We Still Don't Know If Obama Told The Truth on March 14th

Change font size:  A |  A

The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. -- Barack Obama, Huffington Post, March 14, 2008

The key question before Barack Obama today was the one going to his integrity: was he was telling the truth when he claimed in his HuffPo piece of March 14th that he never heard Wright make, in public or private, the remarks "that are the cause of this controversy"?

I listened carefully. Obama dodged the question.

Here's the transcript of what he had to say on the matter.

BARACK OBAMA: We've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

So Obama admits to hearing Wright "make remarks that could be considered controversial." Did they include the comments that have sparked the controversy: "God damn America," America deliberately spread AIDS among blacks, 9-11 was America's chickens coming home to roost, etc.?

Obama didn't say. While admitting to hearing Wright make "controversial" remarks, he goes on to say that "the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country."

The inference might be that since the worst remarks were beyond "controversial," and since Obama admits only to hearing "controversial" remarks, he didn't hear them. But Obama never clearly said so. As a result, we don't know if he was telling the truth on March 14th--although if indeed Obama had never heard the worst of Wright wouldn't he have stressed that fact today?

Bottom line: Obama's speech failed, and a large cloud remains over his candidacy.

Will the MSM notice?