Obama disowns Rev. Wright in press conference

[motivez]

AP - 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 envelope 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.

YouTube Video

Looking for a full transcript...

[JaJae]

Wright is an ass. Obama went out on a limb, risked his political future and presidency defending Wright and this is the way he repays him. Newt was questioning whether Wright was purposely trying to hurt Obama.

[kinggovernor]

From CNN:

“What particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing,” said Obama, who added that Wright had shown “little regard for me” and seemed more concerned with “taking center stage.”


“It was antithetical to our campaign, it was antithetical to what we’re about,” he said. “I cannot prevent him from making these remarks” but “when I say I find these comments appalling I mean it. It contradicts what I’m about and who I am… it is completely opposed to what I stand for and where I want to take this country.”

In a break with previous comments, Obama focused his criticism on Wright the man, and not simply his remarks. “I gave him the benefit of the doubt before my speech in Philadelphia” where he addressed the subject of race. But “what we saw yesterday from Rev. Wright was a resurfacing and I believe an exploitation of these old divisions.”

He said he had not spoken with Wright since the minister’s Monday speech, though he would not rule out a conversation with him in the future. And he defended his membership in Wright’s congregation. “I did not vet my pastor before I decided to run for the presidency.”

[motivez]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Wright is an ass. Obama went out on a limb, risked his political future and presidency defending Wright and this is the way he repays him. Newt was questioning whether Wright was purposely trying to hurt Obama.

Wouldn't surprise me reallly, if this Wright guy really believes this stuff, this is his chance to get his views heard, Obama's political career be damned..

If Obama goes down in flames, he can use the fact that he did as "evidence" that America is racist or whatever..

[kinggovernor]

Obama's former pastor addresses Detroit NAACP dinner

I had a feeling there would be some backlash yesterday, and it started with the morning edition of the WaPo.

[motivez]

updated with video

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by motivez

If Obama goes down in flames, he can use the fact that he did as "evidence" that America is racist or whatever..

With Obama distancing himself so forecefully from Wright...if Obama does go down in flames, it's because white voters won't have "accepted" that a black man really doesn't hold the same views as his pastor

which is really very basic, especially to many white catholics...millions of white catholics across the world had priets they believed in and or even looked up who turned out to be pedophiles or protected those kinds of fellow priests...are millions of catholics all without a sense of good judgment?

If Obama loses, I think, at this point, it will all be because of race...and it'd be racism

Yes, yes, you can be a Republican and that 35% of Americans who said they're going to vote for a Republican in the next election, but only those 35% have a valid excuse...the 60%+ who said they'd vote Democratic but then went "hey wait...a black guy...with an angry black pastor...who cares what he has to say im voting for the old rich white guy!"

[TankRizzo]

IMO it's only a matter of time for the Revco stuff to blow up and his wife to say something stupid again. He hasn't been in the full glow of the spotlight when she's popped off before. He has surrounded himself with liabilities and he is a political time-bomb just waiting to implode.

Obama's chickens....are coming home.....to roost

[motivez]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

With Obama distancing himself so forecefully from Wright...if Obama does go down in flames, it's because white voters won't have "accepted" that a black man really doesn't hold the same views as his pastor

which is really very basic, especially to many white catholics...millions of white catholics across the world had priets they believed in and or even looked up who turned out to be pedophiles or protected those kinds of fellow priests...are millions of catholics all without a sense of good judgment?

If Obama loses, I think, at this point, it will all be because of race...and it'd be racism

Yes, yes, you can be a Republican and that 35% of Americans who said they're going to vote for a Republican in the next election, but only those 35% have a valid excuse...the 60%+ who said they'd vote Democratic but then went "hey wait...a black guy...with an angry black pastor...who cares what he has to say im voting for the old rich white guy!"

I don't agree with that at all really, if Obama goes down in flames, it will be because they haven't bought into the idea that he can sit in someone's church for 20 years and never get a whiff of the kind of man Wright really is

If after 20 years, he doesn't know his pastor that well, doesn't that speak to his judgment?

