In D.C. appearance, Jeremiah Wright remains controversial

David Axelrod, the chief strategist for Barack Obama, gets credit for understatement of the month with his comment on MSNBC this morning before the Rev. Jeremiah Wright wrapped up his media blitzkrieg of the last few days with an appearance at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

To the extent that voters attribute to Obama statements and opinions that aren't his, Axelrod said, "it's obviously not helpful."

Now, in the wake of a feisty Q&A session that followed a speech Wright delivered (see video below), Obama and his top aides can only sit back and gauge how "obviously not helpful" the man who was the candidate's pastor for many years continues to be to his presidential hopes.

Our colleague Christi Parsons of the Chicago Tribune was among those covering Wright today, and she reports that in his address, he provided "a learned lecture on the black experience in America and on the African American faith tradition, an attempt to put into context the controversial sermon snippets that have been airing in recent weeks."

But, as he answered questions after his talk, Wright did nothing to quell the controversy ...

that has enveloped him and, by extension, Obama.

Wright stood by a sermon he delivered at his Chicago church shortly after 9/11, in which he said “America’s chickens are coming home to roost” for supporting "state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans.” Snippets of that discourse have been among those making the rounds on YouTube.

Today, Wright repeated his payback argument, saying "“You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back to you. Those are biblical principles, not Jeremiah Wright bombastic divisive principles.”

Similarly, he said there was a biblical basis for the sermon in which he said "God damn America" due to the stain of racism.

"God doesn't bless everything," said Wright. "God damns some practices."

As he did in his interview with Bill Moyers that aired on PBS on Friday night, Wright seemed dismissive of the much-hailed speech Obama gave in mid-March in which he denounced the preacher's catalog of inflammatory remarks as objectionable and not reflecting his own views.

"If Sen. Obama did not say what he said, he would not get elected," Wright said.

Defending his relationship with Louis Farrakhan, Wright said the Nation of Islam leader "is not my enemy. He did not put me in chains. He did not put me in slavery."

Wright may have done Obama one small favor, casting himself as someone who will keep offering scathing political criticism, regardless of the outcome of this year's election.

Wright told his audience: "As I said to Barack Obama, if you get elected, Nov. 5 I'm coming after you, because you'll be representing a government whose policies grind under people."

That's probably small solace to Obama as the May 6 primaries in North Carolina and Indiana approach.

As political analyst David Gergen summed up on CNN: "I'm sure Rev. Wright has many virtues. Loyalty to his former parishioner is not one of them."

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[peter molina]

People like Rev. Wright and Louis Farrakhan seem to keep racism alive by bringing slavery and bondage that happend eons ago and mixing it into todays society. Lets quit living in the past and walk together to the future is what they should be preaching

Pete

[Ethan Q]

Once again, the Conventional Wisdom has it wrong. Quite on the contrary, Wright going out there and speaking his mind shows the mind that made the statements that have hurt Obama's chances isn't so evil after all.

I am of Eurasian descent, but how can others of similar origin not think that the Black community still harbors some lingering resentment toward the way they were treated? What did we do that was so great that we deserve to be forgiven? Welfare? Equal Opportunity? Gimme a break!

Perhaps it might help to be a bit more forgiven if we tried to be a little bit more forgiving.

[Len Johnson]

Pulling snippets out of Rev. Wright's sermons actually presented him in a positive light. If you read the entire "God Damn America!" sermon, it actually gets much worse. Wright apparently takes it as an article of faith that white people invented AIDS in order to murder blacks; that our government was responsible for 911; and that Israel is completely in the wrong for defending it's right to exist as a nation, and for its people to remain alive. Hamas gleefully proclaimed that all Jews must be murdered and Israel wiped out. Wright makes no mention whatsoever of this, or of the opportunity that abounds in this country.

Wright is a race-baiting hate-monger. There is no making this clearer than to listen to an entire sermon of his. If Obama actually listened to this for 20 years, he is not fit to be our president, any more than any other racist.

[Geno - USA]

Message for Rev. Wright:

By painting all white people as evil and the government as the origin of the AIDS virus, you have eliminated your credibility and damaged that of Mr. Obama.

We have lots of guys like you where I live - they continue to F up the place by dividing the Black community and pitting it against whites.

Nice work.

When I read about your patriotism and true acts of heroism under fire, I can hardly believe that they come from the same person.

