Knowing Obama by the Company He Keeps

American Thinker ^ | March 16, 2008 | Kyle-Anne Shiver

[vietvet67]

I learned more about staying on the narrow path and avoiding trouble from my grandmother in five minutes than Barack and Michelle Obama seem to have learned in their whole lives. This lesson in human nature and relationships is pretty darned simple. And it gives no quarter to anyone; it applies to all human beings.

"People will know you by the company you keep," my grandmother told me.

"So, be very careful how you choose your friends, because a person's most valuable possession is his reputation, and once lost, a reputation is nearly impossible to restore."

But the most valuable nugget of all:

"If you remain friends with people up to no good, you are bound to become like them. If you think you're above their influence, you are just fooling yourself. So, choose wisely."

Barack Obama chose Jeremiah Wright as his pastor, his spiritual mentor and friend. Obama has kept the relationship intact for more than 20 years now.

I've watched videos of only five of Wright's sermons, delivered in fiery oratory, and I've had to conclude that there is no way that Obama should not, or could not have known better than to keep going to that man's church and listening to his hate mongering, racist rants.

Barack Obama was not exposed to this as a young child, taken to hear Wright in the company of his parents.

Barack Obama freely chose this as an adult, as a well-educated adult, having garnered his education at prestigious institutions of higher learning.

Yet, Senator Obama, now close to grabbing the Democrat nomination for the Presidency of the United States of America, has said, "I don't think of my church as being particularly controversial."

Well, I paid a visit to Trinity United Church of Christ in January to see for myself. After reading just a few well-covered racist snippets from Wright's sermons, I needed to know if a man running for the highest office in the land was really exposing himself to this kind of hatred week after week and having the gall to call it Christianity. At that time, I gave Obama the benefit of the doubt because I didn't want to make a mountain out of a molehill.

What I discovered was, that up until then at least, our mainstream press had been reducing a mountain into a molehill.

Racism Ain't Rocket Science

The most universal message preached by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

The content of a man's character is not determined by the color of his skin.

And it's opposite ain't rocket science.

Making assumptions about a man's character based solely on the color of his skin is racism.

Any way one chooses to cut it, slice it, dice it or rationalize it, Jeremiah Wright preaches, and presumably practices, black supremacist racism.

Wright's racism is guileful, I'll give him that.

He cloaks his gospel in the mantle of eternal black suffering. Where in the white racism I grew up in down South, white might made automatic right, this preacher man, Wright, just inverses the equation. If your skin is black, you're good; if your skin is white, you're evil.

Reverend Wright's own admonition to his congregation on why they should vote for Obama is based solely on the candidate's skin color and presumed mantle of suffering at the hands of white oppressors.

Why vote for Obama?

"He ain't rich."

"He ain't white."

"And he ain't privileged."

And how did so many people get the idea that Obama is the long-awaited messiah of suffering black people? Perhaps it started with Wright. He has, on more than one occasion, compared Obama to Jesus.

Like Obama, Wright exhorts:

"Jesus was a poor black man in a Country ruled by rich white people."

Wright seems to be as confused about Jesus' Jewish ethnicity as he is about some of his other "facts."

Just one example of Wright's "confusion," which Obama presumably picked up in church is this:

"Fact #1: We've got more black men in prison than there are in college."

Obama has repeated this falsehood quite frequently, and evidently just took his pastor at his word. Even our mainstream media finally tracked down this lie and exposed it. The Washington Post fact-checker was getting downright frustrated by last November because in spite of its falsity, Obama kept on repeating it in public.

Interestingly, I may have found the actual source of the lie. It is stated in print by Obama's mentor's mentor: James H. Cone.

"More black youth are in jails and prisons than in colleges and universities." (Black Theology and Black Power; James H. Cone; p. ix)

The first edition of this book was published in 1969. But the quotation above is part of the newly added preface and dated 1997.

At the risk of seeming picayune about Obama's repeating this falsehood, I must insist that when a man of upright character learns that he has been deceived by a trusted advisor, he begins to question everything else the man has told him.

