Keep Going, Demos!

[howeird]

To all those people screaming about how they want the Democrats to end the nomination race before the convention, I say how un-American!

Back when elections were done right, the nominee was picked at the convention, by the delegates elected to do that job. During my childhood it was rare to go into a convention knowing who the nominee would be. Sometimes the balloting would go late into the night, and the person who emerged as winner might be a compromise candidate, or someone with more political skill or more favors owed.

Things have changed for the better - we now have primaries and caucuses to select most of the delegates, rather than smoke-filled rooms. Let's let those happen, and let the delegates go through the due process.

For those who think it is tearing the party apart, I don't think so. It may be tearing you apart to have to wait for the last reel to find out how the movie ends. That's your problem -- deal.

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Edit Add: A tangent. I'm calling on the great LJ Hive Mind for information. I am an atheist and was raised an orthodox/conservative Jew, and know next to nothing about the relationship between Christian congregants and their spiritual leaders. Obama said something about Rev. Wright about a week ago which made me go "WTF?", in light of the fact that Wright essentially oversaw Obama's conversion to Christianity. But that's from the point of view of someone who has seen the very close connection between converts to judaism and the rabbi who oversaw their conversion. I need the Christian take on this quote:

"I know that one thing that he said was true, that he was never my "spiritual adviser." He was never my spiritual mentor. He was my pastor. And to some extent how the press characterized in the past that relationship, I think, was inaccurate."

Comments

[susandennis]

I, too, am really weary of the whining over this process. It's really grinding on me. I've been trying to have kind thoughts about Daniel Schorr cause he's old and venerable but when he got on the whine wagon, I put him on my short list.

If I understand your edit you are saying that since Wright 'essentially oversaw Obama's conversion' that he is/was de facto a his spiritual adviser?

Not so much in Christianity. Especially not so much in Black Christianity. Conversion is really more of a personal thing. It's likely that to seal the deal, Wright baptized Obama but that's really a pro forma thing. I've had friends convert to Judaism and their Rabbi was a critical part of the process all along the way. The pastor serves a different - not nearly as hands on - role. It's much different usually in Christianity.

Having said that, I will add that unlike any other faith that I know of in the United States (except maybe the Mormans in Utah), in many areas of the country the Black pastor (individually or as a group) is a very powerful political force.

[howeird]

Thanks, that is the wrong conclusion I was jumping to.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

Confirmation (um, as it were) of this from Britain. I converted to Catholicism when I married the Countess (it didn't take) and there was certainly no special mentor-type relationship with the priest. I think that's probably the norm in Christianity here, certainly.

I've had to take on faith the various people saying that the ongoing division over the nomination was a bad thing. There do seem to be rather a lot of them. Still, if you say it isn't, that's another opinion to add to the mix. Wasn't it actually at the convention that Bartlet pulled a fast one and replaced the presumptive nominee Hoynes?

[howeird]

Thanks for the info about conversion.

The people who are moaning about the division are mostly people who support Obama, and mostly started whining when Obama began making big gains in the polls (call them the lemmings). The fact that only one Republican was able to find the $$ to continue the race all the way has something to do with the fact that McCain (like Kerry in 2004) has a very wealthy wife to bankroll him, but most of the lemmings don't know this, and assume it's because the Republicans are a well-oiled machine. Well-greased, is more accurate. The pundits have gone completely anal about the non-race the GOP has vs. the very competitive one the Democrats have.

I suspect what will happen at the convention is neither candidate will have a clear majority, and once again the issue will be decided in the back rooms. John Edwards is waiting in the wings for that very thing, either as a VP or presidential candidate.

[yourbob.livejournal.com]

Okay, first of all Obama never converted. He was "born that way". Even the pundits are getting tired of having to correct the factual error that he was ever anything but xtian.

If he moved between sects of protestant xtianity, the conversion process is mainly Show Up.

Pastors can have a variety of roles for a congregant. Anywhere from "someone we see from the back row on select Sundays" thru close friend or pick-your-relative-figure to wouldn't-make-a-move without their blessing control-figure.

[howeird]

From everything I have read, Obama was born to a couple who were free-thinkers, not Xtian. He has been quite clear that Wright "brought him to the foot of the cross". His name is pretty solid proof his father was not Xtian.