Why Oprah quit Jeremiah Wright's church and Barack Obama didn't

Early in the 1980s rising television star Oprah Winfrey was looking for a local church in Chicago. Not surprisingly, she like many blacks including four years later a community organizer named Barack Obama, was attracted to Trinity United Church of Christ and its dynamic, outspoken pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

That South Side church was THE place for upwardly mobile Windy City blacks to connect and it had an aggressive community outreach program. And attendance continued Winfrey's childhood connection with black churches and their shared sense of community and support.

As The Ticket noted Sunday morning, the same reasons caused other black clergy to steer the young Obama there, saying he'd have more luck connecting with black churches in his urban organizing efforts if he actually belonged to one himself. Obama's friends later added that alighting at Trinity with its forceful male leader was also part of the mixed-race Obama's exploration of his black identity in the absence of his father.

Things went along fine for several years, as Oprah's fame and fortune exploded and as Obama laid the groundwork in local efforts and political connections for his political career.

But something began bothering Winfrey. By the....

...late 1980s, she was an infrequent attendee at Trinity's services and by the early 1990s she had stopped going altogether.

According to a revealing article, headlined "Something Wasn't Wright," in the new Newsweek by Allison Samuels, a major reason was Winfrey's concern with Wright's inflammatory sermons, her association with them through church membership and the potential impact on her widespread popularity.

Samuels' quotes unnamed sources as saying that, Winfrey, now a multi-billionaire, knew her audience was mainstream and while Wright's anger-filled rants may have been familiar to lifelong black churchgoers, they would be nothing close to mainstream in the minds of Winfrey's millions of fans.

Ironically, while Winfrey protected herself against negative associations with Wright, her endorsement of and active campaigning for Obama last year has hurt her popularity, as noted in two recent Ticket items here and the other one here.

Questions have arisen over why Obama as an astute budding politician would have remained in the same church environment for 20 years and when Wright's shocking sermon snippets initially emerged weeks ago deny having heard them.

He clearly was aware of the danger of association with Wright, having disinvited the pastor from giving the public invocation at Obama's campaign announcement in Springfield in February of 2007 because, reportedly, Obama said Wright's sermons could come across as a little "rough."

Yet in his recent speech on race in Philadelphia, Obama said: "As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthens my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother."

Yet five weeks later after Wright's National Press Club speech and news conference performance, Obama had this to say: "I am outraged by the comments that were made, and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate.

"They offend me, they rightly offend all Americans, and they should be denounced. And that's what I'm doing very clearly and unequivocally here today."

Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" Sunday asked Obama about defending Wright a full year after he indicated Wright's words could be trouble for his campaign and what he'd learned in the five weeks between his Philadelphia remarks and last week's denunciation of Wright? The same question has been raised by numerous Ticket commenters in recent weeks.

At one point Obama said he was like millions of Americans: "My commitment, as I said, Tim, is to the church, not to a pastor."

Obama also replied:

"Well, you know, previously, there were a bunch of sermons that had been spliced from a collection of sermons for 30 years. And that's not who I thought he was. That's not what I thought defined him. He's somebody who's a Marine, he's somebody who has served
on city colleges boards, somebody who was a respected pillar in the community.

"And so I thought it was important to--for him to explain or at least provide some context for some of the things that he had said previously. But when he came out at the press conference of the National Press Club, not only did he amplify some of those comments and defend them vigorously, but he added to it.

"He put gasoline on the fire. And what that told me was not only was he interested in using this platform to continue to make statements that I fundamentally disagree with and that offend me, but also that he didn't have much regard for the moment that we're in right now here
in the United States where we can't be distracted or engaged in this divisive, hateful language.

"Instead, we've got to bring the country together to solve problems. And, so in that sense, what became apparent to me was he didn't know me as well as I thought he did, and I certainly didn't know him as well as I thought I did. And, and that, you know, was disappointing, but something that I had to clearly speak out about."

The complete Obama transcript is available here. And the full hour video is available here. The parts concerning Wright are in the first 17 minutes.

Does Obama's most recent explanation of his relationship with Wright assuage any concerns you may have had? The comments section below is open.

--Andrew Malcolm

                                                         Photo Credits: AP and Trinity United Church of Christ

Comments

[Ron Green]

He says hes disowned his comments and does not agree with him. Thats good enough for me. Others will have to decide on their own.

