Don't Fall for the Political Slight of Hand....Isn't Obama Running for President?

By now I'm sure any of you with the slightest interest in politics have heard the latest negative long shot being disseminated by the media. This campaign has been an interesting one, I'm surprised this is my first blog about it. But I was trying to watch the political process play out from the outside looking in without having to shove my opinion and thoughts into the process, though on an extremely small scale.

What has moved me to speak is the media pure avoidance of the slight of hand politics of the republican party and the Clintons. It's is obvious that these political street magicians would rather us distracted by the motion. Its the most basic principle of prestidigitation, look over here at the motion while I perform magic under concealment. It is what is happening to Senator Obama and has been since he took the overall delegate lead. Its when the Clintons or the republicans say "we can't beat you on the issues, so let's take the focus off the issues and place it on Louis Farrakhan's endorsement of Obama." Let's try to connect all the bad things Farrakhan has said with Obama, does America really want a president that was endorsed by a racist?" They have tried to connect him with radical Muslims because of his name, they have made up lies about his father, who left when he was two, teaching him Islam. They have said that Muslims will be dancing in the streets because someone with the name Hussein has become the President. They have tried to play on every basic fear of white Americans pleading for them to stop voting for this man. They have questioned his patriotism using pictures that are grossly out of context. They have questioned his wife's patriotism because of comments she made. And I can deal with all of that, those things you expect coming from conservatives, racist and his opponents.

But what really pushes my buttons is the blatant disregard for the sanctity of the black church. The surfacing of old sermons by Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright. The showcase of his politically incorrect statements over the years in front of his congregation. Now, I personally don't believe politics have a place in the pulpit, but if there should be one place you shouldn't have to worry about being politically correct, it is in the pulpit. To use Excerpts from Wright's sermons and twisting them to fit your agenda is disrespectful to him his position and the entire church and to the word that he was preaching on that given Sunday. There is a reason that churches tend to be racially consistent. There are black churches, there are white churches, there are Irish churches and polish churches etc. but not much diversity in church congregations. This is why. How many white people, if they actually heard the entire sermon, would Wright's message help. Maybe a few. A black persons experience in America is quite unique to black Americans, a white person will never understand what it is like being black in America. Many preachers at black churches tap into these experiences to relate to the congregation. In a sense you won't understand Wright's comments because he wasn't talking to you.

I always find it funny how quickly some white people claim reverse racism and say his message is hateful. Since he is a minister I'm sure the intention of his message was to spread the word of God to his congregation, to play a portion of a religious speech where religion is not mentioned is blatantly misleading.

On the other hand, when did calling America wrong become hateful. Our congregation has been burned, hanged, sprayed with water hoses, beaten in the streets, dragged behind trucks, had crossed burned in their yards, had its leaders assassinated, threatened and jailed unjustly because of the color of their skin, by other Americans, who called themselves patriotic. So, sorry white America if some of my people are not thanking God everyday for America. I apologize for Rev. Wright telling his congregation what he believes to be true. And sorry his congregation didn't just get up and walk out on his message.

But to bring it all back into perspective. What do Rev. Wright's beliefs have to do with Barack Obama's ability to be president. That is the slight of hand, "Don't worry about the war and heath care, listen to, his pastor preaches hatred!" This is where this hatred thing falls apart for me. If Rev. Wright hates whites does that mean Obama hates whites. Isn't his mother white? Wasn't the only family he knew growing up all white? Isn't his grandfather that he speaks of fighting in WWII white? So does he hate them too? Does he hate half of himself?

You choose your spiritual leaders because of how they feed your spirit, what does your ministers opinions about Hillary Clinton or 9/11 or America have to do with how he feeds your religious spirit. Republicans and Obama's opponents would love for you to believe that political opinion and spirituality go hand and hand, but they don't. If that's the case, my preacher might be supporting McCain does that make me a conservative republican? The bottom line is, if you put a camera in every politicians church in the country you would have hours and hours of footage that can be viewed out of context as "hate." And if a politician or anyone goes so far as to choose their spiritual leader by political correctness and what looks good on TV, then their spirituality is for show, and I would rather have an admitted non-believer calling the shots than a spiritual fake.