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The Jeremiah Wright sermon controversy began in March 2008 when ABC News, after reviewing dozens of Wright's sermons, excerpted parts which were widely criticized as being anti-American. Wright is a former Marine and Naval cardiopulmonary technician and the retired pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago where he served as longstanding pastor to Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama.

U.S. foreign policy

In a sermon delivered after the September 11 attacks in 2001, Wright made comments after stating he viewed an interview of former U.S. Ambassador Edward Peck on Fox News. Wright said:

"I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday. Did anybody else see him or hear him? He was on Fox News. This is a white man, and he was upsetting the Fox News commentators to no end. He pointed out — did you see him, John? — a white man, he pointed out, ambassador, that what Malcolm X said when he got silenced by Elijah Muhammad was in fact true — America's chickens are coming home to roost."

Wright identified them as taking the country from the Indian tribes by terror, bombing Grenada, Panama, Libya, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, and supporting state terrorism against the Palestinians and South Africa, he concluded that his parishioners' response should be to examine their relationship with God, not go "from the hatred of armed enemies to the hatred of unarmed innocents." Critics interpreted this as saying that America had brought the attacks upon itself. ABC News broadcast clips from the sermon in which he said:

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and The Pentagon, and we never batted an eye... and now we are indignant, because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

Later, Wright continued:

"Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred. And terrorism begets terrorism. A white ambassador said that y'all, not a black militant. Not a reverend who preaches about racism. An ambassador whose eyes are wide open and who is trying to get us to wake up and move away from this dangerous precipice upon which we are now poised. The ambassador said the people that we have wounded don’t have the military capability we have. But they do have individuals who are willing to die and take thousands with them. And we need to come to grips with that."

Anthony E. Cook, a professor of law at Georgetown University who specializes in the intersections of race, law, and religion in American culture, provided on 22 October 2004 a detailed analysis of Wright's full 9-11 sermon, comparing it with the 9-11 sermons of Jerry Falwell and T.D. Jakes. Through his selection of these particular sermons, Cook sought to provide understanding from a cross-section of conservative, moderate and progressive American religious life.

U.S. domestic policy

Clips from a sermon that Wright gave in 2003, entitled “Confusing God and Government”, were also shown on ABC's Good Morning America and Fox News, in which Wright made statements about God and the U.S. Government. In the sermon, Wright first makes the distinction between God and governments, and points out that many governments in the past have failed: "Where governments lie, God does not lie. Where governments change, God does not change." Wright then states:

"And the United States of America government, when it came to treating her citizens of Indian descent fairly, she failed. She put them on reservations. When it came to treating her citizens of Japanese descent fairly, she failed. She put them in internment prison camps. When it came to treating her citizens of African descent fairly, America failed. She put them in chains, the government put them on slave quarters, put them on auction blocks, put them in cotton field, put them in inferior schools, put them in substandard housing, put them in scientific experiments, put them in the lowest paying jobs, put them outside the equal protection of the law, kept them out of their racist bastions of higher education and locked them into positions of hopelessness and helplessness."

Wright then said that the U.S. government provides drugs to African-Americans and "God Damn America" for killing innocent people and pretending to act like God:

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, not God Bless America. God damn America — that's in the Bible — for killing innocent people. God damn America, as long as she pretends to act like she is God, and she is supreme. The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African descent."

HIV

Also in "Confusing God and Government," Wright made statements on the involvement of the United States government with the Tuskegee experiment and postulated conspiracy theories surrounding HIV. These clips were also widely aired in March 2008 on Fox News and later YouTube. Wright states:

“The government lied about the Tuskegee experiment. They purposely infected African American men with syphilis. Governments lie. The government lied about bombing Cambodia and Richard Nixon stood in front of the camera, ‘Let me make myself perfectly clear…’ Governments lie. The government lied about the drugs for arms Contra scheme orchestrated by Oliver North, and then the government pardoned all the perpetrators so they could get better jobs in the government. Governments lie. The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. Governments lie. The government lied about a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein and a connection between 9.11.01 and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Governments lie.”

Reaction

This article may be unbalanced toward certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (April 2008)

The controversy sparked continuous media coverage, on both national media outlets, as well as local sources. More than 3,000 news stories had been written on the issue since early April.

Noting that "many observers argue that Wright's sermons convey a more complex message than simple sound bites can express," the Chicago Tribune published lengthy excerpts in an article, "Rev. Jeremiah Wright's words: Sound bite vs. sermon excerpt".

Obama said to Charles Gibson of ABC News, "It's as if we took the five dumbest things that I've ever said or you've ever said in our lives and compressed them and put them out there — I think that people's reaction would, understandably, be upset." At the same time, Obama stated that "words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialog, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue." Obama later added, "Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying at the church."

