Obama Offers Most Extensive Response Yet To Questions About Rev. Wright
In a long blog posting at The Huffington Post, Barack Obama has made his most detailed and extensive reply yet to the questions he's been hit by in recent days about his pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
In the post, Obama condemns Wright's comments in very strong terms -- ones far stronger than, for instance, his assertion today that he "disagrees" with the pastor's "God damn America" comment...
Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.
Note the explicit reference there to "any statement that disparages our great country" -- a clear, if unstated, reference, to the "God damn America" line.
Obama also attempts to answer the question of why he hasn't left the church by pointing to his ties to the church's larger community and to Wright's sunsetting career...
The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church.
The post doesn't repudiate Wright himself or say anything about whether Wright will be allowed to keep his largely honorary post on the campaign's African American Religious Leadership Committee.
Obama's full post here.
Late Update: Obama is doing interviews with several major networks tonight, presumably to amplify his push-back on the Wright controversy.
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