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The Jeremiah Wright controversy began in March 2008 when ABC News, after reviewing dozens of sermons given by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, excerpted sound bites and subjected them to intense media scrutiny. Wright is a retired senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago and former pastor of Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama. The sermon excerpts were widely played and criticized in the media. Obama denounced the statements in question, but after critics continued to press the issue of his relationship with Wright he gave a speech titled "A More Perfect Union", in which he sought to place Rev. Wright's comments in a historical and sociological context. In the speech, Obama again denounced Wright's remarks, but did not disown him as a person. The controversy began to fade, but was renewed in late April when Wright made a series of media appearances, including an interview on Bill Moyers Journal, a speech at the NAACP and a speech at the National Press Club. After the last of these, Obama spoke more forcefully against his former pastor, saying that he was "outraged" and "saddened" by his behavior.

Controversial sermon excerpts

Most of the controversial excerpts were taken from two sermons: one titled “The Day of Jerusalem’s Fall” delivered on September 16, 2001 and another, titled "Confusing God and Government", delivered on April 13, 2003.

“The Day of Jerusalem’s Fall”

In a sermon delivered shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2001, Wright made comments about an interview of former U.S. Ambassador Edward Peck he saw on Fox News. Wright said:

"I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday. Did anybody else see him or hear him? He was on Fox News. This is a white man, and he was upsetting the Fox News commentators to no end. He pointed out — did you see him, John? — a white man, he pointed out, ambassador, that what Malcolm X said when he got silenced by Elijah Muhammad was in fact true — America's chickens are coming home to roost."

Wright spoke of the United States taking land from the Indian tribes by what he labeled as terror, bombing Grenada, Panama, Libya, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, and argued that the United States supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and South Africa. He said that his parishioners' response should be to examine their relationship with God, not go "from the hatred of armed enemies to the hatred of unarmed innocents." His comment (quoting Malcolm X) that "America's chickens are coming home to roost" was widely interpreted as meaning that America had brought the September 11, 2001 attacks upon itself. ABC News broadcast clips from the sermon in which Wright said:

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and The Pentagon, and we never batted an eye... and now we are indignant, because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

Later, Wright continued:

"Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred. And terrorism begets terrorism. A white ambassador said that y'all, not a black militant. Not a reverend who preaches about racism. An ambassador whose eyes are wide open and who is trying to get us to wake up and move away from this dangerous precipice upon which we are now poised. The ambassador said the people that we have wounded don’t have the military capability we have. But they do have individuals who are willing to die and take thousands with them. And we need to come to grips with that."

“Confusing God and Government”

Clips from a sermon that Wright gave, entitled “Confusing God and Government”, were also shown on ABC's Good Morning America and Fox News. In the sermon, Wright first makes the distinction between God and governments, and points out that many governments in the past have failed: "Where governments lie, God does not lie. Where governments change, God does not change." Wright then states:

“ government lied about their belief that all men were created equal. The truth is they believed that all white men were created equal. The truth is they did not even believe that white women were created equal, in creation nor civilization. The government had to pass an amendment to the Constitution to get white women the vote. Then the government had to pass an equal rights amendment to get equal protection under the law for women. The government still thinks a woman has no rights over her own body, and between Uncle Clarence , who sexually harassed Anita Hill, and a closeted Klan court, that is a throwback to the 19th century, handpicked by Daddy Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, between Clarence and that stacked court, they are about to un-do Roe vs. Wade, just like they are about to un-do affirmative action. The government lied in its founding documents and the government is still lying today. Governments lie.”

He went on:

“The government lied about Pearl Harbor. They knew the Japanese were going to attack. Governments lie. The government lied about the Gulf of Tonkin. They wanted that resolution to get us in the Vietnam War. Governments lie. The government lied about Nelson Mandela and our CIA helped put him in prison and keep him there for 27 years. The South African government lied on Nelson Mandela. Governments lie."

Wright then stated:

"The government lied about the Tuskegee experiment. They purposely infected African American men with syphilis. Governments lie. The government lied about bombing Cambodia and Richard Nixon stood in front of the camera, ‘Let me make myself perfectly clear…’ Governments lie. The government lied about the drugs for arms Contra scheme orchestrated by Oliver North, and then the government pardoned all the perpetrators so they could get better jobs in the government. Governments lie.... The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. Governments lie. The government lied about a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein and a connection between 9.11.01 and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Governments lie.”

He then spoke about the government's rationale for the Iraq War:

“The government lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq being a threat to the United States peace. And guess what else? If they don’t find them some weapons of mass destruction, they gonna do just like the LAPD, and plant the some weapons of mass destruction. Governments lie.”

