The Impact Of Obama's Speech: A Pennsylvania Political Expert Weighs In

Barack Obama delivered a speech yesterday that is a rarity in the world of politics. Some called it historic. His speech addressed the controversy regarding the comments of his former pastor Jeremiah Wright, and race relations in America.

What kind of impact, if any, will his speech have on voters in Pennsylvania?

I interviewed University of Pennsylvania Political Science Professor, Rogers M. Smith, yesterday about Obamas speech, and specifically asked how he thought it may impact the upcoming Pennsylvania primary.

Smith, along with Philip A. Klinkner, is author of the book, "The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America," which was published in 1999.

This is a small excerpt from Obamas speech that he made in Philadelphia yesterday:

"I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas.

I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners -- an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters."

"Excellent, thoughtful, and constructive," was how Smith described Obama's speech.

I asked Smith who he thought Obama was reaching out to in his speech today.

"Senator Obama sought simultaneously to assure white and Latino Americans that he was not siding with any form of race hatred while also assuring black Americans that he understood their anger and affirmed his community with them. But above all, he strove to shift the prevailing political discourse from a focus on racial divisions to a common progressive agenda of change," said Smith.

A Quinnipiac Pennsylvania poll released yesterday shows Clinton is leading Obama 53-41 percent.

Smith said once people have time to digest Obamas speech, it may change peoples minds in Pennsylvania, but he said it certainly would not immediately.

I asked Smith his opinion on how he believed Jeremiah Wright's comments hurt Obama in the Keystone State, if at all.

"Pennsylvania is one of the places where Obama had to be careful not to appear to be "dissing" the black church, particularly outspoken clerical leaders, while he nonetheless did have to distance himself from the despair about white Americans and American progress that he discerned in some of Wright's sermons. The focus on Wright's comments and Obama's stance toward them was not helpful to him here, so it was risky but also wise to address the issue head on as he did," said Smith.

Smith said he thought Obama's speech was, "candid and sincere." When asked about whether the speech will have any changing or positive effect for Obamas campaign in Pennsylvania, he added, "it remains to be seen how much."

Smith, who received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University in 1980, was also Co-Director, at Yale ISPS Center for the Study of Race, Inequality, and Politics from 1995-2001.

When asked about which demographic this speech may impact the most in Pennsylvania, this what Smith said.

"It will most help white liberals feel comfortable about voting for Obama, both because they will agree with its substance and because it will strengthen their belief that he can win. But it will also bolster his already very strong support among most black voters, because it does articulate how many feel. It will help some with white moderates and not at all with conservatives."

I would like to thank Professor Smith at the University of Pennsylvania, for his insight and analysis.

Comments

[UrbanRevolution]

I HOPE PEOPLE HAVE SEEN JEREMIAH'S CLIPS IN CONTEXT. The church released the a big portion of the "controversial" clips as well as others. It looks mighty different in context.
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=trinity+obama+fox+lies&search_type=

[BrooklynLager]

You can't really predict a state like Philadelphia without getting into the machinery of it - Hillary Clinton has the support of everyone who's got their thumb on the scale locked up. They will deliver a HUGE victory for her, come hell or high water.

I thought the best measure of the two candidates was Texas - it's a big, diverse state, with NO DEMOCRATIC PARTY MACHINERY. You had the two candidates fighting it out and seeing who could do it better.

The result was either a tie, if you believe that the Limbaugh Liberals had an effect, or a slight Clinton win, which would make sense given the high latino population and the negative stories that were breaking on Obama in the two days leading up to the primary. But it was a great race.

In Pennsylvania, the fix is in. You get Rendell, you get the state, period. They will throw ballots into dumpsters if they have to, but she will win it by double digits.

[UNCLEJOE]

DIVIDE & CONQUER is the strategy of tyrants;

Racism divides;

Obama is a uniter;

How symbolic can one get as a uniter of all races when he is half White & half Black?

And his words and actions are for UNITY of all races.

That is why the Republican Neo Conservatives fear Obama.

[TinaFreeman]

A more complete story on Rev. Wright's 9/11 speech....­his comments make more sense when viewed in their entirety.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/21/the-full-story-behind-rev-jeremiah-wrights-911-sermon/

[ragtopdodge]

How come the MSM doesn’t show Wright's sermons in its entirety?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOdlnzkeoyQ


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvMbeVQj6Lw

[TheRealMacDaddy]

People keep saying...W­hy did he stay in that Church, why did he stay in that Church?

