Wright Is Wrong

Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families: Barack Obama’s former pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright is speaking out publicly in defense of his controversial views. To my great disappointment, Wright was the honored speaker at a major NAACP event this weekend, with 10,000 people paying $150 each to validate his hate. After decades of affirmative action, can race relations in America really be that bad? How can the NAACP, which bills itself as a “mainstream” civil rights organization, honor a supporter of Louis Farrakhan? Does the NAACP endorse Wright’s wild conspiracy theories – like his suggestion that the government invented the HIV virus to kill black people? Does the NAACP believe, as Wright has suggested, that America deserved the 9/11 attacks? I refuse to believe that such views are embraced by a majority of black Americans, and I am astonished that the NAACP would give Wright such prominence.

Today, Rev. Wright spoke to reporters at the National Press Club and his remarks were not as well received there as they were by Bill Moyers of PBS. According to one commentator, Wright again defended Louis Farrakhan. He defended his allegation that AIDS was a government plot. He defended his comparison of U.S. Marines to Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus. And he suggested his church had supported the communist Sandinistas in Nicaragua. Roland Martin, a black radio talk show host, said on CNN, “I think Rev. Jeremiah Wright, based on the question-and-answer session today, actually blew it. …I felt his tone was inappropriate and also the behavior there.” David Gergen, a policy advisor to Republican and Democrat presidents, said, “I think that this has been narcissistic almost beyond belief. And this publicity offensive has been destructive for the Obama campaign.”

Politics aside, as Rev. Wright spoke to the National Press Club, I was struck by the contrast between this angry and bitter man and another black pastor. Decades earlier, not far from the National Press Club, Dr. Martin Luther King expressed not his hatred, but his love for America. Dr. King implored all Americans to embrace their fellow countrymen and to include black Americans in promises of our Declaration of Independence. In the years since, I believe we have made significant strides. The greatest problem affecting the African American community today, I believe, is not racism, but the breakdown of the family, and some of my proudest moments in Washington have been working with black pastors in defense of traditional marriage and family values. But the liberal solutions offered by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the Democrats, just like the comments of Rev. Wright, are flat-out wrong.

While Sen. McCain has been hesitant in the past, I’m pleased to report that he indicated over the weekend that Rev. Wright and his bizarre comments were legitimate issues. That’s good because Wright repeatedly suggested that Obama really didn’t distance himself from Wright or his obscene comments, and only “did what politicians do” when he supposedly repudiated them. It seemed to me like Obama’s pastor was questioning his sincerity. Wright also said that he told Obama, “If you get elected, November the 5th I’m coming after you, because you’ll be representing a government whose policies grind under people.” In other words, this man expects to have “President Obama’s” ear on important policy issues.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Election 2008, Gary Bauer, Jeremiah Wright To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!