He went on:

"And the United States of America government, when it came to treating her citizens of Indian descent fairly, she failed. She put them on reservations. When it came to treating her citizens of Japanese descent fairly, she failed. She put them in internment prison camps. When it came to treating her citizens of African descent fairly, America failed. She put them in chains, the government put them on slave quarters, put them on auction blocks, put them in cotton field, put them in inferior schools, put them in substandard housing, put them in scientific experiments, put them in the lowest paying jobs, put them outside the equal protection of the law, kept them out of their racist bastions of higher education and locked them into positions of hopelessness and helplessness.... The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, not God Bless America. God damn America — that's in the Bible — for killing innocent people. God damn America, as long as she pretends to act like she is God, and she is supreme. The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African descent."

These clips were widely aired in March 2008 on Fox News, ABC News and later YouTube.

Reaction

Barack Obama

When Wright's comments were aired in the national media, Obama denounced them, saying to Charles Gibson of ABC News, "It's as if we took the five dumbest things that I've ever said or you've ever said in our lives and compressed them and put them out there — I think that people's reaction would, understandably, be upset." At the same time, Obama stated that "words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialog, 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." Obama later added, "Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying at the church."

Obama first said that he hadn't ever heard Rev. Wright's controversial comments before. The Illinois Senator later stated, "Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes." Obama said the remarks had come to his attention at the beginning of his presidential campaign but that because Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of Obama's strong links to Trinity, he had not thought it appropriate to leave the church. He begun distancing himself from Wright when he called his pastor the night before the February 2007 announcement of Obama's presidential candidacy to withdraw his request that Wright deliver an invocation at the event. A spokesperson later said, "Senator Obama is proud of his pastor and his church, but... decided to avoid having statements and beliefs being used out of context and forcing the entire church to defend itself." Wright attended the announcement, prayed with Obama beforehand, and in December 2007 was named to the African American Religious Leadership Committee of the Obama campaign. The Obama campaign released Wright after the controversy.

Some critics found this response inadequate; Mark Steyn, writing in the National Review, stated: "Reverend Wright appeals to racial bitterness are supposed to be everything President Obama will transcend. Right now, it sounds more like the same-old same-old." Politico made a similar comment: "Obama’s cross-racial and even cross-partisan support has been driven by a belief that he is a new-era politician, not defined by the grievances and ideological habits of an earlier generation", and quoted an "expert": "Wright is a 'huge, huge problem... The new information, especially about his minister and his twenty-year association with this church, really undermines the message he’s been delivering for the last year, it completely undercuts it'".

On March 18, in the wake of the controversy, Obama delivered a speech entitled "A More Perfect Union" at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the course of the 37-minute speech, Obama spoke of the divisions formed through generations through slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow laws, and the reasons for the kinds of discussions and rhetoric used among blacks and whites in their own communities. While condemning the remarks by the pastor, he sought to place them in historical context by describing some of the key events that have formed Wright's views on race-related matters in America. Obama did not disown Wright, whom he has labeled as "an old uncle", as akin to disowning the black community or disowning his white grandmother, Madelyn Dunham. The speech was generally well received. Obama said that some of the comments by his pastor reminded him of what he called America's "tragic history when it comes to race."

Competing candidates

In an interview with the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on March 25, 2008, Hillary Clinton commented on Obama's attendance at Trinity United Church of Christ, stating, "You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend." Later the same day, during a press conference, Clinton spoke on her personal preference in a pastor: "I think given all we have heard and seen, would not have been my pastor." A spokesperson for the Obama campaign said Clinton's comments were part of a "transparent effort to distract attention away from the story she made up about dodging sniper fire in Bosnia" the prior week. Weeks later during the Pennsylvania debate in Philadelphia, Clinton said, "For Pastor Wright to have given his first sermon after 9/11 and to have blamed the United States for the attack, which happened in my city of New York, would have been just intolerable for me."

Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain defended Obama when it came to allegations of guilt by association, saying, "I think that when people support you, it doesn't mean that you support everything they say. Obviously, those words and those statements are statements that none of us would associate ourselves with, and I don't believe that Senator Obama would support any of those, as well."

Government

Vice President Dick Cheney weighed in on the Wright matter on April 10, 2008. He appeared on Sean Hannity's radio show and said, "I thought some of the things he said were absolutely appalling... I haven't gotten into the business of trying to judge how Sen. Obama dealt with it, or didn't deal with it, but I think, like most Americans, I was stunned at what the reverend was preaching in his church and then putting up on his Web site."

Media

Commentators and pundits

Republican Radio talk show and television host Sean Hannity expressed shock and anger when hearing the comments, saying, "First of all, I will not let up on this issue. If his pastor went to Libya, Tripoli with Louis Farrakhan, a virulent, anti-Semitic racist, his church gave a lifetime achievement award to Louis Farrakhan. That's been Barack Obama's pastor for 20 years. And we will continue to expose this until somebody in the mainstream media has the courage to take this on."

