This is an amazing display of delusion and wishful thinking. Obama has picked up more super delegates than Clinton even during this difficult week and none of the ones going to Clinton had previously indicated their loyalty to Obama. CNN now has Clinton’s sd lead down to 22, he has actaully almost wiped out her delegate gains from the PA primary during an incredibly difficult period. “Finished off”? Not hardly.

The last few weeks have slowed down the rate of increase in his lead. They have not reversed the trend however, and with Clinton needing to pick up 65%+ of both pledged and superdelegates to win, anything short of a downward plunge justs delays the endpoint but does not change it.

What’s changed is that Wright has now inserted himself as an active media figure during this campaign, as opposed to merely someone from Obama’s past who wasn’t all that much a factor anymore. He’s forced Obama, politically, to either embrace or denounce him - Obama can’t realistically continue his campaign with the media hanging the Wright political albatross around his neck.

However much I, and others I know, may be down with most of the Rev’s sermoniizing, it’s a tough sell in a sound bite political scene with marginally informed voters (let’s face it, most people just don’t have time to really dig around and be well informed - they ain’t gonna get good info from our corporate media …). And so Obama has to be, as Wright noted, a politician, and kick the Rev to the curb now.

You can’t run for president saying that the U.S. is a vicious, murderous empire, however true it might be. No way for Obama to embrace that politically, now that it’s current media fodder from the good Rev.

is that your evidence that wright is a misogynist?

so, privileging race over gender makes one a misogynist?

is that it?

or did wright call hrc a cunt?

what the hell are you talking about?

I have heard nothing from him that even remotely touches on gender.

Try this.

She may never have been called a “n*****r”, but she sure as shit has had to work twice as hard as a white man at some points in her life, including this campaign. And it’s doubtful Obama’s ever been called a cunt.

In fact, the only thing that he added to the equation last weekend was the statement that Obama is a politician and politicians say what they have to say to get elected and he is a pastor and he says what he has to say.

Did you expect Wright to not say anything to anyone at any time until after the election? Then you clearly didn’t understand him.

I don’t have a crystal ball but the reason that Obama renounced him as he did, when he did clearly was related to the fact that he’s sinking in the polls and getting bad answers from super delegates.

The fact is that Obama went from embracing Wright 5 weeks ago (”I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother who raised me…”) to disowning him for nothing other than reasserting who he is but saying nothing new and outrageous.

It’s clear that Obama can be counted on to disown his grandmother if she has a political price tag. He’s a fraud.

Oh and Steveeboy…I feel comfortable with my whiteness. I never enslaved anyone, I didn’t make anyone black. I once dated a black woman and I raised children free of racism. I may not be perfect but I haven’t done anything to further the divide. I would neither vote for or against someone because they are black. If Obama gets the nomination, he gets my vote but I never felt he was the best candidate in the race…by a long shot.

I have heard nothing from him that even remotely touches on gender.

perhaps someone can enlighten me–and I hope the evidence is more than a use of the word “periodically.”

and white, your bitterness at being a member of the poor oppressed white race is always touching and evokes real sympathy as does your attempt to close the book on obama with the deployment of language designed to evoke fears of black hordes running rampant in the streets…

Boy, you got a chip on your shoulder about Obama doncha? Thanks, but I think I’ll see what happens as events unfold, rather than rely on your crystal ball.

Everybody feel as though anything that Obama promises during the campaign he won’t turn 180 degrees as soon as the going gets tough?

What a disaster…sorry granny…you’re toast (but she’s just ‘a typical white person’ anyway)

He has no chance of regaining momentum…his lead in NC shrunk big time. Indiana is now out of reach. Following that, he takes a beating in WV and KY.

The only thing left is to run out the clock and limp to the finish line and hope that the fear of a bunch of pissed off people keep enough super delegates in tow to win.

Reverend Wright is only part of the issue. He won’t be able to win in November…his numbers are sinking and the poll released by AP/Ipsos showed that Clinton now has the upper hand against McCain. The bigger part is the tie-in at various local elections and it’s clear that in too many parts of the country now, Obama is political poison.

If some Obama wants to tell me how Obama can win in November, I’m listening…

His timing is … not the greatest, from an Obama perspective. On the other hand, it does give Barack the opportunity to clearly and firmly distance himself from the Reverend, and strongly make the point that Wright’s statements cannot legitimately be attributed to candidate Obama, in a way that he couldn’t do so emphatically before. Silver lining for him there I guess.

Me, I still like the very great majority of what Wright says. He’as a preacher, not a politician, as he points out, and he’s a pistol!

Wright’s a misogynist now, sister of ye? I missed that part.