Senator Obama, however, has shown a rather arrogant refusal to do this regarding Jeremiah Wright's pronouncements.

Obama had nothing negative to say about Wright's honorific celebration of Louis Farrakhan until he was pressured repeatedly by the press and aggressively in a debate with his political opponent, Hillary Clinton. Even then, Obama persistently referred to Farrakhan with an honorific title: "Minister Farrakhan."

Louis Farrakhan likes being compared to Adolph Hitler, saying Hitler was a great man. Jeremiah Wright says Farrakhan will be known "as one of the 20th and 21st century giants of the African-American religious experience" and has praised his "integrity and honesty."

No one, that I'm aware of, is promulgating the assertion that Barack Obama thinks Hitler was a great man, simply because his minister thinks Farrakhan is a great man, and Farrakhan thinks Hitler was a great man.

To do so would be using the fallacious reasoning of guilt by association.

But racism ain't rocket science.

And it doesn't take an Ivy League education to spot it either.

David Duke is another admirer of Adolph Hitler. Duke used to make quite a spectacle of himself at LSU, dressing up in a Nazi uniform and holding parties on Hitler's birthday. To my knowledge, Duke has never been charged with committing violent acts against either blacks or Jews.

But I simply cannot think of a single nice thing to say about David Duke. I wouldn't put an ounce of credence in anything the man had to say on any matter whatsoever, even if he presided over pure and saintly missions to the unfortunate on the side.

His blatant racism and anti-Semitism automatically nullify whatever good traits he may have. I don't need anything more than the Bible to tell me so. The huge racist board in David Duke's eye can be clearly seen, even through all the splinters in my own eye.

And if Duke were the honored recipient of some grand award at the church of a white man running for President, I would run, not walk my vote away from that candidate. I could not trust my Country to a man who couldn't spot David Duke's stupid and hate-filled racism any more than I would trust the job to a six year old.

Word Leads to Deed

The most heinous actions of history began in mere words.

When Adolph Hitler was running for Chancellor of Germany, he plastered the towns with a poster that simply proclaimed:

Peace and Equal Rights

Adolph Hitler blamed the Jews for every German misery. And for a long time, he used just words.

Jeremiah Wright blames all whites, and sometimes especially the Jews, for every black misery.

Louis Farrakhan is even more outspoken than Jeremiah Wright; Farrakhan openly admires Adolph Hitler.

James Cone, Wright's own mentor, in his chapter on "Revolution, Violence and Reconciliation," vehemently denounced integration as the white man's silly notion of equality. He advocated ignoring the white man's Christian morals. He promoted a black man's Christianity.

To Cone, it was a simple matter of any means whatsoever justifying the goal of liberation.

To Cone, the choice was simple. Do you choose to be a black liberator or a white oppressor?

"Where is your identity? Where is your being? Does it lie with the oppressed blacks or with the white oppressors? Let us hope that there are enough to answer this question correctly so that America will not be compelled to acknowledge a common humanity only by seeing that blood is always one color."

History tells us that people who see themselves as unfairly treated underdogs often say things they don't mean in the heat of a moment.

But history also teaches that if and when persons who have spoken about violent retribution actually attain power, their words, once hastily disregarded, can take the form of heinous atrocities.

Which is precisely why, in my opinion, it is inherently dangerous to associate with people who think this way.

Because, as my wise grandmother used to say, "you are influenced by the company you keep."

Barack Obama persistently contends that he has not been influenced by the racist sermons of Jeremiah Wright or Wright's mentor, James H. Cone.

One must wonder now whether Obama is fooling himself, or us.

Kyle-Anne Shiver is a frequent contributor to American Thinker. She welcomes your comments at kyleanneshiver@yahoo.com.

[Rudder]

One must wonder now whether Obama is fooling himself, or us.

Yes, we must at all costs. Meanwhile, Hillary is skating to victory while conservatives are preoccupied trying to prove the obvious: Obama is a leftist.

[Eurale]

One can always create a “smell test” by observing the behavior in the obverse (i.e., what if McCain had a religious advisor who...?)

