Welcome to You’re the Pundit. Here is where we start a conversation. It’s your turn. Share your ideas, ask questions and answer them.

Every week we post a question ripped from the news pages. Hit us with your best shot—of opinion—or react to someone else’s views. Either way, help us think through the issues of the day.

Let’s keep it civil—and have some fun.

This week’s question: How have the recent appearances by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright affected your view of Sen. Barack Obama?

I am a white female over 55.  I do like Sen Obama.  I will vote for Sen. Clinton if she wins the nomination, but she is not my first choice. Jeremiah Wright has not affected my view of Barak Obama.  I have a close circle of friends who are very diverse.  Some are solid right, some are solid left, some like me are middles with leanings in one direction or the other depending upon the subject.  Sometimes my friends make statements can be offensive and that I totally disagree with.  I would call them on it, but I would not cast them off because someone is offended by what they say.  They are my friends and have a right to their own opinions; we are individuals, not clones. Sen. Obama did repudiate what Jeremiah Wright said.  Last time I looked we still had freedom of speech.  I would think worse of Obama if he cast off Mr. Wright.  BTW, Sen. Clinton should look in her own backyard…remember many women were calling for her to leave her husband after his mess with Monica.

Now that Senator Obama has repudiated Rev. Wright, I’m even more dismayed by the man and his quick rise amongst the voters just because they want something different.  Twenty years to spend under the leadership and guidance of Rev. Wright is repudiated in one speech?  I’m not so sure that’s any better than what Bill Clinton did…and Hillary’s standing by Bill is Hillary’s business.  Personal stuff.  If she stayed in her marriage, fine, that was her choice, I’m not judging her for that.  I’m far more interested in what she can do and bring to our Country.  I’m sure the Republicans are gleefully watching the Democrats divide themselves over these issues that are causing Democratic voters to say - well, if Hillary is nominated, I’m voting for McCain.  Excuse me?  Folks, 4 more years of Republican big business cronieism is not what we need, and we do need to find a sane, sensible way out of Iraq for the good of all, and a way to restore our Country back to Americans.  Lately, and after the Rev. Wright incident, I don’t think Obama is it anymore.

Rev. Wright has not impacted my views of Sen. Barack Obama. I still feel indifferent toward him simply because of his lack of experience. He has no record of accomplishment (politically, nationally) to speak of; he is clearly running on ego and soft skills. The choice in this race is clear: Sen. HILLARY CLINTON. Given the dire economic climate we’re living, we cannot afford to support an amateur presidential candidate who has no record of accomplishment, people. Senator Clinton has 35 years of experience fighting for the poor and middle class, ethnic minorities, women, GLBT communities, and the environment. She was the first candidate and is still the only candidate to establish clear, comprehensive action plans for North Carolina’s energy initiatives, job creation, affordable higher education, universal health care, solutions to end poverty, and solutions for the mortgage crisis. Senator Clinton also offers thorough plans for her first 100 days in the White House including port/infrastructure security, ending the war, and foreign policy related to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, and Israel. 
Let me remind your readers that a Female nor Black face indicates integrity, intentions, experience, trustworthiness, or action. When I hear and observe Senator Obama, I see an upstanding, courageous, inspirational figure. I do not see the next president of the United States. We need someone who can beat the Republican machine and stop the Bush replica from racking up another victory. That individual is Senator Hillary Clinton! If the election were held today, Clinton would defeat McCain in the Electoral College because of her lead in big, electoral-rich states. She has won all but one large state to date including Pennsylvania last week, and let’s not forget that the general election will not be based on a caucus—it will depend on a primary, which Sen. Clinton has proven to be far superior in over Sen. Obama.

As a voter, I think it shows that Obama and his camp are not ready for prime time. This has been a disaster. At least it’s a domestic upset, unlike when Obama got himself burned in effigy in Pakistan for threatening to invade them! Bush was an idiot, but at least his public relations people were competent.

Obama may be a sincere muddler, but he has hurt Wright and his own family by this. Some say he is not welcome back in the church.

I think before he hurts more people or ruins his career permanently, Obama should drop out of the contest ‘for unity’ and try again in 2016, as was his original plan. Maybe by then this and other blunders will be forgotten, and he will have gained some experience and hopefully some better judgement.

Rev. Wright’s recent appearances, and in particular, the things he reiterated from the sermon video clips that were circulating recently, lowered my estimation of Obama’s judgment. After a close 20-year relationship with his pastor, Obama should have known that he held radical views, which were offensive to many people.

Rev. Wright’s words offended me as a human being, an American citizen and a scientist. His views on the world are based in hatred—hatred of those different from him; hatred of those whose views he disagrees with; and hatred of those who he believes have oppressed his people.

He also represents much of the archaic thinking so prevalent in our society today. In particular, he bases his views in emotion, instead of attempting to incorporate scientific perspective into his thinking about other people and the causes of things. For instance, his insistence that AIDS was invented by the U.S. Government to harm black people is beyond preposterous.

In 2006, scientists searching for the origin of HIV finally tracked its original source to two colonies of chimpanzees in a corner of Cameroon. The finding represents the culmination of a 10-year hunt for the source of the pandemic and provides a crucial link between HIV, which causes AIDS in humans, and the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a strikingly similar virus that infects monkeys and chimpanzees. Researchers believe that south-east Cameroon is where the virus first jumped from chimpanzees to humans before HIV infection began spreading among people as far back as the 1930s.

Understanding this scientific information is very important to all of us because scientists base their theories for cures on this type of evidence. If pastors, whom people trust like their own family, preach that HIV/AIDS was invented by the government, then scientists can’t obtain support for their research. In other words, on many levels, Rev. Wright’s teachings are harmful to many people.

That Obama either didn’t know or didn’t care that Wright believed (and taught) offensive, untrue things, speaks volumes about his judgment and his world view. Perhaps that’s why some people blindly support Obama. They do not base their views on facts, but on emotion. And, with his emotional, rhetorical style, Obama sways them to follow him to the promised land. He sounds a lot like Wright.

Therefore, I will support Clinton, who values objective reasoning and funding for scientific research, which will allow us to focus our energies on finding cures for deadly diseases, and solutions to our problems, rather than teaching (or accepting) hate.