Andrew posts an entire sermon from Reverend Wright, Obama’s old pastor. The networks have been playing clip after clip of some of Wright’s offensive comments, leaving the impression that every sermon he gives has this type of language.

The sermon posted by Andrew is called “The Audacity of Hope” and Barack Obama used this as the title of his second book. When you read the sermon, you see a pastor doing what you would expect from a pastor, giving a sermon about finding hope through one’s faith. It’s a good sermon.

After reading this, it is easier to beieve Obama’s claim that most of what he heard at Trinity were sermons about Jesus and family.

In an exclusive on the Huffington Post, Barack Obama resonds to the offensive statements made by his pastor:

The pastor of my church, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who recently preached his last sermon and is in the process of retiring, has touched off a firestorm over the last few days. He’s drawn attention as the result of some inflammatory and appalling remarks he made about our country, our politics, and my political opponents.

Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it’s on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.

He goes on to explain how he became involved in the church, and how he will stay there with the new pastor who replaced Wright.

He will obviously need to address this subject again many times in the future. It will no doubt hurt him politically with some voters. He asks that people judge him on his own statements, and I suspect most voters will do just that.

Let me repeat what I’ve said earlier. All of the statements that have been the subject of controversy are ones that I vehemently condemn. They in no way reflect my attitudes and directly contradict my profound love for this country.

With Rev. Wright’s retirement and the ascension of my new pastor, Rev. Otis Moss, III, Michelle and I look forward to continuing a relationship with a church that has done so much good. And while Rev. Wright’s statements have pained and angered me, I believe that Americans will judge me not on the basis of what someone else said, but on the basis of who I am and what I believe in; on my values, judgment and experience to be President of the United States.

Race is of course an issue, but it’s not THE reason he’s been successful. It’s his talent.

Those who don’t understand Obama’s popularity might want to read this passage from Obama regarding his stance on abortion.

Obama does give a great speech, but it’s his temperment and willingness to listen to other points of view, even when he disagrees with them, that sets him apart from most politicians.

These guys just suck.

What is real patriotism? Does it involve wearing a flag pin? Of course not, and that’s Obama’s position. True patriots want America, the country we all love, to achieve its true greatness. That means standing up and speaking one’s mind when the government is screwing things up.

Obama constantly addresses these themes, and as pointed out in the post below, he spoke to that in his latest speech as well. But he needs to hammer this point home, and address all the silly rumors circulating around the web. A stop on the Larry King show afterwards wouldn’t be a bad idea as well.

Andrew Sullivan has some good advice for Obama, and he touches on this point as well.

Make a speech about the Internet slurs. Stop ducking them. Confront them. Talk about your Christian faith and your childhood exposure to Islam. Tell people about your parents. Debunk that idiotic pledge of allegiance meme. Grab the flag pin issue by the lapels. Do it all at once undefensively. Yes, it will raise the profile of every single slur. But if you rebut them candidly, gracefully, calmly, you will defuse them. You can run but you can’t hide from Internet crapola. So confront it; defeat it. Right now, on these issues alone, the Obama camp is actually captive to the politics of fear. Don’t be.

The smear campaigns are starting to take their toll. He was going to have to address this stuff at some point in the general election, so maybe it will help him in the long run to deal with this stuff now. Joe Klein sums up the problem.

There was another issue bubbling, which I hesitate to raise because it is largely scurrilous. It has to do with Obama’s patriotism. There is a segment of the American populace that just can’t get past his name. There are Internet sleaze purveyors — a few, sadly, with roots in the Jewish community — who have exploited this fact to spread slanderous nonsense about Obama. Hillary Clinton disgraced herself by playing into these innuendos by telling 60 Minutes that Obama isn’t Islamic “as far as I know.” Over the past few weeks, though, both Barack and Michelle Obama have given ammunition to the smear artists. Michelle’s moment was her extremely unfortunate statement that the success of her husband’s campaign had made her “proud of my country” for the first time in her adult life. The Senator’s moment came in the Ohio debate when he played political word games before rejecting the support of the bigot Louis Farrakhan. The hesitation was noticeable — and unacceptable. There are other guilt-by-association problems floating out there: the occasional over-the-top racial statements by Obama’s pastor Jeremiah Wright; the fact that Obama has been described as “friendly” with 1960s dilettante-terrorist William Ayers. It seemed clear on primary night that Obama was aware of this potential problem, as patriotism replaced hope as a theme of his concession speech. He echoed John McCain in citing Abraham Lincoln, and called America “the last best hope on Earth.” That was the only “hope” he mentioned — a fascinating calibration.

I noticed the same thing in his speech. He emphasized the love he has for his country. This is not new for him, but addressing the patriotism issue head on is not a bad idea.

This ad looks pretty suspicious. The Clinton campaign is denying that they made Obama look darker in their ad, but the photos being circulated around the web look pretty bad.

I think the whole race/Muslim/Farrakhan issue did him in. He obviously needs to overcome this and keep addressing these rumors.

The question is whether the Clinton campaign is fanning the flames. Let’s see how this ad plays into the discussion.

Government can’t do everything. Parents need to do their part.

“Turn off the TV set, put the video game away. Buy a little desk or put that child at the kitchen table. Watch them do their homework. If they don’t know how to do it, give them help. If you don’t know how to do it, call the teacher. Make them go to bed at a reasonable time. Keep them off the streets. Give them some breakfast. Come on! And since I’m on a roll, if you’re child misbehaves in school, don’t cuss out the teacher! Do something with your child!”

More states are poised to ban racial preferences. These initiatives might pose an interesting dilemna for Barack Obama should he secure the Democratic nomination. Obama has acknowledged the problem of affirmative action programs based entirely on race, but he has not advocated banning the use of race entirley in favor of economic status.