--- HUH?.... No one else can talk about this stuff but them?..... One speech does not negate the issue. ( if that was the answer MLK's speech should have done it---NOT OBAMA's !!)...oh please...

Sick and tired - I am ammazed that people come to this country (35 years) and like the benefits from the country but refuse to become a citizen ...why not go back to your country if you are ashame of this country.

The more I see and hear of Michelle Obama the more I don't like her, is this really going to be the first lady, she needs to tone it down, she's just giving the election to the republicans.

Obama’s Pastor Slurs Italians in Latest Magazine:

Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., pastor emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago where Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has been a member for two decades, slurred Italians in a piece published in the most recent issue of Trumpet Newsmagazine.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright writes of Jesus’ enemies: “(Jesus’) enemies had their opinion about Him,” Wright wrote in a eulogy of the late scholar Asa Hilliard in the November/December 2007 issue. “The Italians for the most part looked down their garlic noses at the Galileans.”

Wright continued, “From the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth (in a barn in a township that was under the Apartheid Roman government that said his daddy had to be in), up to and including the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ death on a cross, a Roman cross, public lynching Italian style. …

“He refused to be defined by others and Dr. Asa Hilliard also refused to be defined by others. The government runs everything from the White House to the schoolhouse, from the Capitol to the Klan, white supremacy is clearly in charge, but Asa, like Jesus, refused to be defined by an oppressive government because Asa got his identity from an Omnipotent God.”

Every issue of the magazine published last year included Wright’s column, “The Message,” in which he covered a range of subjects, including his views on other African-American churches as expressed in his April 2007 commentary “Facing the Rising Sun.”

“In a world that is controlled by white supremacy, in a country that is on its way to hell in a hand basket because of lying politicians, in a culture that still thinks ‘white is right’ and with young people who do not have a clue as to our story, our history, our legacy or our destiny, we still have African-American Christians who are more concerned about ‘bling bling’ than about freeing our minds,” Wright wrote.

In a nationally broadcast speech on March 18, Obama distanced himself from Wright by saying he “condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy.” But Obama also said, “I could no more disown him than I could disown the black community.”

According to his federal income tax return for 2006, Obama gave the Trinity United church that year $22,500 in contributions.

The Clinton campaign has not commented on the controversy, but in an interview Tuesday with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) said actions speak louder than words.

“He would not have been my pastor,” Clinton said. “You don’t choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend.

“You know, I spoke out against Don Imus (a radio talk show host who was fired for making racially insensitive remarks about black female basketball players at Rutgers University), saying that hate speech was unacceptable in any setting, and I believe that,” Clinton said.

“I just think you have to speak out against that. You certainly have to do that, if not explicitly, then implicitly by getting up and moving,” she added.

Trumpet Newsmagazine started publication in the 1980s in Chicago and distribution expanded in March 2006 to several other cities, with broader circulation through subscriptions. On the magazine’s masthead, Wright is named as the magazine’s CEO and Wright’s daughter, Jeri Wright, is the publisher.

Requests for comments from Jeri Wright, the magazine’s marketing staff, and the Obama campaign were not answered by press time.

The last Trumpet to be published was the November/December edition, a double issue that featured a remembrance of “Pan-Africanist” Hilliard and a profile of Louis Farrakhan, who was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement “Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter” award at the magazine’s 25th anniversary gala late last year.

Farrakhan has called Judaism a “gutter religion” and said Jews are “bloodsuckers,” as reported in The New York Times.

Trumpet Newsmagazine also included myriad articles and regular features geared toward the black community, ranging from health, parenting, music and the arts, to profiles of successful members of the community and tips on everything from dating to spiritual well-being.

Many political observers have said that Obama’s speech last week limited the damage of the ongoing Wright controversy, but others say the issue is continuing to hamper his campaign.

“I don’t think it’s going to go away,” Ralph Reed, a long-time conservative activist and political strategist who now runs Century Strategies based in Duluth, Ga., told Cybercast News Service.

“Because while Obama’s speech was thoughtful and eloquent, it didn’t address the central issue, and that’s why he would have someone as such a close spiritual advisor with such extreme views,” Reed added.

“Let me be clear,” Reed added. “I don’t think any candidate should have to answer for the theological views of their pastor, church or denomination. But (Wright’s) were not theological views, but political statements.”

“I think it’s more likely to be a serious issue in the general election, more than in the primaries,” Reed said.

