Jeremiah Wright, Obama's Pastor, Leaves Obama Campaign

Politico reported Friday night that Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's controversial former pastor, is no longer with his campaign. Wright's comments about 9/11 and other inflammatory remarks have drawn increasing scrutiny and media coverage in recent days.

The statement from the Obama camp:

Spokesman Tommy Vietor emails:

"Rev. Wright is no longer serving on the African American Religious Leadership Committee."

MSNBC adds that it remains unclear whether Wright left voluntarily or was asked to leave.

Obama did not clarify whether Wright volunteered to leave his African American Religious Leadership Committee, a loose group of supporters associated with the campaign, or whether the campaign asked him to leave.

Obama made the rounds on the network news shows Friday night, speaking on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. Watch his interview on MSNBC with Keith Olbermann.

MSNBC

Comments

[ruffmama]

Obama needs to get a little "Rovian" here. He needs to beat the 527's that are sure to air their swiftboating ads at the pass. He needs to make his own ad that begins with the usual "I am B.O. and I approve this message" and then he needs to either play some of the incriminating videos of Rev. Wright or show some stills with the audio of the Rev Wright and then conclude with a statement of how he "rejects and denounces" these statements. Then he needs to SATURATE the airwaves with this ad so that everyone is just so sick of hearing Rev. Wright's rants and they will be so over it already that they just tune it out. Then when the 527's make their ads and the cable news channels go on and on the public will already be so desensitized to the video and the words of Rev. Wright that the ads by the 527's will have little effect. BO will take something that the other side will undoubtedly try and use against him and bombard our senses with but BO will have already spent all of that ammo before they get a chance to.

[zumper]

im sorry i cant believe he never heard these statements .....even if he wasnt in the church he jsaid on CNN that he only heard about most of the statements when he started his campaign..­..i hate to say this but there will be a huge number of reporter out there scrounging and snooping and will find out he is not being truthful..­..somebody had to tell him about these sermans even if he wasnt there ....i think he's in trouble .....these are unedited dvd's that his church sells,,,,undoctored ...and i heard there are hundreds of audio tapes around...h­e may be in big trouble

"you can fool some of the people all of the time...you can fool all of the people some of the time but you cant fool all of the people all of the time"
the sad part of this is the MSM didnt want to vett this guy and now we are in a huge mess.....h­e may be the dem candidate and the gop and 527's will rip him apart

[Svenson]

Hidden Message

Remember when they said Bush in his election speeches had a hidden mesage for teh Evangelical Christians?

Guess what. Obama has a message for all Irev Wright's followers .. CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN

It is not about change for all American or the Blacks and women that white men have made or making, etc.

That is not good enough for Obama's beleivers. They want CHANGE WE CAN BELEIVE IN

Change to improve the Black community more. Change including restitution and compensation for the slaves and their decendents and more.

Change that punishes AMerican for what Irev Wrght call pay back for what USA has done overseas and to the Blacks.

The day is coming!!!!


In Shaha Allah

[Boulderperson]

Well, another chance for Slippery Hillary to let Ferraro loose.

[roncraw]

Anyone think this denouncement isn't the same as his position on NAFTA and getting out of Iraq. He tells the voters one thing and tells the pastor etc.don't really listen to what i'm saying.win­k, wink..

[zumper]

im sorry i cant believe he never heard these statements .....even if he wasnt in the church he said that he only heard about most of the statements when he started his campaign..­..i hate to say this but there will be a huge number of reporter out there scrounging and snooping and will find out he is not being truthful..­..somebody had to tell him about these sermans even if he wasnt there ....i think he's in trouble .....these are unedited dvd's that his church sells,,,,undoctored ...and i heard there are hundreds of audio tapes around...h­e may be in big trouble

[Steven G. Brant - Huffpost Blogger]

In order to move forward, we Americans are going to have to rid ourselves of this addiction to "guilt by association" attacks. If you cannot run for elected office unless no one you are associated with has ever expressed their anger or displeasure at one socio-political institution or another, then we are truly going to eliminate any hope of attracting the best and the brightest into pubic service.

