Obama Attempts Damage Control, Fallout Over Pastor’s Sermons Unclear
Barack Obama speaks at a town hall meeting Saturday in Plainfield, Ind., where he addressed controversial sermons by his former pastor. (AP Photo)
The presidential contenders have all had their share of supporters whose insensitive remarks forced the campaigns to issue disavowals. This week, it was Barack Obama’s turn.
After a series of recorded sermons by Obama’s longtime pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. sparked controversy over Wright’s fiery views on race, America and the Sept. 11 attacks, Obama responded Friday by firmly repudiating Wrights’ views in lengthy written statement and a round of cable news interviews.
On Saturday at a town hall meeting in Plainfield, Ind., Obama broached the matter with the public, saying they’ve probably heard comments “that were incendiary and that I completely reject.”
The question now is whether Obama’s response worked, and whether his connection to Wright will haunt the Democratic senator’s campaign and dampen his presidential hopes.
Rival Hillary Clinton has not yet drawn political attention to the sermons, and deflected questions Saturday.
“Ask the Obama campaign,” she said to inquiries about Wright.
Pollster Doug Schoen said it’s unlikely the Wright issue will play big in the primary, but that it poses trouble down the road.
“In a Democratic primary this issue has limited viability and utility,” he said. “In a general election, however … I think this could be a real serious problem for Barack Obama.”
Obama tried to put Wright’s sermons in perspective Saturday, saying: “It reminds me that we’ve got a tragic history when it comes to race in this country … But what I continue to believe in is this country wants to move beyond these kinds of divisions.”
In an interview Friday with FOX News, Obama said he personally never had heard the pastor’s controversial comments, though he joined his Trinity United Church of Christ nearly 20 years ago. He said the sermons now sparking controversy didn’t resemble the ones he remembers from Wright, which, Obama said, stuck to messages of faith, values and helping people in the community.
But Obama’s pastor long has been a lightning rod for controversy. For starters, Wright’s relationship with Louis Farrakhan, once described by Obama as a “close” relationship, has been of concern to many in the Jewish community.
And once Wright’s remarks were publicized last year, Obama backed out of plans to have Wright speak at his Feb. 10, 2007, presidential announcement.
Author Larry Elder said he doesn’t buy Obama’s new, firmer denunciation of Wright.
“How can Barack Obama dis-invite him … and now claim he had no idea that Jeremiah Wright made all these incendiary comments? It doesn’t work,” Elder told FOX News.
There’s too many variables on the campaign trail to measure the direct impact on his poll numbers, but pollster Scott Rasmussen pointed out that Saturday’s Rasmussen daily tracking poll showed Obama nearly tied with Hillary Clinton.
“That’s a big drop from Obama’s 8-point lead a day before,” Rasmussen said.
Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for President Bush, suggested that the controversy and the timing of Obama’s disavowal show him to be little more than a shrewd politician.
“I think there’s a reason Republicans I talk to are increasingly looking forward to running against Barack Obama,” Fleischer said.
Wright, who presided over Trinity’s congregation until his retirement earlier this year, officiated Obama’s wedding to Michelle and baptized their two daughters. In Obama’s first book, “Dreams From My Father” from 1995, he writes the pastor had great influence over him in the early 1990s. And it was Wright who delivered a sermon “The Audacity of Hope,” which had such an impact on Obama that he made it the title of his second book, published in 2006. The theme of hope continues to be central to Obama’s surging campaign.
His repudiation of Wright has gradually risen to a crescendo.
Three weeks ago, Obama spoke to the Cleveland Jewish Community Leaders group and was asked about Wright. Obama noted the pastor occasionally was known to “say controversial things,” adding most of those controversial statements were “directed at the African American community.”
Obama assured the Ohio Jewish leaders he never heard anything anti-Semitic, and said “he is like an old uncle who sometimes will say things that I don’t agree with.”
Obama’s camp released a somewhat stronger statement Thursday after FOX News had reported more on Wright’s sermons — in one, he repeatedly said “God damn America,” while in others he blamed the United States for the spread of HIV and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and highlighted what he saw as a racial divide between Obama and Hillary Clinton.
“Senator Obama has said before that he profoundly disagrees with some of the statements and positions of Rev. Wright, who has preached his last sermon as pastor at the church,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said. “Senator Obama deplores divisive statements whether they come from his supporters, the supporters of his opponent, talk radio, or anywhere else.”
