Wright said FDR lied about Pearl Harbor and Obama said he never heard about that.

Wright said the government created HIV to purposefully cause a genocide to kill people of color and Obama said he never heard about that.

Wright said "We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye....We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

and Obama said he never ever heard about that either.

today at the Seminary on Religion and Government, all these students had read Cone... First question asked was after reading Wright's statements was "How many of you agree with Wright?"  24 of 25 Seminary Students White and Black raised there hands... These are students at what is widely considered the best theological school in the country.

They went on to a discussion of Cone, and the context of Wright's words, and came to near unanimous agreement that Cone would agree.

Union is to the left of Princeton, theologically, and I can only image the reaction there is the same.

We will not reach the future through cynicism. Jeremiah Wright is a man with a flawed perception. A big heart, constantly working to better the less fortunate, but a man twisted by racial perceptions.

How old are you? Jeremiah Wright was born in 1941, 23 years before the 24th amendment banned poll taxes used to discriminate; he was already 14 years old, well into his school years, when Brown v Board of Education gave the order to desegregate; 22 years before a black man won an Oscar; he would be 25 years old before he witnessed a black man took office in the Senate.

There is no doubt that Jeremiah Wright bears bitter scars that have caused him to say hateful things. There is little doubt that there is an element of black counterculture which lays blame at white feet, that will reopen old wounds, and fights racism with racism.

The point is, Obama was an atheist, and Wright showed him a God he could believe in. He showed him a faith that preached hope, and love, and compassion. And if all Wright's racial anger steamed out from time to time, it wasn't enough for Obama to discard him as a person. Obama isn't trying to hide Wright's flaws. He has acknowledged them. He is simply someone who sees a nuanced picture of his pastor, and is willing to overlook and ignore the bad while partaking in the good that Wright offered. Wright introduced Obama to the great power of hope.

If you knew a flawed, but good man, would you disassociate with him? Have you walked a mile in Barack Obama's shoes, or Jeremiah Wright's? Did you live through segregation and poll taxes?

Obama has not stood to defend Wright's remarks. His speech did not dismiss them or condone them. Obama has simply said that Wright is who he is; an imperfect man, who is a pastor and mentor to an imperfect candidate. But Obama has made it clear that where Wright focuses on what divides us, Obama focuses on what unites us.

As you chain guilt by associate out as far as you can stretch it, I ask that you consider if Obama may just be human after all, and not willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater by avoiding a flawed but inherently good man.

The future we want - one with health care for all, one with sustainability, and justice, freedom - that freedom is not attained through fighting, through cynicism, or through division. It is attained in unity, and through understanding.

Should it happen, I will weep for a country that throws this chance away. End the divisiveness, and we can support someone with genuine leadership. Someone who is not afraid of nuance, who will not try to paint a black and white picture of a rainbow world.

wrong, ignorant... I'm not sure you have any idea what you are wading into.  I'd like to suggest you delete this Diary.  Cone is not against White people he is against being spoon fed the White Man's Theology.  Your frame is wrong.  I mean this is Neibhur's top student, he teaches at Columbia, lectured he and at Harvard several times - he is not some sort of Black Racists.

I wrote a diary several days ago that said setting aside Barack Obama and Wright my concern was that this discussion would tear down the vibrant and vital academic and theological conversation in Black Theology.  That pretty soon people would attack the legacy of Countee Cullen, be stigmatizing Cone, Katie Cannon, and even Cornell West... This diary place political points of what is right in the broader picture... Once again, I strongly suggest you reconsider posting this, and your views of Cone.

I also posted this diary at Daily Kos, where the comments ranged from obscene to merely insulting.

I agree with most of your comment, but this mess isn't really about Jeremiah Wright. It's about Obama trying to have everything both ways.

What you say is valid, right up to the point where Wright screams "God damn America!"

At that point, anybody who wants to be President should have said "Shut up and apologize!"

Obama tried to let it all go by under the radar, and that was absolutely wrong. If it costs him the Presidency, then he lost it for himself, and it has nothing to do with racism.

You have to stand up for your country all the time, if you want to lead it, no matter what color you may be.

God damn Bush! God damn Reagan! God damn Gingrich!

But never "God damn America!"

Obama's friends want to delete everything that reflects negatively on the candidate and his mentor. But the quotes from Cone won't go away, and he hasn't renounced them.

"Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy."

Sorry, I made a diary on this very quote as well.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/19/4423 /30456

Not on purpose.  My bad.