Conservative author and columnist Ann Coulter heavily criticized Obama for what she called "waiting too long" to condemn Rev. Wright himself. Coulter wrote, "If it takes Obama 20 years to notice that his pastor is a traitorous, racist nut-job, it will probably take him his full term of office to realize that the U.S. has been invaded and subdued by al-Qaeda. Let's just hope President Obama pays closer attention during national security briefings than he did during 20 years of the Rev. Wright's church services."

Salon.com editor-in-chief Joan Walsh wrote, "the whole idea that Wright has been attacked over 'sound bites,' and if Americans saw his entire sermons, in context, they'd feel differently, now seems ludicrous. The long clips Moyers played only confirm what was broadcast in the snippets..." and notes, "My conclusion Friday night was bolstered by new tapes of Wright that came out this weekend, including one that captures him saying the Iraq war is 'the same thing al-Qaida is doing under a different color flag,' and a much longer excerpt from the 'God damn America' sermon that denounces 'Condoskeezer Rice...'".

Fox News' Bill O'Reilly said of Wright, "In my opinion, Rev. Jeremiah Wright is not an honest man. He preaches anti-white and anti-American rhetoric, all the while making money off it."

Democratic strategist Flavia Colgan asserted that Obama was not always in church and that the several minutes of soundbites continually played by the media do not equate to twenty years. Colgan also argued that had the media had been able to find additional controversial statements beyond the ones they played, they would have played them as well.

Steve Adubato of MSNBC disagreed, and said, "Wright’s comments don’t have to be put in some 'larger context.' The argument that the media is taking short excerpts out of a much larger rhetorical framework is a crock. He said these terrible things, and Obama has been part of his congregation for two decades... Obama’s pathetic initial response when pressed by the media that he hadn’t been in church the day Wright made some of these comments is painfully lame. The fact that Obama did everything he could to avoid making a speech about Wright and the larger issue of race doesn’t make him look good. Obama’s powerful rhetoric about the possibilities and hope of what this country could be has inspired millions... But he seems confused."

Noting that "many observers argue that Wright's sermons convey a more complex message than simple sound bites can express," the Chicago Tribune published lengthy excerpts in an article, "Rev. Jeremiah Wright's words: Sound bite vs. sermon excerpt".

Commentary on media coverage

The controversy sparked continuous media coverage, on both national media outlets and local sources. More than 3,000 news stories had been written on the issue by early April.

Wright's church, Trinity United Church of Christ, criticized the media coverage of his past sermons, saying in a statement that Wright's "character is being assassinated in the public sphere.... It is an indictment on Dr. Wright’s ministerial legacy to present his global ministry within a 15- or 30-second sound bite."

Conservative-turned-liberal commentator Arianna Huffington characterized the media coverage between April 20-30, dominated by Wright coverage, as "among the most shameful in the history of American journalism." To show this, Huffington pointed to a March 20 New York Times expose (see story), itself strongly critical of the media, which received only the scantest mention on one among all mainstream news programs. The story, Huffington says, is "a powerful illustration of the Bush administration's commitment to propaganda and disinformation," and "a damning indictment of the mainstream media's complicity in the wholesale deception of the American public on the single most important decision a country can make—the decision to go to war." Huffington stated that the "near-complete blackout imposed by the culpable news organizations" on the story, which was displaced by many, many hours of coverage about Wright, "is a despicable abdication" of the media's "central role in our society".

Lara Cohen, news director at the Us Weekly, noted that her publication "has been accused of distracting people from the 'Important Issues'" because of its focus on Supermarket tabloid concerns, and said that mainstream media "talking heads love to tut-tut about how attention to celebrity gossip is causing the great dumbing-down of American society." She charged that, in light of the sensationalized coverage about Wright, mainstream media outlets no longer had grounds to make these criticisms of Us Weekly, and turned the charge back upon the mainstream media. Cohen state, "The true hallmark of sensationalized journalism is ginning up controversy to drive sales, and for the mainstream news media Wright was a tailor-made tabloid icon. With newspaper sales at record lows, network news ratings tanking and 24-hour news channels desperate to fill up all 24 hours, Wright's outbursts were the mainstream media's equivalent of Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch—a train wreck no one could turn away from. And so they milked it, regardless of the impact on the very race they were supposedly covering objectively."

Republican commentator and former National Security Agency staff member Lt. Col. Oliver North (whom Wright mentioned in his controversial comments) said of the controversy's media coverage, "Rather than serving up more blather about Jeremiah Wright, editors, producers and program directors would better serve us all by sending their commentators and correspondents out to cover those who have volunteered to serve in our military."

