Friday, March 28, 2008

ministered

by now everyone's heard of barack obama's slightly inflammatory minister, right? you know, the anti-white, anti-american man who preaches afrocentric religion? this has upset me for several reasons (none of which involve whether or not i love barack obama, i'm leaving political affiliation out of this one, alright?).

reason one: racism is something i feel very, very strongly about. i feel like we had the civil rights movement for a reason. not so that we could stop making black people drink at their own drinking fountains, but that we, as a country, could recognize the "all men created equal" line and understand it. in my book, racism is not okay. no matter what. not even jokes. not even if the race featured in the joke is not present. to know that this minister white is out and about preaching racist-based beliefs really, really bothers me. i feel like he's just causing more trouble, not helping anything. so when i heard on the news today that obama's rates are going back up and that no one thinks this will affect him for very long, i was really irritated. not because i want so badly for him to lose, but because apparently, racism is not that big of an issue to people. why not? (and i understand that barack himself is not saying these things, but you can't help but wonder. i mean, for twenty years he was an active participant in this church, he had a close relationship with a very outspoken and opinionated man)

reason two: having that minister is just silly. being president is something you plan for for a long time. so affiliating yourself with such an inflammatory character just seems ill-planned. like he's not taking this whole presidential campaign seriously. is he serious about being president? then maybe he should try to look as presentable as possible. this minister should be something his adversaries dig up from his past, not his present. so what's his deal?

how has this minister scandal changed the way you view Sen. Obama and racism?

8 comments:

tara said...

I have a theory on this: Do you know much about barack's wife? She is not too far from feeling what his minister does. And since it is usually the woman who decides where they (and if they) go to church, I bet she is the one who gets into it.

I will even go so far as to give Obama the benefit of the doubt; maybe he just followed along with his wife's idea of a good time, and fell asleep every sunday while the minister ranted and raved.

But I'm with you - I thought for sure this would fatally wound his campaign. I'm shocked that it hasn't.

Shannon & Justin Hutchins said...

I am right there with you, it is interesting i just heard someone say that they dont think that mitt would not be a canidate for vp because of his church affiliation. I thought this ironic.

Also now obamas love for socialism makes so much sense now that you know the believes of his religion. In his most recent speech he was quoted as actually saying "there is a need for shared prosperity" Scary

Liz said...

Interesting. I knew nothing about this as I rarely watch the news and don't follow politics like I should. I'm one of those ignorant, uninformed voters and you could probably write a whole other post on terrible people like me. :)

That being said, I don't like racism either. I have a cousin-in-law from another country who used to think it was hilarious and harmless to make Black jokes. Needless to say, I told him what I thought about that. I do find it curious that Obama would claim any affiliation with an incendiary man who does not practice any type of true religion while he's out touting Black over White.

I could be wrong, but it seems that Obama's target audience is late teens - the younger the voter, the better. And something I have felt for a long time about that generation is that they are growing up radically tolerant of everything. Maybe he feels he doesn't need to justify his connection with the minister because his "followers" will defend it for him.

Keep in mind that these are the thoughts of the ignorant. :) Just speculations really.

Miriam Herm said...

shannon--

oh i totally think that mitt romney didn't get very far because of his mormonism. and i don't think he'll get much farther than he already is. but that's fine. i never liked him anyway (let the record state that i don't like anyone. i repeat, ANYONE).

also, liz i agree with you that barack appeals to young people. i can totally see why. he's young-ish looking and very charismatic and appealing and charming. everyone else is boring or reserved. obama is very "hip".

Amber Marie said...

I agree with every word. As to Tara's comment- my mom has told me about his wife's views (we don't have tv so I haven't seen it myself) and from what I have heard she does have very similar view as this minister. Now, doesn't THAT bother anyone????? I am appalled and so shocked that this does not affect him!!! I was actually neutral on the idea of him being president- I don't agree with him on most of his social issues but I did feel like he was a genuine, honest person- until this whole thing. I had gotten an email about this church months ago and thought it was some hoax. I totally agree with you about racism. Now, had Hilary Clinton been affiliated in ANY way to a white minister who was preaching white supremacy theories- she would have to renounce her canidancy the next day! It is so outrageous I can hardly stand to think about it.

Now with Romney and his stuff...did you hear some of the stuff that was said about Mormonism and Joseph Smith- on MSNBC and other major networks. It was ridiculous, ignorant and (can you tell it made me upset? :) ) Huckabee drove me nuts with all his comments. Who the hell wants a president who says such ignorant things about a prominent religion??

In short I hate politicians and can not stand to listen to them rattle on about anything. The majority of them are liars and hypocrites.

GO USA! :)

Anonymous said...

i'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. i have friends who's ideals are very far off from my own. not to make this close to home, but i'm not mormon. i respect the choice and many of the ideals, but there is a lot that i don't agree with. just because i associate with mormons, does not mean that i carry the same beliefs, and other people should assume that i do because i'm married into a mormon family. although i'm not proud of this, my dad makes racist jokes... and is probably kind of racist. does this mean that i cut him out of my life? no. should people assume that i'm racist because of my father? i mean, he DID raise me, right? well i'm very much NOT racist. i even tell him to not say those kind of things around me, or especially my sister. i don't think it's fair to judge people based on people they know, or associate with. you can be pretty close to someone and not agree with all of their beliefs.

Miriam Herm said...

i know "racist" people too, molly. and i associate with all kinds but i'm not running for president. i feel as a presidential candidate you should strive to look as pc as possible. because not only are you representing a country that is a melting pot, but you're dealing with every other country out there. and if you look like you have any particular race/religion/culture you're against, then how can people trust your judgment?

And the minister makes me nervous because ministers are highly influential people. just like his wife makes me nervous. wives are also highly influential. people trust their religious leaders implicitly. would there have been as many wars had they not?

Miriam Herm said...

ps I'm glad you brought that up, molly. i like thinking about it.