Obama Pastor Michael Pfleger Apologizes For Mocking Clinton

CHICAGO — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday that he was "deeply disappointed" by a supporter's sermon at his church that mocked Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Chicago activist, also apologized for last Sunday's sermon at Obama's church, in which he said Clinton's eyes welled with tears before the New Hampshire primary because she felt "entitled" to the Democratic nomination and because "there's a black man stealing my show."

In video circulating on the Internet, Pfleger said the former first lady expected to win the nomination before Obama's sudden popularity.

"She just always thought that, 'This is mine. I'm Bill's wife. I'm white.' ... And then, out of nowhere, came 'Hey, I'm Barack Obama." And she said, 'Oh damn, where did you come from? I'm white. I'm entitled. There's a black man stealing my show,'" Pfleger said at Trinity United Church of Christ.

He then went on to parody Clinton, sobbing and wiping his face with a handkerchief.

"She wasn't the only one crying," he said. "There was a whole lot of white people crying."

Obama won the Iowa caucuses, the first contest of the nominating season, in January. Days later, Clinton's eyes brimmed with tears and her voice broke as she talked with New Hampshire voters on the eve of the primary, which she won.

Obama said he was "deeply disappointed" by Pfleger's comments.

Story continues below

advertisement

"As I have traveled this country, I've been impressed not by what divides us, but by all that that unites us," he said in a statement. "That is why I am deeply disappointed in Father Pfleger's divisive, backward-looking rhetoric, which doesn't reflect the country I see or the desire of people across America to come together in common cause."

Pfleger, the white pastor of predominantly black Saint Sabina Roman Catholic Church on the city's Southwest side, said he regretted his choice of words.

"These words are inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message and I am deeply sorry if they offended Senator Clinton or anyone else who saw them," Pfleger said.

Clinton's campaign denounced Pfleger's comments.

"Divisive and hateful language like that is totally counterproductive in our efforts to bring our party together and have no place at the pulpit or in our politics," the campaign said in a statement. "We are disappointed that Senator Obama didn't specifically reject Father's Pfleger's despicable comments about Senator Clinton, and assume he will do so."

In March, Pfleger invited Obama's embattled former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, to speak at Saint Sabina, embracing Wright in the church.

Obama recently broke with Wright, who had been his longtime pastor, after video of his sermons blaming U.S. policies for the Sept. 11 attacks and his calls of "God damn America" became fixtures on the Internet and cable news networks and created a political problem for the candidate.

Pfleger, known locally as a community activist and organizer, was arrested in June 2007 with the Rev. Jesse Jackson during a protest outside of a south suburban Chicago gun shop. The criminal trespass charges were later dropped.

He also has hosted Louis Farrakhan, the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, at St. Sabina and has called him "a gift from God to a sick, sick world."

___

Associated Press writer Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this report.

Comments

[amcg50]

This guy is not Obama's pastor! A moron yes, but not his pastor. Leave it to the MSM to divert our attention away from real issues.....The things that matter are the war in Iraq, the economy and the environment; not some wind bag that enjoys hearing himself pontificate.

[joeinvt]

BHO identified him two years ago as a major spiritual influence. The chickens really are coming home toiroost.

[devadasi]

Leave Rev. Michael alone JOEINVT.

He's articulate, entertaining, very funny and on point.

What's the problem?

[jeplanet]

I totally understood why everyone freaked out about the whole Rev. Wright thing, but I've see Pleger's performance at least 10 times now and I really don't see what the big deal is.
Frankly, he stole some of my jokes; not to mention jokes from SNL. He was clearly playing to the crowd and trying to get laughs. And, bottom line, most of what he said was RIGHT.
Hillary thought no-one was really going to challenge her for this nomination, and that she had racked up enough favors in Washington to just stroll right into the White House. Anyone who continuously touts 8 years as first Lady as "experience" is clearly not all there.
And when things stopped going her way, she cried sexism and got all her old feminist friends to rally to her defence and shake their fingers at the rest of us...."shame, shame, shame".
I think Pleger hit the nail on the head.

[pleeezzze]

Probably ,you and Obama (of the same ilk ) think in like ways ,that is the very reason I will never vote for Obama . The preacher is a racist (and don't tell me ,no he can't be, he's white .Color has nothing to do with racism) and thats why everyone in Obama camp including Obama Loves it when he or Wright or any of the rest carry on in their RANTS .

Too bad you all can't see how Obamas "Change" is such a joke when he, as well as you all keep making sure to keep HATE alive .

[jeplanet]

Oh Pleeezzze.....give me a break.
Whenever someone wants to bash an Obama supporter, they al ways fall back on the same old, tired "Hater" accusation.
I didn't say Pleger wasn't a racist; maybe he is. I just don't see what the big deal is.
But you keep blaming Obama for everything anyone says.
And then go cast your vote for John McSame, and see how much "Change" you get.

[MRb1000]

I WOULD LIKE SOMEBODY TO ATTEND MCINSANSE CHURCH AND HILLARY CHURCH. LET SEE WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT.

[Bill3rdterm]

OK, why don't you go do that, and then come back and report to us.

