Read this key sentence from Obama’s statement closely: “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.” What I think he’s saying here is that he didn’t hear these particular statements because he didn’t happen to be in attendance. He’s not saying that he never heard Wright say these kind of things, although he wants to leave that impression. But of course, he did—the post-9/11 “chickens coming home to roost” statement, of course, was made more than six years ago! Obama couldn’t have attended the church and not known where Wright was coming from (more about this is a minute).