Has ANYONE considered that maybe, just maybe, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright did not preach this way all the time? Has ANYONE considered that this rant that is continuously played on the News and Internet was his, defending his friend and parishioner Barack Obama?

It was given just days after Bill Clinton told South Carolinians, that needed to remember that Jesse Jackson also carried the State in 2 unsucessful presidential campaigns (meaning..­.any black can win S.C.). I'm pretty sure if a friend of mine was being kneecapped I'd come to his defense. Especially when the one doing the kneecapping was also supposed to be a friend of mine (Jeremiah Wright was one of Bill Clinton's spiritual advisors during the ML issue).

If Rev. Wright's was white the things he said would be accepted without a blink as being truthful..­.If anyone thinks for a minute that "Rich White Men" don't control this country, they need to share that skunk. And I guarantee that Hillary Clinton has never had to deal with being called nigger to her face or behind her back. What Rev. Wright said may be dispicable to some's gentle eardrums but it is the truth.

When I was a child in the late fifties in rural Georgia and in Jacksonville, FL, my mother made me go to church. I remember almost every Sunday hearing the preacher talking about how the white folks had to be careful of the "Nigra's (that was the "polite" way of saying nigger in public) because if they didn't they'd end up working with them in the future, may have to live next door to them and that everyone knew when one of them walked barefoot in the yard grass wouldn't grow there.

Maybe that is why I decided in my adult life to become an agnostic. I couldn't understand why in Sunday School we were singing, "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and then in church I was being told I couldn't play with "colored kids."

I'm white and I can say up until I joined the Army in the 70's, I had not been exposed to other races or ethnic groups, my schools were not integrated and there were no blacks, hispanics or asians that lived in my little town in East Orange County Florida. But I can say that during my 20 years I learned. I now know Blacks, Hispanics and Asians who I would have gladly have sacrificed my life for and know that they would have done the same for me.

Please, for those of you that say, Obama didn't disown his Preacher but he threw his Granny under the bus, sit down and listen to his speech in it's entirety, don't just go by the little snippet you heard on CNN or ABC or Fox News. Listen to the whole thing yourself, all 38 minutes, then make up your mind.

[afram1]

Here's some sage advice when dealing with those that continue to smear Senator Obama as a "racist" despite the evidence otherwise:

"Never argue with an idiot. They bring you down to their level and beat you with experience­."

[SeriousBlack]

Great quote. Unfortunately I get sucked into responding to their mindless, vitriolic comments. I know I shouldn't waste my energy!

[PhDcommonsense]

Great Comment. I hope others read it and understand. Like you I wish people would stop trying to defind a ministers' whole career in 2-3 sermons. Can people understand that sometimes the times we are living in will call some men to make profound statements, whether you agree with them or not. I think this is one of those times. Maybe if people would take the time to listen to the whole of both speeches, Wrights and Obama, they would understand better.

Just kidding the above sentence was for thinking people and those who think for themselves. Some would find a problem where there was none. This is why the Media, and certain talking heads can manipulate people who do not read and understand for themselves. Even Mike Huckabee understands where Wrights comments are coming from, as he stated on "Morning Joe" MSNBC.

Some will use this as an excuse not to support Obama, as if they really needed one. He really has an uphill battle. The Clintons are endorsing McCain over their own party. How's that one for all of you thinking folks out there?

[GeorgePS]

Why Obama failed in Philadelphia:

Mr. Obama's speech, in spite of its eloquent passages expressing his hope for better racial relations in America, is a mastery example of literary subterfuge, the broadening of the scenery whereby an object of inquiry becomes lost in the background, or more bluntly, the escaping of a slippery fish from a pond into a lake to hide better.

His speech is essentially a sophisticated lawyerly defense of Rev Wright's sin on the basis of self-defense. While Mr. Obama's understanding on the root causes of America's racial problems is quite apt, he attempts to portray that it is Rev Wright's racial circumstance, and it alone, that had led Rev Wright, with the inevitability of the fixed trajectory of a massive asteroid hurtling toward Earth, to castigate America and its other race with repulsive profanities. Thus, by Mr. Obama account, Rev Wright is a victim of the circumstance that he couldn't have avoided.