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

You're absolutely correct.

Kill Clinton Inc. and bury it deep.

Then reveal the David Duke-like past of Hussein Obama.

[cake_crumb]

‘Scuse me, Hillary is a leftist also. Republicans KNOW the election will be “McCain vs”. We can’t know both Obama and Hillary out of the election process.

[tomnbeverly]

The Rhetoric that Obama uses requires a victim base, an oppressed minority for the WE the good and rightous must defeat them the divisive and intolerant.

The hypnosis works because he delivers it in Civil Rights era prowes. Those that drink the Obama-ade are so smitten that even logic and presentation of the facts about Obama’s church, pastor, mentors means nothing to them a simple explanation from the master will suffice. Of course WE cannot allow these little things .... Like shutting down Free Speech by accusing your opposition of Racism and bigotry.... to matter because we know thats not who he really is...

” Then they came for me and by that time there no one was left to speak up.”

[tomnbeverly]

Hillary is imploding over Obama, Edwards just threw his delegates to Obama, the math gets tougher. If Hillary pulls it out, which I hope she does, She will cause the left to riot at the convention because it will have the appearance that she stole the election from the will of the People.

[the invisib1e hand]

The thing about Grandma's timeless advice is this: It's been out of fashion for a generation. Given the choice between sacrificing reputation and getting power, it's considered sophisticated among some to choose the latter.

Then too, in an era where gambling and prostitution are considered the sports of the "players" -- and everyone wants to be a player -- a reputation just isn't what it used to be.

[Maine Mariner]

Again, the reason we should have finished Hillary Clinton off in Texas. With Obama at the head of the ticket and barring an economic collapse, McCain wins with 60% of the vote and carries at least 45 states.

Now, Democrats can support Clinton by saying Obama cannot be elected and feel good about themselves.

[YellowRoseofTx]

Barack Obama was not exposed to this as a young child, taken to hear Wright in the company of his parents.

No, as a child he was exposed to Islam with pretty much the same anti-white, anti-American, supremacy messages

[DugwayDuke]

The author is making a fundamental mistake in this assessment of Wright. If she had done a bit more research on Wright, Cone, and Obama she would have avoided this fundamental mistake. All she had to do was google ‘black liberation theology’ or ‘BLT’ will do as shorthand.

If you google ‘BLT’ as I did yesterday, you’ll find that Jeremiah is a much ‘respected; and often quoted leader in that field.

One of the basic premises of BLT is class distinction. By definition, a ‘black’ person is an oppressed person and a ‘white’ person is an oppressor. The converse is that all oppressed people are black and all oppressors are white. The difinition has nothing to do with skin color and only to do with whether one is a member of the ruling classes or not. BTW, this is the basis for Jeremiah’s claim that Jesus was ‘black’, since Jesus was not an oppressor, he was black.

You see this logic play out in Jeremiah’s videos. For example, Bill and Hillary, as members of the ruling class cannot be black and must be white oppressors.

Since our society is ‘oppressive’, then any one who is successful in that society must be white despite their actual skin color.

Of course, the exception is that any one who is part of the struggle to ‘free people from oppression’ is also black. Therefore, Obama is not white despite his being a senator.

[cake_crumb]

"He ain't rich."

"He ain't white."

"And he ain't privileged."

No he ain't either.

Wright's a liar.

He's rich.

He's half white and was raised by his white grandparents.

He's extremely privileged.

[roses of sharon]

Yes, Hussein is an unknown, he and his wife cannot be trusted to be loyal to the United States.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

"He ain't rich."
"He ain't white."
"And he ain't privileged."

Well, .50 out of 3 ain't bad ... I guess.

[Piquaboy]

The more dirt they dig up on Obammy the more popular he will become with the Rats.

[TornadoAlley3]

http://www.webloggin.com/1995-barack-obama-mean-cruel-times-christian-right-narrow-minded/

A similar sentiment was echoed by Barack Obama in 1995 as he tried to rally the African-American vote for his Senate run after the Million Man March.