[Moishe T]

Enough already. Haven't we had our fill of hot news from "an unnamed source" from the Bushies? But to fail to quote her directly as to why Oprah abandoned Wright and trot out the phantom "source" as authority.....is almost a bad as this article's failure to tell us at all as to why Obama didn't leave sooner.
Of course Oprah lost some ratings after she endorsed Obama. Fer chrissake her show plays greatly to women, some of whom must have been Clinton supporters, and were miffed.
In my view this is another lame, obviously Clinton backed missive designed to perpetuate Wright in the media...like a hand puppet.

[Steve Rodriguez]

Obama has never accomplished anything in his political career. Are we going to let him try, at the risk of our country? I say h--- no!

[Sir Topham Hat]

(I'm not faulting your story -- only the subject matter.) This is exciting as hearing about Britney Spears' child custody battles. If Wright were the one actutally running for president, now *that *would be a story for the ages ...

[Sam]

What Obama does and says is called Opportunism. And shortsightedness. Naive, he was hoping that pastor would come to his rescue and stay quiet, instead of pushing along his own divisive black agenda. Mike Huckabee is right: Wright needs Obama to lose to reinforce the fears that white people have about blacks, and that black people have about whites. Unfortunately, its looking more and more like he will get what he wants.

[Paul Frank]

Oprah quit the church because she's a businesswoman (actually a business conglomerate) first and last. Obama stayed in his church because he is a human being first and last and because he loved, and continues to love, his church community and their commitment to the poor in Chicago and beyond. The politically expedient thing for him to do would have been to throw his pastor under the proverbial bus the minute he became a political liability. He didn't because he is a decent and a courageous human being. In his eloquent speech in Philadelphia, Obama criticized Wright’s most incendiary comments without betraying the man he’d come to love and respect despite serious political disagreements. Obama’s answers to Russet yesterday were exceedingly intelligent, honest, and to the point.

[Mr]

The problem is not what Obama's religious associations might be or have been, because he has handled the issue. The problem is the controversy itself and the media's obsession: Sure it's important during a critical election for the public to scrutinize their prospective representative and leader. But the issue goes far beyond that. People are fundamentally afraid and anxious of anything that they can't fit into a tight little box, a concise explanation with no grey areas. But the world is full of grey, nebulous and difficult to define situations. Everybody's fantasizing about what Obama's past association with Wright might say about his character, mainly because it's related to an experience which, to many of them, is foreign: being black in America (as it is to myself). How foolish that we should make our decisions based on some imaginary, anxious conjecture, rather than on what the man actually says and does, and what his demeanor clearly demonstrates.

[cheryl]

I don't see the point in blasting the man for reminding Americans of the history of the US and its consequences. Did you forget the lyncings in the South, Jim Crow, discrimination. What else can he and I name that is written in the books of life for all of us. What do you expect from a man that defended his country only to be treated as a second-class citizen with few rights. How would you feel? Did your family have a person that was misreated by the society they are sent to protect and serve? Lest we forget he is a Black man, not biracial, triracial or un-racial. People get a grip on reality. I've heard worse rhetoric from Imus, Falwell, and a few other famous or not so famous So-called evangelist and leaders of the caucasian persuasion. Besides, Oprah depends on the mainstream, remember how she became a billionare. It wasn't from the black community.

[Steven]

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright shows how our definition of racisim changes over time. While there may have been a time when his fired up, rough sermons were fashionable, they are now a stereotype of something that is wrong within the black community. I like Obama. I like Oprah. I think they represent moderation and mainstream America. I do think that Obama hanging on so long shows that he can be overly loyal to someone. I hope he can come out and say that he's learned a lesson that he won't make it again. We've had a President for eight years who has repeatedly chosen loyalties to bad advisers over acting on his own reason and his gut. If President Bush had to part with a Rev. Jeremiah Wright before the 2000 election, then would we be so terribly screwed as we are right now?

[Elliott]

I am getting really tired of this created issue.

Yes, Reverend Wright has made controversial remarks but focusing on him will not help Americans who can't afford health care, it will not bring our troops home from Iraq, it will not provide healthcare to the 40 million plus who are uninsured.

Much like the NY Daily News had the guys to end their coverage of Paris HIlton, I'd like to see Top of the Ticket put this distraction to bed. It's time to focus on things that matter.

