Let's be fair on this Obama Gospel thing

The gospel flap is distasteful, but I don't know Obama's personal level of involvement or his ultimate position. And it seems that nobody else does either.

I have seen no reason to assume this has anything to do with Obama the man... his convictions or character. Everyone has people within their campaign with different attitudes and agendas that don't really represent on the candidate. Eventually there will be an official comment or action, and we'll see whatever there is to see.

Within a few weeks we will be deluged with opposition research releases and leaks from every direction on every candidate every day, and it's best to try to get in the habit of extending the benefit of the doubt until someone responds.

I hope everyone will extend this basic courtesy to all candidates in the days to come. This stuff is corrosive.

Remember, "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." --Gandhi

Let alone what he has said. I sure didn't, heh.

"Hey, we a got a really famous award winning gospel artist!"

"Great!"

Let's wait and see if they address this.

(Though I would advise adding "are you, by any chance, performing at the Republican National Convention" to the talent vetting process in future.)

Turns out that was the last convention, I don't know if he is going to do it again but he was described as a "Bush supporter" at the time. I think he will sing anywhere or somethin, heh.

DU would be aflame - but no, it's Obama so he gets a pass.

They are appreciated.

But having a popular gospel singer singing at a gospel concert doesn't seem like something that would raise a red flag. If his music doesn't contain gay bashing, I'm not sure why people would even know he thinks Jesus cures Gay.

Do artists usually get blacklisted from events for their personal views that are not associated with their art?

It wouldn't mean they were soft on child abuse, but people try to avoid the association.

This guy seems to have been a bush supporter in 04, but even that is conjecture. I don't hang in the right circles to know how outspoken he is. If he really spoke out for Bush's fight 'against the curse of homsexuality' then it's a fair issue, and any campaign should pick up on that sort of thing.

But I see no reason to assume Obama said, "let's get some crazy Republican "ex-gay" gospel singer," and it seems VERY unlikely that he would.

It's a fair topic, but not as a personalized thing like "Obama is a homo-phobe!" I don't know that Obama has ever even HEARD of the man, so that kind of personalized response can't be right.

I am biting my tongue right now because an HRC supporter told me flat-out about six months ago he/she didn't care about LGBT issues, and I see he/she in here today laying down some faux outrage. Feh.

I think people are smart enough to figure this out. They will either view it fairly, through partisan eyes or, worse, will consume the copious mis/disinformation available here at DU and be led astray.

But fairness? That is a precious commodity here at DU.

...but, he knows NOW, and how he handles it will make a big difference to a lot of people.

I've been troubled by Obama's courting of the religious right, but I have tried to remain open minded. He has a choice to make, if he chooses to throw gays under the bus in order to curry fundamentaliast votes, he will lose any chance he had at gaining my support.

Not all Christians are fundamentalists and Obama isn't so stupid to go after republicans who don't even find Rudy conservative enough.

However, there are a LOT of black, church going, christians who vote democratic. There are a lot of Christians who aren't fundies by any stretch but feel ignored by the democrats even if they are sick of Bush. That is who he is appealing to.

There's no proof that Obama is friends with this guy, or shares his point of view. On the gospel tour though, Obama has to know what this guy is about by now, so he should respond.

Let's say he didn't know.

What does he do now? Kick him off the concert and draw even more attention to this? Make a statement that he doesn't support his views?

Ignore the whole thing?

I dunno, his call.

the moral piece of this, the story's out there and it's not doing him any good. Putting the moral piece in, yeah, he should shitcan the asshole.

If he kicks this guy from the tour, he is still going to look bad, just in another way.

You ask someone to do a concert and then say, wait, I didn't know you were also a self-hating asshole, get out! If the MSM isn't picking up on this yet, and so far they haven't that I can see, doing that will get their attention. It looks like he doesn't know what he is doing.

If I were a betting woman I would say he issues a statement and keeps him on the tour.

But I'm not. :P

And in terms of votes kicking him might cost more than keeping him.

but for me personally, I hope he takes the looking bad for dumping him risk. Either way, I'm not sure how much this is going to effect his support.

Kicking him could help him keep any members of the LBGT community that have a foot out the door over this.

Then again, this singer might have something to say about it. And piss off the very christians he is courting with this tour.

I've been biting my evil tongue all day. But I know it's not right to go off uninformed.

Obama must try to reach everyone. Dont get me wrong ths hes not my favorite candidate but he needs a fair shot to reach people just like all the others in order to impress upon them his positions.

most likely came from Oprah herself. So it seems unlikely that Obama will discredit him now.

Ok, now it makes more sense, eh?

I'm not ready to buy the "How could Obama know this guy was a homophobe" line. They didn't get this guys name out of the phone book. Someone knew who he is, and someone knew he was big in gospel.

That someone knows who McClurkin is.

but I've never seen anything that tells me he would use the Presidency to push an anti gay agenda.I do think his handlers need to get that guy off the gospel tour though.

So please don't blame me for counseling *infinite* Patience if this post sticks around a few days.

Obama really doesn't have any kind of Rapid Response team for the netroots or... they are still trying to figure out what to do or...he's not going to address it at all because it's not worth it.

but I am offended by too much religion in politics and this incidence shows that it can be very risky. For all the supporters this tour has gained, how many people did he lose by the blatant focus on his faith?

Good going, guys! :eyes:

but the real eye opener has been reading the posts of some of his avid supporters here. SOME. I repeat: SOME.

Just a reminder that this is not an anti-Obama pro-somebody-else issue (at least from me) and that I had no interest in prejudging the man.

The simmering anger around here arose only after Obama had a chance to act, with a full understanding of the situation.

This is not a hit on Obama, at least not to most of us. I would be far more comfortable if this was about a different candidate. A lot of the current Obama detractors have a, "Say it aint so, Joe." attitude about this. We were not rooting against Obama. We were sincerely rooting FOR him to do the right thing.