Obama to Make "Major" Speech on Race, Rev. Wright and His Church

You Tube via No Quarter

"If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me," Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright told The New York Times. "I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen."

That was reported in a front page story in April 2007, and, since then, Rev. Wright's "unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian" sermons have been an ongoing and controversial topic on cable news and the major newspapers. After videos surfaced last week of sermons by the Rev. Wright on topics including the Sept. 11 terror attacks and Hillary Clinton, Obama was finally forced to distance himself from Wright's words, remove his long-time from an advisory role with the campaign, and, conduct a virtual damage control tour Friday night before friendly audiences at CNN, MSNBC, and The Huffington Post. Speaking to two Chicago newspapers, Obama described Wright as a product of the often "violent and racially divisive '60s and ... stuck in a time warp." Once again, the Democratic presidential nomination is about the sixties.

To stem the growing tide, Obama announces he will make a "major" speech tomorrow in Philadelphia. "I am going to talking not just about Rev. Wright, but the larger issue of race in this campaign," he tells reporters, and, the campaign promises this will be a major opportunity to "bring the country together."

Looking at the huge media firestorm that was created and some of the thousands of comments on progressive blogs, its clear the Obama's campaign underestimated the impact of Rev. Wright would have on middle America and rank and file Democrats. (FYI: We reported last year at The Advocate (PDF) that unlike most other black megachurches, Wright and Trinity United Church of Christ are welcoming to gays and lesbians.) The new, overnight Rasmussen poll finds only 8 percent of the country has a positive opinion of Rev. Wright's sermons, more than 73 percent say they are racially divisive, and, most importantly, a whopping 56% say "Wright’s comments made them less likely to vote for Obama." Very very not good. Addressing the 20-year-old relationship with Wright will be difficult territory to navigate and Trinity's claims of race-related "character assassination" and an "attack" on the black church only make it worse.

It may be too late. Obama has to put this behind him and quell the growing unrest about his religion, his background and his patriotism—which is an unfortunate by-product of branding himself as an "empty vessel" and all things to everyone. Certainly Obama does not share many of these beliefs but the incendiary sermons, language and oratory only feed the growing narrative that Obama is something "other" and to be feared and further alienates the blue collar, white vote that he has not been attracting so far and must receive in November. Is this a fatal blow for Obama's campaign? No, not in the primaries. but this will not go away and will become a major issue in the general election. The commercials write themselves.

A Candidate, His Minister, and Search for Faith [NYT]
Obama Plans Speech on Race [Boston Globe]
Obama Blames 60s For Pastors Comments [Tribune]
Just 8% Have Favorable Opinion of Wright [Rasmussen]
An "Attack" on the Church [Marc Ambinder]
Barack Obama: On My Faith and My Church [HuffPo]
Clinton Supporters Hardening Against Obama [Taylor Marsh]

More OBAMA
More POLITICS

You May Have Missed ...
Geraldine Ferraro and "Dog Whistle" Politics [R20]
Right-Wing Townhall.com: "Obama Would Be First Gay President!" [R20]
Obama: Not "Very Christian" to Criticize Gays [R20]
Obama Buys Ads in Gay Newspapers in TX, OH [R20]
Obama: Hospital Visitation for Gay Couples is "Not a Special Privilege" [R20]
McCain Enlists Shock Jock for Racist Obama Rant [R20]
Ten Things Obama Can Do to Win Pennsylvania [HuffPo]
Paging John Edwards and Barack Obama [HuffPo]
This Barack Obama Should Tell Bob Novak [HuffPo]
Why Obama is Losing Black Voters [HuffPo]
Welcome to the Campaign, Barack [HuffPo]
Teddy Endorsed Obama to Preserve JFK's Civil Rights "Legacy"? What Legacy? [HuffPo]
Behind the Gay-Friendly Faces [Advocate]
Hillary: The Advocate Interview [R20]
The Advocate: Clinton vs Obama [R20]
Rove on Obama: "Lazy" and "Basketball Playing" [R20]
Democratic Debate Addresses Homopohobia, Race [R20]
Obama Snubs Clinton at SOTU [R20]
NYT Endorses Clinton and McCain, Slams Giuliani [R20]
Explaining Clinton's New Hampshire Victory [R20]
Super Tuesday Analysis [R20]
Yes, Virginia, There is Such a Thing as Post Racial Politics [Daily Voice]
Mississippi Prediction [R20]

Comments

[Duwayne]

Thank you for talking about this Rod. I still think you are being overly optimistic. I do believe this is a fatal blow not for the primary, but for the general election against McCain. The right wing is so fired up right now, all one has to do is visit youtube and see all of the images of the planes flying into the trade towers with Wright ranting about damning America. This is a serious issue and I don't know if he can recover from this...

[Allen H]

Duwayne, you're absolutely correct, this is a very serious problem for Obama. I think he can still get the nomination because Pelosi, Dean, Donna Brazile and the others are gunning for him. Plus, the party elites always fail to understand what meat and potatoes Democrats will tolerate.

Obama made that mistake with his remarks on Reagan, hoodwinking on NAFTA, and now Jeremiah Wright. Of course, Obama does not believe some of those things Wright said, but if this is his "spiritual advisor" for 20 years, what happened to the "judgment"?

[Andrew C]

Of course Obama does not believe many of those things, and of course we all know how black pastors preach and the whole "unashamedly black" philosophy. I'm just concerned after reading those two articles linked above from early 2007. Why did it take so long?

