Obama Seeks to Stop Wright Coverage ‘Loop’
Tuesday: Barack Obama delivers a speech in Philadelphia on race, politics and unifying the country. (AP Photo)
As Barack Obama wrapped up his ambitious speech on race, politics and the historical origin of his longtime pastor’s heated sermons Tuesday, advisers questioned whether he had achieved a simple and practical objective: halting the “loop.”
The “loop” is the barrage of anti-American invective from Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. that has saturated national television for the past week.
Obama has vigorously disavowed Wright’s inflammatory remarks, but in Tuesday’s speech refused to disavow the pastor himself or the 20-year relationship he’s had with him. Some political observers say the Illinois senator still has some more mending to do.
“I think it goes on,” National Public Radio national correspondent Juan Williams said of the controversy.
Williams, a FOX News analyst, questioned why Obama allowed himself to remain publicly associated with Wright. He said Obama did not address the “judgment and character” issues that he’s running on.
“I think he had to take responsibility … and that’s what he didn’t do,” Williams said.
But CitizenJane.com Editor Patricia Murphy said it’s too late for Obama to try to divorce himself completely from Wright.
“There’s no way he didn’t know the nature of that church. He knows what goes on there, both good and bad. If he were to denounce this church and leave this church right now, it would look like nothing more than political gamesmanship, and for somebody who is selling himself as an honest broker and trying to paint Hillary Clinton as someone cold and calculating, that will be totally unproductive,” Murphy said. “The horse has left the barn on that.”
GOP strategist Fred McClure praised the speech but said it’s no antidote for Obama’s pastor problems.
“The winds are going to keep swirling around Senator Obama as this campaign goes forward, even though he, I think, very strongly denounced the words of Reverend Wright,” he said.
For a solid week, Wright’s comments have been in heavy rotation, with sermon highlights showing Wright blaming the United States for HIV and the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, rejecting the Clintons as anathema to the welfare of American blacks and portraying the country as institutionally racist.
Obama’s association with Wright, who officiated his wedding, baptized his children and served as his spiritual adviser, was developing as a potentially damaging credibility problem for his campaign of hope and change. The direct political effects of the relationship remain unclear, but some telling clues showed Obama had a pastor problem.
A Rasmussen survey taken from March 14-16 of 1,200 likely voters showed 56 percent of those interviewed were less likely to vote for Obama because of Wright’s comments.
Other national polls continue to show Obama and Hillary Clinton flirting with the lead in their ongoing fight to become the Democratic presidential candidate.
Seeking the quell the outcry, Obama condemned Wright’s statements on Friday, Saturday and again on Tuesday. But he walked a fine line, using his address to explain and give context to his pastor’s commentary.
“As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. … I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother,” Obama told an audience at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
He later added: “To simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.”
Crisis management consultant Mike Paul told FOX News that Obama needs to go a step further.
“Any time you are dealing with a crisis, you have to go to the root of the problem. The root here is the pastor. As those comments continue, the crisis will continue. Unfortunately, the rhetoric of the speech will not solve that,” he said.
Paul suggested Obama sit down with Wright and try to “melt his heart” and change his way of thinking. He said Obama needs to offer the public a “solution” to the controversy Wright has caused.
“That’s something that Barack Obama should be able to do as a potential president,” Paul said. “You’ve got to have a changed man come out.”
But Rev. Jesse Jackson told FOX News he thought the speech was effective.
“I thought he bared his soul today,” Jackson said, urging the candidates to return to the issues. “This campaign is ultimately about candidates, not surrogates and not about supporters.”
Obama is making a clear attempt to move back to issues, announcing what the campaign billed as back-to-back “major speeches” over the next two days on Iraq and the economy. He plans to speak on Wednesday in North Carolina and Thursday in West Virginia.
For her part, Clinton has not drawn attention to Wright’s sermons. On Tuesday, she said she didn’t hear Obama’s speech.
“I did not get a chance to see or read Senator Obama’s speech, but I’m very glad that he gave it,” she said in Philadelphia.