Georgetown University sociology professor Michael Eric Dyson states that Wright's comments "have to be read as the bitter complaint of a spurned lover. Like millions of other blacks, Wright was willing to serve the country while suffering rejection." Dyson goes on to argue that "Wright's critics have confused nationalism with patriotism. Nationalism is the uncritical support of one's country regardless of its moral or political bearing. Patriotism is the affirmation of one's country in light of its best values, including the attempt to correct it when it's in error. Wright's words are the tough love of a war-tested patriot speaking his mind — one of the great virtues of our democracy. The most patriotic thing his nation can do now is extend to him the same right for which he was willing to die." J. Kameron Carter, associate professor of theology and black church studies at Duke Divinity School, stated that Wright "voiced in his sermons a pain that must be interpreted inside of the tradition of black prophetic Christianity."

Martin E. Marty, an emeritus professor of religious history explained Wright's perspective by basing the comments on his church: "For Trinity, being 'unashamedly black' does not mean being 'anti-white.'" Marty also asserted that Trinity's "members and pastor are, in their own term, 'Africentric' , and that this should not be more offensive than that synagogues should be 'Judeo-centric' or that Chicago's Irish parishes be 'Celtic-centric'." Marty went on to criticize the "incomprehension and naiveté of some reporters who lack background in the civil rights and African-American movements of several decades ago".

While discussing the same theme of Wright and the jeremiad, James B. Bennett, an assistant professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University, describes how Wright follows in a "rhetorical tradition" that has "a long history in the speeches and writings of African-American leaders who are exalted by black and white Americans alike". Bennett says Martin Luther King, Jr. shared similar feelings with Wright concerning some US activities, saying, " 'the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government,' " and that " 'America was founded on genocide, and a nation that is founded on genocide is destructive.' " Michael Eric Dyson notes that on the Thursday Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, he was working on a Sunday sermon entitled "Why America May Go to Hell." Cultural critic Kelefa Sanneh also traced Wright's theology and rhetoric back to Frederick Douglass, analyzing his 1854 reference to antebellum US Christians as "bad, corrupt, and wicked."

Commentary about media coverage

Wright's church, Trinity United Church of Christ, criticized the media coverage of his past sermons, saying in a statement that Wright's "character is being assassinated in the public sphere.... It is an indictment on Dr. Wright’s ministerial legacy to present his global ministry within a 15- or 30-second sound bite."

Arianna Huffington characterized the media coverage between April 20-30 as "among the most shameful in the history of American journalism," noting how a major 20 March 2008 New York Times expose (see story), itself a story strongly critical of the media, received only the scantest mention on one among all major mainstream media television news programs. The story, Huffington says, is "a powerful illustration of the Bush administration's commitment to propaganda and disinformation," and "a damning indictment of the mainstream media's complicity in the wholesale deception of the American public on the single most important decision a country can make -- the decision to go to war." Huffington stated that the "near-complete blackout imposed by the culpable news organizations" on the story in favor of many, many hours of coverage about Wright "is a despicable abdication" of the media's "central role in our society".

Stephen Colbert also satirized the media's refusal to let go of the Wright story.

Barack Obama's response

When Wright's comments were aired in the national media, Obama denounced them. Obama also said the remarks had come to his attention at the beginning of his presidential campaign but that because Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of Obama's strong links to Trinity, he had not thought it appropriate to leave the church. He begun distancing himself from Wright when he called his pastor the night before the February 2007 announcement of Obama's presidential candidacy to withdraw his request that Wright deliver an invocation at the event. A spokesperson later said, "Senator Obama is proud of his pastor and his church, but... decided to avoid having statements and beliefs being used out of context and forcing the entire church to defend itself." Wright attended the announcement, prayed with Obama beforehand, and in December 2007 was named to the African American Religious Leadership Committee of the Obama campaign. The Obama campaign released Wright after the controversy.

Some critics found this response inadequate; Mark Steyn, writing in the National Review, stated: "Reverend Wright appeals to racial bitterness are supposed to be everything President Obama will transcend. Right now, it sounds more like the same-old same-old." Politico made a similar comment: "Obama’s cross-racial and even cross-partisan support has been driven by a belief that he is a new-era politician, not defined by the grievances and ideological habits of an earlier generation", and quoted an "expert": "Wright is a “huge, huge problem... The new information, especially about his minister and his twenty-year association with this church, really undermines the message he’s been delivering for the last year, it completely undercuts it". Steve Adubato of MSNBC said, "Wright’s comments don’t have to be put in some 'larger context.' The argument that the media is taking short excerpts out of a much larger rhetorical framework is a crock. He said these terrible things, and Obama has been part of his congregation for two decades... Obama’s pathetic initial response when pressed by the media that he hadn’t been in church the day Wright made some of these comments is painfully lame. The fact that Obama did everything he could to avoid making a speech about Wright and the larger issue of race doesn’t make him look good. Obama’s powerful rhetoric about the possibilities and hope of what this country could be has inspired millions... But he seems confused."