Mr. Obama states: "The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static . . . ," an apt analysis in view of his campaign slogan of "change" that will surely move the country out of the "static" stalemate under his leadership, but the truth is sadder and more personal.

Rev Wright, in spite of Mr. Obama's defense, is not a victim of his circumstance, the circumstance of his race, but of his own hubris, of his own failure to keep hope and faith in what is good in America and other fellow race. While racism still remains in American society, America does not espouse racism as a creed, and while racism still lingers among some white, not all white are racist. The sin of Rev Wright is that he lost his faith and hope in America.

And Mr. Obama's profound mistake in his defense is that Mr. Obama still sees America and its white race from the identity of an angry black intellectual who assiduously, in spite of his bi-racial background and unlike many bi-racial people who refuse to identify themselves with a race, cultivated his black identity at the exclusion of his white heritage, which he laboriously exorcised out of his soul, as his 1995 autobiography testifies.

His line: "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community," clearly indicates where his loyalty still lies, to his intellectually cultivated vision of the unified black community, the community that men like Rev Wright mistakenly and pretentiously claim its leadership. But black community, like the white, are far more diverse, far less united except under the common American value espoused in our Constitution and the sense of patriotism for the land where our families and friends live, of which Rev Wright so flagrantly savaged.

For many black, Mr. Obama's mention of Rev Wright and the black community in the same vein in his own defense grossly misrepresents the entire black community. Indeed, to them Rev Wright represents the past, the past that black community must depart, as much as the white community must from its lingering racism. And Mr. Obama's defense of Rev Wright harks back to that unfortunate past, just as his conscious attempt to identify himself as a wholly black person (perhaps until his presidential bid) by abandoning his white heritage harks back to the unfortunate divisions of races precipitated by each individual's conscious attempt at finding racial identity.

The unfortunate truth of his speech is that he, while acknowledging the damaging nature of Rev Wright's pronouncements to America's racial relations, failed to address, worse, to understand the obvious fact that Mr. Obama's unflagging support of Rev Wright (that he is like Mr. Obama's family member, that he cannot be disowned) has done further damages to racial relations and will continue to do so.

This is the sin of Barack Obama: he stood there by Rev Wright while the Reverend was caught up in his pride as a stirring preacher, a vainglorious social critic, spewing out his tirade decrying of the injustice of the whole nation, of an entire race, and he said nothing, did nothing, and to this day Mr. Obama still stands by Rev Wright and does nothing, notwithstanding his speech, except to keep his faith in the Reverend.

It is an admirable act of friendship fitting for a private citizen, but it is an act unbecoming of a US president, for he must stand, not by his friend who failed his hope and faith in America, but by his country and all its people. This, in spite of his rhetorical eloquence, he failed, no, refused to do. His speech did neither heal America's racial problems nor of his own; indeed, he has become, to many Americans, a part of the America's racial problems, not the solution as he pretends. Mr. Obama, unwittingly, has become a racially divisive man, the Democrat's November Bogeyman.

http://the-unreadiness-of-barack-obama.blogspot.com

[trickbunny]

I stopped reading after "Why Obama failed..."­. Everyone who is not influenced solely by their bias for hillary or mccain understood that that was the most honest, straightforward, and relevant speech any political candidate has given in a very long time. Anti-Obama folks realize this and now want to spin it like crazy, trying vainly to make people change their minds about him. they're pissed that the speech was as good and as well received as it was.

I can just see their arms flailing and jaws flapping now. pretty comical.

[DofG]

Our mass nationalistic delusion is that patriotism rises above truth!

[DoninJoisey]

Where do you get off with "The sin of Rev Wright is that he lost his faith and hope in America."

He was a US Marine. He earned his right to speak up. I will take Wright over the coward Cheney any day, who professes to be for America, but has shown he is a truly evil man.

We heard snippets of what, two of Wright's sermons? How many has he given in his 20-something years? I would like to hear more before I judge.

I served 16 months in the Marines in Vietnam. When I got back, I spoke out against the war, truly despised Nixon, said things that today would make me cringe, and a weasel coward like Cheney would call unpatriotic. To point out faults is not un-American, it is a right.

