Obama's speech did not address the substance of what is behind his association with Rev. Wright. The point is: this pastor preached anti-american hate, anti-white hate, and anti-semitic hate. And Obama was a close and strong member of his congregation for over 20 years. And Rev. Wright was Obama's spiritual counselor. This goes directly to the issue of Obama's judgement and character.

My problem with Obama is not about whether he can win the general election. But rather if I want this man, with his close association with Rev. Wright, to be our president. There have been 43 presidents of the US. Some great, some bad. But not one of them would of sat through a sermon listening to a preacher spred anti-american hate. Not once. Not for 20 years. None would have selected that pastor's church as his own. None would given that preacher $20,000 after knowing that man for 20 years. None would have repeatedly brought his children to hear the pastor. And everyone one of them would have had the guts to stand up to Wright and tell him what they thought. Obama never did this. And Obama never explained why.

Some of the respondents to my earlier post seem to have missed the point; suggesting I should listen to the whole sermon or read "the speech."
Let me be very clear and go back again to how I was raised. When I went to high school there were still required classes. Every student went through a set of classes that were considered necessary to your ability to go out into the world as a responsible citizen. One of those classes was CIVICS! A required class sadly missing from most high school curriculums today.
In civics class we were taught how local, state and national politcs worked. How to research the candidates and come to an informed decision. (Much more difficult in those days- no internet; you actually had to go to the trouble of reading the newspaper and writing to candidates to get their policy proposals.) We did have the advantage of reporters who actually reported news! Who did their homework and reported to the citizens the results of their research, not the scandal of the moment.
As a result of taking civics I, and many other "typical Americans," learned it was our duty to cast our vote for a candidate on the issues. We investigate, we research, we decide. Long ago I looked at all the candidates. I looked at the candidate's Senate voting records; Sen. Obama's was almost identical to Sen. Clinton's. In the course of my research I went to the candidates web pages to read their postion statements. His proposals on the issues that matter, health care, the economy, the war, again, very close to Clinton's.

Indicted Chicago businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko was a more significant fundraiser for presidential candidate Barack Obama's earlier political campaigns than previously known. Rezko raised as much as $250,000 for the first three offices Obama sought, the senator told the Tribune on Friday.

Obama also said for the first time that his private real estate transactions with Rezko involved repeated lapses of judgment. The mistake, Obama said, was not simply that Rezko was under grand jury investigation at the time of their 2005 and 2006 dealings. "The mistake was he had been a contributor and somebody involved in politics," he said.

In an extensive interview that he hoped would quell the lingering controversy over his relationship with Rezko, Obama said that voters concerned about his judgment should view it as "a mistake in not seeing the potential conflicts of interest."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-obama-rezkomar15,0,2968927.story

Hillary already had her 3 AM phone call moment.  She was caught unprepared and lacking courage. Unprepared, because she admits not reading the pre-Iraq intelligence report.  Makes me wonder, what work is she doing during her nightshift?  Furthermore, to this day she blames George W. Bush for being misled.  Yet, Senator Bill Graham read the report and arrived to correct conclusion.  He voted against authorization.  Worse,  I suspect what she really lacks is courage.  That is, why she has taken no leadership role on ending the war.  In fact, if elected, troop withdrawal would not end until the end of her second term according to her advisors.  Imagine how many 3 AM decisions she will mess up by then!

Hillary has also received many metaphorical 3 AM phone calls regarding layoffs due to Nafta.  She has supported anti-worker trade deals, the real threat to little girls at 3 AM in the morning.  Layoffs and unemployment are the keeps parents up at night.  On the contrary, she goes out of her way to hire union busters like Mark Penn.  Yes, Hillary has NOT take your call on trade deals.  

I wish her awful decisions were due to lack of preparation.  They are not.  They are due to her lack of courage.  And her lack of courage will not help make the right decisions.  War and Nafta-type deals will continue under Hillary.

So please stop telling us about 3 AM phone calls, Hillary.  You are the last person my list I would call.          

If we have learned anything at all, following the unelected, corrupt, dishonest eight-year George W. Bush-Dick B.Cheney reign of terror (that many were not able to even survive), it is that it does indeed really matter just who the President of the United States is. Moreover, honesty and clear-headed, rationale judgement & analysis must be the primary critera.

Shown below are Barack Obama's recent statements with respect to Iran and the irresponsible Joe Lieberman-Jon Kyl (R) legislation, which thankfully no 2008 (or 2004) Democratic candidate for President supported....
er....except, of course, Rupport Murdoch's favorite Democrat: Hillary Clinton.

In the Summer of 2001, President George Walker Bush received a briefing that stated: Usama Bin Laden Determined To Strike Within The United States We all know he ignored that warning and we all knew what transpired as a result. Now, we learn that Democrats seeking our party's nomination ignored something. The NIE Report that confirmed Saddam Hussein was not an imminent threat was not even read before they had cast their votes to authorize the President to strike Iraq. They argued the case for war before and after they knew the intelligence was wrong and did not even bother to obtain the facts first. They Ignored the The Voices Of Reason In Their Midst's. They rejected the TRUTH! They ignored the Out Spoken . Those who Spoke For The American People We All Know What Happened As a Result Of Their Votes And They Now Want Us To Ignore That And Make Them President?