In an effort to counter the damage done by media coverage of Pastor Wright's incendiary and divisive rhetoric, Senator Obama is delivering a major speech -- at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia -- on the topic of race in America.
Have we had a speech on race in America that received national media coverage since MLK?
Senator Obama has renounced the words of his pastor, but not the man, a position which I have to admit I find admirable. In my view, the important question here has little to do with Black Liberation Theology or Church and State. Without politics in the Black Church, we'd still be living in Jim Crow America. I don't think it's wise or morally defensible to challenge the Black Church. The important question is about how Wright's divisive rhetoric will likely have a decidedly negative impact on the unity candidate's ability to win an election. Republican 527s will surely have a field day with Wright's sermons.
Here we are in the month of March still wondering who Obama is. The contradiction between Obama's words and the politics of his Church are stark. Could it be true that Obama has had a close relationship with Jeremiah Wright for some two decades and yet remained ignorant about the nature of Pastor Wright's politics? Obama attended the church for two decades yet never heard Pastor Wright's angry sermons? This appears to be Obama's claim, but it is frankly hard to swallow. If Barack Obama is going to save his candidacy, he will need to give one hell of a speech.
NY Times: Though he has faced questions about controversial statements by the pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., for more than a year, Mr. Obama is enduring intense new scrutiny now over Mr. Wright’s characterizations of the United States as fundamentally racist and the government as corrupt and murderous.
Mr. Obama, in a speech Tuesday in Philadelphia, will repeat his earlier denunciations of the minister’s words, aides said. But they said he would also use the opportunity to open a broader discussion of race, which his campaign has said throughout the contest that it wants to transcend. He will bluntly address racial divisions, one aide said, talking about the way they play out in church, in the campaign, and beyond.
Mr. Obama continued to write the speech on Monday evening, which he believes could be one of the most important of his presidential candidacy, aides said. The episode has left Mr. Obama tending to a firestorm fed by matters no less combustible than faith, patriotism and race. It could help Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign advance its argument that Mr. Obama is “unvetted,” and that he is less electable than Mrs. Clinton come fall. In interviews, Republican strategists mapped out how Mr. Obama’s association with Mr. Wright could be used against him in a general election.
Hillary Clinton Jeremiah Wright Barack Obama Democratic Primary News Gender Race Politics Obama's Church Race Speech Philadelphia
