Posted by Jed Lewison on Fri Mar 14, 2008 at 3:48 PM Pacific

Barack Obama at Ebenezer Baptist Church

Andrew Sullivan responds to a skeptical reader with passages from Barack Obama's autobiography. He observes:

I don't know how you can read Obama's writing or listen to any of his speeches and believe that Wright's ugliest messages are what Obama believes or has ever believed. He wrote these words long before he was running for president. They struck me powerfully as I read them; because they helped me understand how hard hope can be for the very poor or those from broken families or gripped with addiction. I don't see how the impulse to listen to, bond with, and help those people is an ugly impulse, however ugly the anger that can come from those places sometimes is.

Sullivan's approach is the right one: if a skeptic wants insight into Barack Obama's thoughts and views, the best place to start is by listening to and reading what Barack Obama himself has to say. Certainly, watching highlight videos of his former pastor's most outrageous moments -- as prepared by conservative propaganda organs -- is not the right way to go.

In that spirit, in case you haven't seen it, here is Barack Obama speaking at Martin Luther King, Jr.'s church on Sunday, January 20th. It's a fantastic speech.

Barack Obama at Ebenezer Baptist Church

Andrew Sullivan responds to a skeptical reader with passages from Barack Obama's autobiography. He observes:

I don't know how you can read Obama's writing or listen to any of his speeches and believe that Wright's ugliest messages are what Obama believes or has ever believed. He wrote these words long before he was running for president. They struck me powerfully as I read them; because they helped me understand how hard hope can be for the very poor or those from broken families or gripped with addiction. I don't see how the impulse to listen to, bond with, and help those people is an ugly impulse, however ugly the anger that can come from those places sometimes is.

Sullivan's approach is the right one: if a skeptic wants insight into Barack Obama's thoughts and views, the best place to start is by listening to and reading what Barack Obama himself has to say. Certainly, watching highlight videos of his former pastor's most outrageous moments -- as prepared by conservative propaganda organs -- is not the right way to go.

In that spirit, in case you haven't seen it, here is Barack Obama speaking at Martin Luther King, Jr.'s church on Sunday, January 20th. It's a fantastic speech.

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