Unless you are black and of his age, you cannot know what he went thru and have no right to judge.

[Xspackle]

Amen. Who has earned the right to criticize this country better than someone who served? Cheney? Of the 5 deferrments?

Not bloody likely.

[UNCLEJOE]

As a first American generation of Sicilian immigrants in the 1920's my Irish and Jewish school teachers and neighbors built in me a feeling of inferiority that lasted until I Graduated from UCLA at the age of 39. I don't pretend to know how traumatic it must have been and still is for some non-whites, but the mild taste of discrimination I experienced in my youth as a Ginny Wop helps me to realize how harmful and cruel and cowardly it is to foster racism when trying to win an election for the presidency of this great nation which was and continues to be built by multi-racial citizens. Whether your an American Sicilian in the 1920's or a Japanese American during WW II, or a Latino in the 21 st Century we must understand that we must all unite as Americans before we can bring equality for al races.
Obama is the only candidate that is calling for Unity, while the other two candidates are creating divisiveness as their strategy to Divide & Conquer.

[PhDcommonsense]

You would not vote for Obama even if he lit his hair on fire and could fly like superman. So stop distorting what he said and go ahead and cast a vote for Hillary or McCain.

[longislandlol]

As for those non-liberal white dems in Pennsylvania---- anyone poll them?

[TylerRose]

I will not be controlled by fear, lies, BIGOTRY and under-handed politics.

Hell, even John McCain and Mike Huckabee defended Obama and what does his Democrat colleague do? Use the smear to gain super delegate votes. I guess 2 out 3 Republicans for Obama is good.

I vote for one nation under God indivisable for liberty and justice for ALL.

I AM STILL VOTING FOR OBAMA IN NOVEMBER.

[soulstressed]

Submitted for BHO supporters. Feel free to scroll past this message if you're not. Or not.

Barack Obama's done so much more than simply made his case. All I can hope for now is the 'oh, now I get it' moment for anyone who's still not convinced that we need him.
A wise person once said, "when the going gets tough, the tough get going." Or maybe that was just a corny 80's song. Whatever. But right now, Obama supporters are finding ourselves going through what seems to be trying times. I actually think that this is the perfect time to have major possible issues aired. With so many weeks between voting, 'the undecideds' have the space listen to what he says, to think and digest the magnitude of possibilities with our candidate. During this period, we, his core believers, have the moments to fortify ourselves. We can fortify our hope, our reflection, and our action. To that end, I offer three things.

1. For reflection and action. From the Democratic Underground. Please reaad this wonderful post, and send it, poste haste, to the DNC:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5159913

2. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright has rightfully given some of us pause. What we must NOT do is to mirror the MSM in fear projection without reflection. We have to educate ourselves about The Rev., so that we can enter into discourse based on full course knowledge, not sound bite fast food. For reflection, I strongly recommend listening to Rev. Wright's "The Audacity To Hope" in it's entirety here:

http://resources.christianity.com/details/cht/19000101/07B1BF53-5CC6-44CC-A7E5-5D9B9B7DEFF7.aspx

I also recommend: http://www.youtube.com/user/TRINITYCHGO

3. Finally, for hope. Senator Obama has given us so much to hope for. To hope for a better America. That reality may not be around the corner, but it is possible. The speech "A More Perfect Union", was like music to our ears, painting an unbiased picture for us all. Challenging each of us to discover the collective errors we've made in the USA, and asking us to believe in the yet undiscovered country of our hopes and dreams. In that vein I offer this song, "The Undiscovered Country" by The Family Stand. Visualize where we are now as a nation, and where we can surely go with a leader such as President Barack Obama.

Read the lyrics, listen to the song by clicking the links if you will, and continue to hope. Enjoy!
Lyrics for "The Undiscovered Country"

MAYBE YOU’VE SEEN MY FACE
A NUMBER WITHOUT A NAME
A SCREAM FROM ACROSS A DEAD RAILROAD LINE
SOMEBODY ON TOP A ROOF
WATCHING HIS LIFE FLOAT BY
A BROWN DIRTY RIVER
RUNNING OUT OF TIME

I’M FROM
THE OH, OH, OH, OH
THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
LETS PUT ON A SHOW AND TOSS MY FEARS AWAY
I’M FROM
THIS OH, OH, OH, OH
THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
MAYBE YOU’LL SING A SING FOR ME TODAY
HEY, HEY, HEY...

