Obama was interviewed this morning on the main Phila. talk radio station (WPHT) by Michael Smerconish, a Republican who has appeared on national shows on MSNBC and Bill Maher. It was a very positive interview.
http://www.philly.com/...
Obama, Smerconish talk church, bin Laden
By Peter Mucha, Philadelphia Inquirer
"This is not a crackpot church," the Democratic presidential candidate said of Trinity United Church of Christ. ". . . This is a pillar of the community, and if you go there on Easter, this Easter Sunday, and you sat down there in the pew, you would think this is just like any other church." Obama told WPHT host Michael Smerconish these isolated excerpts give a distorted picture.
Later this morning, Smerconish said in an interview that he "put up with a lot of antagonism" from e-mailers and callers because he had praised Obama's major speech on the racial divide, which was delivered last Tuesday at the National Constitution Center.
On MSNBC's Hardball, Smerconish called the speech "stunning" because Obama dared to speak frankly on the subject, he said. Obama's "an un-P.C. guy," whose biography, Dreams of My Father, is also refreshingly candid, Smerconish said. "That's what I like. I think we can handle the truth. You score points with me by having a direct conversation."
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To hear the a podcast of the Obama interview, go to http://www.thebigtalker1210.com
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Here is the column that this Republican radio host wrote about Obama in the Phila Inquirer:
http://www.philly.com/...
Here's an excerpt of that column:
What I found most refreshing about the speech was Obama's willingness to give it at all - a totally unmuzzled talk about race. He spoke with customary elegance, in stark contrast to the angry rants of his pastor. How ironic that this powerful orator has been undermined not by his own words, but by those of his pastor, and some of his critics. He has managed to distance himself from the angry extremists to his left and right, using something more than just grandiose language: substance. The transcript is definitely recommended reading.