Stephen Colbert satirized what he portrayed as the media's obsession with the Wright story. Jon Stewart similarly made fun of the media's obsession with Wright, calling it their "Festival of Wrights" and the "Reverending Story."

Investigative journalist Robert Parry contrasted the mainstream media's attention to Wright with its almost total silence on the topic of South Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon and his relationship with the Republican Party and especially the Bush family.

Academia

Many in the academic field sought to expand public understanding about Wright and the black religious tradition, while separating both from the political controversy at hand.

Academic discussion of Wright's 9-11 sermon began in 2004, before the 2008 political controversy. Anthony E. Cook, a professor of law at Georgetown University who specializes in the intersections of race, law, and religion in American culture, provided a detailed comparative analysis of the full 9-11 sermons of Jerry Falwell, T.D. Jakes and Jeremiah Wright. Through Cooks's selection of these particular sermons, he sought to provide understanding from a cross-section of conservative (Falwell), moderate (Jakes) and progressive (Wright) American religious life. Among his conclusions, Cook noted that the overall intent of Falwell's and Jakes's sermons was to use the the Christian religion as a justification for the War on terror, while Wright's overall intent was to side against war and to get listeners to engage in introspection about their daily behavior and relationship with God.

After the political controversy erupted, Georgetown University sociology professor Michael Eric Dyson stated that Wright's comments "have to be read as the bitter complaint of a spurned lover. Like millions of other blacks, Wright was willing to serve the country while suffering rejection." Dyson goes on to argue that "Wright's critics have confused nationalism with patriotism. Nationalism is the uncritical support of one's country regardless of its moral or political bearing. Patriotism is the affirmation of one's country in light of its best values, including the attempt to correct it when it's in error. Wright's words are the tough love of a war-tested patriot speaking his mind — one of the great virtues of our democracy." J. Kameron Carter, associate professor of theology and black church studies at Duke Divinity School, stated that Wright "voiced in his sermons a pain that must be interpreted inside of the tradition of black prophetic Christianity."

Martin E. Marty, an emeritus professor of religious history, criticized the "incomprehension and naiveté of some reporters who lack background in the civil rights and African-American movements of several decades ago". He went on to place Wright's comments in context of his church: "For Trinity, being 'unashamedly black' does not mean being 'anti-white.' Think of the concept of 'unashamedly': tucked into it is the word 'shame'." Underlying the idea, according to Marty, is a diagnosis "of 'shame', 'being shamed', and 'being ashamed' as debilitating legacies of slavery and segregation in society and church" (see Black shame). Marty also argued that Trinity's Africentrism "should not be more offensive than that synagogues should be 'Judeo-centric' or that Chicago's Irish parishes be 'Celtic-centric'."

Bill J. Leonard, Dean of the divinity school and professor of church history at Wake Forest University, stated that the whole Wright affair illustrated "what we should have known after twenty years or more of discussing religion in the political square and at political election time: that American religion is very messy, and it doesn't fit all the categories and its very layered; there are many ways to look at it and we all read it in different ways with different glasses." Leonard then contextualized the comments of Wright that received focus, saying, that Wright "was standing and speaking out of the jeremiad tradition or preaching in the U.S.," which he said "dates back to the Puritans" and that both "black and white ministers have used since the 1600s in this country." Leonard explains the jeremiad tradition as one "in which there was a kind of ideal that was held up prophetically in the tradition of Jeremiah, Ezekial, and Amos, that dealt with woe and promise and moral failure not only in the church but in the nation." Leonard says that this tradition is widespread "across the theological spectrum," and that it is even widely practiced among current-day white Baptist churches in the U.S. South.

While discussing the same theme of Wright and the jeremiad, James B. Bennett, an assistant professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University, describes how Wright follows in a "rhetorical tradition" that has "a long history in the speeches and writings of African-American leaders who are exalted by black and white Americans alike". Bennett says Martin Luther King, Jr. shared similar feelings with Wright concerning some US activities, saying, " 'the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government,' " and that " 'America was founded on genocide, and a nation that is founded on genocide is destructive.' " Michael Eric Dyson notes that on the Thursday Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, he was working on a Sunday sermon entitled "Why America May Go to Hell." Cultural critic Kelefa Sanneh also traced Wright's theology and rhetoric back to Frederick Douglass, analyzing his 1854 reference to antebellum US Christians as "bad, corrupt, and wicked."

Polls

In mid-March, a Rasmussen Reports national telephone poll of voters found that just 8% had a favorable opinion of Jeremiah Wright, while 58% had an unfavorable view. 73% of voters believed that Wright’s comments were divisive, while 29% of African-Americans said Wright’s comments made them more likely to support Obama. 66% of those polled had read, seen, or heard news stories about Wright’s comments.

