Obamagate, Part III: Barack Obama, Boldfaced Liar
Filed under: US Elections
Barack Obama is now furiously scrambling to cut his ties with his racist pastor and deny prior knowledge of his racism and hatred of the country Obama wants to lead. But Newsmax reported on August 9, 2007, that its reporter Jim Davis attended services with Barack Obama and his secret service security contingent on July 22, 2007, at Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side of Chicago. Davis was first blocked from entering the church by its phalanx of brawny bouncers, apparently because of his skin color; inside, there were virtually no whites in attendance.
At that service, Obama heard Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. say that "white arrogance" was responsible for U.S. foreign policy, and referred to our country as the "United States of White America." Giving an example, Wright said that American involvement in Iraq was due to "Bush administration bullshit." What kind of pastor uses that kind of language in the pulpit? What kind of American sits and listens rather than walking out? Clearly, Wright knew that Obama was in attendance, since the members of his security contingent and the reporter were just about the only white faces in the congregation of over 2,500. Clearly, Obama did not do a thing to oppose what he had heard, much less walk out as he should have done, and only addresses the issue now because he's been forced to do so by the media. The Democrats are directly responsible for this outrage, because they gave Obama a free pass for so long during their primaries.
So let's be crystal clear: When Obama says he never heard this kind of rhetoric from Wright, he's simply lying, and when he claims he's a candidate who stands for "change" he couldn't be more disingenuous. If he really did attend Wright's church for 20 years without ever becoming aware of Wright's racism, that would be worse than knowing about it, since it would clearly mean he's far too stupid and oblivious to be president. Who knows how many other such services he attended when reporters didn't happen to be around. If Obama can lie so brazenly, and so freely spurn the pastor he's spent his whole adult life adoring, then how can we believe he'll stick to any promise he may make now about governing the whole country and rejecting Wright's venomous ideology when president?
Davis also notes that Wright has told the New York Times that in a general election he expected Obama to distance himself from the church for reasons of political expediency: "If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me. I said it to Barack personally, and he said 'yeah, that might have to happen.'" Conspiracy? I'm not a big believer in them, but is sure sounds like one to me.
UPDATE: A reader points out that the Daily Kos is disputing this account based solely on the date. Could be Davis got that wrong. We're seeing a new low in Clintoniansm here: Obama doesn't say "I never heard Wright say that," he just says "I wasn't there on that date." If this is change, give me the same old, same old. William Kristol writes about the incident in today's New York Times. Kristol notes Obama's response to the 9/11 and "God damn America" remarks: "The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity." How Clintonian can you get?
UPDATE #2: The LA Times reports that Newsmax stands by its story. Newsmax states that their reporter attended several services in December and is 100% sure he witnessed Obama attending the "United States of White America" sermon. The date might be wrong, of course, or a commenter suggests that Obama could have heard the sermon and then traveled to Miami the same day, especially if he left after one hour: "Trinity services start at 7:30am. If Obama stayed an hour (normal service) and left at 8:30 am. 1/2 hour to Midway Airport and in the air by 9:15 Arrive in Miami by 12 noon (allowing 2 hour and 45 minutes flight and landing, would be 1 pm Eastern time & half hour to drive to the event. I think it is a very real possibility he attended the service and spoke in Miami." Sooner or later, Obama will get nailed with conclusive documentary proof and won't be able to deny he was present. Then he'll pull another Clinton and start talking about what he remembers hearing and how he may not have been paying attention because he was thinking about saving sick children. One can only heave a sigh of disgust.
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