A stunning claim from Obama:
WASHINGTON – White House hopeful Barack Obama suggests he would have left his Chicago church had his longtime pastor, whose fiery anti-American comments about U.S. foreign policy and race relations threatened Obama’s campaign, not stepped down. “Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn’t have felt comfortable staying at the church,” Obama said Thursday during a taping of the ABC talk show, “The View.” The interview will be broadcast Friday.
I find this claim… hard to reconcile with his attending the church since 1988.
UPDATE: At JustOneMinute, there’s a question of exactly when Wright “acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate,” observing, “I am strangely certain that a Wright apology would have made the news – unless he never made it publicly.” I think Obama is referring to some private comment between the two men.
But should Wright apologize to Obama? Or to everyone offended by his remarks?
At Ace of Spades, they’re saluting the audacity of [an eight-letter word I can’t use on the Campaign Spot].