During these events, Clinton briefly took the lead in the Gallup national tracking poll, ahead of Obama by 7 points on March 18. By March 20, Clinton's lead decreased to 2 points, a statistically insignificant amount. The same day, John McCain took a 3 point lead over both Democratic candidates in hypothetical General Election match ups, with a 2 point margin of error. By March 22, Obama had regained his lead over Clinton and was up by 3 points. The editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll said that the effect of the controversy "died after a couple of days".

A CBS poll taken from March 15 to March 17 found that sixty-five percent of registered voters said it made no difference in their view of Obama, while thirty percent said it made them have a less favorable view.

At the end of March 2008, as over 40 states had already held their Democratic primary processes, Barack Obama built on his national Gallup daily tracking poll results to become the first candidate to open a double-digit lead since Super Tuesday, when his competitor Hillary Clinton had a similar margin. On March 30 the poll showed Obama at 52% and Clinton at 42%. The Rassmussen Reports poll, taken during the same time frame, showed an Obama advantage of five points. These polls followed weeks of heavy campaigning and heated rhetoric from both camps, and another late-March poll found Obama maintaining his positive rating and limiting his negative rating, better than his chief rival Clinton, even considering Obama's involvement in controversy during the period. The NBC News and Wall Street Journal poll showed Obama losing two points of positive rating and gaining four points of negative rating, while Clinton lost eight points of positive rating and gained five points of negative rating.

As of May 5, Gallup polls show Obama with a 5 point lead over Clinton, with Obama having 50% to Clinton's 45% in a poll of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters for the party nomination.

Subsequent Jeremiah Wright appearances

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright publicly discussed the controversy in depth in an hour-long interview with Bill Moyers on April 25, 2008. This included longer clips of his sermons, along with his explanations of what he was saying. There were also clips of his ministry and parishioners at various points in time since he became pastor in 1972, in an attempt to show what Trinity stands for and has accomplished. Wright stated that his comments were "taken out of context" and that "the persons who have heard the entire sermon understand the communication perfectly." He went on to say: "When something is taken like a sound bite for a political purpose and put constantly over and over again, looped in the face of the public, that's not a failure to communicate. Those who are doing that are communicating exactly what they want to do, which is to paint me as some sort of fanatic or as the learned journalist from the New York Times called me, a 'wackadoodle'... The message that is being communicated by the soundbites is exactly what those pushing those sound bites want to communicate." Conservative pundits and PBS's ombudsman criticized Moyers for being too gentle on Wright.

On April 27, Wright gave a keynote address at a fundraising dinner for the Detroit-chapter of the NAACP. In front of nearly 10,000, he discussed the controversy, saying, "I am not running for the Oval Office," referring to what he perceived as Republican attempts to make the controversy part of the campaign. Earlier that day, he delivered a sermon to 4000 at the Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas. On April 28, he spoke to the National Press Club, where he discussed the Black church.

In his speech to the NAACP, Wright speculated that, "Africans have a different meter, and Africans have a different tonality. Europeans have seven tones, Africans have five. White people clap differently than black people. Africans and African-Americans are right-brained, subject-oriented in their learning style. They have a different way of learning." Wright additionally compared U.S. Marines to Roman soldiers who executed Jesus Christ, saying that the “notion of imperialism” is the same, called Louis Farrakhan “one of the most important voices in the 20th and 21st century", and repeated his endorsement of an AIDS conspiracy theory. The comments were labeled as racist, and likened to eugenics. This initiated a revival of the controversy, which had been slowly waning.

Former aide to President Ronald Reagan David Gergen called Wright's speaking tour "the dumbest, most selfish, most narcissistic thing I've seen in 40 years of covering politics." Libertarian commentator Andrew Sullivan said Wright's comments on the tour were a "calculated, ugly, repulsive, vile display of arrogance, egotism, and self-regard." Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich characterized Wright's speaking tour as an attempt to deliberately hurt Obama, and stated that Wright's sense of self-importance appeared to be his motivation. Columnist Bob Herbert of The New York Times also suggested that Wright was being a "narcissist" and trying to "wreck" Obama's campaign.

Obama's response

Obama attempted to further distance himself from Wright, as he expressed outrage and shock at a press conference on April 29:

"I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday... The person that 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.... What became clear to me is that he was presenting a world view that contradicts who I am and what I stand for, and what I think particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing. Anybody who knows me and anybody who knows what I'm about knows that I am about trying to bridge gaps and I see the commonality in all people. ...fter seeing Reverend Wright’s performance, I felt as if there was a complete disregard for what the American people are going through and the need for them to rally together to solve these problems. ...hatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed, as a consequence of this."

