Obama Faces A New Preacher Problem
Democrat Distances Himself From Rev. Michael Pfleger, Who Mocked Clinton During Sermon At Obama's Church
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Play CBS Video Video Obama's New Pastor Disaster Obama supporter Father Michael Pfleger ridiculed Sen. Hillary Clinton's emotional comments before the New Hampshire primary. Jim Axelrod reports.
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Video Another Obama Pastor Scandal Bloggers and cable news channels have placed Barack Obama's church in the spotlight once again. As Dean Reynolds reports, a pastor's inflammatory remarks about Hillary Clinton are causing controversy.
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In this June 1, 2007 file photo, Rev. Michael Pfleger, left, of Saint Sabina Catholic Church is seen with Rev. Jesse Jackson during a news conference at Rainbow/Push Coalition headquarters in Chicago. (AP PHOTO)
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Barack Obama, left, and Rev. Michael Pfleger, who is under fire for comments he made at Obama's church in Chicago. (AP)
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Timeline Obama And Rev. Wright Key dates in the relationship between Barack Obama and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
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Photo Essay Barack Obama The junior senator from Illinois is making his name known.
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Chicago activist, also apologized for last Sunday's sermon at Obama's church, in which he said Clinton's eyes welled with tears before the New Hampshire primary because she felt "entitled" to the Democratic nomination and because "there's a black man stealing my show."
In video circulating on the Internet, Pfleger said the former first lady expected to win the nomination before Obama's sudden popularity.
"She just always thought that, 'This is mine. I'm Bill's wife. I'm white.' ... And then, out of nowhere, came 'Hey, I'm Barack Obama." And she said, 'Oh damn, where did you come from? I'm white. I'm entitled. There's a black man stealing my show,"' Pfleger said at Trinity United Church of Christ.
He then went on to parody Clinton, sobbing and wiping his face with a handkerchief.
"She wasn't the only one crying," he said. "There was a whole lot of white people crying."
Obama won the Iowa caucuses, the first contest of the nominating season, in January. Days later, Clinton's eyes brimmed with tears and her voice broke as she talked with New Hampshire voters on the eve of the primary, which she won.
Obama said he was "deeply disappointed" by Pfleger's comments.
"As I have traveled this country, I've been impressed not by what divides us, but by all that that unites us," he said in a statement. "That is why I am deeply disappointed in Father Pfleger's divisive, backward-looking rhetoric, which doesn't reflect the country I see or the desire of people across America to come together in common cause."
This latest distraction comes as Democratic party leaders are pushing for a quick end to the campaign by urging uncommitted delegates to make up their mind, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod.
Pfleger, the white pastor of predominantly black Saint Sabina Roman Catholic Church on the city's Southwest side, said he regretted his choice of words.
"These words are inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message and I am deeply sorry if they offended Senator Clinton or anyone else who saw them," Pfleger said.
Clinton's campaign denounced Pfleger's comments.
"Divisive and hateful language like that is totally counterproductive in our efforts to bring our party together and have no place at the pulpit or in our politics," the campaign said in a statement. "We are disappointed that Senator Obama didn't specifically reject Father's Pfleger's despicable comments about Senator Clinton, and assume he will do so."
In March, Pfleger invited Obama's embattled former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, to speak at Saint Sabina, embracing Wright in the church.
Obama recently broke with Wright, who had been his longtime pastor, after video of his sermons blaming U.S. policies for the Sept. 11 attacks and his calls of "God damn America" became fixtures on the Internet and cable news networks and created a political problem for the candidate.
Pfleger, known locally as a community activist and organizer, was arrested in June 2007 with the Rev. Jesse Jackson during a protest outside of a south suburban Chicago gun shop. The criminal trespass charges were later dropped.
He also has hosted Louis Farrakhan, the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, at St. Sabina and has called him "a gift from God to a sick, sick world."
The head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago said Pfleger's comments "are both partisan and amount to a personal attack."
Cardinal Francis George issued a statement in which he says he deeply regrets the remarks Pfleger made about Clinton during a gathering at Trinity United Church of Christ last Sunday.
George says Pfleger has promised him that he won't do any campaigning or publicly mention any candidate by name from now on.
Republican presumptive nominee John McCain also weighed in on the flap, reports CBS News reporter John Bentley.
"I have known Sen. Clinton for a long time," McCain said. "I respect her, and I think that kind of language and that kind of treatment of Sen. Clinton is unwarranted, uncalled for, and disgraceful."
©MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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See all 2212 Commentshussein loves those earmarks,,,
Obama funneled a million dollars of federal money with earmarks to Obama''s wife hospital the same year she got a massive raise.
http://redblueamerica.com/blog/2008-03-16/rev-jeremiah-wright-michelle-obama-and-thomas-jefferson-1628
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/us/politics/14campaign.html?hp
WHAT SEPARATION BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE???
Earmarks to St. Sabina
In a Tribune story a year ago, Obama defended special budget earmarks for his district while he was a state legislator, including ones that went to programs associated with Pfleger''s church.
Pfleger gave Obama''s campaigns $1,500 between 1995 and 2001, including $200 in April 2001, about three months after Obama announced at least $100,000 in grants to St. Sabina programs.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/05/obamas_pastor_new_problem_apol.html
http://www.kxmc.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=243105
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/us/politics/11chicago.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1212419469-bXy5VAkLmpUPszudAG2pmw
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama+campaign staff nation of islam
Posted by minnick8 at 10:52 AM : Jun 02, 2008
AND ON EQUAL FOOTING WITH nation of terrorislam,,,
"She wasn''t the only one crying," he said. "There was a whole lot of white people crying."