Then Friday, Obama issued the written statement calling what he’s heard from Wright “inflammatory and appalling.”
Later Friday, Obama told FOX News that he could no longer lay low as he heard more of Wright’s remarks.
“Once I saw them I had to be very clear about the fact that these are not statements that I am comfortable with,” Obama said. “I reject them completely - they are not ones that reflect my values or my ideals or Michelle’s.”
Democratic strategist Tanya Acker said Friday that Obama has nothing to be sorry for, and his campaign is in the clear.
“There’s no basis for attributing those statements to Barack Obama,” she told FOX News. “We don’t play guilt by association here, and it’s not fair.”
Throughout the campaign, candidates seemingly on a weekly basis have had to respond to, denounce and sometimes fire supporters who made offensive comments. Obama’s foreign policy adviser Samantha Power left the campaign after calling Clinton a “monster” in an interview with a Scottish newspaper. Clinton fundraiser Geraldine Ferraro left the campaign’s finance committee after saying much of the attention being paid to Obama’s campaign was because he is black.
And earlier this month, Republican candidate John McCain distanced himself from Iowa Rep. Steve King after King said terrorists would be “dancing in the streets” if Obama were elected.
Obama said Friday the pastor has never been active in his campaign and that he is no longer on his African American Religious Leadership Committee. The campaign said Wright left that unpaid post Friday, without elaborating.
Obama said Friday that with Wright retiring from the pulpit, he doesn’t see an issue with his family remaining in the congregation. Wright delivered his final sermon last month and retired as leader of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
FOX News’ Jeff Goldblatt and Bonney Kapp contributed to this report.
Ok, this Wright stuff is disturbing. We have a need to know Senator Obama from every angle and what he believes when he talks of equality for America. To say that Clinton +/or Obama is at fault for the direction the Democratic campaign has headed, is ludicrous and short-sided. America is a melting pot of races, genders, culture, etc. and we each have a personal interest in seeing “ourselves” in our President. With that connection comes passion and emotional investment. Human nature, yes. However, it also must be tempered with information about the candidates (good and bad, without negative “label” attached to said information) so that we can make informed choices, rather than only emotionally-driven ones. After much research, soul-searching and actually listening to what both candidates have to say and what their actual legislative records show, I decided to vote for Hillary. I had to take off the blinders of opinion polls, media spin, mud and excitement and remember what this race is really about: Hiring someone to do the toughest and, arguably, most important job on the planet. Being President of the US isn’t about speeches, promises and what-if’s - it is about who I believe will get up, everyday, and work their butt off for me and every other hardworking American, because they have a track record of that already. That person is Senator Clinton. She has been thru many tribulations, tests, and challenges in her life and like the Energizer Bunny, just keeps going and going. Where she gets the energy and conviction, I wish I knew. Think what each of us could do in our own lives and communities with just an ounce of her strength! She has worked hard and diligently for all Americans, and spent years building strong relationships because she has a passionate vision of what America can be, not just because she’s running for President. Vetted, intelligent, tested and hardworking. Senator Clinton is the right choice for me in ‘08
The tucc.org web-site clearly describes a “congregation for blacks” emphasizing “a non-negotiable commitment to Africa”. Obama’s commitment to extend his 20 years membership in TUCC, his feeble denunciation of TUCC, and his feigned surprise at his pastors ranting are damning. Black racism is as ugly as any other racism.
AFTER 9/11 ALL TYPES OF PASTORS WERER MAKING REMARKS ABOUT AMERICAN POLICIES AND HOW THEY WERE THE CAUSE OF THE ATTACKS;
Jerry Falwell said God may have allowed what the nation deserved because of moral decay and said Americans should have an attitude of repentance before God and asking for God’s protection. He specifically listed the ACLU, abortionists, feminists, gays, and the People For the American way as sharing in the blame. Pat Robertson responded with agreement
FOX PLEASE REPLAY THESE COMMENTS BY JERRY FALWELL AND PAT ROBERTSON OVER AND OVER WHO SUPPORT MCCAIN TO REMAIN FAIR AND BALANCE
McCain spiritual adviser: ‘Allah was a demon spirit.”
Excerpting from Parsley’s 2005 book, Silent No More:
In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.
