Dana Milbank at WaPo: Wright's Voice Could Spell Doom for Obama Should it become necessary in the months from now to identify the moment that doomed Obama's presidential aspirations, attention is likely to focus on the hour between nine and ten this morning at the National Press Club. . Speaking before an audience that included Marion Barry, Cornel West, Malik Zulu Shabazz of the New Black Panther Party and Nation of Islam official Jamil Muhammad, Wright praised Louis Farrakhan, defended the view that Zionism is racism, accused the United States of terrorism, repeated his view that the government created the AIDS virus to cause the genocide of racial minorities, stood by other past remarks ("God damn America") and held himself out as a spokesman for the black church in America.
In front of 30 television cameras, Wright's audience cheered him on as the minister mocked the media and, at one point, did a little victory dance on the podium. It seemed as if Wright, jokingly offering himself as Obama's vice president, was actually trying to doom Obama; a member of the head table, American Urban Radio's April Ryan, confirmed that Wright's security was provided by bodyguards from Farrakhan's Nation of Islam.
TNR: Wrightmare
Time: Jeremiah Wright Goes to War
Democratic Daily: Wright Throws Obama Under The Bus & Steps On The Gas
"[Barack Obama] didn't distance himself. He had to distance himself, because he's a politician, from what the media was saying I had said, which was anti-American. Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls."
-- Jeremiah Wright
National Press Club Sabatoge Jeremiah Wright Barack Obama Democratic Primary Race Farrakhan News Politics Indiana North Carolina Hillary Clinton
