Obama says public tired of hearing about his former pastor

[onehandle]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama and his wife said Thursday the public is tired of hearing about incendiary remarks by their former pastor, as they sought to put the controversy that has rocked his presidential campaign to rest. "We hear time and time again voters are tired of this," Michelle Obama said in an interview the couple gave to NBC's "Today" show.

"They don't want to hear about this division, they want to know what are we going to do to move beyond these issues," she said. "And what made me feel proud of Barack in this situation is that he is trying to move us as a nation beyond these conversations that divide."

Barack Obama said he initially tried to give the Rev. Jeremiah Wright the benefit of the doubt when films clips first surfaced on the Internet of fiery sermons the pastor gave at their Chicago church — a series of haranguing declarations from the pulpit in which he damned the United States for racial oppression and accusing the government of deliberately spreading the HIV virus to harm black people.

"When the first snippets came out, I thought it was important to give him the benefit of the doubt because if I had wanted to be politically expedient I would have distanced myself and denounced him right away, right? That would have been the easy thing to do," said Obama. This week he denounced Wright's comments as "giving comfort to those who prey on hate."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080501/ap_on_el_pr/obama

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I know I am.

[C_U_L8R]

1. damn skippy

what a pointless dustup.

[bdamomma]

2. so true Obama

I for one am getting tired of hearing it, just another distraction.

[msongs]

3. obama is certainly tired of hearing about his lifestyle choices I'm sure - nt

[maxsolomon]

21. "lifestyle choices"?

since when is it ok for the sins of the father to be visited upon the son?

wright was right: 9/11 WAS blowback.

[Djinn]

37. it seems to be OK

for the US to bomb the living shit of Afghanistan in revenge for the "sins of the father".

Far more justification in WTC attacks. Americans VOTED for their bullshit government (well OK not really but you allowed it to be stolen without a peep of protest - see Europe for how it shoulda been done) Afghans never voted for the Taliban. Not one red cent of Afghan money had ever been used to harm a single American nor destroyed an inch of US land, certainly NOT a favor that was returned.

Even amongst so called liberals and progressives there is this unwavering belief in American supremacy, when the US attacks and subjugates for decades few blink an eye and those that do are howled down as "purists" (apparently not supporting torture, theft and murder is an extreme point of view) but God forbid ANYONE attacks back, then we all have to listen to endless bleatings about the "day the world changed":eyes:

[devilgrrl]

4. He's right.

Talk about feigned outrage, what a joke this has all been.

[saltpoint]

5. By virtue of Wright's being Obama's 'former' pastor, the focus is now

on Obama as a far more moderate 'Christian,' handily eclipsing the specter of his being a Manchurian candidate 'Muslim.'

The end game of this Wright dust up favors Senator Obama.

[MikeNearMcChord]

6. From the Balloon Juice blogspot. The Money Quote

Maybe it is because I am totally and unrepentantly in the tank for Obama, but I just can’t get worked up over what his pastor said. Maybe it is because I am not religious, and I am used to religious people saying things that sound crazy. Or maybe I just refuse to spend any more time and energy getting worked up over and denouncing, distancing, and rejecting the wrong people- people who really don’t matter in the big scheme of things. If you have a memo from Jeremiah Wright to John Yoo showing how we should become a rogue nation, let me know. If you have pictures of Jeremiah Wright voting against the GI Bill, send it to me. If you have evidence of Jeremiah Wright training junior soldiers on the finer aspects of stacking and torturing naked Iraqi captives, pass them on.

http://www.balloon-juice.com/

[shifting_sands]

7. YES WE ARE

It was a media manufactured issue in the first place with so much fake outrage and such poor acting. I'm not black but I thought Rev. Wright made some accurate and really good points, but that aside it has been a ridiculous trumped up issue and it was disturbing the amount of people who fell for it lock stock and barrel. This country seems to be racing down the path of complete ignorance and it will be a long way back. Look for god's sake what we bicker over, just look.

[Ian David]

8. We're tired of the constant pastorbation. n/t

[tired]

9. And the media is just figuring this out?

...

[indimuse]

10. I was just devloping a warm spot in my heart for him...

sigh..

I bet Obama wants this soooo over with. What will the Rev say next?

[Indenturedebtor]

19. Inquiring republicans want to know

:eyes:

Another good move from Obama!

[Doctor_J]

11. When McSame said he was done talking about banging the lobbyist, the fascist media

dropped it the same day. Fucking criminals.

[chill_wind]

16. YES, they did. Perfect contrast. n/t

[Triana]

12. I am DAMN SURE sick of hearing about it and I don't even watch tv...

...it's on the radio and of course all over DU and YouTube etc. etc.

[grace0418]

13. So true!

Obama is right again.

[Wizard777]

14. AMEN!

[FirstLight]

15. Everyone has "over-done" this ... and it is unnerving the mass hypnosis & hysteria-mongering

that the MSM, and everyoine ..even DUers, have indulged in .

Like slowing down to look at a car accident
Like teens and gossip-addiction
Like a nation that truly is under a collective spell

Sometimes I think we are ALL sleepwalkers, and there is realy no escape from the complacency and fear driven consumerism that this election has turned into


I woke up this morning and wa dreading coming here to DU, hoping that this would be over today and we can look at the more pressing issues at hand.

..still waiting

[Tyler Durden]

17. Wanna bet?

The Hoi Polloi eats up this shit with a shovel. It's one of the reasons ANY candidate in our current hopelessly fucked up system should divest themselves of any shit like this YEARS before they plan on running, and don't tell me he hasn't planned on running since he hit the Senate.

