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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ManyMoose who wrote (26746)	3/14/2008 2:31:01 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 71588

so are a lot of independents and moderate Dems....only the Move-On Loons have him as a dog in this hunt..............

To: ManyMoose who wrote (26746)	3/14/2008 6:31:12 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71588

Obama and the Minister By RONALD KESSLER March 14, 2008; Page A19 In a sermon delivered at Howard University, Barack Obama's longtime minister, friend and adviser blamed America for starting the AIDS virus, training professional killers, importing drugs and creating a racist society that would never elect a black candidate president. The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., pastor of Mr. Obama's Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, gave the sermon at the school's Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel in Washington on Jan. 15, 2006. Trinity United Church of Christ/Religion News Service Sen. Barack Obama and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright "We've got more black men in prison than there are in college," he began. "Racism is alive and well. Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run. No black man will ever be considered for president, no matter how hard you run Jesse [Jackson] and no black woman can ever be considered for anything outside what she can give with her body." Mr. Wright thundered on: "America is still the No. 1 killer in the world. . . . We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns, and the training of professional killers . . . We bombed Cambodia, Iraq and Nicaragua, killing women and children while trying to get public opinion turned against Castro and Ghadhafi . . . We put [Nelson] Mandela in prison and supported apartheid the whole 27 years he was there. We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God." His voice rising, Mr. Wright said, "We supported Zionism shamelessly while ignoring the Palestinians and branding anybody who spoke out against it as being anti-Semitic. . . . We care nothing about human life if the end justifies the means. . . ." Concluding, Mr. Wright said: "We started the AIDS virus . . . We are only able to maintain our level of living by making sure that Third World people live in grinding poverty. . . ." Considering this view of America, it's not surprising that in December Mr. Wright's church gave an award to Louis Farrakhan for lifetime achievement. In the church magazine, Trumpet, Mr. Wright spoke glowingly of the Nation of Islam leader. "His depth on analysis [sic] when it comes to the racial ills of this nation is astounding and eye-opening," Mr. Wright said of Mr. Farrakhan. "He brings a perspective that is helpful and honest." After Newsmax broke the story of the award to Farrakhan on Jan. 14, Mr. Obama issued a statement. However, Mr. Obama ignored the main point: that his minister and friend had spoken adoringly of Mr. Farrakhan, and that Mr. Wright's church was behind the award to the Nation of Islam leader. Instead, Mr. Obama said, "I decry racism and anti-Semitism in every form and strongly condemn the anti-Semitic statements made by Minister Farrakhan. I assume that Trumpet magazine made its own decision to honor Farrakhan based on his efforts to rehabilitate ex-offenders, but it is not a decision with which I agree." Trumpet is owned and produced by Mr. Wright's church out of the church's offices, and Mr. Wright's daughters serve as publisher and executive editor. Meeting with Jewish leaders in Cleveland on Feb. 24, Mr. Obama described Mr. Wright as being like "an old uncle who sometimes will say things that I don't agree with." He rarely mentions the points of disagreement. Mr. Obama went on to explain Mr. Wright's anti-Zionist statements as being rooted in his anger over the Jewish state's support for South Africa under its previous policy of apartheid. As with his previous claim that his church gave the award to Mr. Farrakhan because of his work with ex-offenders, Mr. Obama appears to have made that up. Neither the presentation of the award nor the Trumpet article about the award mentions ex-offenders, and Mr. Wright's statements denouncing Israel have not been qualified in any way. Mr. Obama nonetheless told the Jewish leaders that the award to Mr. Farrakhan "showed a lack of sensitivity to the Jewish community." That is an understatement. As for Mr. Wright's repeated comments blaming America for the 9/11 attacks because of what Mr. Wright calls its racist and violent policies, Mr. Obama has said it sounds as if the minister was trying to be "provocative." Hearing Mr. Wright's venomous and paranoid denunciations of this country, the vast majority of Americans would walk out. Instead, Mr. Obama and his wife Michelle have presumably sat through numerous similar sermons by Mr. Wright. Indeed, Mr. Obama has described Mr. Wright as his "sounding board" during the two decades he has known him. Mr. Obama has said he found religion through the minister in the 1980s. He joined the church in 1991 and walked down the aisle in a formal commitment of faith. The title of Mr. Obama's bestseller "The Audacity of Hope" comes from one of Wright's sermons. Mr. Wright is one of the first people Mr. Obama thanked after his election to the Senate in 2004. Mr. Obama consulted Mr. Wright before deciding to run for president. He prayed privately with Mr. Wright before announcing his candidacy last year. Mr. Obama obviously would not choose to belong to Mr. Wright's church and seek his advice unless he agreed with at least some of his views. In light of Mr. Wright's perspective, Michelle Obama's comment that she feels proud of America for the first time in her adult life makes perfect sense. Much as most of us would appreciate the symbolism of a black man ascending to the presidency, what we have in Barack Obama is a politician whose closeness to Mr. Wright underscores his radical record. The media have largely ignored Mr. Obama's close association with Mr. Wright. This raises legitimate questions about Mr. Obama's fundamental beliefs about his country. Those questions deserve a clearer answer than Mr. Obama has provided so far. Mr. Kessler, a former Wall Street Journal and Washington Post reporter, is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com and the author of "The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack" (Crown Forum, 2007). online.wsj.com