Until then, can we just discuss this article?

P.S. anyone else find if funny, that right now this is the hottest thread and huff po keeps putting it farther and farther down the page. LOL

[Redrover666]

I noticed that. It is also odd that they somehow misplaced to video on this as well.

[jeplanet]

I would like SOMEBODY to take their caps lock off.

[amcg50]

HUM; AND WHY DOES SOMEONE POSTING IN ALL CAPS BOTHER YOU SO MUCH?

[kay]

Google "Leiberman, Faith Based Initiatives". You'll find...his wife!

Really. This inquiry is just endless. Try, "Tom Delay".

Or, we can go to Clinton's "help" with the Orthodox Jewish community in upstate New York.

[Cunningham]

More proof we need to get religion OUT of our government.

[jeplanet]

True Story !

[Cunningham]

What a racket!

[kay]

Why is Bill Donohue (Catholic league) blaming Obama for what a Catholic priest said?

I would think Bill Donohue would be calling for some sanction on the priest.

They have to get to the priest through Barack Obama?

[Cunningham]

Because Bill Donohue is a reichwing a-hole?

[kay]

I actually (naively) thought, well, we won't hear from Donohue because it's an inter-CATHOLIC problem, apparently.

No, it's Obama's fault.

[AnnieinOR]

AMEN!

[tds1273]

So now we should care about the guest Priest of the new Pastor who replaced the old Reverend?

So when should I expect to see a video surface of Kevin Bacon as a guest speaker at Trinity?

[Bill3rdterm]

7 degrees of Kevin Bacon, I'm sure it works here.

[GrainOSand]

If you have ever read the Autobiography of Malcolm X you may recall a story recounted there, where a young militant Malcolm told a "white" well-meaning person of love that there was nothing they could do to contribute to the struggle against racism. Later in the book he laments that he would tell the person something different, that their role should be to go and tell the truth amongst those who shared her (I think it was her) skin color -- a truth they would not entertain from the likes of Malcolm.

Some here have expressed their discomfort with the “white guilt” aspect of the father's diatribe. The minister was doing a service to the community in speaking to the misguided values of some not all -- surely he is not indicting himself of white guilt. Therefore, if you are not guilty, you should not be offended. It is the same for me when I am walking down the street and someone yells N****. I never look their way, for I know that what they say does not apply and I know that one who screams hate from a fast moving car is a coward not worth responding to.


Get a grip!

[Bill3rdterm]

Grain, I know you mean well. But you really have to listen to the sermon. He wasn't saying some white people. He basically said no matter if you harbor those feelings or not, that you must be accountable because of the benefits you get because of the actions of others before you. Hence anyone who is white, benefitted from the actions of slavery. So in term we all should suffer that guilt. And in his own words, if we don't want to suffer that, then we need to give up our 401k plans or our trust funds, and a bunch of other irrational points he tried to make. I wouldn't have taken offense, if he was merely talking about racial issues, and discussing those who are truly guilty. But when you cast guilt onto everyone simply because of there skin color, then I'm highly offended.

[GrainOSand]

If he said what you say, in my opinion he was wrong. Yet, an abstraction is based on something real. I offer this not in apology for that which is just plain wrong but as a reminder of that which does exist.

[sky2blue]

I don't know about 401k plans. But all whites do benefit from a system built on anti-black and other racial minority bias.

For example, a white man with a criminal record has a better chance of getting a job than a black man without. Of those who were given illegal predatory loans, 14% were white, 41% were Hispanic, 59% were black.

As for trust funds an inheritance, he's probably referring to the fact that because whites have had a much longer time to acquire wealth, including after WWII when FHA loans and GI Bill-paid college educations built the white middle class while these benefits were denied to many, many African Americans just because of race, there is a great racial disparity in family accumulated wealth. So, a white couple that makes less than $15K has a better chance of owning a home, because of inheritance, than a black couple making more than $60K.

This isn't casting guilt like faulting all Arabs for 9/11. This is more like saying white receive undue benefits and unless you're an anti-racist white, you're part of the problem. You can be offended, but it's true.

[steamboat]

And it was Black militants who murdered Malcolm. And the 3 guys convicted of that crime were freed a while back and are now members of Farrakhan's NOI. Something everybody is quiet about.

[GrainOSand]

I implied I read the book. That would mean I know the story concerning how he died. As for Farrakhan, his potential involvement in the murder of El-Haj Malik Shabazz is the main reason I have outstanding concern about his legitimacy.


This election is confirming what I already knew. America is lost and it is so ignorant it does not want to be found.

I think I am going to leave this dialogue both here and universally and go back to what I was doing before this latest season of American hypocrisy started. All of the candidates are flawed and I grow sick of trying to rationalize with people clinging to blankets of irrationality. Not you steamboat, but your posting seems to be the last straw for me, so I am using it to say screw this nonsense and never again. Good luck to all the candidates, and goodnight and goodbye to the Huffington Post. I thank you for the opportunity to log my thoughts. Maybe someone will find something of value in what I tried to share.

