Weiner Keynote Address at National Forum on "Obama and Christian Loyalty" Highlights the Hypocrisy of the Use of Religion by the Right When They Oppose Programs for the Poor Including Health Care, Jobs Bills, Housing Aid, Social Security
WASHINGTON, and DETROIT, Nov. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Robert Weiner, former White House spokesperson during the Bill Clinton administration and aide to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy and four senior Members of Congress, keynoted the 2011 National Forum on "Obama and Christian Loyalty" at Wayne State University in Detroit today.
Weiner asked, "How is it religious – how is it Christian or Jewish or Muslim – to oppose health care, jobs bills, housing aid for the poor, Social Security for seniors, or argue to 'Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,' when compassion is the basis of all religions? How dare Barack Obama's opponents attack him for loyalty to religion and Christianity when they flaunt theirs but do little about it. After all, 'Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.'"
Weiner cited what he called the "hypocrisy" of the leading Republican presidential candidates over the issue of religion. "It has become more common place for them to claim to be guided by faith, yet continue to ignore the plight of the poor."
"How about Mitt Romney saying, 'Let Detroit go bankrupt' referring to Detroit's auto industry, and later, 'Let housing foreclosures hit rock bottom,' and 'Let the banks buy them up.' I don't care if he's Mormon or not, but is dissing a whole city and blowing off thousands of workers' jobs religious? Is throwing people out of their homes religious? Can you be heartless and religious at the same time? I think not. And those weren't aberrant quotes – he repeated the same views in the debate here [in Detroit]."
"Gov. Rick Perry of Texas jump started his campaign with a prayer rally for 30,000 supporters at Houston's Reliant Stadium. Then when he called Social Security – which has ended poverty for 75% of seniors for 76 years – a Ponzi scheme, his campaign began to unravel," Weiner said. "Having a prayer rally does not make you religious. Words at a prayer event may be guided by faith. But the buck stopped there. What happens outside the stadium walls counts," Weiner said.
According to Weiner, another candidate, Michelle Bachman claims "that her faith is the underpinning of everything she does. But she is selective. What religious principle justifies returning seniors to poverty by slicing Social Security and Medicare while opposing any revenue source to fix the programs including refusing to end disproportionate rich tax breaks? What religious principle guided her in her repeated proud declarations that she wants to repeal national health care?"
Herman Cain has been in the news due to the current scandal. However, Weiner goes after the candidate on his stance on the poor. "I have no idea how Cain justifies his recent statements given all that's coming out. But even aside from his personal life, how can he justify saying government has no role in finding jobs or helping people, and that desperately poor people should just go to churches – that's what he said – to seek help," Weiner explains.
At the national conference, Bankole Thompson launched his new book, "Obama and Christian Loyalty." The work is the second book in a six part series on the Obama presidency published by Global Mark Makers (http://www.globalmarkmakers.com).
"The depth of Bankole's research and his persistence in completing the work show why under his leadership, the Michigan Chronicle has six times in the past twelve years been named 'best black paper in the country' by the National Newspaper Association," Weiner said about Thompson. "He's the first editor of a major African-American newspaper to have a series of sit-down interviews with President Obama. Bankole is also a leader in America on bridges between the religions and between ethnic and racial groups. Bankole brings people together."
CONTACT: Richard Mann/Robert Weiner 301-283-0821 or cell 202-306-1200
SOURCE Robert Weiner Associates
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