To: ManyMoose who wrote (26746)	4/13/2009 10:09:13 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Obama Can Make a Difference in Darfur Solving the crisis will require U.S. leadership. APRIL 12, 2009, 11:34 P.M. ET By JIM WALLIS and JOHN PRENDERGAST The stories are beginning to trickle in from displaced-persons camps in Darfur: increasing hunger, epidemics and -- the quietest killer -- a shortage of water in the Sahara. Last month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. His response was to expel international aid agencies that provide a lifeline to Darfurians, and with that, "never again" is being made into "once again" through a continuation of genocide by other means. But Mr. Bashir's deadly gambit provides an opportunity. The ICC judges were split on whether to include charges of genocide, but they left the dossier open so additional evidence of intent could be added. Mr. Bashir's expulsion order should provide evidence of intent, because the aid organizations were keeping specific groups of Darfurians alive. Thousands will die even if a compromise is implemented that allows some agencies to return but leaves the causes of the crisis unaddressed. President Barack Obama should now move to finally end the crisis in Sudan, rather than to respond to the immediate symptoms. His administration and its new special envoy to Sudan, Gen. Scott Gration, can do that by focusing on three things. First, the overt use of starvation as a weapon of war is distasteful even to ardent supporters of the Sudanese regime who understand that Mr. Bashir is increasingly a source of instability. The Obama administration should embark on a public diplomacy blitz to ensure that as many countries as possible will demand that humanitarian aid be unfettered by politics. The focus should be on isolating Mr. Bashir for starving his own citizens -- as he has done before in Southern Sudan, leading to the deaths of two million people there -- and on ensuring that aid is no longer subject to deadly restrictions. Second, the arrest warrant for Mr. Bashir offers an opportunity. A number of Arab countries are becoming fed up with Mr. Bashir for his actions in Darfur and his support for Hamas. China is concerned about the risk Mr. Bashir's warmongering is bringing to its $8 billion investment in Sudan's oil sector. Internally, divisions within the ruling party are emerging. Mr. Obama should conduct a private diplomatic effort to explore how governments could downgrade relations with Sudan's indicted president and eventually end his 20-year presidency. There must be a consequence for orchestrating violence. There also must be an end to the cycle of impunity that has allowed 2.5 million people to die. And third, there is a global consensus on Sudan. China, the Arab League, the African Union, the European Union and the U.S. all want peace but are not working together for it. A deal for Darfur could be brokered, if Mr. Obama and his envoy work with the international community. What has been missing is America's leadership in forging a coalition that can both negotiate with and pressure Sudan to seek peace in Darfur as well as implement the existing peace agreement for the South. Building this coalition for peace should be Mr. Obama's objective. The U.S. needs to lead the international community in presenting Sudanese regime officials with a choice. If they allow access to aid organizations, sideline their indicted president, and secure peace for Darfur and the South, then they will be offered a clear path toward normal relations with the U.S. and other coalition partners. But if those officials use starvation as a weapon, allow Mr. Bashir to remain defiant, and make no progress toward peace, then there will be escalating costs in the form of targeted economic sanctions, diplomatic isolation, and potential military action. The crisis is not a new one. The refrain regarding international crises is often, "If only the world knew, we would have done something." The people of Darfur know that we know. What they are waiting to find out is if we care enough to act. When the dust clears and the bodies are buried, burned or left to rot in forsaken camps, the world will mourn for what it did not do. What Darfur needs is not a future apology, but steps today that offer hope. Mr. Wallis is president of Sojourners. Mr. Prendergast is co-founder of the Enough Project. online.wsj.com