Obama repudiates Reverend Wright in bid for support from the political establishment

He did so forcefully, listing a series of statements made by Wright, mainly in his appearance Monday at the National Press Club in Washington, and repudiating them both generally and in detail. He singled out Wrights claims that the 9/11 attacks were an inevitable response to the US governments own terrorist military violence in the Middle East; that Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, was one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st centuries; and that the US government might have created the AIDS virus to commit genocide against nonwhites.

I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday, Obama said. Referring to his long association with Wright as a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, he continued, The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church. They certainly dont portray accurately my values and beliefs.

Read More