This past week, I was treated to non-stop, multi-channel coverage of the "Obama's Pastor" scandal - with little chance to escape save to shut the blasted TV off!  I was NOT particularly impressed by either the press coverage of the "incident" or Obama's personal response.  I'm left with the feeling that the "race card" has finally been played in this election campaign - BIG TIME - by the guy who was supposed to be "above it all!"

I wonder if anyone has considered a couple of possible reasons why this media frenzy was loosed at this particular time.  My first thought was that Hillary or one of her minions created the story to bury Obama's presidential hopes.  Consider: if you weren't a member of the church in question, how could you have possibly known about the sermon in question, and how could you have managed to get the video, unless you had the place staked out in hopes of a current "hate white America" outburst from this known controversial pastor - unless you sent spies in to get the "story?"

I changed my mind.  Hillary's comments on the subject were too bland.  I no longer think she engineered the show.

The other, and most likely, possibility is that the Democratic Party engineered the show to get exclusive press coverage for Obama, their most likely Presidential nominee at this point, while at the same time killing most of the already skimpy coverage doled out to the Republican candidate by the liberal press.  I have noticed, as you may have, that press coverage of McCain has been measured in seconds while the Democratic "fight" has been getting hours of direct coverage and more hours of debate by media pundits. Obama has had the spotlight exclusively for the past several days, and it looks like that trend will continue for some time.

At this critical pre-election time, it looks like the Republican candidate may be TOTALLY ignored by the press while Obama gets daily - even hourly - media exposure.  Voters may be led to believe that Obama is the only real candidate for President, and the differences between the Dem and Rep agendas may get lost in the shuffle.

Maybe McCain needs to get a friend or relative to say something outrageous in public so he can capture some media time!  Or maybe McCain's campaign managers need to recognize what's going on and take aggressive steps to get substantial media coverage for the man who is now the only rational alternative to either  Clinton or Obama in the upcoming election... lest we be lulled into forgetting that he's even there!

 

The media is full of "crap"! If pastors have the power to influence people the way they think Jeremiah "must have influenced Barack", then why is premarital sex equally high among Christians as non-Christians? Why is divorce as high among Christians as non-Christians? Why are 1 in 4 teenage girls infected with a sexually transmitted disease nationwide? Why is child abuse, drug abuse, white collar crime, etc., practiced among Christians in the same high numbers as among non-Christians? Surely it is not being preached from the pulpits that these things are okay, so why aren't people acting the way the pastor is instructing them from the pulpit? Why don't church-goers tithe like the pastor asks them to? Why don't they support the work and programs in the church like the pastor tells them to? Why? Because the pastor leads and instructs the way he feels he is led to do, but people do what they feel they are being led to do or they simply do what they want to do. The pastor is not responsible for the parishoner's behavior and the parishoner is not responsible for the pastor's words, thoughts, actions. People can love their pastor and still not practice anything he preaches from the pulpit. They can love their pastor even if they don't agree with everything he says. They can stay at a church for years and years and years even if they don't agree with the pastor's ideas and even if they feel they are not being fed spiritually by the pastor. Why? Because people go to church for lots of reasons and they get more out of church than what the pastor talks about from the pulpit. For them, the pastor's sermon is not the main reason they get up on Sunday morning. Some people are in church for purely social reasons. There are numerous networking opportunities in these large congregations. Other are active in the church's ministry inside the church as choir members, musicians, Sunday school teachers, deacons, ushers, etc. Others are attracted to all of the things the church does in the community. Some young people love the music ministry of a particular church or the Sunday School programs, or the youth church activities. Going to church is a positive alternative to the Sunday morning couch potato routine. Of course, the pastor is an integral part of the church, but it is not all about him.