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I can't actually speak for Sen. Obama, but from his words and actions, it appears that he believes:

* There is still injustice in America, but we can fight against it.

* Racial injustice in America has diminished over time.

* The war in Iraq was a terrible mistake.

* Selfishness and greed are some of the biggest problems in America today. (surprise!)

* Government should be transparent and accountable to the governed.

* The state governs best by including the most citizens rather than keeping out the most citizens.

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What does Obama means when he says unity. What does he mean when he says hope? - does that mean that Wright is his ideal and that he hopes that we will learn to be that way too.

You will be outraged at my comments, but I feel that anytime anyone on here disapproves of Obama they are labeled a racist, when in fact it is questioning Obama's beliefs, not Wrights.

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KLARISSA:

"Every church that I know of has a committee of elders, or the equivalent."

Your perspective is limited. My church has no such committee, and I'm sure my church is not unique in this respect.

KLARISSA:

"Just like in any group, if you want to change it, you start at the bottom and work your way up"

No. Obama is NOT a minister. Religion is NOT his vocation. Obama met and remained friends with Wright because of the good DEEDS they accomplished together while Obama was a community organizer. Obama witnessed Wright's service firsthand as Obama was in the trenches with Wright fighting poverty and discrimination. You do NOT know Wright nearly as well as Obama, which only demonstrates how short on perspective your condemnation of Wright is.

KLARISSA:

"what was taught in the Sunday school classes."

I would say the same for Bob Hope, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, John Hagee etc. But of course, you don't see your own hypocrisy.

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KLARISSA:

"You will be outraged at my comments, but I feel that anytime anyone on here disapproves of Obama they are labeled a racist, when in fact it is questioning Obama's beliefs, not Wrights."

I'm less outraged by your disapproval of Obama, but more outraged by your blatant double standards. You "question Obama's beliefs" and condemn Obama (who has NEVER been under investigation for corruption and who has NEVER uttered a racist remark), yet you give a free pass to McCain who HAS been investigated for corruption (Keating 5) and HAS uttered racist remarks. Where's your righteous outrage?

http://www.commondreams.org/views/030200-104.htm

"McCain told reporters, 'I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live.'"

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,259282,00.html

"McCain used the term 'tar baby.' He said he hoped it wouldn't be viewed as a racial remark."

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Why don't you demand your own Republicans to "work their way from the bottom" to change Falwell's, Robertson's, Hope's, and Hagee's hate speech?

http://www.actupny.org/YELL/falwell.html

"FALWELL: Pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays, lesbians, the ACLU, and People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped 9/11 happen.

ROBERTSON: I totally concur."

PAT ROBERTSON:

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2005/08/0080695

"The Antichrist is probably a Jew alive in Israel today."

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pat_Robertson

"Many of those people involved with Adolph Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals; the two things seem to go together."

"You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense, I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist"

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Jeremiah Wright has every right to be angry at a government who sent him overseas to fight for America's freedoms, but then denied him and other African Americans equal rights and freedoms upon his return home. I would think veterans like Wright deserve better than that from his own country.

When have YOU fought for your country's freedoms and then been denied these very freedoms yourself?

MORE PAT ROBERTSON:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200706270005

"If [Chavez] thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war."

ANN COULTER:

http://hughesforamerica.typepad.com/hughes_for_...

"We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee."

http://www.newsbusters.org/node/13791

"If I'm going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot.'"

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http://www-tech.mit.edu/V120/N13/col13veena.13c...

"GW Bush appeared at Bob Jones University, a non-accredited college known for being racist and anti-Catholic. Bob Jones University has had an official ban on interracial dating for many years. Its justification: 'We stand against the one-world government, against the coming world of anti-Christ, which is a one world system of blending of all differences, of blending of national differences, economic differences, church differences, into a big one ecumenical world.' BJU says it would prefer to keep the races separate."

Your oversimplistic approach belies your partisan double standard.

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Here is your Mike Huckabee DEFENDING Wright and Obama.

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...

"'[Y]ou can't hold the candidate responsible for everything that people around him may say or do,' Huckabee says. 'Many times those were statements lifted out of the context of a larger sermon. Rev. Wright got caught up in the emotion of the moment. As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say "That's a terrible statement!" I grew up in a very segregated South. And I think that you have to cut him some slack.'

Huckabee, who grew up in the segregated South, added that if he had experienced the kind of discrimination African Americans have in American history, he would probably have become bitter.

'Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment,' he said. 'And you have to just say, I probably would too. In fact, I may have had more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.'"

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Klarissa,

Yes, it would be good to know what was being taught in Sunday school there. Given Rev. Wright's leadership, I suspect that what was being taught was social justice. Why would Sen. Obama disagree with that?

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Still, I do not see why Sen. Obama should condemn Rev. Wright. It saddens me that so many Christians claim to believe that God speaks through the prophets in the Old and New Testaments, but do not recognize the words of God in the mouth of Rev. Wright! You think Rev. Wright's words are tough on the US? Read Hosea. Hosea calls the government of Israel a ****** who has turned away from righteousness. The powerful people in the US DO have a lot to answer for. When God asks us if we have fed the hungry and clothed the naked and visited the sick, what will we say? Rev. Wright is doing nothing but asking all listeners to be Sheep and not Goats - to be true disciples of the Christ instead of phonies.

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Klarissa,

I do not see Sen. Obama as lacking experience. In fact, my perception is that he has the skills, character, wisdom and experience to be the Pres. It is true that he has had different experiences than Sens. Clinton or McCain. I see Sen. Obama's experiences as being crucial to his character. He is a person who has experienced racial prejudice, but not been jaded by it. He remains hopeful. He has worked at the grass roots to organize the disposessed. As such, he understands that government can help, but cannot make the society work.

Part of being a leader is drawing a following. Sen. Obama has drawn a following against all odds. Sen. Clinton was the party candidate, but Sen. Obama's appeal is swelling from ground up, not from the top down.

Sen. Obama will be even more seasoned in 4 years, but he is certainly mature enough right now.

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Klarissa,

Sorry, I didn't answer your question about whether a member of my congregation were running for Pres. whether s/he would have any influence. Yes, probably. One of the members of my congregation is the local mayor and another is the County Clerk. They have some influence in the congregation, but typically less than some others because they are not actively serving on the church's governing board.

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No! We need radical change now. No more career criminals in the White House!

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Klarissa,

Classical evidence of Obama's leadership ability is his campaign. It is modeled after his experience as a community organizer. I read that his Texas team was formed by training a few leaders, who trained more, and they were carrying on an independent campaign months before the official campaign team even established a presence in Texas. The leadership model is to listen to people, train them, and then enable people to act on their own behalf once a consensus has been reached.

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