On March 18, in the wake of the controversy, Obama delivered a speech entitled "A More Perfect Union" at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the course of the 37-minute speech, Obama spoke of the divisions formed through generations through slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow laws, and the reasons for the kinds of discussions and rhetoric used among blacks and whites in their own communities. While condemning the remarks by the pastor, he sought to place them in historical context by describing some of the key events that have formed Wright's views on race-related matters in America. Obama did not disown Wright, whom he has labeled as "an old uncle", as akin to disowning the black community or disowning his white grandmother, Madelyn Dunham. The speech was generally well received. Obama said that some of the comments by his pastor reminded him of what he called America's "tragic history when it comes to race."

At a news conference on April 29, 2008, Obama said Wright's appearance before the National Press Club (USA) the previous day had left him angry and sad. He accused his former pastor of exploiting racism and "giving comfort to those who prey on hate." He characterized Wright’s appearance as a “spectacle” and described its content as "outrageous" and "destructive." "After seeing Reverend Wright's performance, I felt there was a complete disregard for what the American people are going through and the need for them to rally together to solve these problems," he said. "What mattered to him was him commanding center stage." Obama said he was "particularly angered" by Wright's allegation that the candidate was engaging in political posturing when he denounced the minister's earlier remarks. "If Reverend Wright considers that political posturing, then he doesn't know me very well," Obama said. "Based on his comments yesterday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought, either."

Impact on polls and responses by other candidates

During these events, Clinton briefly took the lead in the Gallup national tracking poll, ahead of Obama by 7 points on March 18. By March 20, Clinton's lead decreased to 2 points, a statistically insignificant amount. The same day, John McCain took a 3 point lead over both Democratic candidates in hypothetical General Election match ups, with a 2 point margin of error. By March 22, Obama had regained his lead over Clinton and was up by 3 points. The editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll said that the effect of the controversy "died after a couple of days".

A CBS poll taken from March 15 to March 17 found that sixty-five percent of registered voters said it made no difference in their view of Obama, while thirty percent said it made them have a less favorable view.

At the end of March 2008, as over 40 states had already held their Democratic primary processes, Barack Obama built on his national Gallup daily tracking poll results to become the first candidate to open a double-digit lead since Super Tuesday, when his competitor Hillary Clinton had a similar margin. On March 30 the poll showed Obama at 52% and Clinton at 42%. The Rassmussen Reports poll, taken during the same time frame, showed an Obama advantage of five points. These polls followed weeks of heavy campaigning and heated rhetoric from both camps, and another late-March poll found Obama maintaining his positive rating and limiting his negative rating, better than his chief rival Clinton, even considering Obama's involvement in controversy during the period. The NBC News and Wall Street Journal poll showed Obama losing two points of positive rating and gaining four points of negative rating, while Clinton lost eight points of positive rating and gained five points of negative rating.

In an interview with the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on March 25, 2008, Hillary Clinton commented on Obama's attendance at Trinity United Church of Christ, stating, "You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend." Later the same day, during a press conference, Clinton spoke on her personal preference in pastor: "I think given all we have heard and seen, would not have been my pastor." A spokesperson for the Obama campaign said Clinton's comments were part of a "transparent effort to distract attention away from the story she made up about dodging sniper fire in Bosnia" the prior week. Weeks later during the Pennsylvania debate in Philadelphia, Clinton said, "For Pastor Wright to have given his first sermon after 9/11 and to have blamed the United States for the attack, which happened in my city of New York, would have been just intolerable for me."

Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain defended Obama when it came to allegations of guilt by association, saying, "I think that when people support you, it doesn't mean that you support everything they say. Obviously, those words and those statements are statements that none of us would associate ourselves with, and I don't believe that Senator Obama would support any of those, as well.

