Earlier today I was all set to write a new post describing how Rev. Wright's clownish and hate-filled display at the National Press Club showed that the Left Was Wrong on Wright!
The phony talking points offered by Obama and Wright's defenders were completely exposed for what they are. Those who said that the various clips of Wright were taken out of context, and considered much of what was said as old news that didn't have much relevance for today must have been disappointed to hear Wright repeat some of his most offensive language in one long screed that few would defend.
Later in the day,the issue took another interesting turn with the latest statements by Obama himself. Both Wordsmith writing at Sparks from the Anvil and Curt writing at Flopping Aces have good takes on how Obama is trying to stage manage the problem, which if anything, has grown in intensity with the latest outbursts from Wright.
With nationwide televised coverage of Wright's remarks (C-Span part1)It's impossible for Obama to claim ignorance of his remarks. And Obama admits that he did watch Rev. Wright's performance. He didn't say if it reminded him of the sermons he claims he never heard in church.
But what seemed to bother Obama the most is that Rev. Wright disrespected him and pointed out that Obama was just a politician. The following are a few excerpts from his press conference
Here's the full transcript.Obama repeatedly attempted to convey the message that he didn't agree or believe what Wright has been saying. Before closing, he offered this:
April 29, 2008:
OBAMA: Yesterday we saw a very different vision of America. I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday. I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992. I’ve known Reverend Wright for almost 20 years. The person that I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church.
...[W]hen he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS, when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st centuries, when he equates the United States wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses.
They offend me. The rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced. And that’s what I’m doing very clearly and unequivocally here today.
...
Upon watching it, what became clear to me was that it was more than just him defending himself. What became clear to me was that he was presenting a worldview that contradicts who I am and what I stand for.
And what I think particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing.
...
Well, I want to use this press conference to make people absolutely clear that, obviously, whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed, as a consequence of this.
I don’t think that he showed much concern for me.
...
But at a certain point, if what somebody says contradicts what you believe so fundamentally, and then he questions whether or not you believe it in front of the National Press Club, then that’s enough. That’s a show of disrespect to me. It is also, I think, an insult to what we’ve been trying to do in this campaign.
OBAMA: In some ways what Reverend Wright said yesterday directly contradicts everything that I’ve done during my life. It contradicts how I was raised and the setting in which I was raised.Which only reminds us to look at the words in Obama's books and compare them to the lessons that Wright taught Obama in church for the last 20 years.
It contradicts my decisions to pursue a career of public service. It contradicts the issues that I’ve worked on politically. It contradicts what I’ve said in my books.
Finally, in the much lauded speech Obama gave in Philadelphia in his first effort to escape political damage for his association with Wright he said: "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community."
Has Obama now disowned Wright and the black community?
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