Obama’s Test: Will Offensive Against Wright Pay Off in the Primaries?
Barack Obama looks on as he is introduced during a town hall-style meeting in Hickory, N.C., Tuesday, shortly after he addressed the controversy over his former pastor at length. (AP Photo)
Barack Obama went on a new offensive against his former pastor Tuesday, calling the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.’s remarks “appalling” and effectively breaking ties with him.
Obama used his strongest language to date to denounce Wright at a time when he’s still struggling to shake Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary race. Looking ahead to the nine remaining contests, analysts say Obama’s move could either pay dividends for the Illinois senator and douse the Wright controversy — or backfire.
“People are going to say that Barack Obama should have done this a long time ago, but what’s important in a political campaign is that you have done the right thing, and I think most Americans would agree that Barack Obama now has done that,” Democratic strategist Steve Murphy told FOX News.
Obama spoke at length about Wright between campaign stops in North Carolina. He said he was “outraged” by Wright’s remarks the day before at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
“All it was was a bunch of rants that aren’t grounded in truth,” Obama said, putting substantial distance between himself and the pastor, whose sermons put Obama’s campaign in a near-crisis state last month.
The last time Obama addressed the Wright controversy in such detail was March 18 in Philadelphia. But at the time, he said Wright still was “like family” and that he could not disown him. Wright officiated at Obama’s wedding, and one of his sermons was the inspiration for the title of Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope.”
Obama’s language was much tougher Tuesday, and he repeatedly said Wright wasn’t the same man he had met 20 years ago before joining Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
Former Bill Clinton adviser and columnist Dick Morris said Obama’s stand Tuesday was a “good move,” because Wright continued to threaten his non-racial image as “a guy running for president who happened to be dark-skinned.”
“Wright has become the poster child for everything that white Americans fear in a black politician or pastor,” he said.
But Morris warned that Obama could still be held “hostage” by any member of his church’s congregation who might claim to have seen Obama listening to Wright’s controversial sermons.
Wright attracted criticism for telling his congregation that the government was responsible for afflicting the black community with HIV and for suggesting America provoked the Sept. 11 attacks with its foreign policies.
“Isn’t politics fun?” Morris added. “A couple months ago Obama was trying to prove he wasn’t a Muslim, and now the more he can prove that he doesn’t go to church, the better he’s going to do.”
Another trouble spot for Obama could be that he reacted in large part to what he saw as a personal affront by Wright. Obama said he was “angered” by Wright’s suggestion that he was engaging in political posturing by denouncing his sermons.
“What seems to be most insulting to him was that he was insulted by Rev. Wright, more than the comments that some people see as being unpatriotic,” Democratic strategist Kirsten Powers said.
Conservative critics continued to hammer Obama on Tuesday for staying with the church for nearly two decades, and again questioned whether he was really unaware of Wright’s controversial views before he spoke out on them.
Roll Call Editor Mort Kondracke said Obama now risks more backlash from Wright, thereby prolonging the unwelcome attention.
“It would not do Obama any good if Wright comes back and starts having a fight with Obama,” he said. “I’m not convinced it’s the end of the story.”
Wright has in fact shown a new willingness to take on the media, and to challenge Obama, over the public treatment of his sermons.
Wright, whose remarks first stirred national controversy more than a month ago, broke his silence on the matter Friday in an interview on PBS. He followed up with an appearance at an NAACP dinner in Detroit and then his address Monday before the National Press Club.
There he taunted reporters and claimed the furor over his sermons was an attack on the black church.
Obama disputed that Tuesday and said Wright only caricatured himself.
Even before Wright’s public appearances, the issue was gnawing at Obama’s campaign. At the Philadelphia debate before the Pennsylvania primary, Obama again endured questions about his ties to his former pastor. And the North Carolina GOP produced an ad last week that hit Obama for his relationship with Wright.
It is unclear whether Clinton will raise the Wright issue again before the May 6 primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. As the controversy developed, the New York senator eventually made Wright a point of her campaign, saying she would not have stayed in the church if Wright were her pastor.
