March 18, 2008
More lawyerly evasions needed
Politico notices a contradiction between Obama's speech and an earlier statement.
Today's speech:
"Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed."
But in the Huffington Post piece we deconstructed three days ago, Obama wrote:
"The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign."
We laid out the kinds of evasions built into that statement. They and their cousins are going to be needed.