A Candidate, His Minister And The Search for Faith
by way of Gateway Pundit
New York Times
By Jodi Kantor
Barack may have said that he was “Shocked! Shocked!” to hear Rev. Wright’s anti-American nutty diatribe at the National Press Club but its unlikely.
This article was published in The New York Times… one year ago today:
Twenty years ago at Trinity, Mr. Obama, then a community organizer in poor Chicago neighborhoods, found the African-American community he had sought all his life, along with professional credibility as a community organizer and an education in how to inspire followers.
Mr. Obama, a Democratic presidential candidate who says he was only shielding his pastor from the spotlight, said he respected Mr. Wright’s work for the poor and his fight against injustice. But we don’t agree on everything, Mr. Obama said. I’ve never had a thorough conversation with him about all aspects of politics.
It is hard to imagine, though, how Mr. Obama can truly distance himself from Mr. Wright. The Christianity that Mr. Obama adopted at Trinity has infused not only his life, but also his campaign. He began his presidential announcement with the phrase Giving all praise and honor to God, a salutation common in the black church. He titled his second book, The Audacity of Hope, after one of Mr. Wright’s sermons, and often talks about biblical underdogs, the mutual interests of religious and secular America, and the centrality of faith in public life.
The day after the party for Mr. Wright, Mr. Obama stood in an A.M.E. church pulpit in Selma, Ala., and cast his candidacy in nothing short of biblical terms, implicitly comparing himself to Joshua, known for his relative inexperience, steadfast faith and completion of Moses’ mission of delivering his people to the Promised Land.
Be strong and have courage, for I am with you wherever you go, Mr. Obama said in paraphrasing God’s message to Joshua.
It is difficult to tell whether Mr. Obama’s religious and political beliefs are fused or simply run parallel. The junior senator from Illinois often talks of faith as a moral force essential for solving America’s vexing problems. Like Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and John Edwards, his fellow Democratic candidates, he expresses both a political and a religious obligation to help the downtrodden. Like conservative Christians, he speaks of AIDS as a moral crisis. And like his pastor, Mr. Obama opposes the Iraq war.
Despite the canceled invocation, Mr. Wright prayed with the Obama family just before his presidential announcement. Asked later about the incident, the Obama campaign said in a statement, Senator Obama is proud of his pastor and his church.
In March, Mr. Wright said in an interview that his family and some close associates were angry about the canceled address, for which they blamed Obama campaign advisers but that the situation was not irreparable, adding, “Several things need to happen to fix it.”"
Asked if he and Mr. Wright had patched up their differences, Mr. Obama said: Those are conversations between me and my pastor.
Mr. Wright, who has long prided himself on criticizing the establishment, said he knew that he may not play well in Mr. Obama’s audition for the ultimate establishment job.
If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me, Mr. Wright said with a shrug. I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.