I have officially given up having any thoughts on this sad process of ambition over integrity and lies over truth. America deserves a fate that reflects its true nature and I fear that fate is just down the road for a nation so tied up in its own BS it cannot see the gun it has at its own head. I need to move on.

[AnnieinOR]

Obama, you're gonna have to distance yourself from a lot of your supporters if this keeps up - because a whole lot of them are saying the exact SAME thing as the priest did. Can Hillary distance herself from herself for her RFK assass***** remarks, after all, she is a multiple personality.

[Roomer]

You guys who are offended by this: What does he say that offends you?

Even though is "God-time at the Apollo," I think what is REALLY annoying people is that it was in a church, where exciting things aren't supposed to happen. Staid, solemn, pious and sober... these are NOT traits found in a black church.

Where I come from (white, male, 30, grew up in Alabama) this is par for the course when it comes to the Sunday routine. Other than his SATIRE and STAGE behavior, what this guy says and how he says it seems incredibly banal to me.

On its front it is distasteful, but watching and hearing coverage, it is obvious that some newsreaders never knew these kinds of rowdy sermons (full of theater and audacity) were given every Sunday.

I think an instinctual repulsion to the message and messenger is appropriate, but conflating it as a reason someone should disavow themselves of their chosen congregation is unacceptable. Just because it offends some people is irrelevant to how one worships.

Pushing aside the journo's covering this (they are clueless), I think the real "problem" is that Obama is not allowed to gloat in defeating the most formidable political team in the last quarter century. Pundits are hopelessly out of touch on this one. And they should study the current state of religion and its pulpit demagougues.

[hoopesaz]

"it is obvious that some newsreaders never knew these kinds of rowdy sermons (full of theater and audacity) were given every Sunday."

That's true. I imagined (naively) that those who so strongly decried racism because they had lived their lives afflicted by it would not in turn be ranting racists.

[sky2blue]

How does pointing out racism and white entitlement make one racist?

[Bill3rdterm]

I'm offended because he said since I'm white then I have take responsiblity and harbor guilt from slavery. Even though my grandparents came to this country from Italy in the 20's.

[sky2blue]

What he said is - "Unless you are willing to give up the benefits then you must be responsible for what was done in your generation, because you are the beneficiaries of this insurance policy."

The fact that you can call yourself white instead of Italian is indicative of the fact that you've enjoy the benefits of racism in this country.

[Roomer]

Someone throwing guilt on you undeservedly is no reason to be offended. I thought the offense was the MOCKING of Hillary's crocodile tears.

How long did you have to watch to find that obscure passage.

YOU should be offended that Hillary is a liar and selectively counts the votes (no cacuses, zero for Obama in Michigan) to say that she has more than Obama.

[abby4ever]

Come on, Huffington: why does your headline read 'Obama Pastor Michael Pfleger..."? He isn't his pastor---and the drive-by people will see this headline and maybe not read the article or all of it, and then go off thinking God knows what...and then we might get another bittergate, where one of your own bloggers caused Obama no end of trouble.

[hank48188]

Maybe it's because Obama praised him in 2004 and had his picture with a profile on the Obama Website. He was the head of Catholics for Obama and worked in Iowa for Obama, they have been close friends for 20 years and Obama got his Church a $100,000 grant.

[controversy101]

I'm just curious...are the media, along with Sean Hannity and Senator Clinton's supporters, forever going to spy on this church?

[Redrover666]

Spy?

I looked at the footage. It didn't seem to have been recorded with Hannity's cell phone.

[sherbug]

Yes, spy!! This spying is being done by the government­/corporati­on run media which is essentially taking away our right to privacy. Remember separation of church and state? Once we let the state tell the church what they can and cannot say, then we are going to be headed for an age of religious persecution.

You should be outraged that the state continues to meddle in the church. Look at the FLDS and the Davidians. The more control you hand over to the government the less freedoms you will have.

Lets try to keep America a country of freedoms and a country where people can be different without being wrong.

[Sctt859]

Mccain has the worse company out of all of them - Bush.

[Cunningham]

SO true! McCain's down to spending 27 seconds in public with Bush. LOL!

[Sctt859]

Is it as bad as the company clinton and mccain carry around?

[sf94127]

Pfleger, Wright, Rezko, Obamarosa (Michelle Obama), Ethanol Lobby

Mr. Obama's neighborhood.

[AnnieinOR]

The Family, RFK Assass*****, Belinda Stronach, Peter Paul, Gas Tax Holiday, Racists, Bosnia Sniper Fire, Peace in Ireland

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

You know, if RFK's own SON was not offended by her statement, then no one else has the right to be. Only a moron would not have understood what she was trying to say.

[claylandg]

Funny!! It's not about Clinton it's Obama and people he has known for sometime. They both have baggage but at this time it's Obama so keep it real own up to his imperfect life don't hold him up high he's just another politician, say anything to get anything.

[TiffanyHusseinBanned]

Are we going to get the holiday on the gas tax or not?

Was Bill impeached and disbarred for lying?

[Sctt859]

How come its not ok for pflegar to say that, but geraldine ferraro just said yesterday that if obama were president he would not treat white people fairly.