It’s also not clear whether Obama is considering leaving his church. He said Tuesday he was still a member, but that his relationship with the church has been strained as a result of the Wright controversy.
“When I go to church it’s not for spectacle. It’s to pray and to find to find a stronger sense of faith. It’s not to posture politically. It’s not to hear things that violate my core beliefs … and I certainly don’t want to provide a distraction to those who are worshiping at Trinity,” he said.
“As of this point I’m a member. I haven’t had a discussion with Reverend [Otis] Moss (the current minister) about it so I can’t tell you how he’s reacting and how he’s responding.”
Click here to read more about Obama’s criticism of Wright.
Click here to read a full transcript of Obama’s press conference Tuesday.
FOX News’ Bonney Kapp contributed to this report.
Obama & Wright = Pinky and The Brain!
They want to rule the world
What a bunch of Bull, his sermons have been the same for twenty years
I truly think Barak Obama and his Pastor have recently met privately, and decided to stage this ‘falling out’ so he could distance himself further from him for the election. This all seems too contrived, and part of some political playbook to me (call me cynical). Even if it is not, Barak should remove himself from the race as his candidacy is too tainted by this issue, and it will harm the Democratic Party in November. This whole debacle is a complete distraction to the real issues facing America today! I do not believe he agrees with Reverend Wright, but his judgement on this isue definitely calls his ability to lead this nation into question. He says that this elections is not about him, he should prove it!
Too little, too late. The issue here isn’t the rantings of some kook racist preacher who’s enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. No, the issue here is Barack Obama’s 20-year association with this person and other hard-core, anti-American leftists like domestic terrorist William Ayers. Throughout his adult life, Obama has consistently sought out the most radical elements in his environment with whom to associate himself.
His voting record in the Senate backs up this hard-core left-wing political view. Far from “reaching across the aisle”, during his mere 3 years in the Senate, Barack Obama has yet to cast a vote that would have taken any real political courage and that would have angered his “base” on the extreme left. By contrast, John McCain, on several occasions, voted for compromise bills that angered the right wng base of the Republican Party. Now, you tell me who is truly able to “reach across the aisle”.
Talk is cheap, Barry. Actions are what matter. You’re a fraud. John McCain is the real deal.
Even if this was not staged, How long did Obama attend Wright’s church? Are we really supposed to believe that Wright has just turned crazy in the last two months? I would guess that he was just as radical when Obama was attending his church on a regular basis, which would lead me to the conclusion that at some point, Obama liked what Wright had to say.
I truly believe the reason Rev. Wright turned the tables on Obama is because Obama did - in fact - listen to all his sermons throughout the 20 years, and knew exactly what Rev. Wright was preaching . . . and then he insulted Rev. Wright by acting as though he was surprised Rev. Wright had that negative side to him . . . it’s all political folks . . . Obama is a bigger liar then all three candidates combined.
Wright and Obama episode seems to have an uncanny resemblance to Sanford and Son on TV !
Obama can’t cut his ties Rev. Wright, Tony Rezko , or Louis Farrahkan he owes them his political career. If he break away from them that will end his future in Chicago and sink his ship.
id any of the “NEWS REPORTERS” see Barbara Reynolds (a super supporter of The Clintons) chatting with rev. Jeremiah Wright at the National Press Club …have any of you “NEWS REPORTERS” investigated/think that there might be a link between Reynolds, The Clintons and rev. Wright?
Reynolds is a very strong /do anything for the Clintons …she loves what the Billy did as president and wants to thank him by helping to get his wife (the Hillary) elected.
Barbara Reynolds did organized the bamboozling side show of rev. Jeremiah (the clown) Wright on Monday.
When are people going to realize that Obama is nothing more than a Chicago ward politician.
Chicago is where the dead can still vote and all others vote early and often.
This empty suit with no clue on anything vital, is treating the entire USA like it is Chicago.