Like it or not, Barack Obama is permanently tied to the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and nothing he said today did anything to sever that link -- nor, as I pointed out this morning, could it have.

Here's the heart of the statement from the press conference this afternoon.

You know, I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992. I have known Reverend Wright for almost 20 years. 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 don't portray accurately my values and beliefs. And if Reverend Wright thinks that that's political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn't know me very well. And based on his remarks yesterday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought, either.

Now, I've already denounced the comments that had appeared in these previous sermons. As I said, I had not heard them before. And I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia, explaining that he has done enormous good in the church. He's built a wonderful congregation. The people of Trinity are wonderful people. And what attracted me has always been their ministry's reach beyond the church walls.

But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS, when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century, when he equates the United States wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses. They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced. And that's what I'm doing very clearly and unequivocally here today.

Unfortunately for Obama, none of that matters.

After all, Barack Obama is the guy who six weeks ago the speech">told us this about Jeremiah Wright.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

Crazy Uncle Jeremiah is a part of Barack Obama -- and if he could not disown Rev. Wright six weeks ago, I don't see how we can accept the denunciation today. After all, nothing has changed from six weeks ago. The pastor has said nothing new. Unless, as Wright pointed out over the weekend, Barack Obama is just another politician doing what politicians have to do to get elected -- and in this case lying to the American public trying to save his opportunity to be president.

But I think that Barack Obama might have revealed his real reason for speaking out today. Referring to Wright's most NPC speech, he said, "It was a show of disprespect to me."

Yes, there we have it. This isn't about principle, this is about his own ego. He's lashing out at Wright out of personal pique, rather than principle.

Anyone else need evidence that Barack Obama is simply unfit to serve as President of the United States?

By the way, I think I've found a new theme song for the Obama campaign.

H/T Malikn, Hot Air

Posted by: Greg at 12:20 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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