Obama has finally had enough of Rev. Wright
James Forsyth 1:09am
On Tuesday, Barack Obama went far further than he had previously in distancing himself from Jeremiah Wright, presenting his former pastor’s recent behaviour as the antithesis of his campaign. But it is hard to imagine that this is the end of the issue.
At a press conference in North Carolina, Obama’ denounced’ Wright’s recent statements and admitted that he did not know him as well as he thought he did. He did not, though, denounce Wright the man.
Wright’s appearance at the National Press Club which sparked Obama’s anger was notable for Wright repeating his most incendiary comments in short order and arguing that Obama’s earlier denouncing of these statements was a product of politics. Wright must have known the damage he was doing to Obama but went ahead anyway. Obama feels understandably felt let down by Wright’s behaviour.
The problem for Obama is magnified by the fact that Wright is someone who Obama introduced to the American people. The role he plays in Obama’s book, the fact he married him and his wife and baptised their children and that Wright and Obama prayed together the morning he announced his candidacy for president means that Obama cannot simply denounce the comments and move on.
It is inconceivable that Obama did not know of Wright’s views before they started receiving all this attention. Obama’s response that he did not ‘vet’ his pastor doesn’t answer this question. I’ve always thought that Obama accepted Wright because he did not feel that as the son of a white mother and the product of elite education he had the credibility to challenge Wright, who lived through the civil rights movement, on these racially charged issues. But at the moment we simply don’t know why Obama was happy to have as his pastor someone whose views he now feels ‘rightly offend all Americans, and should be denounced’. Until Obama explains this paradox, the issue won’t go away. Indeed, in this case’s Obama’s newness to the political scene is actually a disadvantage. The public’s view of him is not well enough established for him to be confident that he can just ride out this storm.
The tragedy of this episode is that Obama has such potential to be a racially unifying force. His speeches show that he is not interested in perpetuating old divisions but now thanks to his acceptance of a man who appears to relish these divisions, his message is being compromised.
Spare a thought in all this for Otis Moses, the new preacher at Obama’s local church. One imagines that the press will be crawling over his sermons between now and November.
Geraldine
April 30th, 2008 12:34pm Report this commentThese views are not new, they're just getting more and more coverage in the Press. That's what Obama's had enough of - he certainly hasn't had enough of Wright. And what a disingenuous headline!
Look at poor James squirm like an oyster with lemon juice poured on it: "I’ve always thought that Obama accepted Wright because he did not feel that as the son of a white mother and the product of elite education he had the credibility to challenge Wright, who lived through the civil rights movement, on these racially charged issues."
What utter drivel, James. You and plenty of others are waking up to the fact that you've turned a blind eye to all this business and what it means about Obama and so are trying to get out of it by hooking up the civil rights movement to provide a smokescreen for Wright, for Obama and for your own journalistic folly.
Pathetic.
Ian C
April 30th, 2008 4:19pm Report this commentYou do seem to hold some sort of candle for Obama, James, but in so doing you've really upset Geraldine!! Did you see the News coverage of the press conf. where he disavowed Wright? He looks down and to the right as he said it. Body language experts will tell you that this was a lie. Whether this is the case or not I thought that he was in extreme discomfort. Having said this, perhaps this is a strategy agreed with Wright to recover the lost ground (in my view terminal lost ground). By Wright becoming repeatedly noxious it gives Obama the apparent opportunity to say "he's gone too far this time", disconnect himself and so neutralise the issue. I.E. It's deliberate - and very shrewd. That low look might just be what the body linguists say and my estimate of terminal damage would be misplaced.
Ganpat Ram
April 30th, 2008 5:32pm Report this commentJames Forsyth, talking like one of Obama's numberless army of simpering sycophants, "argues";
"I’ve always thought that Obama accepted Wright because he did not feel that as the son of a white mother and the product of elite education he had the credibility to challenge Wright, who lived through the civil rights movement, on these racially charged issues."
If that were so, James, why would you have seen Obama as anything but a weakling? WHRE IS THE LEADERSHIP? WHERE IS THE JUDGEMENT?
Obama gets away with these incredible confessions of feeblebess and opportunism because neither of his opponents -Hillary Clinton and Mccain - have the killer instinct in political combat. They always miss the golden opportunities offered by Obama to finish him off.
David Lindsay
April 30th, 2008 5:40pm Report this commentAll that Jeremiah Wright said was that politicians say what they need to in order to get elected, whereas preachers say what their flocks either need to hear, or need other people to hear, or both. Who could argue with that as a factual observation?
I have never been too enthusiastic about Barack Obama. I just recognise that Hillary Clinton is even worse. After this carry on, might not John McCain be slightly better after all?
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