PrintJune 1, 2008
Obama finally quits his church - About time?
He's going to get away with it, of course. No one will dare point to the fact that once again, Barack Obama has disposed of a problem, not by addressing the cause but rather the political garbage that goes along with it.
After 20 years association, the near nominee has decided to end his association with Trinity United Church.
Was it because of the racist, hate mongering sermons of Jeremiah Wright?
Was it because his church has embraced Louis Farrakhan?
Was it because the church allowed a Roman Catholic priest to preach sermons that ape the worst of Reverend Wright's rants against whites and America?
Was it because almost everything about the church was far from mainstream Christian thought and that he finally rebelled against the message of hate that spewed from its pulpit for 20 years?
Not according to the candidate himself:
"We don't want to have to answer for everything that's stated in the church," the Democratic front-runner said. "We also don't want the church subjected to the scrutiny that a presidential campaign legitimately undergoes."Obama said he was resigning "with some sadness.""This is not a decision I come to lightly," he said. Watch Obama discuss departure »The resignation comes days after the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a visiting Catholic priest, mocked Obama's Democratic rival during a sermon at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois.In the sermon, Pfleger wipes his eyes with a handkerchief and suggests that Sen. Hillary Clinton wept because she thought that as a white person and the wife of a former president, she was entitled to the presidency.Pfleger is a Catholic priest at St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church on Chicago's southwest side. He is also a friend of Trinity's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, from whom Obama distanced himself in April.Obama said the Pfleger controversy made it clear that, as long as he remained a member of the Trinity congregation, remarks from the pulpit would be "imputed" to him, even if they conflicted with his personal views.
In addition to being friends with Wright, Pfleger is also a long time friend of Barack Obama, a relationship that goes back almost as far as the candidate's relationship with Wright. While in the state senate, Obama steered around $300,000 to various programs headed up by Father Pfleger while the bigot priest gave Obama $1500 in political contributions over the years. Obama has also claimed Pfleger as one of his "spiritual mentors" and the priest has been hanging around the campaign off and on over the past year, offering his "mentoring" whenever the candidate has hit a rough patch.
I bring this up because CNN didn't think it was newsworthy to mention the close, personal relationship Obama has with Pfleger - which is another reason why the candidate is going to slide on the real reason he is quitting the church.
Obama is a political coward. And how he is going to square that obvious fact with his mantra of "change" is a huge question. In order to affect the kind of radical change Obama is talking about, you are going to need all sorts of political courage to go against the entrenched interestes in Washington.
So far, Obama has shown the courage of the Cowardly Lion - he runs away at the first sign of trouble.
