Obama Says Pastor Was in a ‘Time Warp,’ Suggests He Would Have Left Church
Barack Obama says his controversial former pastor was stuck in a “time warp” and suggests he would have left his Chicago church had Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. not retired.
While still defending what he called the “broader aspect” of his long-time pastor, Obama said in a pre-taped interview with ABC’s “The View,” which aired Friday, that Wright’s most offensive sermons drew from an outdated view of America and its prejudices.
“What they spoke to was, I think, a brilliant man who was still caught in a time warp back in the ’60s, early ’70s and the ’50s, where he grew up, and had a sense of where America was and didn’t have a good enough sense of how it had changed,” he said.
Obama disputed what he called an overstated notion that Wright was his “spiritual adviser” or “mentor.”
Hillary Clinton earlier this week for the first time spoke out on the controversy over Wright, whose anti-American and racially charged sermons threatened Obama’s campaign. The New York senator said she would have left the church if her pastor behaved like Obama’s.
Asked what he’d do if the reverend had stayed on, Obama told “The View”: “Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn’t have felt comfortable staying at the church.”
As he did in his speech on race more than a week ago, Obama continued to defend Wright’s character. He said he spoke with him recently, and “I told him I feel badly that he has been characterized just in this one way. People haven’t seen this broader aspect of him.”
Obama reiterated that he never personally heard Wright’s most controversial sermons.
“Now keep in mind he’s preaching three times every Sunday and for 30 years, and I’m not vetting my pastor and I didn’t have a research team during the course of these 20 years go pull every sermon that he’s given and see if there’s something offensive that he said,” Obama said, adding that “I don’t purchase all the DVDs.”
In his sermons over the years, Wright has railed against the United States and accused it of bringing on the Sept. 11 attacks by spreading terrorism. He also has said the government invented AIDS to destroy “people of color” and has shouted “God damn America” for its treatment of minorities.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Is this still open?
Talk about spin, between Obama on the View and Clinton on Bosnia and Juan from FOX saying politician exaggerate. WE need someone to secure our country, is anyone up for the job, or they worry about votes?
too little to late obama.i do not trust his judgement especially to be president.he twist and turns his words all the time. the true obama is comeing to lite now.the way he handled this , i do not have selective memoru like he says he has selective hearing.looks like if he wins , then we will have another republican for president.
It goes much, much deeper with Obama than supporting a “racist” minister and church. That racist minister is also a socialist (communist?) and sympathizer with Islamic terrorists and feel it is their right to blow up our twin towers because of what? “Hirosima and Nagasaki.” This country was attacked by Japan. They started the war. We ended it. Story over.
It has nothing to do with terrorism. He sells Islamic sermons filled with white and Jewish hate in the store at the Chruch that is supposedly Christian (worshiping a black Christ–just nutty–Christ was Jewish), but you can’t worship a god that is of a race you despise!!!
Obama believes this stuff! His wife let a bit of that belief show in her speech! Earlier in life Obama says in his book he studied from all the Marxist professors and was close with them, the more radical black students and feminists. His “mentor” and father figure in Hawaii in his book is a guy named Frank–a card carrying Communist.
Beware America!!! When Obama says change think Communist change. When he says more regulation is needed in our economy think of Stalin’s failed but “regulated” five year plans. We had a great president that brought an end to much Communist practice in Europe. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!” Now we are fighting for our lives against a communist would be president!!
Obama is starting to catch up with Hillary on the ‘Pinnochios’. Why isn’t there an award ceremony for Obama winning on TV. I’m not even a Hillary supporter, but it is hard to not see the bias in the media’s reporting. Everyone needs to go to other websites and register on their blog sites and let them have it for not reporting all of the news. Especially MSNBC, where Chris Matthews says, ‘his leg gets a tingle in it when he hears Obama’s speeches’. Keith Obermann is the worst offender. I have never seen anything good said about Hillary or McCain. What is up with that. I have to watch ‘Fox’ and Tivo some of the other channels just to see who is really reporting the news. Looks like ‘Fox’ is the only one that is even close to ‘Fair and Balanced’. I thought we were supposed to have a free press.
Go Vote for John McCain, i have heard this crap even before Reverend Wright. I am gonna vote for John McCain, do what you wish. You want four more years of the same BS be my guest. I bet you people supported the war before you went against it. You want to know what it scary is, bombing a country without proof of WMD’s or any proof of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Republicans talk about security, but how are we secure when we are almost spending almost 1 trillion dollars in Iraq, and where wondering why the hell are ports are not secure, and the border and are economy is going twards a depression.. Answer that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t whine and complain when the economy gets worse, and were stuck in Iraq for another 100 years.
You know, this for me, is not about being racist. It’s about being a little off your rocker in views about america. Radical? Too much, you think?
This is just too late. Someone running for the presidential bid should have use his good judgement and distanced himself from the pastor a long time ago. I don’t believe he did not know. We really don’t know much about Obama do we?