Monday, March 10, 2008

Obama Pastor in Hot Water

More unwelcome scrutiny for the Obama campaign. Page one WSJ: "Obama Pastors' Sermons May Violate Tax Laws":
On Christmas morning, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. compared presidential candidate Barack Obama's impoverished childhood to Jesus Christ's. "Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people," he then trumpeted. "Hillary [Clinton] can never know that."

Mr. Wright wasn't at a convention or a campaign stop. He was standing at the pulpit before the mostly African-American congregation of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, where Sen. Obama has worshiped for more than 20 years.
On Christmas morning. How appropriate on one of the holiest days in the church calendar to laud God's favorite son...according to the Rev. Wright it's Barack Obama. It's an open secret that the longtime practice of Democrats' openly campaigning in churches has been sustained by a double standard in enforcing campaign laws. As it becomes more blatant that may be coming to an end. Wright's church is now being investigated, as is a church that backed Mike Huckabee. More:
Under the law that governs tax-exempt organizations, churches are allowed to support causes or ballot initiatives such as laws to ban same-sex marriage. They also can hold a candidates' night for all office-seekers in a race. But according to guidance provided on the IRS's Web site, churches are "absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office." [snip]

A review by The Wall Street Journal of 13 sermons at Trinity seen live or through church-recorded DVDs since late December found nine instances of ministers at Trinity appearing to promote Sen. Obama's candidacy.
Though the Rev. Wright has recently retired, his friendship with Barack Obama continues to be an issue.

UPDATE: The New Republic's Noam Scheiber "Out of the Tank: The Press Turns its Guns on Obama". Scheiber describes local Chicago reporters like Carol Marin and Mike Flannery, who normally don't travel with Obama but were there in San Antonio, as the "lunch-pail set" vs. the liberal white collar elites who are "more analytical". Lynn Sweet is described as an unofficial mascot of the lunch-pails.
It's not hard to see how these highfalutin ambitions might grate on blue-collar nerves. Some working stiffs note that Obama, when left to his own devices, seems to prefer the work of the elites. One observes that Obama is constantly working through a stack of newspapers, with The New York Times often on top (though Obama did recently comment to reporters that USA Today has gotten to be a "respectable paper"). These reporters say that Obama is unusually solicitous of Times columnist Maureen Dowd when she materializes on the campaign trail. They recall how he recently sidled up to her on the plane and remarked on her snazzy pair of boots.
Snarky Democrat MSM infighting. This piece will not endear Mr. Scheiber to Chicago reporters, who have been doing a much better job of vetting Barack Obama, much as they too are affected by his glow. Marin has him on tape from a year ago--many of those questions are still unanswered. And we have new tape. They'll be replayed.

Previous posts: Assessing Barack Obama, Barack's Apple Pie America, Victim or Corrupt Power Broker, Parade of Horribles, The Sanjaya Effect, Barack is Not Ready at 3 a.m., FARC Terrorists Heart Obama, Dem Shoes in the Closet, Michelle Profile

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