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| Pastor Jeremiah Wright |
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As most of
you already know, a controversy arose recently about Barack Obama's
Pastor, Jeremiah Wright of Chicago's Trinity Church. The Pastor Wright
was quoted as saying, "The governmnet drugs them, builds bigger
prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless
America.' No, no, no. Goddamn America!" Senator Obama came under fire
due to the Pastor's comments. My questions is, 'Why?' It's not up to
the candidate to control what his pastor says. And it's not the first
time a presidential candidate was linked to comments made by his
spiritual leader.
Who of
us can forget the words of Joe Lieberman's Rabbi? Rabbi Chaim
Rothsteinbergman of Temple B'Nai Yeshiva was quoted as saying, "They
give us a cup of coffe at Starbucks for a dollar fifty-five and want us
to say, 'Thank you, can I have another?' I mean what's in a cup of
coffee? Hot water and ground beans. For a dollar fifty-five? Please."
Remember how the coffee drinking lobbyists came down hard on Candidate
Lieberman for his rabbi's comments. It cost Al Gore the presidency.
Then there
were the words of Father Paul Stablehorn of the Holy Roman Church of
Life. Remember the look on Candidate John F. Kennedy's face as he sat
in church and watched as his priest said, "The Red Sox have a chance.
The Curse of the Bambino my ass. The Yankees suck!"
Jimmy Carter's Minister, Robert Joseph Dupree almost cost Carter the
presidency when he said in Jimmy's presence, "Shoot, we would have
never lost the Civil War if we didn't run out of money." If not for
Gerald Ford's pardon of former President Nixon, Carter would never have
won.
So let's cut Obama some slack.
Steve Rudnick
3/23/08
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