Associated Press
Winston-Salem, N.C. – Democrat Barack Obama said Tuesday he was outraged by the latest assertion by his former pastor that criticism of his fiery sermons is an attack on the black church.
The presidential candidate is seeking to tamp down the growing fury over Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his incendiary remarks that threaten to undermine his campaign.
“I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday,” Obama told reporters at a news conference.
After weeks of staying out of the public eye while critics lambasted his sermons, Wright made three public appearances in four days to defend himself. The former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago has been combative, providing colorful commentary and feeding the story Obama had hoped was dying down.
“This is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright,” Wright told the Washington media Monday. “It has nothing to do with Senator Obama. It is an attack on the black church launched by people who know nothing about the African-American religious tradition.”
Obama told reporters Tuesday that Wright’s comments do not accurately portray the perspective of the black church.
“The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago,” Obama said of the man who married him.
Wright criticized the U.S. government as imperialist and stood by his suggestion that the United States invented the HIV virus as a means of genocide against minorities. “Based on this Tuskegee experiment and based on what has happened to Africans in this country, I believe our government is capable of doing anything,” he said.
In a highly publicized speech last month, Obama sharply condemned Wright’s remarks. But he did not leave the church or repudiate the minister himself, who he said was like a family member.
On Tuesday, Obama sought to distance himself further from Wright.
“I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia explaining that he’s done enormous good. … But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS. … There are no excuses. They offended me. They rightly offend all Americans and they should be denounced.”
Wright recently retired from the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. He became an issue in Obama’s presidential bid when videos circulated of Wright condemning the U.S. government for allegedly racist and genocidal acts. In the videos, some several years old, Wright called on God to “damn America.” He also said the government created the AIDS virus to destroy “people of color.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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posted April 29, 2008 at 3:16 pm
OK, Obama has said what he had to say. It is time for Rev Wright to accept his retirement as a gift from God and his church, and not an opportunity to say everything he wished he could have said earlier (not that he was given much restraint).
On the other hand, this is even more publicity for the UCC than we got when we passed the Marriage Equality resolution a few years ago. As they say in Hollywood, the only bad publicity is no publicity!
posted April 29, 2008 at 4:41 pm
As I understand it the National Press Club speech yesterday was the last straw for Obama! If a friend did that to me, today he would only be an aquaintance; especially if I were running for President. What is wrong with this minister? Is it megala-ego, making money by shocking, or does he need a good medical examination? Barack said Wright’s comments were not only divisive and destructive, but they also end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate. For us Obama is still our first choice!
posted April 29, 2008 at 6:09 pm
It is about time Obama distanced himself from this racist, show-off demagogue Wright. Bravo, Mr. Obama.
posted April 29, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Well I’ve supported Wright so far, and many of the things he said are true things we don’t want to hear but there are right times and wrong times to make your points. If he wants to help African Americans by helping one be elected president or to help Americans by keeping John McCain from being elected it’s past time he clammed up.
And while I’m willing to suspect very bad things of one administration or another I’m not ready to think the US invented AIDS or actively put drugs in black neighborhoods. Of course governments in the US have no doubt passively put drugs there by skimping on law enforcement there.
posted April 29, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I thought more about our government and drugs and recalled tales the Reagan administration used drug smuggling to finance weapons for the anti-Communist Contra guerillas (aka terrorists), and that those drugs got into the US. There are two Wikipedia articles: “CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US” and “Iran-Contra affair” that touch on this.
It’s complicated but apparently high level agents of our government were complicit in bringing cocaine into the US, and GHW Bush pardoned some who may have been involved.
posted April 29, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Am glad Obama finely got fed up enough to say what he did today. Wright has pushed things too far and IF he would like to see a black man become president, he needs to just shut-up! Guess Wright isn’t happy being retired, in his grand house in a gated neighborhood…far from the south side of Chicago.
As to Wright’s accusations about the AID virus and the U.S. inventing it…yes, the gov’t has done some pretty nasty stuff, but I don’t think that is one of them. Besides how does Wright explain all the WHITE folks that have gotten it too!!!!!!
posted April 29, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Blowback.
posted April 30, 2008 at 1:37 pm
For me its not about seeing a Black man become president but see a good and honest candidate that cannot be brought out and will not sell out. If that happens we won’t have to worry about Black or White.
posted April 30, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I agree, cknuck, (amazingly enough) that the person who becomes president shouldn’t be determined by race, but honesty etc., but in this case the chance of the first black man becoming president isn’t being helped by Obama’s former minister and his agenda.
posted April 30, 2008 at 4:15 pm
ck,I am with you completely. I guess it’s another one of those Good days.
posted April 30, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Well said Cknuck!
posted May 2, 2008 at 10:48 am
Given the news of the day – Wright’s honoary doctorate being rescinded – I am feeling sad for the man. He was once a Lion of the Pulpit. His last roar, sadly, has been reduced to a groan. I hope he has the support he will need to recover from these setbacks.
On the other hand, I think Obama is doing well meeting this challenge and working through it. It is a test of his mettle to have to face down a beloved advisor and trusted friend. This takes more nerve than most people can muster. I am further impressed by him.
posted May 2, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Barack Obama stands “head and shoulders” above the minutiae of politics and does it with confidence, humility and dignity. What a wonderful four yrs. ahead if we elect him. I’m looking forward to seeing more of his wife and darling daughters in the future, and their hypo-allergic puppy to be!