Let’s be clear about one thing; Obama’s press conference today regarding Reverend Wright was nothing more than damage control. Obama said today that he found the statements that Wright made yesterday during his speech at the National Press Club offended him, and were antithetical to what he believes, and what his campaign is trying to achieve. That’s all well and good, but are we to believe that after twenty years of listening to Wright yesterday was the first time that Wright said things that were antithetical to what he believes?

Wright has indeed said in sermons at Trinity United that 9-11 were America’s chickens coming home to roost. Today, Obama found that statement to be offensive. Apparently, when Wright originally made the statement — just days after the 9-11 attacks when we had barely begun to bury our dead — it wasn’t all that offensive.

Let’s take a look at some of Obama’s press conference today.

Yesterday we saw a very different vision of America. I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday. I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992. I’ve known Reverend Wright for almost 20 years. The person that I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago.

Nonsense. Wright has been making these outrageous and divisive statements from the pulpit for at least seven years.

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 centuries, when he equates the United States wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses.

No, Senator, there are no excuses. There weren’t — or shouldn’t have been — any excuses when he made those statements from the pulpit either.

Last point. I’m particularly distressed that this has caused such a distraction from what this campaign should be about, which is the American people. Their situation is getting worse. And this campaign has never been about me. It’s never been about Senator Clinton or John McCain. It’s not about Reverend Wright.

 [...] Snip [...]

And the fact that Reverend Wright would think that somehow it was appropriate to command the stage for three or four consecutive days in the midst of this major debate is something that not only makes me angry, but also saddens me. [Emphasis added -- Jim C]

Now we begin to get to the heart of the matter. The Wright issue has become a distraction. It has begun to sink the Obama boat. Obama touches on this a little more in the Q & A section as well.

QUESTION: What’s going to happen with these distractions that have taken you…?

OBAMA: Well, I want to use this press conference to make people absolutely clear that, obviously, whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed, as a consequence of this.

I don’t think that he showed much concern for me. More importantly, I don’t think he showed much concern for what we are trying to do in this campaign and what we’re trying to do for the American people and with the American people.

And, obviously, he’s free to speak out on issues that are of concern to him, and he can do it in any ways that he wants. But I feel very strongly that I want to make absolutely clear that I do not subscribe to the views that he expressed. I believe they are wrong. I think they are destructive. And to the extent that he continues to speak out, I do not expect those views to be attributed to me. [Emphasis added -- Jim C]

“He didn’t show much concern for me. More importantly, I don’t think he showed much concern for what we are trying to do in this campaign…”. See, this whole Wright controversy wasn’t that big of a deal to Obama until it started to hurt his campaign. It wasn’t Wright’s offensive statements that prompted this press conference or his Philadelphia speech. It was the damage — or potential damage — that it is causing his campaign.

On another note, I was pointed to an interesting post from March at Bookworm Room today about Obama and his thin legislative record. Obama is a product of Chicago politics, not a different kind of politician. Here’s the take away ‘graph:

In other words, as many have long suspected, Obama is indeed nothing more than the product of the Chicago political machine. He’s smart, he’s photogenic, he’s manipulative, he’s a vicious political infighter, and he’s the product of someone else’s political vision and imagination.

Oh yeah, let’s not forget about Obama’sinvolvement with Rezco. There’s a whole lot about that mess that’s still to be found out.

From a March 6th IBD editorial on the matter:

Rezko was among Obama’s earliest supporters. In 1995, when Obama ran for a seat in the Illinois Senate, Rezko, through two of his companies, gave Obama $2,000. Obama won election in 1996 in a district that coincidentally included 11 of Rezko’s 30 low-income housing projects.

In 2003, when Obama said he’d run for the U.S. Senate, Rezko held a lavish fundraiser at his Wilmette, Ill., mansion. Rezko has raised a lot of money for Obama, who is returning $150,000 raised by Rezko and his associates and is giving $72,650 in Rezko contributions to charity.

Rezko is known by the Chicago press as a “fixer” who can make things happen for a price. Little is done out of the goodness of his heart. He’s on trial for bilking up to $6 million from the people of Illinois through kickbacks while working for the administration of current Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Did Rezko find jobs for Obama supporters? That is one of the questions the Chicago press wanted to ask before Obama cut short a recent press conference.

 Wright, Rezco, and Ayers. Obama sure doesn’t pick his friends and associates very well.

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