Parsley has also called Allah a “demon spirit” and said that explorer Christopher Columbus’s dream was to “defeat Islam
I keep reading people here are scared about OBAMA now tell me that there is equitable evidence of supporters of Mc Cain being out in left field are you SCARED OF MC CAIN????
About a year ago, Obama rejected disparaging remarks made by his racist and anti-American Pastor then turned around and gave him an advisory role on one of his Committees.
Obama would have you believe that Pastor Wright is inconsequential but he doesn’t make a political move without consulting his pastor.
Obama wants you to believe that over a twenty year period as a member of Wright’s Church, he has never heard a racist or anti-American remark from this man. Do you believe for a second that this old man who has such hate in his heart just came out of the closet? Are we supposed to believe that before Pastor Wright came out to preach his sermon, he would look out over his congregation and when he saw Barack and Michelle in attendance, he would say, “Oh I need to tone down the rhetoric today”. If you believe that one then I have a bridge to sell you.
As far as I know, Barack still belongs to Trinity Church and the new pastor has been handpicked by Wright. I therefore do not expect a change in its present teaching practices anytime soon.
Do you think Barack is really presidential material? When he supposedly didn’t even know what was going on in his own backyard. Instead of separating himself from this racist and anti-American pastor, he embraced him for over twenty years. No wonder, it took all this time for Michelle to be proud of her country.
What is with Olbermann? He calls Ferraro’s comments ’shameful’ and says nothing about Wright’s comments??????
Someone should report media bias on his show….
as for Obama - He has lied to American voters re his knowledge of Wright’s opinions. And Michelle Obama has said she is not sure if she would support Hillary if ahw were nominated….now that is what is truly ’shameful’…Olbermann - you should report on this distortion of the American political system:
when a television interviewer asked Mrs. Obama whether she would support Mrs. Clinton, if she won the nomination, Mrs. Obama was less generous.
“I’d have to think about that,” Mrs. Obama said on “Good Morning America” on ABC. “I’d have to think about — policies, her approach, her tone.”
Her tone??? that is not the criteria for president, Mrs Obama, truth and honesty are….
I agree with Hannity on this one. He’s the only one that said it like it is. On the other news networks,they have all down played it. Rev. Wright wasn’t the only one in that room that believes the statements he was making. they were cheering claping thier hands,at one point,Rev wrihgt recived a pat on the back from two people. Barack & Michell Oboma knows what thier church teaches. Give me Colen Powell,I’d vote for him over all of them
Why bother asking people to comment if your not going to post them.. They only post the ones they like!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Obama can keep explaining but in my mind it will be to no avail. A picture (or several videos in this case) is worth a thousand words. For twenty years Obama has been a member of this church and in his own words Rev. Wright has been his mentor. Does he really expect us to believe that he did not know about Rev. Wright’s messages?
I watched Keith Olbermann (from here on out known as Keith Obama-mann) interview him on Friday. It was really sick because the night before Obama-mann had given one of his “special comments” on how Hillary and Ferraro were racists. Keith Obama-mann was almost drooling as he talked to Barack. Keith Obama-mann is a sexist female-bashing male and Barack Obama is a racist. You are who you associate with and Barack has associated with Rev. Wright for twenty years.
“We don’t play guilt by association here!” What garbage. They certainly tried to play guilt by association when it came to the remarks made by Bill and Geraldine and others. The only time they don’t want the rules to be equally applied to them is when they come back to bite them in the butt. There is no way that anyone could be associated with a pastor for 20 years and not know that the vitrol he espouses might be considered a reflection on those who not only listened to what he had to say but supported it with their attendance and financial contributions. This is not a case of merely accepting the rantings of a beloved “uncle.” This is a case of having supported a pastor for years and having called upon him to be a part of at least two of the most momentous times in a person’s life - when they marry and call for the blessing of the church when their children are born. How does that apply to how a pastor might have the ability to influence Obama as President. Given the number of critical moments that President’s have faced who called upon their spiritual leaders to kneel with them in prayer - IS JEREMIAH WRIGHT the pastor this nation wants providing any president spiritual guidance before being called upon to make decisions that effect not only this nation but the international community as well? I literally pray not!!
Obama truly had my vote ……but it is lost now.
He should have indeed disassociated himself years ago from this pastor. It’s to late now to say that he simply does not agree with some of the comments. Far too much water has gone over the dam.
As I was taught…Others perceive you by the company you keep.