by Roger L. Simon

Barack, I didn’t do it for this.

Barack, I was a civil rights worker… South Carolina, 1966… 22 yrs old … helping old folks register to vote, teaching kids to read and write, directing Raisin in the Sun…

Barack, I didn’t do it for this.

Barack, I dream of my kindergarten best friend Andy from Walden School, Manhattan, born one day after me, shot dead in Mississippi 1964.

Barack, I idolized Stokley Carmichael and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Barack, I lost the full use of my left hand for life in South Carolina.

Barack, I didn’t do it for this.

Barack, I gave hundreds to the Black Panthers for their children’s breakfast program when I was 25 and a young screenwriter in Echo Park, Los Angeles, even though I knew Huey was crazy and was worried my money might have been going for guns, even though I had my own children in the house when the Panthers came over, their jackets bulging.

Barack, I made excuses for the Black Power Movement even though I knew it was turning racist.

Barack, I didn’t do it for this.

Barack, your speech was bullshit.

Barack, this isn’t about generations.

Barack, this isn’t about the black church.

Barack, this is about a pathological minister whose uncontrolled anger wounds his own people and keeps them down.

Barack, this is about a man who ignored that rage for his own political gain and even now won’t admit a huge mistake and looks for nuance and excuses.

Barack, this about a woman who went on scholarship to Princeton and Harvard and still hates America.

Barack, you say you want Black-Jewish reconciliation but you hung with an anti-Semite.

Barack, I didn’t do it for this.

Roger L. Simon is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, novelist and blogger, and the CEO of Pajamas Media.

I thought Obamas speech was interesting.

He is again a charming orator but this time I felt the urge to look around the crowd for pick pockets

or to count the silverware after Obama left the dinner party.

I had never seen him as a huckster before.

The bad news is that Barack Obama has been leading as much of a double life as Eliot Spitzer.

While talking about bringing us together and deploring “divisive” actions, Senator Obama has for 20 years been a member of a church whose minister, Jeremiah Wright, has said that “God Bless America” should be replaced by “God damn America” — among many other wild and even obscene denunciations of American society, including blanket racist attacks on whites.

The bloom is off the rose, we will not be fooled again

Interesting. You were pro-Obama before this speech?
It's not like Obama was trying to hide who married him or baptized his children. You claim this is the equivalent of "as much of a double life as Eliot Spitzer". Well, I can certainly see where you're coming from.

I am afraid his speech is too little too late. Why did he not deal with this earlier, was he in denial?

More than half of voters are less likely to support Barack Obama for president after hearing the anti-American rants of his longtime Chicago pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a shocking poll revealed yesterday.

The Rasmussen Reports survey found that Wright's controversial comments made 56 percent of voters, including 44 percent of Democrats, less inclined to vote for Obama.



The wheels are coming of this bus and thats a pity

If Barack had only hired some hookers, becasue he wanted a little side action, he would get off the hook (pun intended), like Bill. However, he is trying to split hairs here. There is no real difference between his minister and David Duke. Hill is probably chuckling at this point...all she had to do was put up with Bill's friskiness, something that would help her in the end (and she knew it).

Barack failed the test, today, when he had a real opportunity to say something real. His wife failed, big time, a couple of weeks ago. This pig don't fly.

Barack is an interesting, compelling speaker. His former pastor of 20 years is truly shocking in his statements. You are who you associate with - you have choices.

Religion has really taken too hold a strong-hold in America. Separation of church and state, people! Who cares what his pastor said. Besides, his pastor had the protection of the First Amendment. Obama is no George Bush who has used religion to pacify the masses. What about the outrage in what Bush has done! Unbelievable. I think Obama understands separation of church and state.

"I think Obama understands separation of church and state."

a resident,

How can you, possibly, make that statemnt? Obama wears his religion and his Rev. Wright on his arm, like a tattoo. If elected, he will bring a liberationist, black racist view of Christianinty to rule our country. David Duke is his model, just the wrong color.

Sarah, ooooh those scary black people, best keep them in jail. If only it weren't for the darned civil rights movement, those blacks would still be our slaves and gosh darnnit then they'd finally shut up. Unbelievable that Obama, who didn't even make the statement, gets thrown into the fire, and the drug addict Rush Limbaugh ,who makes outrageous statements everyday, keeps on making millions. What a double standard people have: Bush who has literally driven the country to the ground remains in power, has practically started a Christian Crusade into Iraq killing thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's, but noooo it's those noisy black folk.

