One of the greatest political moves of all time was Obama’s successful deception regarding Reverend Wright. Barack and Michelle sat in his parish for more than 20 years listening to his vile, racist rants yet Obama was able to convince Americans that he had never heard Wright utter such things.
Whether Obama shares Wright’s beliefs or merely attended his church to bolster his street cred one can only guess. But the idea that he knew nothing of Wright’s views simply defies credulity.
The truth is that Obama knew of Wright from the very beginning – even before he began attending his church. Obama’s decision regarding where to worship was not one that was taken lightly or made in haste.
Just a few weeks before the election, PBS Frontline aired a program called The Choice 2008 (video here), in which they interviewed reporters and others familiar with both Obama and John McCain. A portion of the program discussed Obama’s relationship with Wright.
NARRATOR: There was, inside black Chicago, another place Barack Obama wanted to put down roots, the church.This hardly sounds like someone who would have been as unfamiliar with Wright’s thinking as Obama portrayed himself to be. Despite Obama's protestations to the contrary it is much closer to the truth that he and Michelle chose to attend Wright's church because of who Wright was and what he preached than that they were ignorant of it. And they were not the only the only young upper-middle class African-Americans attracted to Wright.
RYAN LIZZA: Obama was very sort of meticulous about going to the various pastors, interviewing them, talking to them about their churches and their reputations. So he was- he was on a sort of quest to find a church home.
SALIM MUWAKKIL: [Wright] had the reputation of a militant guy who could- he provided kind of a vicarious militance for Chicago's black elites and so they could get a dose of militance on Sunday and go back home and feel pretty good about doing their part for the black movement.Obama basked in the glow of Wright when it was in his political interest to do so but was willing to shun him when it might be harmful to be seen as too close to the pastor. Wright was disinvited to the ceremony announcing Obama's candidacy.
BEN WALLACE-WELLS, Rolling Stone: Obama's scheduled to deliver this big event in Springfield. And that was going to be in Springfield, home of Abe Lincoln. It's, like, a very big deal for the campaign.Obama and his advisers knew that Wright could be a huge political liability.
[...]
NARRATOR: They had even invited his minister from Trinity Church, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, to deliver the invocation. But there was a problem. A story in Rolling Stone quoted some of the pastor's fiery sermons.
[...]
DAN BALZ, The Washington Post: On that cold, cold morning, not to have Reverend Wright give the invocation was certainly a sign that they knew there was some problem brewing. I think the question was, how big a problem was it, how could they deal with it if it erupted, and could they just kind of keep it in the back?
MARK HALPERIN, TIME Magazine: His advisers knew that Wright was a big problem, that if people went back and mined what he had said, if they looked at Obama and looked at Wright and their relationship that it could change the impression that people had of Obama.Is Wright now getting his revenge? Or is he simply being Jeremiah Wright? Will Obama be able to continue to distance himself from his radical associates? That is becoming more and more difficult for him to do - especially as his own radical agenda is revealed.
BEN WALLACE-WELLS: What Axelrod told me later is that the campaign became worried that Fox News would blast these quotes from Obama's crazy pastor, so they yanked Wright. They basically told him that he couldn't be part of this event and Wright got very mad.
