Only on Fox Could Bush’s Personal Friend Become Obama’s ‘Pastor Problem’

The right wing media has gotten so desperate to feed their Obama hate machine that they have labeled a pastor who George W. Bush considers a personal friend to be Obama’s latest ‘pastor problem.’

It has become an Easter tradition for the right to find something or someone to use to attack President Obama as anti-Christian.

With the pickings being a little slim this year, Media Matters grabbed a shot of a bizarre Fox Nation headline:

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The pastor that Fox Nation was referring to was Reverend Luis Leon who you may also recognize from this picture:

Perhaps you know him from this picture taken at George W. Bush’s second inauguration:

In 2005, The Baltimore Sun reported that Rev. Leon was very close to then President Bush, “Seated in Pew 54, the one reserved for presidents at St. John’s, the younger Bush listened to the Rev. Luis Leon speak directly to him as the rest of the congregation listened. Leon, a Cuban immigrant who has become close to the president and who has been invited to the White House for dinner, said that after the Sept. 11 attacks, ‘we lost our known world.'”

The right is so desperate to come up with something to show that our ‘Secret Muslim Kenyan’ president really hates Christians that they have zeroed in on Rev. Leon for daring to suggest that past discrimination fuels right wing religious extremism. According to the Washington Post, Rev. Leon said during Easter service (with Obama in attendance), “”It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back … for blacks to be back in the back of the bus … for women to be back in the kitchen … for immigrants to be back on their side of the border.”

Right wing blogs and Fox have immediately seized on Rev. Leon’s remarks as an attack on Christianity, only it wasn’t. They have conflated Rev. Leon with Rev. Wright, but the two could be any more different.

For speaking the truth, Rev. Leon is being attacked by the right for delivering a “hateful rant” against Christians.

Anyone who observed the 2012 presidential campaign saw the religious right express intolerance towards women, African-Americans Hispanic, and gays. The only tolerance expressed by the religious right during the Republican primary was for themselves and rich white men. As rank and file Republicans selected their nominee, the teachings of Christ were MIA.

President Obama and Rev. Leon embody what I consider to be the true values of a faith that hasn’t been polluted by the politics of bigotry and hate.

What upsets the right the most is that people like Rev. Leon, President Obama, and yes, even George W. Bush (in some ways) are better Christians than they are.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association