Posted by
TangoBravo on Saturday, March 15, 2008 4:38:45 PM
Nativeeyes,
Don't get too stoked about comparing McCain' religious endorsements with Obama's pastor. I feel your pain but no sentient being will try to compare the two, they are apples and oranges...
The Democratic talking points were quick to push out that McCain needed to distance himself from these goofy preachers that McCain collected to show his appeal to the evangelicals. Everyone knows that McCain's relationship with these folks is just political positioning. I don't like it but I understand it. He wanted to show his appeal to the right and, without proper vetting, got more than one fire and brimstone preacher to throw in his hat. Political observers recognize the politics of this move and will not seriously associate McCain with these pastors. It is only a weak Obama counter-attack to try a tit for tat exchange--Obama denounces Wright and McCain needs to denounce somebody, too.
But Obama is in a different situation. McCain has no real relationship with apocalyptic preachers. He never titled a book after one of their sermans. It will be hard to tie McCain to any philosophic or religious mentor. He is having a hard sell trying to get the public to believe he is a Reagan foot soldier--forget about getting any evangelical moniker to stick. As a relative unknown, Obama has stepped into the muck of a stereotypical black racist. Fairly or unfairly, these videos are going to replay until the general election. More and more connections, however far-fetched they may actually be, will show his past clouded in Nation of Islam, home grown terrorists, and anti-Semitism. Understand, I am not accusing him of any of these things but the Wright videos have opened a door to make all things believable. This is clearly a Willy Horton moment. Obama may survive but he is wounded.