When I got married, I did not investigate whether or not the person who performed the ceremony had ever said anything negative about (fill in the blank).

Barack has spoken in a very mature way about this situation now. I just hope a majority of the rest of America responds to what he said with an equal level of maturity.

[TxWonderWoman]

There is a big difference in guilt by association and GUILT BY 20 YEAR ASSOCIATION

[rwferr]

This guy is a member of Obama's campaign. He has been Obama's preacher for 20 years. He just got around to denouncing him? He has been sitting there listening to this guy for twenty years and lets his children listen to this filth. That is not the judgment of the person I want as President of the United States.

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

except for the inconvenient fact that Obama has known this man for 20 years, considers him his mentor, he is his spiritual leader and until now has held an official position on the Obama campaign.

This man is not just a casual acquaintance.

[roncraw]

steven 20 years of listening to this pastor and not walking out.Shame on him.

[uglybetty]

Steven
I have to say , thats stretching it quite a bit ,to say about when you got married...­.....
This guy Wright is, as Obama has stated, even in his book .....a close friend and Mentor , for 20 yrs. Sorry but that could never convince me he does'nt Know what the man Preaches (teaches) in his Sermons, which seems to be more about Hate than God !!!

[sparkandy]

Tit for tat, I guess. Clinton loses a racist supporter and now Obama does.

[Svenson]

So Obama is on Fox News too?

When you have a spiritual leader, for the last 20 or more years until yesterday .... you can say so much in public about disassociation .. but the spiritual and mental connection with your uncle cannot be terminated by appearing for 10 minutes on Fox or Countdown.

In Shahs Allah.

[Svenson]

So when Obama made his no war speech ... what was the reason behind it?

Did he not want to attqack Iraq because the radical muslims according to Irev wright doing teh right thing and were helping Blacks avenge their abuses by white men?

So what will Obama do as a balck president to counter all the abuses by teh white men?

Will he apologise to all black people, pay them resitution and compensation for the abuses?

Is he goign to form aliiances with those who help revenge for the black men?

[mesuki]

This story is just a ploy from the republicans to make us turn on Obama and elect Hillary so that they can whip the crap out of her in the primary. All they're doing is turning the democratic party upside down,and we're letting them. Right about now Hannity is having a good laugh at our expense. We need to stick to the issues ,quit bickering among ourselves and pick a damn candidate already! The republicans know that their chances of winning are very slim,so they have to try to get the weakest candidate to win the nominatin ,and that's Hillary. They have so much dirtt on Hillary , I bet they're salivating at the mere thought of her winning the nomination.

[Mattie]

Did the right wing loons make Obama go to this church for 20 years, did they make him title his book after a sermon this hate monger gave. Did they make him put this man on his campaign. Give me a break, Obama embraces this man and is not fit to be president.

[soulstressed]

Such a non issue issue.

If I have to sit through another one of Wolf Biltzer's attempted covert blitzes of Senator Obama, I'll scream. Thank da Lord they have Jack Cafferty and a couple others on CNN that are at least covering any bias they may have. My point is this. I've just watched another segment of CNN Campaign Trail, where most of the piece was dedicated to shedding more light on something questionable that has been brought up concerning Senator Obama, i.e., Rezko, Wright. None of these stories have legs I might add. Anyway, I just sent this email to The Cafferty File website on CNN, regarding the ugly tone of the campaign at this point.
It's becoming increasingly clear that Hillary doesn't do math. Hillary does wrath. It's amazing to me is how most major news outlets are giving Senator Clinton a pass on major issues, while they are blasting Senator Obama on each and every thing they can. It makes it seem as if Obama is sneaky while Clinton is the Virgin Mary. In the meantime, the reality is simply that Obama speaks to everything that has been raised regarding his actions, while HIllary hides behind the infamous Clinton veil of secrecy. For instance, so much light has been shed on Rezko's case, while the Clinton's case in Cali involving Bill, Peter Paul, AND Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendall, slides under the wire. The case of Norman Hsu goes on quietly as well. Obama releases ALL of his earmarks, and his lambasted and questioned over an earmark for his wife's hospital, which was turned down btw, while Hillary simply refuses to release all her earmarks except the ones that passed. Again making her look like she's always a good girl. And good Lord why is the MSM pretending that there is nothing frighteningly wrong in the Clintons not releasing their tax returns? Haven't we seen this movie before?

