Obama Didn't Have to Attend the Sermons: He had the tapes (Updated)

Continuing the weekends discussion:

Glenn Reynolds: OBAMA DIDN'T HAVE TO ATTEND THE SERMONS: He had the tapes.

From the NY Times:

It was a 1988 sermon called “The Audacity to Hope” that turned Mr. Obama, in his late 20s, from spiritual outsider to enthusiastic churchgoer. Mr. Wright in the sermon jumped from 19th-century art to his own youthful brushes with crime and Islam to illustrate faith’s power to inspire underdogs. Mr. Obama was seeing the same thing in public housing projects where poor residents sustained themselves through sheer belief. ...

It [Trinity United Church of Christ] also helped give him spiritual bona fides and a new assurance. Services at Trinity were a weekly master class in how to move an audience. When Mr. Obama arrived at Harvard Law School later that year, where he fortified himself with recordings of Mr. Wright’s sermons, he was delivering stirring speeches as a student leader in the classic oratorical style of the black church.

Hat Tip

This places Obama with Rev Wright at an impressionable age.

Update: Obama and Pastor Wright in black and white


The legend for the video clip is:

Purple: African Americans
Green: Independents
Blue: Democrats
Red: Republicans

From Frank James at the Swamp
If you want to see a vivid visual portrayal of the perceptual split between blacks and whites, take a look at this focus group of 799 people who were shown video snippets of sermons by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Barack Obama's pastor.

The reaction of blacks and whites, who looked at the video and showed their agreement or disagreement with Wright by moving their computer mice, diverged from the start and never converged.

Using its MediaCurves technology, HCD also got viewers' reactions to Obama's response to questions about his membership at Trinity Church of Christ during a Fox News interview with Major Garrett.




Update2: Obama: Wait Until Tuesday and I will Explain

Here is a quick read on the questioning on Wright at today's press conference:

Q: Senator, do you believe Rev. Wright was unfairly characterized in his controversy and what questions do you need to answer for voters tomorrow in this race speech?


Obama: You know, I am going to be talking about, not just Rev. Wright, but just the larger issue of race in this campaign, which ramped up over the last couple of weeks. So I don’t want to give a full preview. You might not come to the speech. But (pause) as I said in my statement, the statements that were the source of controversy from Rev. Wright were wrong and I strongly condemn them. I think the caricature that is being painted of him is not accurate and so part of what I’ll do tomorrow is talk a little bit about how some of these issues are perceived from within the black church community, for example, which I think views this very differently.

Q: Senator, can you describe to us again the importance that you believe Wright had in your life and also…

Obama: Sun-Len, as I said I’m going give a speech on this.

Q. But on that you also said that in June of 2007 you already said that you knew about a couple of the statements that were made.

Obama: Sun-Len, I’ll address this tomorrow.

Q: With all this talk there were some editorials out today, one of them even suggesting that “the bloom is off the rose,” to use their words. How much of an impact do you think this story has had on your campaign at this point?

Obama: I think that’s going to be. You guys are in a better position to assess that than I am.

Q: Senator, sort of going to Jeff’s question: In your own view, you’re someone who has a lot more experience with Rev. Wright than some 20-second soundbite that someone pulled out. Based on you own experience, going to church their, listening to sermons, talking to fellow congregants, what do you think is the way Rev. Wright characterizes white America? And why did you choose this particular church with this particular pastor to help lay the moral foundation for raising your children?

Obama: Mike, I mean, I know you guys are curious about this. This is why I am giving a speech tomorrow that will be a lot more fulsome than a press conference. Does that make sense?

Q. But will you address this point of how you think he characterizes white America?

Obama: I will absolutely address it.