[Substance]

"...late 1980s, she was an infrequent attendee at Trinity's services, and by the early 1990s she had stopped going altogether."

Even without the suggestion in this article, Americans knows Oprah has good jusgement and after her initial campaign help for Obama, she even distant herself from Obama - this is what Americans call Good Judgement.

While Oprah can sense the danger and do the right things, Obama is a total opposite and a total failure in judgement. Why is he behave that way? The answer is simply, his egotism. He still believe he can turn things around by making another speech, doesn't matter substance or credibility. In his mind, Americans is easily fooled - just make them (Americans) guity and tell them what they like to hear. Afterall, he got a blind army to vote for him eventhough he behaved like a crown just like he did in Rev Wright's flip-flops.

[Millicent Blair]

The Presidency of The United States is one of the Highest offices in the world--

If people have any doubts-it is important to continue to get answers-as well as to continue to ask questions of the contenders-

Beautiful oritory is not enough--the Substance must be there! If change is promised-one must ask What Changes -- Jack Kennedy and Ronald Reagon both graciously answered all questions-

This is a most difficult time in our history- Contenders for the presidency of our country must stand the test!

That is not too much to ask!

[HigherMinds]

For me the central issue is Sen. Obama's repetitive lying and "back-pedaling" when confronted with the Wright controversy. He was given multiple opportunities to tell the truth and he didn't. I am disappointed that the media has ignored this point and have only pursued the "sensationalism" of Obama's pastor's/mentor's viewpoints.

It seems impossible for anyone to know just how much of Wright's ideology is shared by Obama and the fact that Obama continues to tell politically expedient lies, makes it more impossible to make any determination.

While I don't believe any of the candidates are above telling politically expedient lies, it is only Obama who is trying to sell himself as being a "cut above" in the honesty and integrity categories, but his actions do not support the characterization.

It is far from clear to me what kind of change Obama can bring to "politics as usual" since his behavior has definitely been demonstrative of the same old song and dance we've seen in every other politician.

[Al Austin]

I'm a pledged Clinton delegate, and I think Senator Obama is handling this Wright situation as well as it can be handled. The popular media should stop giving a platform to Wright and others with ignorant and hateful views. I support free speech, and responsible and objective media. At this point who cares about what the reverend thinks or believes. Perhaps Wright has been compromised by the other right.

[frantz vidal]

What is a president of the USA supposed to do when he is elected?
He runs the country, right? He deals with the issues in america, and outside of America. He takes care of its people, its economy, security, growth.
You would expect a president to be "patriotic" by default, and they all have been, they were not all good, or right, but they were all patriotic.
So what is all this fuss about patriotism?
He is not wearing a flag pin, he is or was friend with so and so, 62% think that he may not be as patriotic as blah blah blah.
Come on people, try to look deeper in the candidates, and not only what is being fed through the TV.
Read more than one newspaper, and learn how to read between the lines.
Make your own judgment, and don't forget to vote.
Enough of the gossip, this is your future, register, and speak out.
Cling to your voting right.

hu!...

[DRB]

Who cares about Wright? He's a smart guy, but histrionic as so many pastors are.

Let us examine Hillary vs Obama on the issue of leadership.

Let me first say I teach leadership for a living. I am not from the United States, and I do not have a vote, and have no political affiliation.

But I know a transcendent great leader when I see one.

Daniel Goleman (of Emotional Intelligence fame) had written a book many years ago called, "Primal Leadership", where he describes the quality of a transformational leader - one who can make a truly positive change. Here is a quote from the book,
"The fundamental task of leaders... is to prime good feeling in those they lead. That occurs when a leader creates resonance a reservoir of positivity that unleashes the best in people. At its root, then, the primal job of leadership is emotional"

A great leader leads i.e. inspires talented people and motivates them around a common purpose.

Hillary would like you to believe that a great leader is someone who can list out policy point after policy point. That's a great manager not a great leader.

A US president has at his disposal any number of smart intelligent people. But only an inspirational leader can rally around people - in Congress, and the public - to get things done.

Obama is the most talented leader I have seen and it will be a shame if America is not ready for him.

[chris]

it is impossible for obama to win in November.....

[Marks]

Rev. Wright's celebrity will never cease long as media keep writing articles about him.