I'm an Obama fan but am quite aware of his strengths and weaknesses. I was very surprised to hear Donna Brazile and Roland Martin on CNN defending Wright and comparing him to Hagee and Pat Roberston. You can't tell the voters. Plus, Obama has been going to this church for 20 years, saying he has not heard these types of sermons does not sound right.

I want to make a strong case for Obama but I am a little scared that his advisors don't get what plays in middle america.

[Cadence]

This doesn't look good for Obama. I agree that the worse thing that he did was saying that he's never heard Wright make these types of statements before. He should have put Wright's statements into context, and explained to people why he attends the church.

Of course all of this should have been handled over a year ago, and Wright should have never been allowed near the campaign. I don't understand how Obama or his advisers could have allowed this to happen. Was it arrogance, stupidity, or I don't know what.

And, I have to admit, I'm seriously wondering about Obama's judgement on several issues. As the others have said, the DNC have to know this will hurt him in the general election. Pelosi pretty much said that the rank and file will go with him when it's time for the super delegates to vote, but this should probably give them pause, because many who voted won't be voting for him again in November.

[Cameron in Cleveland]

Cadence, tru dat tru dat.

What is very interesting about the Rev. Wright drama is that is shows the fine line Sen. Obama must navigate. He can't be too black or the "angry black man" personified in the clips with the reverend. He can't be "too white" and reject the reverend outright. That is probably why he continued his long association with the reverend and the church, wanted to "keep it real.":

But anyone black reading this blog knows that we have all talked about those same issues behind closed doors, AIDS being a manmade disease, the Tuskegee Project, racism, etc. There is a lot of anger out there. Perhaps Sen. Obama can be the one to calm things down. But this is still a liability, I think blacks are seeing differently than white liberals.

[Rod McCullom]

Was it arrogance, stupidity, or I don't know what.

Probably just a little bit of both. They are obviously some very sharp people at the Obama campaign, but they sometimes underestimate potential problems. The religious/patriotism/black extremist/Muslim stuff should have been put to rest so long ago. John Kerry made that same mistake with Swift Boat.

[Gianni B]

Hello.

This is Gianni from Italy. I am a black gay man who is Italian (my father was American and in the Air Force) and just wanted to say that not only do I love this site but I love the readers and comemnts. It's an oasis of calma and sanity for black LGBT.

The comments are very well thought out and reasonable, no matter if they support or are against a topic. I have been on several sites and the comments on the election can be quite vicious. So thank you to my new Rod 2.0 family! Thanks for Italy!

[ATL Kid]

Welcome, Gianni. Pull up a chair and fix a cocktail. :)

Wow, where to start. Cadence and Rod make an excellent point, who was minding the store? I'm just now discovering that FOX and MSNBC have been covering Rev. Wright for the past year. It's hard to come between a man and his church, but at some point someone should have anticipated this would not play well in Peoria. Why wait an entire to let this simmer?

[A. Ronald]

Ok, I have to apologize. A few weeks ago I was out of hand and got kinda ugly in comments on "The Wire" and also about Hillary in Ohio and Texas.

Moving along ... do you think the media is playingf this too hard? It's just black liberation theology. I feel like it's an attack on the black church.

[Rod McCullom]

Nope. This is just the beginning.

[Jim]

In the end, there is nothing that Christians hate more than Jesus.

And if a preacher is "unapologetic" about the teachings of Jesus, he will be crucified.

But I am sadly one of the 8%. There is no way I could ever vote for Obama, precisely because he betrays someone he has pretended to admire. Precisely because he finds genuine principle embarrassing. Precisely because he finds genuine principle to be an immature relic of the "violent and racially divisive '60s."

I suppose the '60s should be singled out for being "violent and racially divisive," but not the eras of slavery or Jim Crow. If the '60s were violent, it was the reaction to the fight for justice that made them so, not the fight itself. Indeed, the fight for justice in the '60s was explicitly non-violent and explicitly about societal harmony.

The greatest violence and racial division are always promulgated by the powerful, not the powerless. And the powerful in this country will never allow anyone to attain a high political position who speaks out against this violence.

But do not worry: Obama, Clinton, and McCain are all quite acceptable.

[Derrick from Philly]

Quite a speech y'all. I haven't seen or heard his deliverey, but it reads well. I think SlimJim may have hit a homerun...well, to any thinking, un-hooded white person.

[Me]

Yeah I think he might have fucked up by saying he's never heard such things ... we all know that's a lie. I'm kind of scratching me head at this one. I have to say I'm surprised it's spun this out of control. All we can do is wait and see I guess ...

[Duwayne]

I am very disappointed. He lied when he said he was never in the pews when he heard that racist anti-american language. He just said today he was there and he disapproved of it. Why wait until today to disapprove of those comments? What I have said for a long time is finally coming out in the open. Obama CLAIMS he will be different in Washington but he is exactly the same as McCain and Clinton. The only thing that separates him from those two is that Obama is trying to lie to our faces and think we will believe anything he says. I'm not convinced this is behind him, he still has to answer more questions about Rev. Wright and Rezko.

[Derrick from Philly]

Obama doesn't have to answer anymore questions about Reverend Wright. Any Black American should be able to answer questions about Reverend Wright's sermons--just keep a history book about slavery, lynchings, reign of terror following Reconstruction--keep it handy at your side. Barack doesn't need to answer that part anymore.

[Cadence]

Dwayne, it has been proven that Obama wasn't in church the day that Wright spoke about the events of September 11th. Obama said that he has heard Wright say controversial things before.

It was a great speech. Sadly, people, regardless of their race, won't listen to or understand what he was saying.

[Rod McCullom]

Moved comments on today's speech to the next post.