This was a strategic error on him, his handlers, and his DNC supporters; and that is purely a non-aligned opinion.

[Kali]

18. eh, the cynic in me notices that he isn't a Muslim anymore.

:tinfoilhat: :shrug: :silly:

[Tyler Durden]

22. I don't care if he's Reformed First Church of MARS.

Anyone who is being honest with themselves will have to come to the realization that thanks to all of Senator Obama's interesting quirks of background and philosophy, if he gets nominated the GE will put Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey's Circus to shame.

What is this? Item 10 or 15 on a 30 point list? The Republicans could change their minds and nominate Mortimer Snerd at this point.

[0rganism]

32. that silver lining only lasts until the UCC can be branded as a front for Islamic extremists

and don't tell me the RWers won't try it!

[acmavm]

20. Yep, that's for damn sure.

[madrchsod]

23. condi said bring it on and they did-50+ dead this month..BUT

let`s discuss wright today-tomorrow-and for ever, ahem......

[classysassy]

24. The bashers

Hillary and her mob,Fox(faux) and their fools,just keep the beat going on.Shadup you racist mfers.

[barnel]

25. too bad he cant talk about issue and substance

because that would distract away from these personal issues quickly

[0rganism]

26. I'm sure he wishes this were true...

Sen. Obama may even be correct, that people are tired of the story. Unfortunately for him, his fortunes have become inextricably linked to those of Rev. Wright, thanks to our crack squads of mainstream media crackwhores. Now that the M$M has decided to associate all aspects of his campaign with his pastor's out-of-context comments, the more tired the public becomes of Rev. Wright, the more tired they'll become of Obama.

It doesn't matter what he talks about now, where he campaigns, or what his issue positions are. From here on out, it's him and "crazy uncle" Wright, together forever. Wright is Obama's "Dean Scream," and it's going to take something big and sharp to scrape this continuing saga off his heels.

[Indenturedebtor]

27. Possibly

I have hope that him not responding to this garbage anymore will help to shut it down. If Wright and other supposed Dems would ignore the story, they would move on to their next smear campaign.

No matter who the nominee was there would have been something like this and you all know it. I'm shocked that with the average age of DU there aren't more people commenting on that fact. The RW will do everything they can to keep the people down. Should we as Dems get behind the nominee or keep working for the RW that is actively trying to enslave us... and doing a good job of it I might add.

[0rganism]

31. "ignore the story" to make it go away, like Kerry did with the SBVFT?

Just because it's a non-issue doesn't mean it won't play in Peoria. The sharks smell blood in the water, they aren't going to stop attacking now that their salaries depend on it. They need to be smacked down, firmly and convincingly, or they'll use it because it's an easy smear. Sen. Kerry had the right idea with his recent comments to the press about the matter, shame them and blame the press directly for keeping the story alive every time it comes up. If the Democratic VIPs who nominally support Obama are serious about getting him elected, they need to come out strong against the media coverage itself at every opportunity until the story really drops. That might mean anything from enumerating a list of important current events the press isn't covering to veiled threats of new FCC ownership regulations when this fiasco comes up.

Further dissing of Rev. Wright won't help at this point, Obama's already about as far from his pastor's statements as credibility allows.

The scenario Democrats need to be prepared for is CNN showing footage of Obama campaigning along with a voiceover of Wright's greatest hits excerpted from the "god damn America" speech. That is going to be tough to handle, and having Fox run the pool feeds for the Democratic convention does not help one bit.

You're right that the RW media would find something to harp on regardless of the nominee, which is why this all comes down to how the candidate and his/her campaign handles it. They must be aggressive on this, or else it'll fester and become fatal damage faster than you can say "Eagleton '72".

[leftynyc]

28. We're tired of this the same way

we were tired of the swiftboaters, tired of hearing how Gore invented the internet and was a serial liar, tired of Bill clinton's blow job. They'll (the MSM) will keep this in the news as long as it brings them ratings. Turn off the damn televisions and it'll stop. All they see when you write and email complaints is that people are watching. Any publicity is good for these people. Just turn off the television or watch an old movie on DVD (I re-watched First Wives Club yesterday - what a fun movie!!).

[krabigirl]

29. I sure am tired of it! It's actually tipping me INTO the Obama camp.

I hate these kind of meaningless diversions.

[ckramer]

30. People should vote for Obama because of this "sh*t"

Sick f**** that's what I would call them.

[HuffleClaw]

33. he's wrong n/t

[kestrel91316]

34. I know I'm damned tired of it, too.

Even NPR is completely obsessed with it. They just can't shut up. You'd think WRIGHT was the frickin' candidate instead of Obama.

[fishnfla]

35. so who is his new one?

[Djinn]

36. This member of the public would rather listen

to Wright endlessly for the rest of her life than listen to 5 minutes of ANY whoring Democrat politician.

Americans might not like hearing it but shoving your heads in the sand hasn't worked out too well. Wright said nothing that isn't mainstream in every other nation on earth and has been for decades.

If Wright lied, what was the lie exactly? if he didn't Clinton should stop trying to make hay out of it and Obama should grow a pair. You ARE the biggest terrorists on the planet and have been for a LONG time. Nothing Wright said about the US bringing violence upon itself was untrue.

[countryjake]

39. Thanks for such an honest observation!

Have you seen this post? I've been away and almost missed it, but it's well worth the read! Gives one hope for our miserable U.S. of A...that some of us actually do still care.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3209420&mesg_id=3209420

[GetTheRightVote]

38. yes, let us move on beyond those things that divide us and work to make a better tomorrow for nation

thank you Obama for running for this office and giving us hope for the change this nation needs to much.