I agree with you Sharon. This post seems to attract some of the most biased and unbalanced comments I have ever seen. There are so many haters. It is alright to hold your view, but can't you be less personal? My take on all this is as follows; Obama haters never had much to hate him for before, but now in the post-Wright era, anything goes!

We need a good spiritual black president, to help the black people. We need Obama and Michelle in the White house.

Ah a perfect couple made in heaven, with lots of common things, ALL TALK, NO ACTION. BARACK and Michelle. Both need to get a life, better yet why don't you donate some of that money you have been making! But please think twice if you plan on giving Rev. Wrights church. We will find out!

I wonder if it is possible that other people did not hang out with her group because they simply did not like the air of arrogance?

I am not an Obama supporter but based on the comment Michelle supposedly made in this article the conservatives are
attempting to turn it into something it is not. She is an African-American woman
speaking from her own perspective and experience and it's sad to think people are threatened by that in some way. I think all the candidates and their spouses have made some statements they perhaps would like to take back, that were misinterpreted or taken out of context and once in the media took on a life of it's own. You've had Hillary embellishing on her Bosnia experience and Borack taking claim to be a Harvard law professor and his parents meeting at Selma which turned out to be not true.

As long as someone has something to gain from racism, it will exist. Case and Point, Rev. Wright. He would gladly keep racism alive to remain relevant.

Am sure Cindy McCain can weigh in brilliantly! She seems to be smarter than her husband, who happens to be dumb as a rock! Ignorant Americans continue to support ignorant and dumb leaders! What does this mean to our country?

You guys really think that Barack Oboma is racist? You need to come down south where I grew up. You don't know what racism is.

smartprimate,

you are right that Obama does not offer any big solution to race matters. But would that even be possible? There is only so much a politician can do, and I don't think this is solved through legislation or government. He has sparked a debate, made people pause and reflect. To me, that is worth something.

But besides from that, he has a campaign to run, and there are many other issues to consider before deciding to vote for or against him.

How is it that the people on this blog that say that hate, hate speech, yet their words seem so hateful. That's really sad to me.

Mr and Mrs Michelle Barack Obama ( we all know who wears the pants in that marriage) attended Reverend Wrights church for 20 years. They have belittled the words of their pastor to say they are just sound bytes. It is not just a sound byte, it was unpatriotic and he preached it to a congregation of young and old alike. He gave this "major" speech,as the media likes to describe it, on race to defend his pastor and failed to acknowledge that such preaching is divisive and continues to feed the minds of more old and young black Americans against "typical" whites.

"Hencken: Why should any Hillary Clinton supporters believe any of the NBC,MSNBC or CNN polls. Their all bias for Obama. They are fake polls. Only Obama supports take those polls."

Tim Russert just announced the NBC, MSNBC "exclusive poll" as the only poll in America which shows Obama's unfavorable rating has not changed due to his pastor controversy.

The key of such NBC / MSNBC "Exclusive Poll" is that they are only calling Michelle and Ophra phone numbers.

Embracing stereotypes and ignorance ---that's America! Yes, anything negative is uniquely American, according to the Michelles of America. We do not live up to the black value system and the black theology as espoused by the Obamas' church, so we are sorely lacking in all that makes the Trinity membership human.
We need Barack Obama to save our souls
and Michelle Obama to raise our consciousnesses. They are what we have
been waiting for all our lives. Now that they have arrived, we should all rise up to the level they have, and will, set for us. Heil, Obamas!

Niels – interesting disputation but your conclusion does not seem to be supported = “Obama is trying hard to bridge the gap between races.”

He points to himself as the nexus of races... BUT provides little to try and bridge that gap which he so eloquently acknowledges. His last speech clearly identified the problem, but his conclusion was basically this... “you discuss it among yourselves, but I have a campaign to run.” Michelle does the same thing – she states the obvious but provides little in the way of solutions other than voting for her husband.

The Obamas have a problem. They like to get pedantic about race relations in this country, but their own personal conduct and choices reflect the divisiveness they decry. They had many choices in Chicago, but they chose and maintained Jeremiah Wright as their pastor. That choice speaks volumes as to their character.When someone incites an assembly with the hateful and bigoted language used again and again by Wright, you either lead them to a different message or you leave. You don't sit passively, as Obama did, while your friends and family absorb the invective.

I certainly won't be lectured by the Obamas. I find.their double standard offensive and I reject it. It is time to transcend the racial divisions in this country, not exacerbate them with the hypocracy and bigotry displayed by Obama and Wright.