2008 Primaries, Messaging • March 19th, 2008

Obama speaks out

by wispundit

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama yesterday gave what some people are calling a landmark speech, addressing comments made by his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. In his speech, Obama denounced Wright saying his statements “expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country,” and were “not only wrong, but divisive.” Obama goes on to explain the history of his relationship with Wright and says that he cannot disown his pastor for a few minutes of sermon over 30 years of service. Obama asserts that he never once heard Wright talk about these subjects before they appeared on YouTube and in the broadcast media.

Regardless of whether you believe Obama, he astutely distanced himself from the radical portrayal of his pastor while illustrating his ability to remain loyal.

Some critics are saying that Obama didn’t do enough to separate himself from Wright, or even worse, that he agrees with Wright. These people have questioned why Obama didn’t leave the church when he knew Wright had controversial opinions against America. Obama responded by saying that many people in his life have said things he disagrees with, but he still considers them friends and family.

On the other side of the debate, Obama is being compared to Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy for their speeches on civil rights and religion. It is said that his speech will go down in history as the moment this country started to come together on race issues. I think that the people who believe this really need to pay more attention to the tactics Obama has been using in his campaign, and realize that his intentions might not have been to just make a great speech in history. Obama is doing so well in part because he is non-confrontational and has avoided those who are (Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson).

His speech was a very non-confrontational way of both sticking to his Christian roots, and denouncing the comments made by his minister. Obama wants Americans to hear that he is a family man, dedicated to religion, and a proud American. Obama was able to accomplish this by firmly criticizing Wright’s sayings, while still accepting him as family. This demonstration of unconditional love highlights Obama’s humility, one of his defining factors in the race against Clinton.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 3:57 pm and is filed under 2008 Primaries, Messaging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.