Obama’s New Gospel

One way to do that, Obama reluctantly decided, was to show he wants nothing more to do with the Reverend Wright. Late Monday night, Obama flicked on the television in his North Carolina hotel room after an epic day of campaigning—and braced himself for what he knew he was going to see. Sure enough, the cable news networks were once again obsessing over Wright. Obama had thought his widely praised Philadelphia speech on race and Wright had largely quieted the storm over his former pastor's "God damn America" sermons. But Wright himself wasn't about to go quietly. In his speeches last week, the pastor praised Louis Farrakhan, and even took a few shots at Obama's attempts to put distance between himself and Wright. "Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability," he said, "based on sound bites, based on polls."

Throughout the day, Obama's aides had given him updates on what Wright was saying and how the flare-up was playing out in the press and on the Internet. The candidate figured the usual procession of shallow talking heads were, once again, just milking the story for maximum controversy and ratings. When Obama saw the speeches for himself, his irritation with the press turned into anger at his preacher, says a senior campaign aide who did not want to be named talking about private matters.

The rift between the candidate and the pastor had been growing for months. Wright was wounded when Obama—already worried about stories questioning Wright's controversial views—disinvited him from delivering the opening prayer when Obama announced he was running for president. Obama knew the pastor was not pleased with his Philadelphia race speech, in which the candidate said he disagreed with Wright's controversial comments but could no more disown him than he could his grandmother, who had also held opinions he did not share. Obama reached out to Wright during the controversy surrounding his sermons and offered to help him manage the onslaught of reporters who were coming at him day and night. But Wright refused. The pastor didn't even bother to tell Obama about his upcoming trip to Washington. The campaign learned about it from reporters.

Aides and friends describe that night as the toughest of the entire campaign for Obama and his wife, Michelle. They were anguished and dismayed. Wright had been a friend and mentor. Obama had said before that he couldn't cut him off; but after this bitter performance, how could he not sever his ties? "It was a circus," says the senior Obama aide. "Not only was Wright repeating things that were objectionable, but he was also impugning Barack's sincerity."

This time, Obama did not try to temper his remarks or put them in a larger context, as he had done in his measured Philadelphia speech. On Tuesday, he called Wright's speeches "appalling" and a "show of disrespect to me." He said he had given Wright the benefit of the doubt before, but now said "there are no excuses. [His words] offend me, they rightly offend all Americans and they should be denounced. And that's what I'm doing very clearly and unequivocally here today." Now guys like Roemer and DuBois can give a simple answer when they're asked about Obama's relationship with the controversial preacher: it's over.

© 2008