Time to turn up the real heat:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Truth_Hurts/

[tanyainsacramento]

Can someone tell me where or what was Whites part in the campaign? I keep hearing people say it but I havent heard anyone in the Obama camp say it...seems like media hype...fro­m what i knew, he was at church doing his thing there...no­t in obamas campaign

[rojo7449]

"MSNBC adds that it remains unclear whether Wright left voluntarily or was asked to leave.

Obama did not clarify whether Wright volunteered to leave his African American Religious Leadership Committee, a loose group of supporters associated with the campaign, or whether the campaign asked him to leave."

If you haven't watched the video, do. Obama was clearly asked the question and just brushed over it without giving an answer. It doesn't matter how he left the campaign, but Obama also said that Wright was not connected to his campaign in any official capacity. Audacity is a word that comes to mind frequently now. The honesty we can expect from our Change agent appears pretty much status quo.

[IronMikeHouston]

The media is afraid to ask Barack any tough questions because they fear they will be considered racist. Barack didn't answer the question and I believe he is lying. He doesn't support the USA and all the terrorists want him elected. He wants to dismantle the best health care system in the world to give free medical care to everyone. Right now the poor people get free medical care. How many illegals get their babies delivered for free. I had 5 children and had yo pay for all five. I pay for my medical care BUT don't want the option of free medical care because I'm not stupid and suspect other taxes will go up to pay for this FREE medical care! The people that really will get f$cked are the dumb@ss poor people who think they will get something for poor!

I remember back in the 80's when you could deduct credit interest on your taxes. Well the politicians decided that this was a rich man's loophole. They removed it and f*cked the middle class.

[snowcat]

hard to have missed the video (from years ago!) it's being played every 15 minutes on MsNBC and other networks ..even now...48 hours later....a year after they first showed all this stuff ..ad infinitum.­..the fact that the ever tolerant PAT BUCHANAN is weighing in every time it plays is laughable ...so much for journalism

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

I did have to laugh at the expressions on Olberman's and Alter's faces, though. They both looked like they were going to throw up. I also caught, when Senator Obama said that he hadn't "heard any of the rhetoric" that Reverend Wright spoke. I had read somewhere that during his famous "humping the air speech and hate talk about the Clinton's" someone with a handycam focused on the Obamas' with their children, in the audience. I told my son at that moment, "Oh....he'­s stepped in it now". Sure enough, when Alter spoke looking rather pale, I might add...he said just what I did. "Senator Obama just made a mistake by saying he was never present during any of this speech. He is a very regular church attendee, and there is film out there of him". Bet Olberman feels a bit foolish after his tirade about Senator Clinton. His saint's halo isn't quite so shiney now.

[shano]

For a religious man to go into seclusion is not abnormal. Especially when he has inadvertently hurt a friend. It is a private matter. Religious faith is a private matter.

Why is there this urge for a 'religious test' to hold office in America when the founding fathers were absolutely against such a thing?

Obama gave the answer, just not the answer you wanted. It was an answer filled with human dignity and understanding of the nature of religious faith and the public arena.

The Christian right has so distorted faith and religion we dont recognize a truthful act any longer.

[butchie65]

You sure can't expect honesty from Hillary, she has none at all. You also sound like a racist. It's people like you that destroy the world with your vindictiveness. If you can't see a person of a diffrent color, you are still back in the 60's, you will never except change.

[rojo7449]

I, for one, am in awe. That vile sermon was given to the congregation on Christmas Day last year. According to Obama, his family was not in attendance at the service on that holiest Christian holiday, and no one in his parish mentioned to him that he was the topic of the Christmas sermon. He just learned about this video because he was in the Senate all day yesterday. Besides, the affiliation Rev W had with the Obama campaign was not in "an official capacity". And, what was reported today in the Chicago Tribune about his association with Rezko is no different than anything that he had already disclosed to the public. Politics, as usual. No hope for change here.