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# Letter: Obama's judgment and his ties to Rezko and Rev. Jeremiah Wright
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/031808-story/
- Published: 2008-03-18T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T18:54:11.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By David Stoughton Santa Monica*

Barack Obama may not have been in public service for as long as Hillary Clinton, but he is not without experience, nor is he without a record of making judgments.

For example, he has the experience of a longtime personal and political fundraising relationship with indicted Chicago businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko. As for his judgment in maintaining that affiliation over the years, Obama himself has assessed it as a “boneheaded mistake.”

Now come revelations about the preaching and teachings of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, with whom Obama has 20 years of experience, sitting in the pews as his pastor delivers incendiary sermons that in many instances are indistinguishable from the hateful rants of Louis Farrakhan, whom the church has honored in its magazine.

If Obama prevails as the Democratic nominee and goes on to win the general election, for the first time in our history we will have a president sitting in the Oval Office who has chosen as his spiritual leader a man who screams to an adoring congregation, “No, no, no. Not God bless America. God damn America.”

That will be real change.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 18, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/031808.pdf?ref=smdp.com)