[Brad]

Bob,

You are sort of crazy, huh?

I don't have time to respond to your lengthy (yet delusional) post in detail, just to say that I'd rather have the 12% African- American vote than the 3% Jewish vote. That is especially if one is to believe that somehow Jewish voters will be swayed by crazy fantasies about Obama's non-existent "Muslim" loyalties.

[Pablo]

Come on, people! My vote is NOT with Obama, but I can't blame him for the crazy stuff that Rev Wright has to say. The man is so out of touch that he can't even see the harm he's doing to Obama's campaign. Obama may like some of what he says, be I'm sure Obama's wishing the old man would shove a cork in it by now . . .

[jkmora]

I am so glad to hear the Reverand Wright speaking out for his beliefs and for Trinity Church. He is a pastor who is reaching people, especially his multicultural black congregation, with a message of true Christianity. We as Christians must remember that our Savior Jesus Christ was crucified for speaking out against the governments' and the religious leaders' mistreatment and oppression of the poor and vulnerable members of society. We should all be tired of Namby Pampy Christianity that doesn't take on the evils and sins of our times, and most especially, that avoids confronting the wealthy and powerful who disregard the poor and unfortunate in order to enrich themselves. Rev. Wright is not unpatriotic, racist or divisive. He speaks the truth of Christ's teachings. His statements may be hard for many who are comfortable in their denial to hear about our country and the direction we need to take to live out God's blessings, but we cannot ignore him and we shouldn't take his words out of context. I'm voting for Obama in part because of his association with Rev. Wright, a great American Christian leader, rather than in spite of their religious and spiritual relationship. The media should realize how foolish they look by continuing to attack the Rev. Wright. Perhaps they would be front and center in the crowd in Jerusalem 2000 years ago shouting, "Crucify him! "

[rearden215]

I guess Mr. Obama can begin writing his memoir about how the first serious black candidate for president was derailed by a self-absorbed minister who is grinning like Sanjaya at all the attention.

[Michael]

I wish there were some way to go back to videos of Rev. Wright's sermons to see if some of Michelle's "broken souls" comments were lifted from them.

From RealClearPolitics.com, titled Obama the Savior http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/04/obama_the_savior.html

Speaking in February of the man she knows better than anyone else does, Michelle Obama said that her husband, Illinois Senator and candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination Barack Obama, is the only candidate for president who understands that before America can solve its problems, Americans have to fix their “broken souls.”
She also said that her husband’s unique understanding of the state of souls of the American people makes him uniquely qualified to be President. Obama can do what his opponent in the Democratic race Senator Hillary Clinton, and Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, cannot do. He can heal his countrymen’s broken souls. He will redeem them.
But then, saving souls is hard work, and Mrs. Obama won’t place the whole burden on her husband. He’ll make the Americans work for him. As she put it, “Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zone. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.”

[Magua Washington]

It is time for the Republican-controlled Media to give this Wright controversy some fairness and enquire of Hillary Clinton and her surrogates the following:

Is it true that, (1) Hillary surrogate, Congresswoman Shiela Jackson Lee, is also a devotee of Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright; that he's been preaching at her home church, where she is actively involved, annually for the past 15 years and has an open invitation to return, and, that she sat in the pews for his visits and did not bat an eye?

Is it true that (2) Hillary surrogate, Rev. Marcia Dyson was not only a longtime member of Trinity United Church of Christ but also still considers Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright her pastor? That Rev. Marcia Dyson's seminary education, in part, was sponsored by Trinity UCC and encouraged by Rev. Wright? And was it not at Trinity were she first met her husband, Rev. Dr. Michael Dyson, who's been very vocal in his defense of Rev. Wright.?

And, lastly of Hillary Clinton, that if Rev. Wright would not have been her Pastor, then why did she and Bill when going through Impeachment, turn to Rev. Wright for Prayer and Support and invite him to the White House? These things should be answered.

[Po Wiin]

Reverend Wright embedded threads of truth in a canvass of falsehoods: at one moment he states outright that he is not divisive or polarizing then he launches into thunderous, irreverent gestures and harsh critique of classical music, opera, psychiatry, pharmacology, JFK's and Ted Kennedy's Irish-American accents, and rationalizes this by making his thesis an imaginary cognitive difference between blacks and whites that elucidate his tangential truisms.