“This doesn’t suggest that the need to look inward emphasized by the march isn’t important, and that these African-American tribal affinities aren’t legitimate. These are mean, cruel times, exemplified by a ‘lock ‘em up, take no prisoners’ mentality that dominates the Republican-led Congress. Historically, African-Americans have turned inward and towards black nationalism whenever they have a sense, as we do now, that the mainstream has rebuffed us, and that white Americans couldn’t care less about the profound problems African-Americans are facing.“

[Lizavetta]

"More black youth are in jails and prisons than in colleges and universities."

Gee, Mr. Wizard, could it be that more black youth are kickin' it with their gangster homeys and committing crimes than studying for tests and taking the SAT?

Today's black culture as a whole DOES NOT value getting educated and getting ahead in the traditional fashion. It's too "white". Sorry if you can't handle the truth.

[ari-freedom]

you’re wrong. IMHO :)
if hillary dropped out, all the democrats would unite towards obama, he’d brainwash the country and any attacks would be labeled as desperate attacks by racist republicans.

Now there’s a big incentive for both camps to spend the next several months attacking and hating each other and there won’t be enough time to unite the party, let alone move to the center after getting the nomination. Remember, they have to compete for the vote of liberals in these primaries. They will sound more and more liberal.

They also have to waste time in puerto rico which won’t even count in the general.

meanwhile, mccain can go anywhere he wants. He doesn’t have to be stuck in pennsylvania for the next few weeks.

[PGNYC]

absolutely right. hannity should have not harped on this until after obama had the nomination. Hillary will pull this out.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

The more dirt they dig up on Obammy the more popular he will become with the Rats.

A certain percentage would vote for Satan if he ran as a Democrat and promised to keep abortion legal. But a lot of moderates, particularly white moderates, will use Obama's shortcomings as a means of setting aside white guilt and not voting for a black man.

[ari-freedom]

it’s all about the moderates...something that DU will never understand. and unfortunately, many freepers.

That does not mean a conservative must BE a moderate but he should be able to appeal to them. Ann Coulter does not. Reagan did.

[cake_crumb]

"And if Duke were the honored recipient of some grand award at the church of a white man running for President, I would run, not walk my vote away from that candidate. I could not trust my Country to a man who couldn't spot David Duke's stupid and hate-filled racism any more than I would trust the job to a six year old"

THAT is the crux of this mess. ESPECIALLY when you remember that Obama only refuted the words caught on tape, the specific ones that got him into trouble. Then he lied and tried to paint those words as occasional flukes from an embarrassing relative a few cards short of a deck.

And yet Obama's die hard supporters are still trying to relativize him out of it.

[the invisib1e hand]

Allow me to promote my favorite writer on the subject.

[SueRae]

Only anecdotal but I think the following is playing out all over blue collar Democrat America:

One of my Democrat friends (female) who was leaning towards Obama is FURIOUS over his pastor’s speeches (she comes from good Irish Cathoic stock). Obama is no longer her cadidate. And she never did like Hillary. She told me yesterday that she’ll probably stay home on election day. I am sure she is not alone.

After last week’s revelations, Obama is toast. It’s only a matter of time. Notice how quiet the Hillary camp is on this subject? No need to add fuel to this fire.

[Piquaboy]

I hope you are right about that.

[pistolpetestoys]

Who are you kidding?The dims will vote for anybody on the ticket;Republicans are facing an electoral bloodbath that will end us as a functional party.By the next presidential election,illegals will have the right to vote and with 15-20 million more on the government gravy train,Democrats won’t have to answer to taxpayers at all.

[Rudder]

‘Scuse me, Hillary is a leftist also.

That is why it' s fun to hang around here...you learn something new everyday.

[vietvet67]

Good blog post.

Especially like: “And so, to reiterate, the Obama Phenom isn’t about who Obama really is — it is about who you allow yourself to believe he is.”

[Rudder]

She will cause the left to riot at the convention because it will have the appearance that she stole the election from the will of the People.

Sounds really exciting, doesn't it?

I don't care what entertainment Hillary brings forth, there's only one goal: Hillary loses.

