Thursday, March 20, 2008

In Which the Blogger Admits He's Made an Error in Judgment


I voted for Hillary Clinton in the Arkansas primary, and I've changed my mind. I explain in an article in Quiblit Magazine.

4 comments:

Kevin Clark said...

Even though I wouldn't vote for him, I like Obama. His speech was very good, and if he wrote it himself, then his level of intelligence and competence is way up there.

Obama may be the next President, and if he is, then God bless him and I'll pray for him every day. But wasn't the speech a bit worrying in that he didn't really address the issue? Why did Obama sit in those pews for 20 years listening to these things that he rejects? Even more, why did he allow his children to sit in those pews and hear these things? I don't think Obama agrees with Rev. Wright on the crazy things Wright says. Obama is way too smart for that. But he must have thought that what Wright said did not matter very much, that it wasn't very offensive. That worries me.

Catnapping said...

Personally, I agree with much of what Wright says in the sermons I've watched on Youtube.

I wonder how many people think they know what he said, but have only heard fox news' spin.

Archaeopteryx said...

Kev, I believe we've had this conversation before. You don't reject loved ones--and for many, that would include a pastor--because they have viewpoints that are wrong, or even offensive. (o/t--any news on your book?)

Cat, I don't know that I agree with what Wright says, but I think I can understand why he might believe some of the things he does.

Kevin Clark said...

I agree that Obama should not in any way reject Pastor Wright. If Pastor Wright brought Obama into the church, then Pastor Wright is a spiritual father to Obama, and thus Obama owes him a debt of gratitude and respect that should never be minimized. But that can be separated from the inflammatory and racially charged words that Wright uses. I just wonder, on a personal level, how Obama sat there with his children week after week as Wright said things such as that the AIDS epidemic is a white plot to kill black people. After the service each week, does he sit his children down and explain to them that what Wright says isn't really true?

By the way, I think what Obama said about the older generation is absolutely correct. In that sense, I don't blame Wright at all. I just happened to watch In the Heat of the Night with Sidney Poitier. You can feel the oppressive danger that Poitier's character is in all the time. I was thinking about Wright while watching that movie, and thinking that anyone who had to grow up in a situation where they had no real recourse to the protection of the law and could be beaten or killed pretty much at whim could well be scarred for life by that. That scarring wouldn't stop just because the times changed.

Regarding the book, I have sent queries to 30 or 40 agents. I've gotten back 4 replies asking to see more. I know that seems like a pretty low percentage, but from what I have gleaned, it's actually not bad.