He speaks of embracing Change and transformation to that of respect and kindness while being irreverent of the late JFK, Lyndon Johnson and the above-mentioned; he speaks conceptually of embracing difference while he treads the threshold of a bitter diatribe of Eurocentrist thought, music, language and worship.

How does he do so? Leaping from left and right brain hemispheres to oral traditions of Hebrew teachings, he feigns authority and makes bold statements from non-existent sources adding new fields of knowledge as he thunders on.

Demarcating himself as a preacher not a politician or political analyst, he exclaims that his speech is not about the candidacies of Senators McCain, Clinton and Obama. Jeremiah Wright continuously makes an affirmation of a positive, inevitable Change to come; not coincidentally, he finally brings his speech of Change to a climax of Yes We Can make this Change as an obvious endorsement of Senator Obama and then he humbly makes a plug for his book which is to emerge sometime in 2008 (in case anyone missed any of his many points).

Despite separating himself (as a pastor) from politicians, this morning, Rev. Wright, expressed an interest in running for Vice President with Senator Obama. I think that would be an interesting ticket.

[Goldie]

And what of Clinton who said she would not stay with anyone who she disagreed with, and yet she clerked in 1971 with a radical communist law firm in Berkeley? Why did she choose to work for communists? According to her logic, she must have agreed with them. How will the Reagan Democrats vote for a candidate for President who worked for communists at a time when our soldiers were getting killed by communists? How will Hillary defend that?

[Joy Ford]

Exhale Bob! You could give yourself a stroke. Not to worry we've been through a lot but us black folks are not looking to take over so we can put you through what we've been through. Remember to err is human to forgive divine and we have been learning some divine lessons over the course of these years.

[jonathan]

This self important idiot needs to sit down and shut up. We know what we heard. Everything he has said and done of late have been for Obama. And if  Obama and his people weren't embarrassed or ashamed, then why did they oust Wright from the campaign the day the story broke? Race is a campaign issue because if Obama were to win he'd be the first black president. Unfortunately, people will vote for him for this reason, rather then he being the best person for the job of president. IT IS JUST AS BAD, JUST AS RACIST, TO VOTE FOR SOMEONE BECAUSE OF THEIR RACE AS IT IS TO VOTE AGAINST THEM BECAUSE OF THEIR RACE! Period.

[Diane Gardner]

As usual, it all comes down to money. The guy has a book coming out.

[Po Win]

RJW would make a scintillating case study.

[John Furie Zacharias]

The last place you're likely to find me would be sitting in a so-called black church listening to anyone. I don't believe in the flying spaghetti monster in the sky.

However, I was able to watch the entire National Press Club speech given by Jeremiah Wright including the Q-and-A session. I found nothing controversial in Mr. Wright's message of liberation, transformation and reconciliation.

I did find the questions he had to answer from the corporate media reporters who attended to be very ignorant and baiting. If the media doesn't want glib answers from Mr. Wright, they shouldn't ask stupid questions.

[Rohit K]

I think what Wright is doing is making American aware of their ignorance which can only be driven away through in your face speeches and dialogue.

Americans and especially white Americans have always taken for granted what the Govt tells them to be true. But for the last 8 years it has come back to bite them and they are confused. In their confusion they are unsure as how to best go about finding out the truth.

My take on this is that what goes around comes around and whats coming around is scaring the white people for their autrocity in America and around the world. Gold help them.

[ck]

To Bob at 10:38 a.m.: Thank you for your knowledgeable, thoughtful analysis, which points out many of the precise reasons why Obama is such a dangerous potential Democratic nominee. It's tragic that very few who post on this blog are likely to read, much less understand it.

After eight years of Bush’s arrogant, ‘blunderbuss’ policies abroad, much of the rest of the world seems all-too-ready to ‘damn’ America. We don’t need a Democratic candidate whose closest advisors take to the international stage, as Rev. Wright continues to do in furthering his own ambitions, to preach again and again that America somehow deserved the 9-11 terrorist attacks against us and that even God would ‘damn’America for past injustices that our country has made great efforts and progress in trying to redress. We don’t need a candidate who listened approvingly for 20 years as Wright, his pastor and spiritual advisor, preached such divisiveness. We don’t need a candidate who, in furthering his own ambitions, continually, deliberately attempts to make a chasm out of any racial divide that may exist. If Rev. Wright and Tony Rezko (the Arab-born Chicago businessman now under federal indictment for fraud and extortion who, for 17 years, has groomed Obama for the Presidency, contributed hundreds of thousands to his campaigns, and helped him buy expensive Chicago real estate) are representative of the kind of people with whom Obama surrounds himself, God help America if the DC is foolish enough to nominate him.

