For Obama, More Wright Means More ProblemsVowing to fight back against attacks on the Black church in America from those who know nothing of its history and traditions, Rev. Jeremiah Wright strode defiantly into the belly of the beast with both barrels blazing.
His theatrical performance at the National Press Club, in he which he was at times flippant, at other times confrontational, the 66-year-old pastor virtually guaranteed more problems for the Democratic presidential bid of Barack Obama, just as the Illinois senator is redoubling efforts to win the support of blue-collar workers in the white heartland of the Midwest.
While claiming to safeguard the honour of his church, Wright seemed bent on personal redemption, at any cost to Obama, his parishioner for 20 years. He didn't back away from any of his comments that many found offensive, including the role of American foreign policy in the 2001 terror attacks in the U.S.
While complaining that his preachings have been reduced to sound bites and taken out of context, he provided new fodder for Obama's opponents.
It was his third public appearance in four days, effectively rekindling a controversy Obama has struggled to put behind him for more than a month.
The controversy, Wright said, might force Americans to understand the teachings of African-American churches. "Maybe that religious tradition will be understood, celebrated, and even embraced by a nation that seems not to have noticed why 11 o'clock on Sunday morning has been called the most segregated hour in America," he said.
This as Hillary Rodham Clinton now leads John McCain by nine points in a head-to-head presidential matchup, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll that bolsters her argument that she is more electable. Barack Obama and McCain are running about even.
Helped by independents, young people and seniors, Clinton gained ground this month taking a 50% to 41% over McCain. Obama bests McCain 46% to 44%.
Meanwhile, his calls for racial reconciliation and a staunch defence of the deeds of his Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago were swamped by his more controversial and glib statements, all met with enthusiastic applause by black church leaders in the audience.
When asked whether "the chickens had come home to roost" with the 2001 terror attacks, he said: "Jesus said, 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,'
"You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you. Those are biblical principles, not Jeremiah Wright bombastic, divisive principles." Wright, who is retiring from his post, presided at Obama's wedding and the baptisms of Obama's daughters.
Obama has credited his words as the inspiration for the title of his best-selling book, The Audacity of Hope.
But YouTube clips of his sermons, including one in which he railed against a government that discriminates against blacks then asks them to sing "God Bless America" – "No, no, no, God damn America," he says on one – have tainted Obama by association.
In mid-March, Obama tried to deal with Wright's comments in a widely praised speech on race in America. Wright defended himself against claims he is being unpatriotic by citing his military service.
"I served six years in the military. Does that make me patriotic? How many years did (U.S. Vice-President Dick) Cheney serve?" he asked.
Regardless of whether Obama is elected president, Wright said he will still be a pastor and he is accountable to a different person. "Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls, Huffington (a popular political website), whoever's doing the polls," he said.
"I am not running for office." Then he deadpanned: "I am open to be vice-president."
He said Obama had to distance himself from his remarks because of the way the media reported them. "I said to Barack Obama, last year, 'If you get elected ... I'm coming after you, because you'll be representing a government whose policies grind under people," Wright said.
He also defended his association with Louis Farrakhan, the founder of the Chicago-based Church of Islam, who Obama has condemned as anti-Semitic.
"Louis Farrakhan is not my enemy," Wright said. "He did not put me in chains, he did not put me in slavery, and he didn't make me this colour." After Wright's latest comments, Obama said, "None of the voters I talk to ask about it.
"There may be people who are troubled by it and are polite and not asking about it. It's not what I hear," he told The Associated Press in North Carolina.
"I have said before and I will say again that some of the comments Rev. Wright has made offend me and I understand why they have offended the American people. Certainly what the last three days indicates is we're not co-ordinating with him."
Most analysts saw further damage ahead for Obama. "If this man cares one whit about electing an African-American to the highest office of the land, he should get off the national stage," David Gergen, a political analyst at Harvard University, told CNN. "He should go away. Go back to the pulpit."
In a spirited defence of his church, Wright said his congregation took a stand against South African apartheid when the U.S. government was supporting the racist regime in Pretoria, and was feeding the homeless and needy while Washington was spending billions fighting an unjust war in Iraq. His congregation has sent members to fight the war in Vietnam, the first Gulf War and the two ongoing wars, he said.
