Was Obama There?

If Barack Obama had chosen a different spiritual mentor, his presidential campaign wouldn’t be on defense right now.

Unfortunately for Obama, he used very poor judgment when he chose to align himself with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr.

Fortunately for American voters, the mainstream media are finally addressing their relationship.

Obama and his media allies all tried to brush off the Wright problem, mostly by ignoring it altogether. That strategy proved to be unsuccessful after the video and audio of Wright’s inflammatory sermons received heavy airplay. Playing dumb was no longer an option for Obama or the lib media.

On Sunday night, there was a new twist to the story of Obama and his pastor.

Writing for Newsmax, Ron Kessler reported that Obama was, in fact, in attendance at the Trinity United Church of Christ when Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. delivered one of his anti-American sermons.

Obama Attended Hate America Sermon

Contrary to Senator Barack Obama’s claim that he never heard his pastor Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. preach hatred of America, Obama was in the pews last July 22 when the minister blamed the “white arrogance” of America’s Caucasian majority for the world’s suffering, especially the oppression of blacks.

Senator Obama has sought to separate himself from his pastor’s incendiary remarks, issuing a statement Friday rejecting them as “inflammatory and appalling” but failing to renounce Wright himself for his venomous and paranoid denunciations of America.

In his press release, Obama claimed, “The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity [United Church of Christ] or heard him utter in private conversation.”

Appearing on cable news shows this past weekend, Obama claimed when he saw recent videos that have Wright making such comments as “God damn America,” he was “shocked.” Obama implied that the reverend had not used such derogatory language in any of the church services Obama attended over the past two decades.

If Obama’s claims are true that he was completely unaware that Wright’s trademark preaching style at the Trinity United Church of Christ has targeted “white” America and Israel, he would have been one of the few people in Chicago to be so uninformed. Wright’s reputation for spewing hate is well known.

In fact, Obama was present in the South Side Chicago church on July 22 last year when Jim Davis, a freelance correspondent for Newsmax, attended services along with Obama. [See: ”Obama’s Church: Cauldron of Division.”]

In his sermon that day, Wright tore into America, referring to the “United States of White America” and lacing his sermon with expletives as Obama listened. Hearing Wright’s attacks on his own country, Obama had the opportunity to walk out, but Davis said the senator sat in his pew and nodded in agreement.

Addressing the Iraq war, Wright thundered, “Young African-American men” were “dying for nothing.” The “illegal war,” he shouted, was “based on Bush’s lies” and is being “fought for oil money.”

Obama’s most famous celebrity backer, Oprah Winfrey began attending Wright’s church in 1984. Last year, Newsmax magazine reported that Winfrey abruptly stopped attending years ago, and suggested that she did so to distance herself from Wright’s inflammatory rhetoric. She soon found herself a target of Wright, who excoriated her for having broken with “traditional faith.”

...Senator Obama now is attempting to minimize his long and close relationship with the controversial minister.

The Los Angeles Times writes that Obama's campaign denies Kessler's report.

In a posting this evening, Newsmax.com reports that its correspondent witnessed Sen. Barack Obama attending one of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's anti-white sermons on July 22 and nodding his head in agreement with the black congregation.

The report on the conservative website directly contradicts the Democratic presidential candidate's recent statements that while he denounced the pastor's controversial anti-American and anti-white rhetoric, he had never heard such declarations himself in church or in private.

Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, immediately denied the Newsmax report, saying Obama was in Miami that day. He referred to an item hastily posted on the Obama Fact Check website saying simply: "Fact: Obama did not attend services on July 22."

The lengthy Newsmax report by Ronald Kessler said its correspondent, Jim Davis, attended services on July 22, 2007, at the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's South Side and saw Obama in attendance.

The Sunday night Kessler story links to Davis' original account of the July 22 service, which was posted on the Newsmax website on Aug. 9, 2007, and headlined: "Obama's Church: Cauldron of Division." In it, Davis describes being initially blocked from entering the church, how few whites (except for Obama's Secret Service detail) were among the 2,500 people in attendance and how skilled an orator the Rev. Wright was.

It can't be that difficult to determine whether Obama was there.

The Secret Service must have records that would confirm Obama's claim that he was not at the church on July 22 to hear Wright slam the United States.

I don't think it makes any difference. What happened on July 22 is irrelevant

What really matters is that Obama had to be fully aware of the views of his pastor. It's positively goofy for Obama to say he wasn't there this day or that day, as if that lets him off the hook.

Who cares?

Obama must know what goes on in his church. He knows the message. He knows what Wright preached.

He looked to a racist, anti-Semitic, America-hating man for spiritual guidance.

I don't believe that Wright was preaching peace and love and unity in the name of Jesus when Obama was in the pews, and then Wright morphed into a raving maniac and delivered his poisonous political rants only when Obama wasn't in attendance.

So was Obama there on July 22?

I don't think it matters.

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Mar 16, 2008

Clarification: The Obama campaign has told members of the press that Senator Obama was not in church on the day cited, July 22, because he had a speech he gave in Miami at 1:30 PM. Our writer, Jim Davis, says he attended several services at Senator Obama's church during the month of July, including July 22. The church holds services three times every Sunday at 7:30 and 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Central time. While both the early morning and evening service allowed Sen. Obama to attend the service and still give a speech in Miami, Mr. Davis stands by his story that during one of the services he attended during the month of July, Senator Obama was present and sat through the sermon given by Rev. Wright as described in the story. Mr. Davis said Secret Service were also present in the church during Senator Obama's attendance. Mr. Davis' story was first published on Newsmax on August 9, 2007. Shortly before publication, Mr. Davis contacted the press office of Sen. Obama several times for comment about the Senator's attendance and Rev. Wright's comments during his sermon. The Senator's office declined to comment.