THEM BOYS LOVE THE WAY I LOOK
THE FAT STICKING OUT MY JEANS
THEY DON’T WANT THEM BIG HEAD STICKS
IN THOSE MAGAZINES
MY BABY IS QUITE OKAY
SHE’S SEVEN AND GETS THE BEST
I GOT BOTH US MATCHING CHAINS
AND THIS SHORT LITTLE DRESS

I’M FROM
THis OH, OH, OH, OH
THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
LETS PUT ON A SHOW AND TOSS MY FEARS AWAY
YEAH I’M FROM
THIS OH, OH, OH, OH
THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
MAYBE YOU’LL SING A SING FOR ME TODAY
HEY, HEY, HEY...

HEY, HEY, HEY...
OH, OH, OH OH...

THIS MUST BE A MISTAKE
YOU KNOW WHO THE HELL I AM?
MR. HOMELAND SECURITY TO...
WHATEVER MAN
FINDING DADDY’S GIRLS ONLINE
14 AND UNDER FOR TRUE
NEED TO GET ME A PIECE
BEFORE I KEEP THE PEACE
FOR YOU...

THE OH, OH, OH, OH
THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
LETS PUT ON A SHOW AND TOSS MY FEARS AWAY
I’M FROM
THIS OH, OH, OH, OH
THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
MAYBE YOU’LL SING A SING FOR ME TODAY
HEY, HEY, HEY...
HEY, HEY, HEY...

OH TELL ME, HOW I’M A REFUGEE IN THE PLACE WHERE I’M FROM

OH THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
MAYBE I’LL SING A SONG FOR YOU TODAY
HEY, HEY, HEY,
HEY, HEY, HEY, OH OH OH

LISTEN here:

http://www.myspace.com/thefamilystand

http://www.thefamilystand.net

[ObamaSeeChange]

This article in todays Boston Globe is the most balanced article I have read on Obama's history with Trinity church and it even does a little probing beyond the Wright sound bites to determine that Obama has been a consistent uniter and and advocate of America since the mid 90's and despite the risk has understood that you can't disown or disrespect either side of the angry American debate on race and be an effective arbiter.

[ObamaSeeChange]

Sorry here is the link.

This article out of the Boston Globe today is the first balanced investigative story I have seen on Obama's history with the Trinity church and proves that since the mid 90's that Obama has consistently advocated for a race neutral America and a love of country even within the Trinity congregation and beyond. How do you advocate uniting the American Community by disowning or leaving one side because they have become hostile to the other side. He has been a honest broker and consistent uniter from day one. Fair minded people should read this story and those too closed minded to give it fair consideration shouldn't of course waste your time cause your anger will never let you "get it'.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/20/obamas_odyssey_on_race/?page=3

[SubparDude]

:

I wonder if any critic has heard an Entire Wright Sermon yet?

I, for one, have been in countless White Evangelical (Moral Majority) congregations over the past twenty years. . .in many states. Bigger churches than Chicago's Trinity.

I have heard the Same Fire & Brimstone. I have heard the US Supreme Court damned and Justices called "instruments of the Devil." The Lord was invoked in Hatred.

I have heard Congress called "Satan's Lair" and a "Godless Criminal" bunch of cowards.

I have heard America cursed for Her Sins. Her fall predicted.

Why is it OK for white pastors to Preach such Fire, but not Rev. Wright?

~~~~ 61 year Old White Guy

:

[ofsoundmind]

Does anyone watch Morning Joe on MSNBC? Joe Scarborough is pressing this issue that BHO didn't explain why he didn't get the h*** out of that church and that he's basically calling BHO a compliant hater b/c he should have just up and left when Rev Wright started speaking with inflamatory language. Why is it that pundits feel the need to keep pulling the scab off this bloody issue?

[goodsnservices]

I wonder why people are still asking that. The man clearly explained why, and with good reason, he has no intention of abandoning his church! People with an axe to grind, ie, the desire to see Obama defeated, won't accept the answer, though. It's as transparent as day.

[Jonny38103]

They are doing exactly what they always do - stop acting surprised; it makes you appear naive. It is also the way Obama supporters villfy Sen Clinton. This is nothing new - just because Sen Obama states that he is going to be a different kind of candidate doesn't mean that politics and its tacticians are all going to roll over and play dead. What's been working forever isn't going to change over night. Because, in the long run, voters respond to negativity and the political scientists know this is true. If not, resources would not be invested in a strategy that offers no return on the investment.

Remember, although you're riding a big wave of popularity right now as an Obama supporter, Obama supporters are only 1/3 of the American electorate, at best.

[Jez]

In defense of Joe (not that I particularly like the guy) I think he actually appreciates Obama. His questions on this just represent what he thinks the reaction of the common person would be. Thus is punditry.

The commentators you see on TV tend to represent the (sometimes cynical) response they suspect the voters will have. Not that they're necessarily helping with all of their "speculation".

On that note, I've noticed that a lot of the polls tend to do the same thing. For instance, a poll asking me if I thought that Wright's comments hurt Obama's campaign, I would have said "yes", but if it asked me if Wrights comments affected MY opinion I would have said "no". So poll results coming out may not necessarily reflect the opinion people had on the comments, but really how little faith we have in each other to rise above it.

[rmetz74]

Especially when you think about it in the larger context of the job of President. We don't want someone who feels the need to run away every time someone says something controversial. We need someone who can de-escalate those situations, as Obama expertly in his speech, and build common ground from the bottom up.

[jbd]

Its ironic that in the link listed in the next post above, Obama was refered to as' a white man in black face' by blacks in Chicago when he was a younger man. So he wasn't black enough for some folks then. Now he should be torn down because he didn't run out of the church as soon as Rev. Wright made some controversial comments. He can't win. But he really has because he is standing where he is. Barack could walk on water tomorrow ,and many of the up in arms over the comments crowd would not vote for him. A black man walking on water , I'd never vote for him. The lack of some people to be able to see the potential here is amazing. The haters have tried to decide our elections. Barack stood up at a tough time and gave a great response. What would McCain have said? What would Lieberman have whispered in his ear?

[nomobull]

i wonder what the voters of Pa think of how they are being characterized?

[kitvc]

Again, I have never heard George Bush denounce Falwell, Robertson, or Huckabee for their often looney or bigoted remarks. I have never seen GOP politicians separate themselves from the white religious leaders who have made controversial remarks -- the Catholic pedophile priests, the polygamist leader on the FBI "Most Wanted" list, the various gay-baiters. So what's with singling out Wright for his hateful remarks? If Wright is to be singled out, and the white looney preachers are to be accepted, Obama's speech makes even more sense, for he discusses that often such choices are made in a white majority culture. For seven years we've heard that to denigrate a preacher is "Christian bashing." I guess it all depends on the race of the bigoted preacher, huh? And whether the politician in the pew is capable of winning a national election?

[Davwbaird]

McCain called falwell and robertson agents of intolerance now he embraces them. Mc Cain is corrupt and rotting before our eyes.

[ofsoundmind]

I agree with kitvc. As an agnostic married to an ex-catholic, I've been denounced as a "sinner", going to "hell", "pagan", and immoral because i refuse to have my children baptised and all these comments coming from my mother-in-law. SOOOO, do I love her any less? Do I divorce my husband because of his mother? Do I prevent my children from being babysat by this woman who clearly disagrees with my choice of being a non-believer? So how about the Catholic priest that I listened to at Christmas when I visited church to appease my grandmother-in-law at christmas. I heard a lot of talk from the pulpit about contraceptives being sinful, I heard love thy neightbor, love thy children and family, but I also heard homosexuality is immoral and sinful and cannot be condoned. I heard that we needed to stand up to doctors and facilities that murdered unborn babies and that we should minister those pregnant women in the spirit of the Lord. I heard anti-semitic attitude that if you didn't believe in jesus christ and the trinity that you would be sent to h***. All this during a Christmas sermon, intertwined with the birth of JC...... hmmmmm -- actually I was quite offended the entire time but did I get up and leave? No, I stayed and afterwards quizzed my children on what they learned. They had quite a few questions, and some very difficult to answer being that I don't practice religion, but all the same - would I do it again? Perhaps, because it opens the door to a lot of questions about life and perspective and attitudes that are out there in life.

[hopein]

This whole discussion so clearly illustrates why America and the world need Obama NOW!