[DGHoodini]

Lay down with dogs..wake up with fleas.

Lay down with racists..wake up with a sheet on your head.

[CajunConservative]

The problem is that this huckster has fooled a lot of gullible morons who can vote. They have bought the rhetoric without looking beyond the facade. The sooner he is exposed for what he really is then the better we all are. We can’t risk him actually winning this election.

[the invisib1e hand]

thank you for reading it.

I posted it there so I could reference the ideas here, rather than repost them every time it seems appropriate (even though I've done that a hundred times).

check back, i edit alot.

[cake_crumb]

I just mean that both are leftists, and we want to beat either one.

[Rudder]

Defeating a known enemy of the country has first priorities-—stop Hillary.

[Rudder]

...we want to beat either one.

I'd settle for beating both, Hillary first.

[Nuc1]

Thanks. Added.

[CajunConservative]

I read other non political forums and just from listening to the political conversations when out in public Obama has more crossover appeal than a lot of people realize. They are infatuated with his oratory skills. He is more dangerous than Hitlery simply because he has tons of charisma and people are blindly following him.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

I hope you are right about that.

I think I am. And it's sad that we'll probably never again be able to consider a black candidate without having to wonder whether he's harboring a secret agenda against his own country.

[Grampa Dave]

Just What Did Obama Know About Wright's Past Sermons? (Plenty)

“Barack Obama either agreed with what was preached from the Trinity pulpit, or he tuned it out and stayed around pretending to for political reasons. To say he stayed for 20 years but doesn't agree with Wright's preaching is incredible denial. It'd be like a man buying White Sox season tickets for 20 years, attending the games, and saying he's not a fan.”

Obama’s supporters want us to ignore this story… just push it under the rug. While they’ll align Republicans with any obscure pastor who does or says something controversial, they’re trying to convince us that Obama’s 20-year long close relationship with Wright, including his effective endorsement of him, his church and rhetoric with a $22,500 donation in 2006 is irrelevant.

“When Obama decided against wearing an American flag pin, we may all have been a bit too quick to accept his rationale, too quick to find that issue unimportant. Now, that American flag pin has gotten a lot bigger for a lot of us, especially in light of what may have been and may still be Obama’s deeper, and, perhaps, secret, less than patriotic beliefs about America.”

“Wright says that blacks can’t be expected to sing God Bless America because of racism. Obama doesn’t salute the flag during the National Anthem. That sure strikes me as an amazing coincidence since Obama swears he never heard Wright say anything against America.”

[Palladin]

Ya think maybe Barack’s hippie mom also had a roll in the hay with Osama bin Laden?

[Grampa Dave]

“Ya think maybe Barack’s hippie mom also had a roll in the hay with Osama bin Laden?”

Maybe one of Osama’s older hate America male relatives?

[Matchett-PI]

"Hillary will pull this out."

That was always going to be the case.

But now, it won't make any difference.:)

Obama has stolen most of the rabid-anti-war / anti-American leftists right out from under her. They have their “hearts set” on Obama and will probably sit home if she gets the nod - that is -­ AFTER they stage a huge protest RIOT and we have the fun of watching the best cat-fight in history - the one between Michelle and Hillary!! :)

[Girlene]

Good article.

[syriacus]

Wright's racism is guileful, I'll give him that. He cloaks his gospel in the mantle of eternal black suffering.

Wright's short-cut "answer" to suffering merely leads to a larger hell-on-earth, filled with embittered people.

He should watch this series, which was broadcast on EWTN [Caution Rated: NFST]

Suffering and the God of Love

In an all-new 15-part series, EWTN favorite Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J., ponders ultimate questions of human existence. Suffering without faith can only lead to depression and despair, but suffering with love for God leads directly into meaning and transforming faith.

NFST = Not For Superficial Thinkers

[Piquaboy]

I think he has started another race war. Article in Newsmax about his attending one of those hate sermons. He said that he did not hear any of them on a Fox interview which was a lie. Now blacks are stumbling all over theirselves running to different places sticking up for the sorry SOB.