I don’t know who to vote for
features, news March 29th, 2008
I’ve held off from blogging about the whole Rev. Jeremiah Wright scandal because, frankly, I don’t know what to say. I was planning on casting my vote for Obama for a variety of reasons and despite a variety of others.
I don’t know if that’s changed, but I really wish I hadn’t heard the crazy stuff that came out of his pastor’s mouth. You can find it for yourself without much effort but I’m too far behind with everything to go on a linkfest.
Basically, I remember telling one of my good friends that I could never vote for John Kerry because he professed to a religion (Catholic) that clearly did not coincide with his political stance on abortion. I know that Obama is as pro-choice as they come, but my reasoning for Kerry was this– I don’t want a president who claims one thing is correct in private life but the opposite is true for the public. I voted for Bush, and well, you can see where that got us.
While Obama has disavowed his former pastor’s statements, I still don’t like the idea that he was exposed to that kind of racism on a regular basis.
Who will I be voting for this November? I have no idea, even if Obama wins the nomination.
March 30th, 2008 at 3:51 am
At this point, I’m still casting my vote for Obama. I cannot concientiously vote for either McCain or Clinton and, cynical or not, I want to vote for someone that actually has a chance of making it into the White House. Right now none of the lesser-known candidates are compelling enough to sway my support.
My take on Rev. Wright is this: he said some truly crazy (and some truly awful) things, but what I have heard seems to fit within the exaggerated hyberole that contemporary black preaching is known for. It’s a rhetoric that is supposed to be shocking, and even offensive, and while I don’t feel it’s entirely appropriate in the forum of Sunday worship, I also recognize that there’s a cultural precedent.
As for Obama’s relationship with Wright, my feeling is that an intelligent person can have the discernment to be in a relationship with someone (like a pastor) without totally supporting everything that they say or do. It’s not that I’m particularly enamored with Obama, just that I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.
Anyway, I wrote a book, didn’t I?
I guess this has all be milling around in my head for awhile…