The Colvin Report: Wrightgate -- Obama Reacts

Judgment. Change. Hope.

Well, its about time.

Take a look at the Washington Post.

He described Wright as his pastor and a man "who provided valuable contributions to our family." He said the Wright who spoke to the press club "is not the person I knew for 20 years."

"When he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS; when he suggests Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st centuries; when he equates the United States's wartime efforts with terrorism; there are no excuses. They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans..."

Obama said he was "particularly angered" by Wright's allegation that the candidate was engaging in political posturing when he denounced the minister's earlier remarks.

"If Rev. Wright considers that political posturing, then he doesn't know me very well," Obama said. "Based on his comments yesterday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought, either."

Now, here is my last problem with the Wrightgate.

It has been known for over a year that Wright was asked not to attend Obama's Presidential Bid Announcement because Obama's advisors knew who Wright was and what he would do to Obama's campaign if associated early.

But what has come out from Wrights recent statements is that although he was asked not to attend Obama's Presidential Bid Announcement, he met Obama and Michelle in the basement to pray.

Can you imagine... Obama felt that he was too controversial to be out in public with him, so he had to hide him in the basement.

This draws to question, was Wright correct in saying Obama is just playing politics? Does it really seem like Obama was unaware of these statements?

Remember, Wright did nothing more then affirm his earlier statements that Obama has been well aware of for years. Wright hit a nerve with Obama and he struck back. The problem is that Wright hit a nerve with America, and Obama could no more disown Wright then his own family.

The Colvin Report: Victim Wright

There isn't much to say on this one. Wright now thinks he is a victim of a "public crucifixion" and that his words were taken out of context.

I'm not sure how statements blaming the U.S. for 9/11, claiming white people invented HIV to bring black people down, calling the USA the U S of The KKK A, or any of the other outlandish comments recorded on video could possibly have been justified by context... but okay.

He contends that he "describes the conditions in this country...[and] Conditions divide, not my descriptions."

So, apparently Wright believes his outlandish statements were truthful and that the media is to blame for making unedited video look bad.

To Wright, "This isn't an attack on Jermiah Wright, it's an attack on the black church." However, as I recall the statements were made by Wright not a church body and had nothing to do with religion.

He calls it an honest dialog about race... but it sounds more like crazy talk by extremists to me.

More disturbing... again Rev. Wright receives standing ovations and goes unchallenged.

The Colvin Report: Whose To Blame In The Housing Crisis?

I was watching the news this morning when Howard Dean started to attack McCain's plan for dealing with the housing crisis on the basis that McCain said that the ultimate source of the problem rests on the individuals who took out loans they couldn't afford.

I am not going to address the plan itself or what sort of regulation is needed to prevent this from occuring in the future, but I want to address Howard Dean's response.

According to Dean, there is no need for individual accountability. He believes the government should bail people out and the problem will be solved.

However, the source of the problem has to be recognized and accounted for, it cannot be ignored.

The fact of the matter is that many of these home owners took out loans with variable interest rates, knowing the interest rates were at an all time low and would soon rise. They chose these variable interest rates because they could not afford the payments on the loan at the fixed rate. These were people that would not have been able to afford to buy a house without the low interest rates and the banks relaxed credit policies.

Yes, that is right, these people took out loans when interest rates were at historic lows, while there was a 100% possibility of interest rates rising and then these same people were baffled when they couldn't make payments at the higher interest rates.

Maybe banks should have looked deeper into the candidates reported income and ability to repay when the interest rates fluctuated, but the underlying problem is accountability. These individuals are ultimately the ones who over-stretched their finances and in some cases lied to banks.

To suggest it is somehow improper to ask individuals to be accountable for their decisions is unreasonable. Battle over a solution, but don't blame McCain for stating the obvious reality.

Accountability, an interesting concept.

The Colvin Report:Obama The Debate Dodger

Obama is back to dodging debates again.

No "change" here. He is back to the same excuse. "I'm not ducking. We've had 21"

But, much like most of Obama's rhetoric, it is just rhetoric.

One-on-one, Obama and HIllary have debated 4 times and they haven't turned out so well for Obama. Apparently "Yes We Can" doesn't encompass debating one-on-one with opposing candidates.

In the latest debate dodging debacle, HIllary even offered to have a 90-minute debate unmoderated, Lincoln-Douglas style, to ease Obama's fears of being called out on his questionable connections to terrorists, racists, and extortionists.

Not enough for Obama. Perhaps it is playing good politics, but isn't that what Obama is suppose to change?

Its the equivalent of saying you don't take lobbyist money to run your campaign, but then giving them physical posts in your campaign and encouraging their wives and employees to donate to the campaign. It just doesn't add up.

Any other election season, a debate this late in the game would be unneeded, but that is not the case right now. The democrats still have two horses in this race and supporters from both sides are not backing down. The people need to see the candidates face to face and hear their plans for America. A speech is nice, but people want to hear him take tough questions and watch him respond without a script.

I believe Obama is making a big mistake, especially when an overwhelming percentage of Hillary supporters say that they would support McCain in a general election over Obama.