HAHAHAHA, whoo boy that’s a good one.
If I were you I would brace myself, because President John McSame is EXACTLY who we’re getting.
Mark my words.

Also she has explicitly said that it is not only OK, but a good thing to throw all of the attacks that the right wing will at your primary opponent as her justification for her kitchen sink strategy. You don’t think those little nasty attacks I mentioned WON’T be used in the general if she makes it there? Of course they will!

I certainly haven’t seen any of Obama folks trotting out Clinton’s “other women”, or putting the more seamy folks pardoned or given commutated sentences on stage in front of the national press, but by the justifications being made here I guess you all think that’s completely fair game.

We claim we are fighting the sleaziness of the Republican Right Wing, but …

We have seen the enemy and he is us.

Yeah, Wright makes some valid points about racial injustice. And the pope speaks against the Iraq war and for economic justice. That might mitigate, but doesn’t cancel the intolerance they promote in other areas.

Wright, Benedict, Robertson, etc. - self-promoting, misogynistic jerks who forgot that Jesus talked about mansions in heaven, not gated communities.

Have a good day!

Over at Talkleft Jeralyn posted an item about Obama’s use of a specific word when referring to the mentally ill and gun ownership. I pointed out it’s prevalence in federal gun regulations and Jeralyn responded that my reference was not applicable because that law had expired a year or two ago. So I posted a reply referencing several current state laws using the term exactly as Obama had, then posted a short answer to a question that was asked.

Jeralyn banned me, allegedly for repeatedly posting the same thing (which obviously I hadn’t). Her ban had the desired effect. One more pro Obama voice has completely abandoned her site and now they can Obama bash to their hearts content and blithely ignore one more contrary opinion.

I am similarly annoyed with dailykos where pro Clinton voices get shouted down and troll rated. It is no better.

Sites like this one that allow real debate and do not censure just for opinion are becoming a rarity. I am not inclined to ever return to Talkleft (I had donated there several times in the past) though when this debacle is over and emotions have ebbed that could change.

This has been a horribly divisive time within the progressive/Democratic community. I hope there is both the time and the willingness to allow enough healing in time to stop the third Dubya term by John McSame.

Some of the folks posting here … not so much.

… or if these same extreme partisans drag Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers, Elizabeth Ward Gracen, Sally Perdue, Dolly Kyle Browning and Kathleen Willey front and center to prode the question of whether Hillary is a codependent and maybe suffering from PST because of Bill’s philandering?

… or find some of the beneficiaries of her extreme pork adventures who are willing to throw her under the bus?

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20306341/the_queen_of_pork

Are those REALLY the kind of rules you want to play by in an interparty primary?

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/columnists/louis/index.html

Hillary should come out quickly denouncing this if she doesn’t want to be viewed as having orchestrated a very nasty dirty trick campaign. A lot of people would believe it whether it is true or not.

this is just a distraction from the real issue of Rocky Balboa denigration,

“The Governor [of North Carolina] formally expressed his support saying that there was “nothing I love more than a strong powerful woman.” Easley concluded his remarks saying Clinton — “makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy”.

Seriously, this sort of insult to working people cannot stand.

it is obvious that HRC is an elitist, surrounded by elitists–and homophobes.

I await the outrage!!!

i dunno. i think that he’s just excited to suddenly have a national megaphone to broadcast his issues. but to obama’s perspective, this probably feels like punishment.

To expand on what I posted in another thread … other versions show that Rev. Wright gave a pretty good account of himself, as in a speech before the National Press Club, saying, among other things:

“I served six years in the military. Does that make me patriotic? How many years did Cheney serve?”

“My goddaughter’s unit just arrived in Iraq this week, while those who call me unpatriotic have used their positions of privilege to avoid military service while sending over 4,000 American boys and girls to die over a lie.”

Touché.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/28/politics/main4049211.shtml?source=RSSattr=Politics_4049211

Also:

Asked about some of the comments after the terrorist attacks, Wright challenged the reporter questioning him.

“Have you heard the whole sermon? No? The whole sermon?” he responded. When the reporter shook her head, he said, “That nullifies that question.”

Wright said he’s told Obama that if he is elected President in November and is inaugurated in January, “I’m coming after you.” because [Wright's] differences are not with the American people, but with U.S. policies.

“Whether he gets elected or not, I’m still going to have to be answerable to God on November 5 and January 21,” Wright said.

“I’m not here for political reasons. I’m not a politician. I know that fact will surprise many of you, because many in the corporate-owned media made it seem like I am running for the Oval Office,” Wright said. “I am not running for the Oval Office. I’ve been running for Jesus a long, long time and I’m not tired yet.”

I know everyone will have their own opinion on this, but I like this guy!