“It’s an important topic. Issues of race and gender in America have been complicated throughout our history,” Clinton said. “But we should remember that this is an historic moment for the Democratic Party and for our country. We will be nominating the first African-American or woman for the presidency of the United States, and that is something that all Americans can and should celebrate.”
Democratic strategist Tanya Acker, an Obama supporter, said she had no idea whether the speech would put the controversy to rest, but she downplayed the fact that Obama never explicitly disavowed Wright.
“What he tried to do is explain that some of those statements … he was really addressing a bitterness in the African-American community,” she said. “That may make other people feel uncomfortable, but it is truly there.”
FOX News’ Aaron Bruns and Major Garrett contributed to this report.
lies, lies that is all obama knows he speaks out of both sides of his mouth, which is worse the thingd imus said or the antiamerican treasonus things his so called preacher said and he agreed with my question is obama really an american, why do you never and i mean never see hin solute the american flag do we really want some one like thaqt in the white house, he said he was sure that preachers and priests and jewish rabbies said things, i have never in church or on tv heard another person from another talk about a person running for office much mention names or say antiamerican things such as this traitor the so called rev. wright, he should be called rev. wrong, he has set ratial comming togather back a hundred years, sounds like he thinkd the blacks should have white slaves, and what gives him the right to use the n word if its all right for him to say it does that mean its all right for everyone to say it, wright is a traitor and should be deported or tried for treason
You will know a man by their fruits.
Let’s look at Obama’s fruits and just what he stands for.
FACT:
#1 Voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act: This act protects Infants that survive a late term abortion, infants that are full term but the mother still wishes to kill her baby, the bill states that if an infant is breathing and has a heart beat after a botched abortion then that infant is to receive medical care right away and is termed a human being. Obama supports Infantcide. All you bloggers google Obama and Born Alive Infant Protection Act.
#2 Obama is trying to push for a bill that is on the floor called: The Global Poverty Tax: This means your taxes will be raised to fight global poverty but your tax dollars will not go to those who need it, guess where it goes to the UN. ( Didn’t John Kerry want to give the US a global test to see if our country was fit and have the UN gives us that test). Google Obama and Global Poverty Tax.
#3 Obama refuses to wear the US flag on his lapell. (What country does he want to be the President of but is ashamed to wear the very flag he wants to govern)
#4 Then we have his church, and we all know the real truth.
#5 He is friends with a terroist.
In summary: Obama, a man that is not pround of his country nor is his wife and she is a racist to the core. A baby killer, a man who wants to globalize the US, and has friends that are terroist!
Boy ladies and gentlemen have we got ourselves a winner!!!!!!!!
Let’s hear it for the boy!
The residents of this land need to pray and ask God not to give us what we really deserve, to give us his mercy and not dam us like Rev Wright wishes.
This election is in god’s hands not ours and his will will be done. I do hope he hears the prayers of us Christians like he did in 04 and provides us with a strong leader who loves his country and fought for the very flag that we salute at our sporting events.
May God have Mercy on us,
Dee
Oh my God, Loretta! What planet are you from? You are accusing Fox of bashing Obama and equating that to bashing MLK? But yet you don’t agree to associate Obama to the good Rev Wright? Or Farrakan, for that matter. What about the things being said by the good Rev Wright? His incendiary words toward whites are just fine by you? Get REAL! And while we’re at it, would you condone it if there were ties between McCain or Clinton and the KKK? What would be the difference? Wright calls Farrakan a great leader who’s done more for blacks than anyone else. Really? Preaching hate and discord is furthering the cause of all black people? adding to the racial divide is a good thing, worthy of an award? Open your mind to what’s really going on here. I think guilt by association is appropriate here.
It’s to bad that some people can be so ignorant not to see the good but to search out the bad, or even make things up. If this is about guilty by association than I’m guilty of being a sexual deviant being that I’m Catholic. But that wouldn’t sell air time or papers.
