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.
Hawk stated:
Oh boy! Ha ha it’s so funny to see liberals up in arms over the coverage. How does it feel now? I guess now you know how conservates have felt for the past few decades what with all the one sided coverage from cbs, abc, nbc, npr, cnn, msnbc, etc, etc. It’s so funny and yet weirdly surreal (like Obama’s freefall in front of our eyes) that you would complain about something like this that is actually really newsworthy and relevant, as it goes to judgment and lying to the American public. Sorry suckers.
Just curious, Hawk, do you have anything substantive to say on the subject matter? Anything? *Must realize that he may see mocking others as substantive, which is a pity*
By the way, have you done some research regarding who wrote Obama’s speech? I didn’t think so.
AmandaM
you suckers are still getting fooled. Yeah, Obama read someone else’s speech over a teleprompter and not even well, I might add. Imagine this was a white person trying to explain away a longtime KKK associate’s comments away. Do you now see the blatant hypocrisy? I thought not. You liberals are not only dumb and deaf but blind too.
To AmandaM,
That is all Obama has done….talk!!! He is all talk and no substance!!!
You need to be talked to by an adult, then go listen to your parents.
Oh boy! Ha ha it’s so funny to see liberals up in arms over the coverage. How does it feel now? I guess now you know how conservates have felt for the past few decades what with all the one sided coverage from cbs, abc, nbc, npr, cnn, msnbc, etc, etc. It’s so funny and yet weirdly surreal (like Obama’s freefall in front of our eyes) that you would complain about something like this that is actually really newsworthy and relevant, as it goes to judgment and lying to the American public. Sorry suckers.
(didn’t know how else to fix errors in what I wrote before w/o republishing)
Uh - did anyone at Fox News actually WATCH or READ the speech Sen. Obama made? It was one of the most complex, brilliantly honest, nuanced speeches ever given in modern American times. To try to reduce what he said to the Talking Points is, at this point, absurd. The man just engaged America is a serious, elevated discussion about race and you insist on playing in the sandbox.
This was an historic speech that will be discussed and studied for generations to come. If the speech has one deficiency it’s that it is impossible to reduce it to typical 6 second sound bites. It needs to be heard or read in its entirely. It deserves to be heard and read in its entirely.
We face very grown-up problems in America and the world today. Isn’t it time we had a leader who spoke to us like grown-ups?
RHONDA stated:
I simply can not understand how Obama still considers this man a good friend and family. I have a cousin, we are three years apart and she was my best friend through out my childhood and most of my adult life. I gave her son the Mulian cartoon and gift set for his birthday and she went on a Asian racist rant. I could not understand where this was coming from, we are white and grew up in the MS delta. Her comments and attitude bothered me so much that I could not really bring myself to be around her anymore. What is she rasising her son to believe? My husband’s step mother and step sisters are asian and I just could not allow her to hurt them or my husband this way and I did not want my daughter raised around that sort of hatred. Our responsibility as parents is to each raise our children better than we were. Living in the MS delta I have know rasism my whole life. I don’t want want my child to grow up hearing what I have heard by both black and white, so if there is a person who I feel is exposing my child to these things there place in my life becomes very small. I love my cousin very much but she is not willing to change her views so I had to change her influence in my life. They are no more weekend get aways, dinner at each others house and sleep overs for our children. If I could make that decision about a family member who is like a sister how can Obama have allowed his children and wife to be exposed to that type of hatred for so long? I think his true judgement has finally came out but it is probally to late for the democratic party. I can’t see him stepping down and I can’t see how Clinton will get the needed deligates, So I guess McCain is White House bound.
Rhonda, you choose to raise your children the way you see fit. Obama chooses to raise his children the way he sees fit. You assume that just because you have chosen the path you have, that he should follow YOUR mindset? What about teaching his daughters about tolerance? About the fact that we have freedom of speech in this country, and that we can listen to what others think and decide how we let that impact our own character. How others will have different opinions than ourselves and that we can listen to someone else’s opinion without agreeing with it. For you, your relationship with your cousin was not worth keeping. For Obama, this man had brought him to understand his faith better. Do every one of your friends represent what you believe? Do you have friends who have done things you don’t agree with, but you have chosen to continue with the friendship? You weigh the pros and cons of the friendship and decide whether this person will stay in your life? You are Rhonda. Barack Obama is Barack Obama. Let him make his own decisions. Just based on the anger that your post exudes, I doubt you would have anything positive to say about his speech.
Some food for thought in the midst of this insane mess:
Since Obama refused to disown Rev Wright it is apparent Barack intends to continue his frienship with his former pastor. NOW lets assume OBama wins the Presidency, I personally do not want Rev Wright as a friend of the Presidents invited to the White House, eating gourmet dinner off exquisite china that is paid for with my tax dollars, and staying as a guest in the Lincoln bedroom after hearing this man shout from a church pulpit “God Damn America”.
In AMERICA, we dont mix church and state….this is a common principle.
In AMERICA, we allow people to voice thier opinoins whether we agree with them or not.
That being said, this whole fiasco with Reverend Wright should be a moot point. Why are we crucifying Obama for someone else’s political rant?
Reverend Wright isnt a Louis Farrakahn, and he isnt Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. He is a minister in a church that until recently, no one outside of Chicago even knew existed…he isnt important. LET IT GO!!!!!
Obama’s relationship with Rev Wright is a perfect example of TOLERANCE and OPTIMISM something that is severely lacking in our nation.
TOLERANCE because he will listen to your rants but not hold them against you.
OPTIMISM because he looks for the good in all people.
These are two very very CHRISTIAN values that we should admire, not abbhor.
As an Hispanic, I must say I am SOOOOO tired of all the whining! I have never LIKED Obama not because he is an African American, but because he is such a cry-baby!!!!!
Get over it! America is what YOU make of it! I come from a family of 10 children! My parents never ONCE took on food stamps! We were farm workers. I worked the fields when I was in 3rd grade! My parents knew, however, that our ticket out of there was a good education! Today, I am very proud to say that I have a Masters in Education. I paid my own pay through part-time jobs and scholarships!
There was plenty of “bad elements” while I was growing up, you name it it was there but we sacrificed and resisted the temptation of easy money. All of my brothers and sisters are working honest jobs and not one of us is on welfare! One of my brothers served this country in the military and is currently a border patrol. Three of my nieces and nephews are proudly severing in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Korea!
Obama does NOT represent me! I am a proud Independent! I vote the issues, and in MY opinion he is a LIAR and I can not believe how people still believe this man! He is a politician like the rest of them. I did not hear his speech and I don’t WANT to listen to it let alone READ it! He is NOT the authority on Race anymore than anyone else of ANY Race!
I have just as many stories as any other minority about being disenfranchised but you won’t find me whining about it! He needs to stop especially if he thinks he can represent ALL of America not just the Black community! and I am intelligent enough to know that not ALL people feel that way.
I for one am sick and tired of being called a racist because I question the anti-American statements of Obama’s Pastor. This is not a race issue. These are Honest concerns of hard working Americans who want to know that the man they are electing loves America, and will fight for Every American, not just the special interests of “victms”
Today, Dems have one more group of victms they can reach out to… White America or as Wright likes to say, the “US KKK of America”. The vast majority of us are not racist but are being portrayed as such by the Left for our Oppinions on Obama’s Politics(not his skin color).