Comparisons with other candidates

A number of other candidates in the 2008 race encountered similar scrutiny of religious advisors, though generally with less publicity, leading liberal commentators to allege that the criticism of Wright was fueled by racism or double standards.

• Rudolph Giuliani hired Monsignor Alan Placa, a Catholic priest and longtime friend who had officiated at his second wedding, to work in his consulting firm after he had been ordered to cease priestly duties amid accusations of molesting three children.

• Mitt Romney faced criticism for his role as part of a "dynastic family" within the Mormon church, including issues of racial discrimination stemming from the church's formerly held doctrine of not allowing African Americans into the priesthood, a practice which they ended in the 1970s. Due to the controversy, Romney gave a major speech on the issue earlier in the campaign.

• John McCain has been criticized for several religious associations. He accepted support from Jerry Falwell and spoke at the commencement of his Liberty University. Falwell had been criticized for saying that gays, feminists, and liberals were in part to blame for 9/11. Although McCain had previously criticized Falwell as an "agent of intolerance", he stated that the two had come to an understanding of one another. He has accepted an endorsement by Reverend John Hagee, who was subsequently noted for anti-Catholic and anti-Muslim statements and declaring Hurricane Katrina a "judgment of God" for the "level of sin" in New Orleans. McCain later rejected Hagee's statements, saying that accepting the endorsement was "probably a mistake" but that he was still glad to receive it. McCain additionally called Rod Parsley his "spiritual adviser". Parsley holds views similar to Hagee but has also called for the total destruction of Islam. In addition, McCain's "Catholics For McCain National Steering Committee" features Father Deal W. Hudson. While Hudson was a professor at Fordham University, he seduced an 18-year-old student, lost his tenured position, and resigned from a position on the Bush reelection team.

• Hillary Clinton has described herself as a Methodist and has stated the Methodist church she attended as a youth gave her the opportunity to expand horizons". For fifteen years she has been part of a secretive religious group called "The Fellowship Foundation", whose congregants consist of exclusively heavy political players, including scores of senators from both parties, and is best known for organizing the National Prayer Breakfast. The group was established in the 1930s by a Methodist evangelist named Abraham Vereide and is currently led by Doug Coe. In 2005, TIME Magazine named Coe as one of the 25 most powerful evangelicals, calling him "the Stealth Persuader." In 1993, journalist Jeff Sharlet went undercover to learn about the Fellowship, who he described as "secret theocrats" and as having "traditionally fostered strong ties with businessmen in the oil and aerospace industries" and various dictators. Sharlet quotes Coe as saying, "We work with power where we can, build new power where we can't", and says that the group's leaders "consider democracy a manifestation of ungodly pride". In her autobiography Living History, Hillary Clinton described Coe as "a genuinely loving spiritual mentor" who "became a source of strength and friendship" for her during her more difficult years as first lady.

Some critics argued that the Wright case is more significant than McCain's associations with Hagee, as Obama noted that Wright guided him to Christianity, baptized his children and performed his marriage ceremony, and Obama attended Wright's church for twenty years, whereas McCain first met Hagee while campaigning for president. Eugene Rivers has countered these criticisms by first explaining that Obama was not always in church, and that the several minutes of soundbites continually played by the media obviously do not equate to twenty years, noting that Wright's 30-year body of sermons had been gone through by the media and that they had been unable to find any other controversial statements in them. Rivers also explained the motivation of Obama in attending the church and relating with Wright, noting such things as that Obama was only twenty-four when he met Wright; that Obama at the time was struggling with his personal identity as a bi-racial person, half-black yet never having opportunity to understand black culture; that Obama's father had abandoned him at age two and that he never had a father-figure in his life and that he may have seen this some in Wright; and, that Obama felt a loyalty to Wright because of the early positive influence Wright had in his life in helping Obama work through these issues, which Rivers described as "deeply personal and complex" for Obama.

Comparisons with similar politicians

E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post contended that white religious leaders who make controversial statements often maintain their political influence. As an example, Frank Schaeffer, son of the late Religious Right leader Francis Schaeffer, noted that his father in his books denounced and called for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government and compared the U.S. to Hitler; yet, no one had ever asked any Republican leader to denounce Schaeffer or his statements. Rather, he was a frequent guest in the home of Jack Kemp, had lunch with and was a guest in the Gerald Ford White House, met with Ronald Reagan, and assisted with the appointment of C. Everett Koop as U.S. Surgeon General. Frank Schaeffer also pointed out that Mike Huckabee, while he was a presidential candidate, named Francis Schaeffer's Whatever Happened to the Human Race? as one of his favorite books, which contains one of the instances where Schaeffer compares America to Hitler's Germany. Frank Schaeffer argues that if his father's words had been spoken by Jeremiah Wright or any other black American preacher, then those preachers, because of their race, would have been accused of treason, and their followers would have been subject to smear by association and required to renounce and distance themselves, as had Obama. Schaeffer specifically charges that this is evidence of a double standard and racism, which Schaeffer says has been carried out by the Far Right in the U.S., as well as by Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign.