"Those who call me unpatriotic have used their positions of privilege to avoid military service, while sending more than 4,000 American boys and girls of every race to die over a lie," he said.
His theatrical performance at the National Press Club, in he which he was at times flippant, at other times confrontational, the 66-year-old pastor virtually guaranteed more problems for the Democratic presidential bid of Barack Obama, just as the Illinois senator is redoubling efforts to win the support of blue-collar workers in the white heartland of the Midwest.
While claiming to safeguard the honour of his church, Wright seemed bent on personal redemption, at any cost to Obama, his parishioner for 20 years. He didn't back away from any of his comments that many found offensive, including the role of American foreign policy in the 2001 terror attacks in the U.S.
While complaining that his preachings have been reduced to sound bites and taken out of context, he provided new fodder for Obama's opponents.
It was his third public appearance in four days, effectively rekindling a controversy Obama has struggled to put behind him for more than a month.
The controversy, Wright said, might force Americans to understand the teachings of African-American churches. "Maybe that religious tradition will be understood, celebrated, and even embraced by a nation that seems not to have noticed why 11 o'clock on Sunday morning has been called the most segregated hour in America," he said.
This as Hillary Rodham Clinton now leads John McCain by nine points in a head-to-head presidential matchup, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll that bolsters her argument that she is more electable. Barack Obama and McCain are running about even.
Helped by independents, young people and seniors, Clinton gained ground this month taking a 50% to 41% over McCain. Obama bests McCain 46% to 44%.
Meanwhile, his calls for racial reconciliation and a staunch defence of the deeds of his Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago were swamped by his more controversial and glib statements, all met with enthusiastic applause by black church leaders in the audience.
When asked whether "the chickens had come home to roost" with the 2001 terror attacks, he said: "Jesus said, 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,'
"You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you. Those are biblical principles, not Jeremiah Wright bombastic, divisive principles." Wright, who is retiring from his post, presided at Obama's wedding and the baptisms of Obama's daughters.
Obama has credited his words as the inspiration for the title of his best-selling book, The Audacity of Hope.
But YouTube clips of his sermons, including one in which he railed against a government that discriminates against blacks then asks them to sing "God Bless America" – "No, no, no, God damn America," he says on one – have tainted Obama by association.
In mid-March, Obama tried to deal with Wright's comments in a widely praised speech on race in America. Wright defended himself against claims he is being unpatriotic by citing his military service.
"I served six years in the military. Does that make me patriotic? How many years did (U.S. Vice-President Dick) Cheney serve?" he asked.
Regardless of whether Obama is elected president, Wright said he will still be a pastor and he is accountable to a different person. "Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls, Huffington (a popular political website), whoever's doing the polls," he said.
"I am not running for office." Then he deadpanned: "I am open to be vice-president."
He said Obama had to distance himself from his remarks because of the way the media reported them. "I said to Barack Obama, last year, 'If you get elected ... I'm coming after you, because you'll be representing a government whose policies grind under people," Wright said.
He also defended his association with Louis Farrakhan, the founder of the Chicago-based Church of Islam, who Obama has condemned as anti-Semitic.
"Louis Farrakhan is not my enemy," Wright said. "He did not put me in chains, he did not put me in slavery, and he didn't make me this colour." After Wright's latest comments, Obama said, "None of the voters I talk to ask about it.
"There may be people who are troubled by it and are polite and not asking about it. It's not what I hear," he told The Associated Press in North Carolina.
"I have said before and I will say again that some of the comments Rev. Wright has made offend me and I understand why they have offended the American people. Certainly what the last three days indicates is we're not co-ordinating with him."
Most analysts saw further damage ahead for Obama. "If this man cares one whit about electing an African-American to the highest office of the land, he should get off the national stage," David Gergen, a political analyst at Harvard University, told CNN. "He should go away. Go back to the pulpit."
In a spirited defence of his church, Wright said his congregation took a stand against South African apartheid when the U.S. government was supporting the racist regime in Pretoria, and was feeding the homeless and needy while Washington was spending billions fighting an unjust war in Iraq. His congregation has sent members to fight the war in Vietnam, the first Gulf War and the two ongoing wars, he said.
"Those who call me unpatriotic have used their positions of privilege to avoid military service, while sending more than 4,000 American boys and girls of every race to die over a lie," he said.