Obama vs. Wright Continues To The Detriment Of Everyone But Wright
Posted on April 29, 2008 by andrew
I think this should clear matters up for anyone uncertain of how Barack Obama feels about his former pastor.
“I have been a member of Trinity Church since 1992. I have known Rev. Wright for almost 20 years,” he said at a news conference in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “The person I saw yesterday is not the person I met 20 years ago.”
Obama said he is outraged by Wright’s remarks that seemed to suggest the U.S. government might be responsible for the spread of AIDS in the black community, and his equation of some American wartime efforts with terrorism.
“What particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing,” said Obama, who added that Wright had shown “little regard for me” and seemed more concerned with “taking center stage.”
Honest, straightforward, concise. The man who helped shape Obama’s faith when the latter was a young man has transformed with age into a bitter extremist. He has, apparently, hurt the presidential candidate personally with his recent remarks. Obama has in turn denounced those remarks in the strongest possible terms and no longer associates himself with the minister.
There is nothing left to be discussed publicly. End. Of. Story.
Sphere: Related Content» Filed Under 2008 democratic primary, Barack Obama, Reverend Wright
Comments
One Response to “Obama vs. Wright Continues To The Detriment Of Everyone But Wright”
Leave a Reply
Oddly, the way it has been covered, you are right. Him condemning the minister isn’t going to be stronger than this, and that seems to be what everyone wanted to see. Of course, the way it has been reported makes no sense, and this is clearly reflected in Obama’s distancing speech:
“I have been a member of Trinity Church since 1992. I have known Rev. Wright for almost 20 years,” he said at a news conference in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “The person I saw yesterday is not the person I met 20 years ago.”
The news (and now Obama) treats this as if it’s just a small group of individual events: Obama meets Wright, Obama joins the church, Wright makes fiery speeches, Obama doesn’t distance as much as he should, Wright goes on publicity tour, Obama DOES distance himself enough. Under this rubric, the story SHOULD be over. It won’t be, but that doesn’t matter.
There was a lot of time in that 20 years, where Obama and Wright interacted and both developed as human beings. A lot of individual events that either haven’t come to light (not because they should, but precisely because they’re insignificant), or are glossed over. Either Obama saw where this was going at SOME point over the past 20 years and ignored it until he simply couldn’t ignore it anymore (bad) or couldn’t tell that a man who he once claimed was an inspiration and a spiritual leader was slowly turning into an Al Sharpton-esque demagogue (EXTREMELY BAD, especially considering that current US “allies” include such unstables as Putin and every single African and South American president that likes us). I think Obama ends up actually getting a break here because of the way its been reported. Not that ANY of it really matters, but if the story does at all matter, it got reported in the most Obama-beatable way possible.