Footnotes

1. ^ Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11 Brian Ross and Rehab el-Buri, ABC News, March 13, 2008
2. Dilanian, Ken (2008-03-18). "Defenders say Wright has love, righteous anger for USA". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
3. ^ Adubato, Steve (March 21, 2008). "Obama's reaction to Wright too little, too late". MSNBC.
4. Johnson, Alex (2008-03-14). "Obama Strongly Denounces his ex-Pastor". MSNBC. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
5. "Listening to Rev. Wright" OnPoint, 29 April 2008.
6. Hannity & Colmes say that "Peck never used the phrase 'chickens coming home to roost' and that Wright went further in criticizing U.S. policy than Peck did" in Peck's September 15th, 2001 interview on Fox News Channel. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/04/mike_huckabee_on_hannity_colme_1.html Also see partial transcript, with similar observation by PBS Ombudsman: http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2008/05/post_13.html
7. "Controversial minister off Obama's campaign". cnn.com. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
8. Sullivan, Andrew (2008-03-22). "The Wright post-9/11 sermon". Daily Dish. The Atlantic. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
9. Trinity United Church of Christ (2008-03-20). "FOX Lies!! Irresponsible Media! Barack Obama Pastor Wright". YouTube. Retrieved 2008-03-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. ^ Martin, Roland (March 21, 2008). "The full story behind Rev. Jeremiah Wright's 9/11 sermon". Anderson Cooper 360. CNN. Retrieved 2008-03-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
11. Extended video of Wright's sermon from which quotes had been excerpted.
12. ^ "Tell the Whole Story FOX! Barack Obama's pastor Wright". Excerpted from YouTube". Retrieved 2008-03-25.
13. Steyn, Mark (2008-03-15). "Obama's pastor disaster". Orange County Register. Retrieved 2008-03-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88552254
15. Martin, Roland (March 21, 2008). "The Full Story Behind Wright's "God Damn America" sermon". Anderson Cooper 360. CNN. Retrieved 2008-03-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
16. "Obama Decries Pastor's Remarks". Seattle Times. March 15, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
17. "ABC's Charles Gibson Talks to Barack Obama". ABC News. 28 March 2008.
18. Obama, Barack, "On my Faith and My Church". Huffington Post, 14 March 2008. Available online. Archived.
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20. "Controversial minister off Obama's campaign". CNN. March 15, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-03.
21. Bacon, Perry Jr (March 27, 2008). "On Wright Question, Unclear Answers From Obama". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
22. Barack Obama (March 14 2008). "On My Faith and My Church". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
23. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/us/politics/06obama.html
24. Kantor, Jodi (March 6 2007). "Disinvitation by Obama Is Criticized". Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
25. Obama for America (December 4 2007). "Renowned Faith Leaders Come Together to Support Obama (press release)". George Washington University. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
26. "Jeremiah Wright, Obama's Pastor, Leaves Obama Campaign". The Huffington Post. March 14 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
27. Alex Mooney, CNN.com, March 15, 2008
28. Alex Johnson, Minister Leaves Obama Campaign MSNBC.com, March 14, 2008
29. Obama's Chicago Pastor No Longer Serving On Campaign, Bloomberg.com
30. Mark Steyn (March 15 2008). "Uncle Jeremiah". National Review. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
31. VandeHei, Jim (2008-03-18). "Racial problems transcend Wright". Politico. Retrieved 2008-03-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
32. Remarks by Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union' Christian Science Monitor, March 18, 2008
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36. Harnden, Toby (April 16, 2008). "Barack Obama stumbles in hostile TV debate". Daily Telegraph.
37. McCain, John (2008-03-14). "Exclusive: John McCain Sits Down With Sean Hannity". Hannity & Colmes. FOX News. Retrieved 2008-03-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
38. "Cheney Calls the Rev. Wright's Comments 'Appalling'". ABC News. April 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-03.
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40. Coulter, Ann (April 30, 2008). "Out of 'Context' or Out of His Mind?". AnnCoulter.com.
41. http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/election_2008/2008/04/27/wright_moyers/index.html
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43. Anderson Cooper 360, 29 April 2008.
44. "Rev. Jeremiah Wright's words: Sound bite vs. sermon excerpt", Chicago Tribune, 29 March 2008. Available online. Archived.
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50. Jason Linkins, "Colbert Lampoons Media's Wright Obsession", The Huffington Post, 30 April 2008. Available online. Archived.
51. http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=167429&title=festival-of-wrights
52. Jon Stewart Takes On Wright Coverage: "The Reverending Story", April 29, 2008
53. The Right's America-Hating Preacher Baltimore Chronicle 2008-05-02
