PrintApril 29, 2008
Wright Implies Obama Agrees with him
One almost feels sorry for Barack Obama as he is forced to watch his train wreck of a pastor spew the most nauseating racist, anti-American bilge imaginable without being able to stop it.
Yesterday, at the National Press Club, Reverend Jeremiah Wright repeated most of his most vile statements about race and America while hinting that Obama actually agrees with him on these subjects but is forced to deny that fact because he is a politician running for office:
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright said Monday that he will try to change national policy by "coming after" Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) if he is elected president.
The pastor also insisted Obama "didn't denounce" him and "didn't distance himself" from Wright's controversial remarks, but "did what politicians do."
Wright implied Obama still agrees with him by saying: "He had to distance himself, because he's a politician, from what the media was saying I had said, which was [portrayed as] anti-American."
Wright, who was Obama's pastor for 20 years and performed his wedding, made the explosive comment during a chaotic question-and-answer session at the National Press Club in Washington, following the pastor's remarks about the black church in America.
"I said to Barack Obama last year, ‘If you get elected, November the 5th I'm coming after you, because you'll be representing a government whose policies grind under people,' Wright said.
It is no longer a question of if but how much impact Obama's association with his toxic friend will have on his chances for president. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post - no political rookie - thinks Obama's chances have gone down the drain:
Should it become necessary in the months from now to identify the moment that doomed Obama's presidential aspirations, attention is likely to focus on the hour between nine and ten this morning at the National Press Club. It was then that Wright, Obama's longtime pastor, reignited a controversy about race from which Obama had only recently recovered - and added lighter fuel.
Obama continues to insist he never heard Wright utter his wild ravings against America, Jews, white people, or the US government until "this year." This is almost certainly a lie although the lawlerly Obama seems to be saying in his statements that he never heard Wright utter those exact sentiments.
But it is crystal clear by now that Obama exposed himself and his family to Wright's misanthropic words for 20 years but due to the political benefits of belonging to Wright's church, refused to walk out.
I can't imagine anything more damaging to Obama's campaign than the notion that he would allow pure political cynicism to override his common sense and judgement.
Hat Tip: Ed Lasky
