Schedule Puts Obama in Miami During July ‘07 Wright Sermon
December 2000: Barack Obama's former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright speaks at funeral service at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. (AP Photo/Chicago Sun-Times)
Barack Obama issued a firm denial Monday to a report that he was in church in Chicago last July when his controversial pastor delivered an anti-white sermon.
Doubts were cast on the story Monday as records showed the Democratic presidential contender was in Miami that day.
On the “fact check” portion of Obama’s campaign Web site, the campaign states: “Fact: Obama Did Not Attend Services on July 22.”
Click here to see the denial on Obama’s Web site.
Reports circulated over the weekend that Obama had attended the fiery sermon that day by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. But a copy of Obama’s schedule viewed by FOX News as well as video of Obama speaking appear to place him in Miami that day at a convention of the National Council of La Raza.
A National Council of La Raza official recalls Obama arriving on time that day for a 1:30 p.m. event that was part of the group’s annual national convention.
It is not clear whether he might have been able to attend church in Chicago before or after flying to Miami for his appearance. The National Council of La Raza official told FOXNews.com he was not involved in any travel plans for Obama to arrive at the convention.
Click here to see a video of Obama speaking that day in Miami.
Speaking with reporters Monday, Obama declined to field new questions about Wright. In what is campaign is billing as a major speech on race, Obama said he would in part discuss how some issues are being perceived inside and outside the black church community.
Obama again said he condemned the controversial statements by Wright that had come to light, but he believed the media frenzy has taken a wrong turn on its coverage.
“I think the caricature that is being painted of him is not accurate,” Obama said.
Obama in the last few days has denied being present for any of Wright’s inflammatory speeches at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where Wright retired last month as senior pastor.
Obama’s purported attendance at the sermon was first reported by NewsMax.com freelance reporter Jim Davis; it was noted again Sunday by NewsMax.com writer Ronald Kessler.
Davis reported last Aug. 7 that Obama and his Secret Service detail had been among the parishioners attending the July 22 sermon in which Wright spoke of the “United States of white America” and blamed the Iraq war on “Bush administration bull—-.”
NewsMax issued a clarification Monday to its story, adding that Davis stands by his reporting that Obama attended a service in July fitting the description he first reported, but he no longer was sure it was on July 22.
Click here to read the original report by Jim Davis.
Click here to read the report Sunday by Ronald Kessler.
The report was advanced Monday by columnist Bill Kristol, a FOX News contributor, in his weekly column in The New York Times. Kristol cited Kessler’s report as evidence that Obama is not being fully candid about his relationship with Wright. The New York Times later published a correction to Kristol’s piece.
Click here to read Kristol’s column in The New York Times.
Wright’s comments in the July 22 sermon were mild in comparison to other sermons he delivered, sermons Obama has said he did not attend.
In one sermon Wright repeatedly said, “God damn America”; in another he blasted former President Bill Clinton, saying he “did” blacks “just like he did Monica Lewinsky.”
Following mounting pressure last week, Obama denounced Wright’s words, and Wright stepped down from Obama’s African American Religious Leadership Committee.
Obama told FOX News Friday that he condemned the text of Wright’s controversial sermons, in which he condemned the United States as institutionally racist and blamed the government for HIV and the Sept. 11 attacks. Video clips of the sermons were played in heavy rotation on national television late last week.
“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.”
Obama called Wright’s remarks “inflammatory and appalling” in a written statement Friday.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign has yet to comment on the matter. Clinton faced heavy criticism over a racial issue of her own last week after top campaign adviser Geraldine Ferraro said the only reason Obama had gotten so far in the presidential campaign was because he was black. Ferraro resigned from the campaign’s finance committee shortly after her remarks.
If Obama’s campaign had allowed a more open discussion about race and gender, the facts concerning his church could have been discussed more reasonably. But they set the rules–any discussion or reference to race and the speaker was automatically racist. It’s quite sad. I have been and will remain a Hillary supporter. A big reason why I never trusted Obama was he refused to address the real issues. I do not trust teflon coated politicans.
I don’t care whether he (Obama) was there or not because he has been attending that church for 20 years. Surely this is not the first time this type of sermon has been preached.
The media and Obama should stop the denial. Obama associates with and relies on the Reverend Wright for spiritual advice. I don’t know about you, but if I reply on someone for spiritual advice then I respect their point of view. I believe Obama respects and honors the Reverend Wright.
This is why I support Barak Obama - he has mastered the technology of time travel. He is capable of being in two places at once. No other candidate has this ability. It will be really useful to do all the work that is required to get the US out of the mile deep hole that the Bush Administration has shoved us into.
Oh, and will Jim Davis, Ronald Kessler and Bill Kristol ever apologize for their baseless accusations. I think we will get time travel first.
Hillary got away with the “I had no idea” excuse about Bill’s philandering durring 20 years of “marriage”. Why can’t Obama get away with it too? He is just taking a page out of the Clinton book of Spin.
Barack Obama is toast. Barack Obama is a racist and belongs to a racist church. Barack Hussein Obama is not qualified to be in our government.
Barack Obama like Hillary is a complete phony!
Not sure what’s worse here - where he says he wasn’t (listening to the sermon) or where his schedule says he was ( La Raza, come on, Senator)….
Why don’t fox report on the lives lost in Iraq over over ? and the lost of US jobs, poverty in the US, the abuse of Wall Street player or the poor state of the economy the Bush adminstration has created for American.
It’s hard to believe over 8 months for Rev Wright, this is now a issue that the Fox network report about. Dam, is there more important thing in the news. Obama didn’t say these things or endorse them. If you care to listen, his messages are about uniting the country.
By the way, the left wing conservatives has been running this country for the last 7 1/2 years and now look what mess the country is facing.
Stick to the issues of the American people, not by dividing and conquering.
I do not see the truth in Barack Obama when he speaks. I could not place my finger on it but after seeing the church he belongs to, he is about as racist as you can get. I find it hard to beleive that after 20 years he has never heard these speaches. He is playing all of us. Not only is his experience in question to run the government but his campaign has no experience in explaning a story.
I cannot believe that in the 20+ years Obama has known Rev. Wright, he has never heard any of the rhetoric spewed forth - whether in chuch or in a personal setting.
I do not care whether Obama was in attendance of these services or not! The fact remains that he continued to be a member of a church whose leader seems determined to separate our nation as it once was by color. We as a nation have come a long way since then and Obama himself has stated that this man was his spiritual advisor. I have to say that I have attended my current church for the same amount (if not longer than) Obama has attended this church and I have a VERY good understanding where my pastor and church leaders stand on certain subject. I am not naive enough to believe that Obama is JUST NOW finding out that his spiritual advisor believes such things…And on one final note, I have as much loyalty to my church and my pastor as Obama has to his, but if I EVER heard my pastor or any of my church leaders make statements like those of Rev. Wright - I would walk out IMMEDIATELY and never return. This country means that much to me! And since Obama has not done this nor even denounced the man (Rev Wright) for his ANTI-AMERICAN hate sentiments, I believe he therefore MUST agree in his own way with them.
Thanks!
Mandy