Obama Faces A New Preacher Problem

(CBS/AP)  Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday that he was "deeply disappointed" by a supporter's sermon at his church that mocked Hillary Rodham Clinton.

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."

[terrorislami]

FOLLOW THE MONEY

hussein 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

[terrorislami]

how many hussein cabinet posts will be held by nation of terrorislam memebers???

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama+campaign staff nation of islam

[terrorislami]

The Trinity Church is right behind the Islams as provocators of terrorism.
Posted by minnick8 at 10:52 AM : Jun 02, 2008

AND ON EQUAL FOOTING WITH nation of terrorislam,,,

[minnick8-2009]

The Trinity Church is right behind the Islams as provocators of terrorism.

[minnick8-2009]

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."
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?

[mudrose-2009]

Let''s face it, Obama spent his life cultivating radical relationships as a stepping stone to get him into the Illinois Senate and ultimately the Congress. His ambition to win does not belie the fact that he will associate with whomever it takes to get there. Anyone who believes that this guy has only superficial contacts with the likes of such radicals is delusional. He''s gotten away with it so far because of the nomination process. He was clever as to how he ran his race, but his platform and Hillary''s with a little bit of tweaking on healthcare reform are virtually identical. Come the general election race, his many contacts are going to be a liability for him along with his ignorance on foreign policy and his doctrine of appeasement. Hillary was the better candidate. The party will only realize that much too late.

[obama8years]

Now, it has become the ISM%u2019s time to deconstruct religious dogma of Israel belonging to the Jews as is preached in US churches and to increase the number of black churches in America that are working in %u201Csolidarity%u201D with this program. Jeremiah Wright%u2019s church is one of them. Even though the national synod of the United Church for Christ rescinded a boycott and divestment plan against Israel, a wing of the UCC church keeps trying to get it reinstated. That wing includes Reverend Wright%u2019s Trinity UCC Church in Chicago. Few people know also, that there are many Muslim members of Reverend Wright%u2019s %u201CChristian%u201D church, a close ally of Sabeel.

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.

[obama8years]

If Barack Obama didn%u2019t know about Abunimah%u2019s writings (and Abunimah says he did), the same as his claims of being unaware of Reverend Wright%u2019s remarks after 20 years, then Obama is not competent to be our President. Abunimah likes to lie and claim Al Awda has nothing to do with the ISM or Electronic Intifada, though plenty of evidence exists on the website the homepage at www.StoptheISM.com showing the contrary.

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.

[obama8years]

In short, Obama saw no problem being lobbied in the past by someone who openly promotes terrorism and discrimination against Jewish-Americans.

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.

[obama8years]

However, without losing a beat, an article has appeared on the ISM affiliated website Electronic Intifada (EI) by one of its co-founders, Ali Abunimah, in which Abumimah recounts his close past working relationship with Obama prior to the presidential campaign and how Abunimah believes Obama is merely giving lip service to the Jewish community to get elected, and that once in office he will work for the Palestinian cause. Abunimah lists himself and is mentioned in subsequent Obama articles in the mainstream press merely as a %u201CPalestinian activist.%u201D Abunimah insists that Obama will %u201Ccome around%u201D once elected.

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.