54. http://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/facinfo/tab_faculty.cfm?Status=Faculty&ID=236
55. Anthony E. Cook, "Encountering the Other: Evangelicalism and Terrorism in a Post 911 World". Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. 20, No. 1, (2004 - 2005), pp. 1-30. Available with subscription at JSTOR.
56. Michael Eric Dyson, "Understanding Black Patriotism." TIME Magazine, Thursday, Apr. 24, 2008. Available online. Archived.
57. J. Kameron Carter, "Obama’s Speech and the Politics of Race and Religion", Duke University Office of News & Communications, 22 March 2008
58. "Martin E. Marty: Curriculum Vitae". illuminos.com. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
59. Marty, Martin E. "Keeping the Faith at Trinity United Church of Christ". Sightings Available online. Archived.
60. Marty, Martin E. "Prophet and Pastor". The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11 April 2008. Available online. Archived.
61. "Listening to Rev. Wright" OnPoint, 29 April 2008.
62. Bennett, James B. (20 March 2008). "Obama's pastor's words ring uncomfortably true". San Jose Mercury News,. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
63. "Professor checks out "new landscape" after King". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
64. Larry King Live, CNN, 28 April 2008. Also see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/mlk/legacy/legacy.htm for confirmation of fact about King.
65. Sanneh, Kelefa (2008-04-07). "Annals of Religion: Project Trinity". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
66. ^ Rasmussen Reports March 17, 2008
67. Lydia Saad. Gallup Daily: Clinton Now at 47% to Obama’s 45%, Gallup, March 21, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
68. Jeff Jones. Gallup Daily: Obama Edges Ahead of Clinton, Gallup, March 22 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
69. Cose, Ellis (2008-05-05). "McCain's Hidden Advantage". Newsweek. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
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71. "Gallup: Obama has 10-point lead over Clinton -- largest this year". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
72. "Democrats are tied in new poll". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
73. "Gallup Daily: Democrats Tied for Record 12th Day". Gallup, Inc. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
74. Full video available at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04252008/watch.html
75. ^ Thomas, Mike (April 24, 2008). "Rev. Jeremiah Wright appears on PBS' 'Bill Moyers Journal'". The Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
76. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/opinion/23dowd.html
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78. Nichols, Darren A. "Wright delivers fiery, humorous speech at NAACP dinner". Detroit News. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
79. rtsp://video.c-span.org/archive/c08/c08_042808_wright.rm - Full video of Wright's 28 April 2008 speech on the Black church at the National Press Club. Requires RealPlayer or Real Alternative.
80. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/28/wright.transcript/
81. http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/596275.html
82. http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YjZjODhlYTE2MDViN2VlMDYyZmZmNjBmNDMxNTFjMzg=
83. http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/bad_americans/the_difference.php
84. 360 with Anderson Cooper, CNN, 29 April 2008
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86. ABCNEws, http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/04/gingrich-wright.html "Gingrich: Wright May Be Deliberately Trying to Hurt Obama."
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88. Zeleny, Jeff. "Obama Says He's Outraged by Ex-Pastor's Comments". New York Times.
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92. Christopher Hitchens (2007-11-26). "Mitt the Mormon:Why Romney needs to talk about his faith".
93. Reviewed in Think Progress. "VIDEO: McCain Says Jerry Falwell is No Longer an 'Agent of Intolerance'".
94. "McCain embraces bigot". Catholic League. 2008-02-28.
95. Glenn Greenwald (2008-02-28). "Some hateful, radical ministers - white evangelicals - are acceptable".
96. Clyde Haberman (2008-05-02). "First Thing, Muzzle the Clergy?". New York Times.
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98. Greenwald, Glenn (2008-02-29). "The McCain/Hagee story picks up steam".
99. David Corn, "McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam", Mother Jones, 12 March 2008. Available online. Archived.
100. Anne Hart, "McCain's free ride must end", Savannah Morning News, 4 May 2008. Available online. Archived.
101. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/05/mccains-catholic-committe_n_100277.html
102. http://web.archive.org/web/20070808025732/http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/update/bn081904.htm
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111. Randi Rhodes Show, 6 May 2008. Rhodes frequently refers to this matter.
112. http://www.nationalledger.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=23&num=19489
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114. "FOX News interview with video".
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