So, is the good Senator from Illinois taking the ranting Reverend from ill and annoy, out of context? Or is he merely speaking out, as a politician?
This looks to be the beginning of the end of an ugly 20 year relationship:
Obama Attempts to Spin Away Wright Controversy
By Amanda Carpenter
Tuesday, April 29, 2008Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama sought to temper news headlines in the aftermath of his longtime friend and former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s controversial media tour by denouncing Wright’s recent remarks.
In a hastily-organized news conference in North Carolina Obama called Wright’s conspiracy theories about the U.S. government and praise of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan “ridiculous” and “offensive.”
“When he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS; when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century; when he equates the U.S. wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses. 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.”
“They offend me,” Obama said.
In recent days Wright engaged in several high-profile media appearances to refute the negative news coverage of his church. Many political analysts agreed Wright only called more attention to himself and gave reporters more reason to question his relationship with Obama.
Wright had stayed relatively quiet until last week when he spoke to the New York Times, participated in a television interview on PBS and made speeches before the NAACP and the National Press Club that were carried by major television networks.
In those appearances Wright repeated many aspects of his most offensive remarks, including the U.S. government?s responsibility for creating and spreading the AIDS virus.
“Based on this Tuskegee experiment and based on what has happened to Africans in this country, I believe our government is capable of doing anything,” Wright said.
Wright was aggressive with reporters, refused to criticize Farrakhan, theorized black and white children have genetically different learning styles and said any attacks that have been made on him were also an attack on the black church.
The consequent media coverage was almost entirely harsh.
Obama’s history with Wright began when Obama started attending Wright’s church in Chicago’s more than 20 years ago. Wright married Obama and his wife and baptized his two children. Obama was so enamored with Wright he titled his autobiography “Audacity of Hope” after one of the pastor’s sermons. Wright was also once considered Obama’s “spiritual adviser.” But as reporters began to examine Wright’s church, which preaches “black liberation theology,” boasts an “unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian” motto and encourages members to adopt their “Black Value System,” people began to question Obama’s worldview.
Attention increased on Obama’s roots to the church when ABC News obtained tapes of Wright giving anti-American and racist sermons. These clips dominated news coverage and ultimately led Obama to deliver a major speech on race relations in the United States.
Obama repeatedly defended Wright until today.
“Whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed as a consequence of this,” Obama said.
What took you so long, Senator Obama?
Maybe….just maybe, Senator Obama can finally go back to eating his waffle in peace.
Obama responsed with intensely visible irritation, declaring: “Why is it that like I can’t just eat my waffle?” and then following up this witticism with an even more notable turn of phrase, “Can’t I just eat my waffle?”
For his admirers, the Future President and Current Messiah has now authored a phrase for the ages, that will forever attach itself to his name.
For Abe Lincoln, it was: “Government of the People, by the People, for the People”
For Teddy Roosevelt, it was “Speak Softly, But Carry a Big Stick.”
For FDR: “The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself”
For Truman: “The Buck Stops Here.”
For JFK: “Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You…..”
For Reagan: “Government Isn’t the Solution; Government
is the Problem”For Bill Clinton: “It Depends on What the Meaning of ‘Is’, is.”
and now, for Barack Obama, the most inspiring and original words of them all: “Why Can’t I Just Eat My Waffle?”
Waffles have been at the very heart of the Obama campaign
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.
“The consequent media coverage [of Wright} was almost entirely harsh.”
Of course it was. The media is so upset that Wright has unmasked their chosen candidate.
And it’s not that the media disagree with much of Wright’s anti-Americanism. Most of them think the same way. But they don’t want the rest of us to know they think that way.
And yet in the same breath, they like to tell us, Mike, that we are taking Reverend Wright’s words out of context.
It has already begun on the talking head circuits…. the media push for Obama empathy. “Man betrayed by mentor/friend.. has this hurt his chances?”
BS… orchestrated from the get go, as I thought. Obama loses nothing. HRC best benefitted by BHO “standing by his man”. Wright made this impossible.. and did so BEFORE the remaining primaries so as not to hurt his popular numbers.
This is all good for BHO. Wright problem solved… He achieves ultimate “victim” status and is forgiven and revered by the cult for “doin’ the right thing”. And of course, they will overlook his obvious bad “judgment”…. One of his biggest sales points.
Is his name Obama or is it Oh’ Bummer 🙁
I’m not a fan of hers, but Greta Van Susteren hit the nail on the head in her blog entry.
http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2008/04/29/senator-obama-and-reverend-wright/
Can anyone tell me when and where and why the word “distraction” is being used so much in the last few days by the Dems? It is obviously out of context, so I assume it is a smokescreen instead of saying, “we don’t want to deal with the real issues at hand” that keep starring at them square in the face.
I was wondering why Wright was making such a huge spectacle of himself. Perhaps he had an ego as big as Slick Willie and couldn’t stay away from the national spotlight now that he had a taste. Perhaps his FBI file has some really deadly secrets buried in it involving underage girls?
But the most likely reason I could imagine was that his friend, the Messiah, needed an excuse to publicly break ties with the hatemonger. The story wouldn’t die, so he needed to give it an excuse to go away. At any rate, he will get some cover from his friends in the old media.
So Cal: Whenever there are character issues or criticisms of Obama he uses the word “distraction” to dismiss them.
The Weekly Standard had a short piece on this a while back:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/03/obama_its_all_a_distraction.asp
What someone really needs to do is count the number of times Obama uses the word.
Thanks Mike, it’s great to see others are taking note…and counting! I used to receive ‘The Weekly Standard’ magazine, and forgot that I could look it up online, so I’ll be visiting their website. I appreciate what Michael Goldfarb said in stating that Obama should not ‘denigrate broad swaths of the population just because it would be difficult to address their concerns.’ Every time I’d hear the word ‘distraction’, I felt belittled, which is the liberal way, of course. It gives ‘brushing things under the rug’ all new meaning. To liberal democrats, it’s anything that has to do with honor, decency, morality, and justice…those are the concerns of real people that they have no clue how to deal with.