I don't think racism against Obama has anything to do with this issue, the only racism I really see is coming from Wright

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by motivez

Wouldn't surprise me reallly, if this Wright guy really believes this stuff, this is his chance to get his views heard, Obama's political career be damned..

If Obama goes down in flames, he can use the fact that he did as "evidence" that America is racist or whatever..

ready for my tinfoil hat statement of the year

Be prepared, it is going to be crazy

Ok, so here we have a young candidate, Obama who initially looked like he was going to take away the democrat nomination from Hillary but his campaign has stalled. This is going to be an all out no holds barred fight and I believe that Hillary will end up on top, even though it defines what SHOULD happen. Clinton is a better politician than Obama and she doesn't mind running as negative campaign as it takes to get elected.

After the huge loss in Penn., I think many democrats sat back and said to themselves, white America is not buying this guy. They just don't know enough about him, and that doesn't translate well with the general election.

So you have Rev. Wright go out on a public speaking tour that seals the deal that Obama will not get the nod this way, Obama can walk away cleaner now than a fight in June or in Denver. Obama realizes that he is fighting a losing battle with Hillary, she is single-handedly destroying his entire message.

So Obama bows out, and then spends the next 4 years in the limelight, letting the public get to know him better and solidifying trust with voters. He can also spend the time verifying the fact that he does not agree with Rev. Wright.

[motivez]

That does seem pretty

I have seen recent op eds saying that both Obama and Clinton are actually vying for 2012.. but I don't really buy that, the country is poised to elect a Democrat IMO

[TankRizzo]

Originally Posted by motivez

I don't agree with that at all really, if Obama goes down in flames, it will be because they haven't bought into the idea that he can sit in someone's church for 20 years and never get a whiff of the kind of man Wright really is

If after 20 years, he doesn't know his pastor that well, doesn't that speak to his judgment?

I don't think racism against Obama has anything to do with this issue, the only racism I really see is coming from Wright

Obama hitched his wagon to him at the dawn of his political career. The church gave him a solid platform for his campaign at the local level. When he decided to run for President, he thought he could just brush it off. He fell victim to his own hype that he transcended politics. His connections w/ the reverend and his refusal to really distance himself from him has really shaken his credibility. Out of everything Wright has said, NOW he's outraged? The reverend is 100% correct. He's doing what politicians do.

Hell, Wright even warned Obama himself:

"If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me," Wright told the newspaper with a shrug in April 2007. "I said it to Barack personally, and he said, 'Yeah, that might have to happen.' "

[motivez]

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright went to Washington on Monday not to praise Barack Obama, but to bury him.

Smiling, cracking corny jokes, mugging it up for the big-time news media — this reverend is never going away. He’s found himself a national platform, and he’s loving it.

It’s a twofer. Feeling dissed by Senator Obama, Mr. Wright gets revenge on his former follower while bathed in a spotlight brighter than any he could ever have imagined. He’s living a narcissist’s dream. At long last, his 15 minutes have arrived...

The thing to keep in mind about Rev. Wright is that he is a smart fellow. He’s been a very savvy operator, politically and otherwise, for decades. He has built a thriving, politically connected congregation on the South Side of Chicago that has done some very good work over the years. Powerful people have turned to him for guidance and advice.

So it’s not like he’s naïve politically. He knows exactly what he’s doing. Forget the gibberish about responding to attacks on the black church. That is not what the reverend’s appearance before the press club was about. He was responding to what he perceives as an attack on him.

This whole story is about Senator Obama’s run for the White House and absolutely nothing else. Barack Obama went to Rev. Wright’s church as a young man and was blessed with the Christian bona fides that would be absolutely essential for a high-profile political career.

Faster than anyone could have imagined, the young Mr. Obama became Senator Obama and then the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Then came the videotaped sermons and the roof caved in on Rev. Wright’s reputation. Senator Obama had no choice but to distance himself, and he did it as gently as he felt he could.