Foxnews and your readers are so out of touch with what has been and what currently is going on in America today. Obama’s speech hit on so many points that have been swept under the rug by America and it was about time that someone in his position said something about it. To condemn a man for comments (sound bytes taken out of context) made by an associate is just absolutely ridiculous. If that were the case, most of white america should be condemned for past racial and bigoted comments made by our parents and grandparents. Weren’t we around them all of our lives? Didn’t they have major influence on the way we see and view others around us? If Grandpa was a racist, should I take the blame for his personal views since I was around him for years? Judge the man for what comes out of HIS mouth and what is displayed by HIS character, not someone elses.
Black people, White people……any color…….get one chance at life on this earth. Why anyone would choose to spend it angry, trying to convince other people that they are as good as everyone else is the real root of racial problems.
Be strong and decide that it is your responsibility to ‘play the hand you are dealt’. You can decide to take control of your life, or you can spend it being angry. It is a choice. And you only have a few short years to make the best of it you can.
Obama has not matured enough to see that, and I won’t vote for him, no matter his race.
(oh, and I hated how he ‘threw his grandmother under the train’).
Comment by Gloria
March 19th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Fox news is loosing credibility by focusing too much on the negative-”the quarter empty glass”. While CNN News, MSNBC news and even BBC news were talking about what a great and historical Obama’s speech was, Fox news was focusing on what was wrong with the speech. I expect the media to be objective and not bias. Clearly Fox news is being bias. We understand you started the fire of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and that you don’t like senator Obama, that you prefer Senator McClain, but it’s good to be objective. Soon or later this is going to backfire. Can’t you see that “what you meant for evil is turned into good”-to heal the racial wounds? Don’t let America down, you are better than that.
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You got to be kidding. Fox is much more fairer than the other networks. I wonder how much MSNBC is getting paid by Obama to promote him.No wonder MSNBC is the lowest rated news channel.
1. He acknowledged he was in church during some sermons that contained what would be some controversial topics to some. He maintains that the FEW clips that are played constantly now were made in his absence. That’s not lying or going back on your words. Quit spinning, people.
2. How can you disown the people you love? Every ONE of you with negative posts… don’t even try to pretend that you don’t have someone close to you with views decidedly different from your own. Are you disowning them? If Obama must walk away from his church, then so should Catholics for the church’s silent consent of molestation for who knows how long. Remember that
3. I personally didn’t agree with some of Wrights speeches, but don’t EVER compare what he said, however over the top some of it is, to David Duke or the KKK. Name just ONE speech where Wright advocated doing harm to other races or said other races were the scourge of the Earth the way the klan has. His strong language has some merit from slavery to Reconstruction to Tuskeege to segregation to lynchings, etc. Obama correctly stated that Wright was born of a different time and harbors resentment, but America likes to pretend equality began when slavery ended.
4. Don’t DARE ever critique black churches! Those institutions were born of a need to gather, not only to pray, but to address social injustice. Why the hell do you think most civil rights era leaders were also ministers???? Every now and then you’ll hear something over the top that you dont’ agree with, but mostly the nail is hit on the head… and it doesn’t come at the expense of bringing down another race. Black power is NOT the same as white power, but I will admit that there are the extreme nuts. Black power should really be called black EMPOWERMENT, because its about uplifting, educating, and leveling playing fields for blacks. Generally, the only time non-blacks attend churches like that is when they have a political agenda… or its Dr King’s birthday.
But I digress… I think the most profound thing that came out of the speech was the need to recognize why people feel the way they feel and not dismiss it, that begins healing… and that goes for EVERY RACE! You can’t correct a problem until you first recognize that the problem exists and its real.
In Obama’s speech he claimed Rev Wright was part of his family. Stop and think what means. If Obama becomes President that means Wright is will be part of his family….that is scary.
I think that if the media decides to continue showing the video of Reverend Wright, that they should expect some sort of legal action brought against them. It’s time for them to quit being tabloid, and start doing some real work. Their bias has done nothing but fan the flames of discord, all for the sake of ratings, and advertising dollars.