US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s efforts to shift attention away from the fiery remarks of his former pastor were set back with the broadcast of an interview in which the preacher says his quotes condemning the US were taken out of context by people “for some very devious reasons.”
The interview comes as Obama, the front-runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, is campaigning in Indiana.
His rival, Hillary Clinton, has argued that she is better positioned and more experienced to withstand bare-knuckle Republican attacks ahead of the November presidential election. Her supporters have pointed to Obama’s relationship with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright as one of his biggest vulnerabilities if he is the nominee.
Last month Obama made a well-received speech on racism in the US in a bid to defuse the attention given to Wright, who has said in sermons that the US brought the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on itself and is “damned” by God for its history of slavery and racism.
But the issue has not gone away. Republicans in North Carolina, which holds its primary on May 6, have already begun airing TV ads featuring Wright in an attempt to taint the state’s Democratic gubernatorial candidates because of their support for Obama.
The ads call Obama “too extreme for North Carolina.”
Wright’s remarks were again receiving attention on cable news channels on Friday — along with excerpts from the PBS television interview broadcast that evening. The interview is the first the pastor has given since video of his preaching gained national attention last month.
In the interview, Wright said his sermon blaming US policies for the Sept. 11 attacks was a warning against vengeance and the view that all US actions are perfect, according to transcripts released on Friday.
Wright said he was in Newark, New Jersey, when the terrorist strike occurred and, from his hotel window, he said he saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center. Some of his congregants lost loved ones in the Pentagon and at the World Trade Center, he said.
“We want revenge.” Wright told Bill Moyers’ Journal. “They wanted revenge.”
“God doesn’t want to leave you there, however. God wants redemption,” he said.
Wright told Moyers that “the persons who have heard the entire sermon understand the communication perfectly.”
The pastor said that the video is being publicized by people who want to make him out to be a fanatic instead of someone expressing problems with US policies.
Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain has distanced himself from the North Carolina Republican Party’s use of the Wright ads, calling them offensive. He has asked the party not to air them, but they refused.
Despite the ads, Obama is favored to win North Carolina.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS