If Obama thought the Rev. Wright's comments were behind him, he was wrong
The Associated Press
Published: April 26, 2008
NEW YORK: Barack Obama's bid to put the fiery anti-American remarks of his former pastor behind him was thwarted as the preacher spent the weekend insisting that his quotes were taken out of context "for some very devious reasons" by those who sought to sow "fear and hatred."
"To put an element of fear and hatred and to stir up the anxiety of Americans who still don't know the African-American church, know nothing about the prophetic theology of the African-American experience, who don't even know how we got a black church," the Rev. Jeremiah Wright said Friday night.
The PBS television interview hung over Obama, the front-runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, as he campaigned Saturday in Indiana, trying to bounce back from a defeat in Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary.
His rival, Hillary Clinton, also on the campaign trail in Indiana on Saturday, has argued that she is better positioned and more experienced to withstand bare-knuckle Republican attacks ahead of the November presidential election. Her supporters have pointed to Obama's relationship with Wright as a sure target of Republican criticism, which has already begun.
Last month Obama made a well-received speech on racism in America in a bid to defuse the attention given to Wright, who has said in sermons that America brought the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on itself and is "damned" by God for its history of slavery and racism.
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But the issue has not gone away. Republicans in North Carolina, which holds its primary May 6, have already begun airing television ads featuring Wright in an attempt to taint the state's Democratic gubernatorial candidates because of their support for Obama. The ads call Obama "too extreme for North Carolina."
Wright's remarks again received attention Friday in first interview the pastor has given since video of his preaching gained national attention in March.
And controversy is likely to linger for days, as Wright is scheduled to speak Sunday at a dinner organized by the Detroit branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, then again Monday at the National Press Club in Washington.
Wright said his sermon blaming U.S. policies for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was a warning against vengeance and the view that all American actions are perfect.
Wright said he was in Newark, New Jersey, when the terrorist strike occurred and, from his hotel window, he said he saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center. Some of his congregants lost loved ones in the Pentagon and at the World Trade Center, he said.
"We want revenge. They wanted revenge," Wright told "Bill Moyers' Journal." "God doesn't want to leave you there, however. God wants redemption."
Wright told Moyers that "the persons who have heard the entire sermon understand the communication perfectly." The pastor said that the video is being publicized by people who want to make him out to be a fanatic instead of someone expressing problems with U.S. policies.
Among the most remarked-upon part of Wright's sermons was his proclaiming from the pulpit "God damn America" for its racism. He told Moyers that his message was that people shouldn't confuse the government with God, and that governments have "failed and how they lie."
Asked about his relationship with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, Wright said that Farrakhan made racist and anti-Semitic comments "20 years ago."
The pastor said Farrakhan has helped African-American men stop using drugs and helped ease gang warfare and has worked in prisons. |