[Jim Downs]

The liberal media likes to refer to Rev. Wrights's offensive remarks as "snippets," as though they are not central to his philosophy. Fortunately, FOX news and Rush Limbaugh give the "snippets" the proper emphasis they deserve and all in proper perspective. FOX and Limbaugh are not almost the most reliable sources, but they perform a public service by keeping the pressure on CNN and the major networks. As bad as FOX and Limbaugh get at times, they are nothing so vile as MSNBC with Chris Mathews and Keith Olberman.

[first step]

In America there is a difference in Christianity. America is split between a Constantinian form of Christianity. Chistianity under Constantines influence through his conversion to Christianity, which merged with Rome. The other is Prophetic Christianity where one will look and speak on the signs of the times as writing in scripture. I would like to leave this for Rev. Jeremiah Wright, "MY SON, DO NOT MIGHT LIGHT OF THE LORD'S DISCIPLINE, AND DO NOT LOSE HEART WHEN HE REBUKES YOU, BECAUSE THE LORD DISCIPLINES THOSE HE LOVES, AND HE PUNISHES EVERYONE HE ACCEPT AS SON! HEBREW 12:4 - 6

[first step]

In America there is a difference in Christianity. America is split between a Constantinian form of Christianity. Chistianity under Constantines influence through his conversion to Christianity, which merged with Rome. The other is Prophetic Christianity where one will look and speak on the signs of the times as writing in scripture. I would like to leave this for Rev. Jeremiah Wright, "MY SON, DO NOT MIGHT LIGHT OF THE LORD'S DISCIPLINE, AND DO NOT LOSE HEART WHEN HE REBUKES YOU, BECAUSE THE LORD DISCIPLINES THOSE HE LOVES, AND HE PUNISHES EVERYONE HE ACCEPT AS SON! HEBREW 12:4 - 6

[J Thompson]

RE: As political analyst David Gergen summed up on CNN: "I'm sure Rev. Wright has many virtues. Loyalty to his former parishioner is not one of them."

Wow, can you really be that clueless and still be a national commentator?

Rev, Wright's only loyalty is, and must be to Jesus Christ. To be do anything less than that would be unethical, and disloyal to the vows he took when he was ordained.

Oh, and in case you missed that too: ordination, and the vows we take when we are ordained - all of that is offered to God; ordination itself comes from God.

Thank you Mr. Gergen, if you are an example of the level of intelligence and sensitivity to culture that is able to find work on a national level then surely there is hope for every monkey in the zoo.

[Stephanie]

I would like to say that you the media are the ones that keep Rev Wright's comments in the press. To those indiviudals who continue to say that Rev Wright is a racisit. Let me remind you that it was just over 50 years ago that we had Brown vs the Board of Education, and just over 40 years ago that Dr. Martin Luther King had his march on Washington. So racism is still alive and well in the United States even in the 21st Century. Once again a few individuals have taken sound bites out of a speech and blown it way out of context. Before you judge a person sit down and get to know them and their background. For those individuals who are critizing Rev Wright the most, I wonder if you would have been able to walk in shoes for one day and experience the brutal treatment that he and other Afirican Americans have experienced ? They have to a story to tell of how to survey in a bad and probably seemed like a never ending situation. Now you tell me who is the exhibiting racism, because he telling one to stand up for their rights and telling the truth about his experience growing up in America. We must not forget that it was too long agon that African American were marching in the street to gain their Constituion Rights. I would say in closing if Rev Wright is a Racist as he is being protrayed, then why do we need to have the Civil Rights Laws, Why is there a need for the Voters Rights Laws. Could it be that the ones who are screaming the loudest are the racists. But let me remind you that we are all one race the HUMAN RACE BUT WE VARY FROM DIFFERNENT ETHNIC GROUPS.

[Joy]

LOL!!

When did criticizing Wright becomes "attacks on black church"?

Now if Obama is nominated, people will see Dems as either stupid or corrupted.