"Sarah, ooooh those scary black people"

a resient,

Them black folk never scared me. David Duke did scare me, becasue he was getting some traction with white folk. Obama just blew it, today. He is very articulate and slick, but he missed the essential issue, which is black racism. He didn't need to explain it, just condemn it, then move on.

Obama just failed the first major test in front of him.

Obama did condemn it and passed this test. It's all those scared conspiracy-type white people who make such a big issue out of it. He said that it's time for America to “move beyond some of our old racial wounds." There are people who say extreme things in every party, but Obama did not say it himself and I do not think he personally believes in what the pastor said. He's still better than Hillary, better than McCain, and hits the ball out of the park when compared to Bush.

Anti-Obama folks on this thread,

Independent of your likes or dislikes for Obama, it is apparent that he will go into the convention having won more popular votes than Hillary. When he does this and if the Democratic Party does not nominate him, the damage to the party will be great. If the leadership overrides the will of the people and nominates Hillary think about the fallout. I don’t think the party leadership is foolish enough to overrule the will of the people, so Obama will be the nominee. Just think how bitter those reverend’s speeches will be after taking the nomination from Obama and he wont be the only one.

That means the general will be McCain vs. Obama. Now if you are currently a Hillary supporter, will you be voting for McCain in the general? If not, you better get over it, and decide how much influence this reverend really has and stop doing damage to your nominee.

Disclaimer:
I am not in either party. I dont know yet whether I would vote McCain or Obama.

There are so many denominations in this country and if you don't like the message being preached then generally speaking a wise man would leave and find a different denomination that preached what you agree with.

There was no reason for Obama to continue attending a Church that preached a message with which he disagreed. By sitting in the pew Sunday by Sunday and putting his contribution into the collection plate, he is affirming what the message of that particular denomination is preaching. Anything else is hypocrisy.

First he says he is not Muslim because he attends a "Christian" Church. Now he says that this church did not preach what he believes. It is about time he actually decided what he does believe, because the message he is sending out doesn't make any sense at all.

And, for those who think that religion and politics shouldn't mix, then they should ask the candidates not to publicise the fact that they are regular church attendees. By Obama's affirmations that his Church attendance denoted that he was not Muslim, he has brought his church into this election, not the public.

Obama will lose in a general election to McCain. There's simply no way that he will win FL, or OH against McCain. Will of the people? You call caucuses in little rooms in GOP (red) states the will of the people? I don't think so. A vote for Obama is a vote for McCain.

Let's face it for some people Obama/Clinton will alwyas have a problem and nothing they say will be "correct". why?? because Obama is a democrat.
Republicans can associate with racist scum, hateful preachers, right-wing fanatics all they want. So-called talking heads like Limbaugh, Coulter, hannity, O'Reilly and Ingraham can spew all the venom they want--not a problem. they are republicans--so it is okay.

Barry Goldwater must be spinning in his grave about what has happened to the republican party

I have ancestors who risked their lives as they helped slaves escape up north on the Underground Railroad.
I am not filled with hatred like "a" who is so off base/ off the point in this discussion

voter, you are not your ancestors.

yes, I am always appalled at the racist comments that condemn whites for slavery, when whites died to stop it, ...by the way, where is the righteous Wright on the subject of modern day slavery in Africa? I mean slavery that is happening RIGHT NOW. Or where is his horror at the slaughter of blacks happening in Africa by blacks??...happening RIGHT NOW..

wake up, people.

By the way, google Juan Williams and his response to Barack....

So:

"That means the general will be McCain vs. Obama. Now if you are currently a Hillary supporter, will you be voting for McCain in the general?"

You better believe it. I am a Hillary supporter, a life long democrat. I have never voted Republican before and I'll vote McCain if Obama is the democratic nominee.

Furthermore, I did not need today's speech to make up my mind. From the beginning, I have thought that Obama's message of "hope and change" and "I am not from Washington" was just shallow. (The "I am not from Washington" part we already got from George w. Bush 8 years ago by the way.)

Obama's popular vote lead was accumulated prior to the voters knowing that he associates with a black radical racist. In fact, we now learn that he's been relying on Rev. Wright for the past twenty years. Obama clearly respects Wright and will not move away from his influence. Wake up Obama supporters. It's over! It's also prudent and understandable if the nomination now goes to Hillary. Either way, McCain wins.