My guess is that Mr. Wright felt he’d been thrown under a bus by an ungrateful congregant who had benefited mightily from his association with the church and who should have rallied to his former pastor’s defense. What we’re witnessing now is Rev. Wright’s “I’ll show you!” tour.

Bob Herbert

[Stylerod]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

If Obama loses, I think, at this point, it will all be because of race...and it'd be racism

Which is exactly what I would expect angry Democrats to say, even if they don't believe it. Racism has been their rallying cry for years. Why stop now?

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by motivez

I don't agree with that at all really, if Obama goes down in flames, it will be because they haven't bought into the idea that he can sit in someone's church for 20 years and never get a whiff of the kind of man Wright really is

If after 20 years, he doesn't know his pastor that well, doesn't that speak to his judgment?

I don't think racism against Obama has anything to do with this issue, the only racism I really see is coming from Wright

"that well" what do you mean?

Do you think everyone talks to their pastor/priest and gets all this political information?

They had YEARS of tape on RW and what did they find...like 20 seconds worth of stuff...so Obama missed the 20 seconds

why does everyone assume he had to know about? The Clinton's dug all the way back to his kindergarden years and ripped through his entire life and i have yet to hear one democratic official/superdelegate/whatever say ANYTHING was passed by low-level pro-hillary supporters about outrageous Wright comments...you want to know why? BECAUSE IT WASN'T PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE EVEN IN CHICAGO, EVEN IN HIS NEIGHBORHOOD, EVEN AMONG PRO-CLINTON SUPPORTERS IN HIS CHURCH, therefor why should he know?

He was a politician basically the entire time Wright was preaching, you think politicians gossip with the locals about the pastor after mass or something?

That whole line of thinking is ridiculous

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by TankRizzo

Obama hitched his wagon to him at the dawn of his political career. The church gave him a solid platform for his campaign at the local level. When he decided to run for President, he thought he could just brush it off. He fell victim to his own hype that he transcended politics. His connections w/ the reverend and his refusal to really distance himself from him has really shaken his credibility. Out of everything Wright has said, NOW he's outraged? The reverend is 100% correct. He's doing what politicians do.

Hell, Wright even warned Obama himself:

So you think Obama came in, screaming "america created AIDS" and won his way into politics?

okay

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by Stylerod

Which is exactly what I would expect angry Democrats to say, even if they don't believe it. Racism has been their rallying cry for years. Why stop now?

Well get ready to hear about it louder than ever for the rest of your days on this earth if Obama loses

It'll throw this countries race relations back 40 years

[TankRizzo]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

So you think Obama came in, screaming "america created AIDS" and won his way into politics?

okay

I didn't say that at all....but he grew as a politician among people who went to that church and would eat up sermons like that screaming "AMEN" and "TESTIFY" without so much as batting an eye. That was his early political base and he dare not say anything to contradict the good reverend. Well....except of course when it personally offends Obama himself....Then he can denounce him all he wants.

Which is kind of funny because I kind of recall a line from his much heralded speech on race that went something like this:

‘I Can No More Disown [Rev. Wright] Than I Can Disown the Black Community’

[Thorgrim]

So you're claiming the south side of chicago's black churches, rev wrights in particular, is full of militant blacks and self-hating whites, and Obama knew he was joining this hateful group, so he could get votes...

I don't think some of the white people on this board realize what they are doing, or particularly care, they reacting to base insticts that we should have all dropped decades ago

You have a half-white half-black man who is shuffled all around the country, uses his smarts to aggressively get out of a situation which involved hard core drugs amongst his high school, and was so disadvantaged he was paying off his law school loans just as he was becoming a US Senator, and then look at his 2004 speech that during the most partisan times of this country, he reached across the aisle

Why do you think the black community initially dismissed him and voted for Hillary? He was "too white" and "not actuall