Barack Obama credits the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. with having a profound influence on his return to faith and credits him with the now-famous tagline “audacity of hope” that Obama titled his book with. The minister also was celebrant at the Obama wedding and baptized their daughters. But Wright has drawn a lot of criticism for making inflammatory statements and incendiary sermons, and as of yesterday is no longer affiliated with the Obama campaign.
Wright had held a “largely ceremonial” post in Obama’s African American Religious Leadership Committee, according to a Washington Post writeup noting Obama’s strong denouncement of Wright’s controversial pronouncements on the Huffington Post yesterday afternoon and in a later interview with MSNBC:
Obama went further than he has previously gone to distance himself from Wright’s comments, while urging voters to judge him “on the basis of who I am and what I believe in.”
“All of the statements that have been the subject of controversy are ones that I vehemently condemn,” Obama wrote. “They in no way reflect my attitudes and directly contradict my profound love for this country.”
Obama said in the MSNBC interview that he did not “repudiate the man.”
“I have known him 17 years,” Obama said. “He helped bring me to Jesus and helped bring me to church. He and I have a relationship — he’s like an uncle who talked to me, not about political things and social views, but faith and God and family. He’s somebody who is widely respected throughout Chicago and throughout the country for many of the things he’s done not only as a pastor but a preacher.”
You can read the piece here.