The only thing that can settle fascination with Wright is knowing how often Obama was at Trinity Church to hear those rants and raves.

Once a month, twice a month, every Sunday of how many months during 20 years. Did his young daughters have to sit through screeching preaching by Rev. Wright? It was noisy for children!

Did Obama go to 30 minute Christian service with a 300 member choir Trinity Church has, like most people experience? The sermons were said in a calm voice and reflective of concerned issues?

How many different Sunday services did Trinity offer? 4 or 5 from 7:00 am to 1:00? Was Wright screaming at every service on Sundays or just one?

Obama's could have skipped many of Wright's ranting sermons and still gone to Church!

Were Rev. Wright's rants always about sins of the Federal government or some international thing that occurred he felt angry about? He screamed and yelled all the time?

Obama legislative actions don't go with Rev. Wright's ranting. Obama watched the very political Rev. still do good things in that Chicago community.

Very calm and only spiritual acting, Rev. Wright, married the Obama's and baptized his two daughters in separate years.

It wasn't up to Obama controlling Rev. Wright's good standing as a Pastor. When 8,000 members belong to the same church as he, what was harmful?

Oprah's actions and reasons for leaving Trinity Church don't have to equal how Obama felt.

Rev. Wright is not at the Jerry Falwell level of success for the national media to keep focus on him. Not a well known influencer like former Christian Coalition executive Ralph Reed.

Access to President after receiving the honor to run this country is more importance!

Jerry Falwell and Ralph Reed had the highest Bush White House access and influence there is questionable.

Falwell had his weird rants about culture.

"God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve."

Rev Jerry Falwell, blaming civil libertarians, feminists, homosexuals, and abortion rights supporters for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, to which Rev. Pat Robertson agreed.

Quoted from John F Harris, "God Gave US 'What We Deserve,' Falwell Says," The Washington Post (September 14, 2001)

Ralph Reed in 1981 interned in D.C. with Jack Abramoff. Both worked for College Republicans some kind of company.

Reed introduced Abramoff to the female who became his wife.

Abramoff over the decades became a corrupt Republican lobbyist committing money laundering, influence peddling and illegal wire transfers to Republican appointments. He corrupted the Interior Department and some Senators.

Abramoff had a business partner who participated in a murder for profit.

Abramoff had 200 contacts in 10 months at the Bush White House in 2001.

Ralph Reed was special to Karl Rove. Rove kept getting Ralph Reed jobs at Microsoft, Enron, wherever.

For a time, Ralph Reed could call Bush directly. From before 2000 to 2004 at least.

No media is harming Ralph Reed today and they should be. Reed got money from Abramoff's crimes.

"Reed is a bad version of us! No more money for him." - Jack Abramoff to Michael Scanlon from an email message dated January 4, 2002.

Michael Scanlon plead guilty conspiring to bribe a member of Congress and other public officials.

Ralph Reed is more "evil" in his Republican ideology than Rev. Wright's blather that Federal Government created AIDS.

In other words, Rev. Wright is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. There are other more important and real issues than Wright to write articles about.

[A. Bostonian]

The Democrats are doing with Obama what they have done since 2000.

They are rallying behind a candidate who can't win.

It is ironic that so many Democrats vehemently oppose Hillary Clinton, perhaps the only candidate who could beat John McCain next fall.

Obama supporters will be hoping for change until they are blue in the face. Meanwhile, the McCains will be moving into the White House.

[Millicent Blair]

Another Parson explained what Obama saw in Rev. Wright-- Obama Grew up in a white family and missed his father--
Wright became a 'father figure" -- someone who married him and Michelle and baptised their children--
That is pretty powerful!

It must have been a blow to Obama to realize Wright didn't care one bit about him-- It was a Loss-
Now he must navigate Without a father figure!

He is a wonderful husband to Michelle-and father to his children--
Whether he can run our country, has to be evaluated separately from his relationship to Wright--

Often when things get tough--the tough get going!

So let us assess the data from now on!

[mtlyorel]

Michael Moore is right. Oprah should be president. She has shown more good judgement and political acumen than 5 Obamas put together.

Although I do not like Wright from the picture painted by the press, I do believe that Wright has the absolute right to defend himself from becoming a victim of convenience for Obama.

Obama aligned with Wright for political expediency and he should at least be honest enough to admit that instead of making up asinine excuses as 'going to his church for religious guidance', 'looking to Wright as a father figure', and 'discovering his identity' at Wright's church. No voter believes this bull. He is a total hypocrite who is a most typical politician.

[frantz vidal]

Listen to the comment by DRB. He is so right!

[janet]

Oprah, a woman with no college education, totally self-made and the product of abuse, knows her audience and the "middle America" which constitute it, a lot better than the guy who wants to be President. That he should never have realized HOW offensive Wright's sermons would be -- they're no different what what Osama Bin Laden said to justify blowing up the World Trade Towers -- shows he's too naive to represent the people. His comments about bitter, gun-toting xenophobes was another reflection of that.

Sure, there are lots of ignorant racists and conspiracy theoritsts like Wright in the black community, but a pastor should be setting his flock straight, not leading them down the blind alleys of darkness and hatred. And Obama should NOT have taken his kids to listen to this man for all those years, just because there was some political and social expediency in networking at that huge church.

Obama should have denouced Wright off the bat, as Hillary did anti-Semites or racists she's been supported by, even more tangentially. Geraldine Ferraro made one comment that was arguably true and certainly not racist, and her distinguished career was thrown under the bus, yet Obama AND his followers made endless excuses for WRight's really outrageous comments for months, until WRight himself was "offended" by the lack of all-out support for his views and put his foot in it too deeply for Obama to continue to ignore.

Obama's willingness to equate Wright with his white grandmother who raised and loved him, and may only have shown some fear of blacks but never ran around denouncing them weekly to thousands, showed a lack of loyalty. His giving it to Wright instead was misguided and showed poor judgment.

I'm also offended by Obama denying that he'd heard or even known about Wright's anti-American,racist, ignorant sermons (like blaming AIDS on the government) -- Oprah and everyone else knew right away. He's just lying, and that's perhaps the worst failure of all

[Benjamin]

mtlyorel wrote "Obama aligned with Wright for political expediency and he should at least be honest enough to admit that instead of making up asinine excuses as 'going to his church for religious guidance', 'looking to Wright as a father figure', and 'discovering his identity' at Wright's church. No voter believes this bull."

Right, because most people go to churches for 20 years for reasons of political expediency, not for religious guidance, who does Obama think he's trying to kid?

Do you people claiming this really believe it? Talk about asinine. I've done things for political expediency in my own life, but nothing that spanned a whole year, let alone two decades. If he's able to stay in one church in the name of political expediency for two decades, the man has stones made of granite and deserves the presidency.

As a Libertarian Ron Paul supporter, one thing I'm enjoying about the tear down of Obama is that the mainstream democrats have shown that they are as media conditioned as the republicans. Rev. Write is not running for president, Obama is. I doubt you'll find a single person flinging poo at Obama over this right now who agrees with everything their pastor says and if you do find one, I guarantee you they won't be presidential material. While the republicrat Hillary has dragged the democratic primary into the sewer for her own selfish amibition with all the tricks that GW's 2000 campaign pulled on McCain, the economy teeters on the brink of catastrophe, the war continues with no end in sight, spending is out of control, the world is facing a food shortage, and the democrats want to vote for Hillary because Obama's pastor isn't presidential material.

One day you guys are going to be sorry you didn't get wise to the way you're being manipulated through your fears and prejudices. Not that Obama is capable of fixing what's wrong, I don't think anyone but Ron Paul does out of the two big party's candidates, but Obama seems to be the only one out of the "big three" who wanted to change the tone American politics to bring intelligent discourse back into the mainstream. Instead, the mainstream wants gimmicks like gas tax holidays and candidates who fantasize about being under fire.

[Ronald]

AMERICANS; OBAMA'S DNA IS WHITE AND BLACK!!!!
HIS MOTHER WAS WHITE, AND WAS RAISED AND GIVEN EVRYTHING IN LIFE BY HIS WHITE GRAND PARENTS.....WHAT ON EARTH MAKES PEOPLE THINK THAT OBAMA HAS THE SAME VIEWS OF WHITES( HIMSELF!) AS REV RIGHT HOLDS???????????????????????????
AND WHO DID REV JW QUOTE ABOUT THE 'CHICKENS'?? PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, GET OVER THIS CRAZY STUFF AND GIVE AMERICA AND THE WORLD A BETTER PRESIDENT GO OBAMA!!!