Quoted from article above.
What does any of this ranting and raving about politics and political candidates have to do with religion? When I go to church, I expect to hear spiritually uplifting thoughts. If I hears this crapola in my church, I would be out of there.
Are the people of the Trinity Church deaf, dumb and blind as to what constitutes religion?
Led by a Palestinian Christian pastor named Naim Ateek, Sabeel%u2019s purpose is as part of the ISM to especially convince churches in America that the diminishing Christian population in the West Bank, particularly Bethlehem, is not due to persecution by the Muslim majority in the Palestinian Authority against Christians caused Christian flight, but because of Israel%u2019s Jews and %u201Cthe occupation.%u201D In order to achieve this, Sabeel practices something called %u201Creplacement theology %u201C which aligns itself closely with the ideas of its Muslim fundamentalist allies.
But Obama%u2019s association with the ISM through his church and lobbying in Chicago goes even deeper than just his past links to Al Awda and Ali Abunimah. His pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, are both equally involved with the ISM.
Al Awda is commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe of the creation of Israel) this coming May thanks to the willingness of the management of Hilton Hotels to overlook anti-Semitism in its facilities to make a buck. A new petition is in the works to get Hilton to stop this. Al Awda%u2019s scheduled guest of honor will be a PFLP terrorist member named Khalida Jarrar, and their website recently gave an homage to the late PFLP founder George Habash. Al Awda wants convicted Islamic Jihad financier/terrorist Sami al Arian released, a murderer of over 100 people abroad, some of them Americans, from terrorist attacks.
But Ali Abunimah is more than just some %u201CPalestinian activist%u201D based in Chicago, the same location as Reverend Wright and the Trinity United Church of Christ. He is, in fact, one of the founders of the fiercely anti-Semitic ISM Arab group Al Awda, the Palestine Right of Return Coalition. Abunimah is a high level international leader of the ISM for the Arabs who travels extensively between Chicago, Europe and Ramallah.
But Obama%u2019s association with the ISM through his church and lobbying in Chicago goes even deeper than just his past links to Al Awda and Ali Abunimah. His pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, are both equally involved with the ISM.
LINK TO PETITION TO REMOVE PFLEGER !!
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=black+liberation theology&btnG=Search
HAVE YOU TAKEN THE BLACK VALUE SYSTEM PLEDGE???
HUSSEIN HAS,,,
THE BLACK VALUE SYSTEM
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:FKLy1zww6CEJ:www.tucc.org/scholarship_pdf/black%2520value%2520system.pdf Black Value System&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
are blacks playing the race card on america???
Obama gets 92 percent of the black vote
Clyburn Warns Democratic Party: African Americans Matter
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/04/25/clyburn_warns_democratic_party.html?hpid=topnews
99% of our enemies want Obama to win anyway, so why not count their votes???
This will help give Obama a bigger delagate count!
Your 1st Hand Account, beckon me to say...
That You Sound like the Voice of Experience, an `Experienced Sucker` as You, would Pride Him-Her Self, On such Matters.
SO DID YOU ENJOY, THAT HOT...OBAMA..LOVIN...HMMMM
COME CLEAN NOW !!
And I second Omaar''s statement, those that have vehemently opposed Obama based on superficialness need to come forth and come clean, you dislike Obama not because you disagree with his policies, inexperience, or his dad was a Muslim, but he''''s a "BLACK MAN".
You people are so DAMMMM pathetic, because you''''ll vote for "Satan" himself, Hitler, Stalin, etc. rather than see a "BLACK MAN" take center stage in the political arena.
And it doesn''t matter if that "BLACK candidate" was 100xs more QUALIFIED than the WHITE candidate", you pathetic BACKWARDS DIMWITS would still VOTE based on COLOR.
Posted by omaar-101: Barack Obama is Favored in MANY NATIONS...
Russia, Germany, France, The UK, Canada, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Spain, Italy, China, Throughout South America, Africa, Middle Eastern Nations & Asian Nations...
I Guess they All must be (Proliferators of Terrorism)
Just say, You Don`t want a Bi-Racial or Black Man in the White House, I an most people, here would Appreciate the Honesty and Openness of that, then to hear You say EVERYTHING BUT THAT !!!
By all means, just Honestly say, You don`t want a Bi-Racial Man or Black American Male in the White House...
He`s going to Win, Inspite of what you want or Desire, but at least, You`d Feel Better.
This country is more than Euro-Americans, it is an ethnically diverse amalgamation of creativity and free-flowing ideas, which Obama represents a starting point for a new American paradigm.
A new American paradigm that is inclusive to all ethnically diverse individuals and not the "usual suspects".
There are many highly-intellectual African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, etc., whose creativities has been either circumscribed or truncated, because some greedy insecure self-absorbed individuals don''t want to share.
This issue with Obama isn''t based on logical reasoning, but some white Americans need to preserve their baseless claims of hegemonic supremacy.
And I second Omaar''s statement, those that have vehemently opposed Obama based on superficialness need to come forth and come clean, you dislike Obama not because you disagree with his policies, inexperience, or his dad was a Muslim, but he''s a "BLACK MAN".
You people are so DAMMMM pathetic, because you''ll vote for "Satan" himself, Hitler, Stalin, etc. rather than see a "BLACK MAN" take center stage in the political arena.
And it doesn''t matter if that "BLACK candidate" was 100xs more qualified than the white candidate", you pathetic backwards dimwits would still vote based on color.
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