Organizing for America | Paul de Jong Speaks on Obama Campaign: Dodging freedom of speech attacks

Post from Paul de Jong Speaks on Obama Campaign:

Dodging freedom of speech attacks

By Paul de Jong - Jun 1st, 2008 at 3:34 pm EDT

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Tags: Church, freedom of speech, Pastor, Yes We Can

I think Barack Obama could have avoided this entire thing with his church and these pastors if he would have admitted early on that he knew about these occasional outcries and that is part of why he understands the need for change better then most other politicians in Washington. The message could be that, yes, those outcries happen even though those outcries seriously dilute the true message of the church and they are part of my motivation for working for change.

Barack Obama could say something like "Yes, I have been in the trenches of under served communities, where the school, city services, etc... are all sub standard and I understand the inequalities. I have heard people lash out and know the explosive nature of these situations. One only need to think back to incidences like Rodney King to see this come to the surface. This is not just the Black community, all under served groups have some level of frustration. Of course they do! I am running for president in part to try to heal some of these wounds. I have seen them my entire life. I was lucky in that I had a great mother who lifted me above it and gave me great morals to stand on. And yes, I could have gone and hid in a closet pretending like people are not mad and that people don't say stupid things and there is no excuse for a preacher to say dumb things like that. Or I could simply refuse to talk to these people as is per the policies of this current administration. But instead, those outcries only helped to build my resolve and sense of urgency that change needs to happen now. The time has come. The time is now! I want to bring this great nation together, because we are the greatest when we all work together. We can bring this nation together. The neigh sayers want to say we can't. But I say 'YES WE CAN!' YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!"

I think if Barack were to make it part of his message the situation would have been better. Don't step in the traps, instead turn them upside down so they are rendered harmless once and for all!

I am sure there will be more traps... the trick is to be ready for them!

Thanks for reading,

~Paul

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By DaxC Jun 1st 2008 at 8:25 pm EDT

So basically, your saying that even if he didn't know, he should have lied about something he wasn't privy to... thus, putting his integrity on the line just to make the media happy...

WoW! I find it rather interesting that when the picture of Bill and Rev Wright surfaced, Bill excused it as just another photo that he takes with people who come by the white house and or that he takes at functions... After Bill spoke... that was the end of it...

Why couldn't Obama's initial stance have been the end to the issue...

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