LIVE THREAD - Under Pressure, Obama Prepares for Race and Unity Speech

Fox News ^ | 18 March 2008

[SE Mom]

Barack Obama is preparing to deliver a major address Tuesday on race, politics and unifying the country after being hounded by questions about his relationship to a pastor whose sermons have been laced with anti-American invective.

In a speech whose religious significance could compare to one given in December by former GOP presidential hopeful and Mormon Mitt Romney, Obama may be forced to explain the philosophy of the 8,000-strong Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where the Democratic presidential candidate has been a congregant for 20 years.

In announcing the morning address, to be delivered in Philadelphia, Obama would not say specifically what he will discuss, but suggested he wants to cool down the atmosphere after incendiary remarks by his pastor, retired Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., blanketed the airwaves over the past week.

[DietCoke]

When is he going to be available for a press conference instead of a teleprompted speech? Grrr.

[longtermmemmory]

Obama is excusing racist speech in modern churches.

Obama is finished in the general election as a quota queen.

The only question is can the DNC afford to regject Obama?

[tcrlaf]

This campaign is OVER..
HE’s just positioning himself to be a “Black Leader”, now...

It pays VERY WELL, as Jesse and AL can attest...

[Always Right]

And the media responds....

[PghBaldy]

"We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies." He is unbelievable. He accuses whitey of doing what he and Wright do. What a vile hater this pig is.

[sweetiepiezer]

“Race matters more to Obama than doing what’s right for America.”

Boy, you hit the nail on the head.

^5!!!!!!

[Fishtalk]

You don't accuse your own grandmother of being a racist before the entire nation in order to justify the fact that you've been hanging around a Black racist for 20 years.

And make no mistake, that's EXACTLY what he's doing.

[kabar]

Obama is pulling the race card. If you criticize him or Wright, you are a racist. Obama is more than just an apologist for Wright, he is defending him and his views.

[Salvation]

What a fake this man is! He cites the beginning of our country, does not say the word “America” that I have heard yet...............only United States, and then continues to degrade original founders because they continued slavery.

As far as I’m concernend his speech flopped in the first minutes.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

I hate it when I get post 666.

I KNEW IT!

jdm = Anti-Christ. ;-)

[rolling_stone]

yes obama has jumped the shark...

[Max7]

This whole speechathon of Obama’s, trying mightily to stop the downturn of his campaign, makes me so cynical, even more than I was before this all started. What a mess. Obama is a phony. Simple as that.

[MOgirl]

Hello,

This is simply disgusting. Get those racial fires burning, bigger than ever.

MOgirl

[Dinah Lord]

Okay, here it comes.

The big juicy rationalization for why we should love and accept Jeremiah Wright.

He’s excusing it all away

[firewalk]

btw I'm sick of people using racial slurs against me
I am a white native american
Just plain native american (because I was born here) would also be fine
but some folk have to define me by the color of my skin...

[jbarkley]

All he needs is the sound of his own voice. For goodness sakes, how long is this crap going to go on?

Congrats Obama, with this speech you just lost Michigan. We’re a little tired here of being blamed for everything that’s wrong with the black community and you can call Kwame personally to thank him.

[maggief]

This is an enormous race card play ... talk about divisive!

[SpaceBar]

Obama is such a complete race hustler it's embarrassing. He has no personal connection to American slavery. None. His old man was a Kenyan national. Disgusting he gets away with this crap.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

In his book, I thought he wrote that his mother had a strange sexual attraction towards black men. (something to that effect)

[austinaero]

“You’ll take notice that the Trinity Church website has been TOTALLY revamped over the weekend?

The “I hate White People” and the archived sermons are gone now.”

The creepy thing is, the feelings and the attitude haven’t been revamped,,,they’ve just gone underground.