Before Wright Firestorm, Obama Called for Imus Firing
Barack Obama had been a presidential candidate for more than a year before he outright repudiated his long-time pastor for racially charged, anti-U.S. sermons. But when talk show host Don Imus was in hot water 11 months ago for racially insensitive comments, Obama was the first candidate to call for his firing.
When asked about the different responses to his pastor and to Imus, Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor questioned the premise of the comparison and defended Obama’s response in each case.
“He spoke out both times, so it’s entirely consistent,” he told FOXNews.com Tuesday.
Click here to see the original ABC News interview with Obama.
Click here to see Obama discuss the Imus fallout on MSNBC.
Obama — who in a major speech Tuesday decried controversial remarks by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. dating back to 2001 — called for Imus to be fired just one week after Imus made the remarks in April 2007, two months after Obama had announced his candidacy.
“There’s nobody on my staff who would still be working for me if they made a comment like that about anybody of any ethnic group. And I would hope that NBC ends up having that same attitude,” Obama told ABC News in an April 11 interview.
Imus ignited public outcry for calling members of the women’s basketball team at Rutgers University “nappy-headed hos” on his popular morning talk show.
The controversy dogged Imus, even after he issued an apology to the team and met with the players personally seeking forgiveness.
The public atonement wasn’t enough to save his job. He was fired by CBS Radio and by MSNBC, which produced the TV simulcast, but since then he has returned to radio with a show on WABC-AM in New York that started in December.
Obama said in the 2007 ABC interview he would never appear again on Imus’ show.
“He didn’t just cross the line,” Obama said. “He fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America.”
In the case of Wright, Obama denies ever personally hearing his pastor give sermons that blamed the U.S. government for HIV and cast the country as institutionally racist. But Obama has had a 20-year relationship with Wright, and on Tuesday he said he knew Wright had made controversial remarks.
When some of Wright’s remarks were publicized last year, Obama rescinded an invitation for Wright to speak at his Feb. 10, 2007, presidential announcement.
Obama didn’t outright condemn Wright’s views until last Friday, but Vietor said Obama had started putting the issue to rest long before now.
“He denounced specific comments months ago and he gave a thoughtful speech today,” Vietor said Tuesday.
[...] that NBC ends up having that same attitude,” Obama told ABC News in an April 11 interview. Before Wright Firestorm, Obama Called for Imus Firing - America’s Election HQ __________________ "We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night [...]
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I still have to wonder how anyone can be a regular church goer and not have heard the comments made by Rev. Wright and not have denounced them the same as he denounced Imus. What a hypocrit
You know, if I was black, I would hate America too.
Employers must hire me to meet quotas (regardless of my qualifications), quotas for college enrollment, prefence for scholarships, welfare checks, free housing, food stamps, free school lunches, WIC, free cheese, free medical insurance on the horizon, and, apparently, free narcotics. What is there to love about this white man’s country that has dis-advantaged me?
Rob commented:dare you. Tell us all how your grandfather, father, could not get a job simply because they were white - tell us how they were unable to get in to college because of their skin color,
You are so right Rob, white people have been denied jobs and college acceptances because we are white. So we do know how it feels
Where do we go to insist, Obama be fired?
This is really not a black or white issue. This is Dirty liberal America haters against America. These people come in every size, shape, and color. Just look at his supporters. A bunch of future and present America haters. Why can’t we increase taxes just enough to give the a one way ticket to Iran so they can celebrate diversity together!!
More proof there are way too many double standards in America. Miss Black America, “Equal Opportunity” employment (not the best qualified), % of minority suppliers on government projects, all black colleges…but not all white colleges, Imus gets fired and humiliated…Rev Wright goes on working with no apology. And this we call “freedom”.
If Rev Wright is his “former” leader…who is Mr. Obama following now?
To Joe Mathews Add this up Rev. Wright IS A MAN OF THE CLOTH. IMUS IS A SHOCK JOCK!!!!!!! DO YOU NEED TO LOOK UP THE WORD SHOCK IN THE DICTIONARY? DO YOU NEED SOMEONE TO EXPLAIN WHAT IS EXPECTED FROM EACH????
It’s really nice that Obama is so worried about the effect idiotic comments of irrelevant shockjocks might have on his daughters…you know, compared to the horribly racist, anti-American and anti-Semitic comments made by his family’s pastor. What really amazes me is that Obama just might get away with this crap long enough to become president.