Following the revival of the controversy surrounding Wright in late April 2008, several polls showed that Obama's image among voters had suffered, but some of their results were contradictory. According to a poll sponsored by Fox News, Obama's favorable rating within the Democratic party dropped from 73% to 63% while his challenger for the nomination, Hillary Clinton's, rating rose to 73%. In this poll, McCain edged Obama by three percentage points in general election match ups, and Clinton beat McCain by one. However, in a poll cosponsored by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal taken over the same period, Obama beat McCain by three points, while Clinton beat him by one. A CBS/New York Times poll also taken in the same period had McCain beating Obama by five points and tying with Clinton. In the Fox poll, Democratic voters felt that Clinton was more likely to beat McCain in the fall (48% to 38%), but in the New York Times/CBS poll the figures are nearly reversed (48% seeing Obama as more likely to beat McCain and 37% preferring Clinton's chances). The polls, which were all conducted prior to Obama's denunciation of Wright, all showed that the controversy had damaged Americans' views of the Illinois Senator, but they differed on the extent of the damage; in all the polls, Obama continued to lead Clinton as the preferred candidate of Democratic voters.

Jeremiah Wright's reaction

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright publicly discussed the controversy in depth in an hour-long interview with Bill Moyers on April 25, 2008. This included longer clips of his sermons, along with his explanations of what he was saying. There were also clips of his ministry and parishioners at various points in time since he became pastor in 1972, in an attempt to show what Trinity stands for and has accomplished. Wright stated that his comments were "taken out of context" and that "the persons who have heard the entire sermon understand the communication perfectly." He went on to say: "When something is taken like a sound bite for a political purpose and put constantly over and over again, looped in the face of the public, that's not a failure to communicate. Those who are doing that are communicating exactly what they want to do, which is to paint me as some sort of fanatic or as the learned journalist from the New York Times called me, a "wackadoodle"... The message that is being communicated by the soundbites is exactly what those pushing those sound bites want to communicate."

On April 27, Wright gave a keynote address at a fundraising dinner for the Detroit-chapter of the NAACP. In front of nearly 10,000, Wright gave a speech in which he discussed the controversy, saying, "I am not running for the Oval Office," referring to Republican attempts to make the controversy part of the campaign. Earlier that day, he delivered a sermon to 4000 at the Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas. On April 28, he spoke to the National Press Club, where he discussed the Black church.

In his speech to the NAACP, Wright speculated that, "Africans have a different meter, and Africans have a different tonality. Europeans have seven tones, Africans have five. White people clap differently than black people. Africans and African-Americans are right-brained, subject-oriented in their learning style. They have a different way of learning." Critics speculated that Wright's comments were racist and based in eugenics.

Former Reagan aide David Gergen called Wright's speaking tour "the dumbest, most selfish, most narcisistic thing I've seen in 40 years of covering politics." Libertarian commentator Andrew Sullivan said Wright's comments on the tour were a "calculated, ugly, repulsive, vile display of arrogance, egotism, and self-regard." Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich characterized Wright's speaking tour as an attempt to deliberately hurt Obama, and stated that Wright's sense of self-importance appeared to be his motivation. Columnist Bob Herbert of The New York Times also echoed similar opinions of Wright intentionally damaging Obama.

Obama attempted to further distance himself from Wright, as he expressed outrage and shock at a press conference on April 29: He went on:

"I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday.... What became clear to me is that he was presenting a world view that contradicts who I am and what I stand for, and what I think particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing. Anybody who knows me and anybody who knows what I'm about knows that I am about trying to bridge gaps and I see the commonality in all people."

He said of Wright, "the man I saw yesterday was not the man I met 20 years ago... Whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed as a consequence of this."

Comparisons with other candidates

A number of other candidates in the 2008 race encountered similar scrutiny of religious advisors, though generally with less publicity, leading some to suspect that the criticism of Wright was fueled by racist sentiments. An article by Cenk Uygur cites several similar incidents for comparison, arguing that candidates do not face similar scrutiny for associations with white evangelicals.

Notably, Rudolph Giuliani hired Monsignor Alan Placa, a Catholic priest and longtime friend who had officiated at his second wedding, to work in his consulting firm after he had been ordered to cease priestly duties amid accusations of molesting three children.

Mitt Romney faced criticism for his role as part of a "dynastic family" within the Mormon church, including issues of racial discrimination.

John McCain has been criticized for several religious associations. He accepted support from Jerry Falwell and spoke at the commencement of his Liberty University. Falwell had been criticized for saying that America "had 9/11 coming" for tolerating gays, feminists, and liberals. Although McCain had previously criticized Falwell as an "agent of intolerance", he stated that the two had come to an understanding of one another. He has accepted an endorsement by Reverend John Hagee, who has been noted for anti-Catholic and anti-Muslim statements. Additionally his "spiritual guide", Rod Parsley, has called for the destruction of Islam.

Footnotes

1. ^ Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11 Brian Ross and Rehab el-Buri, ABC News, March 13, 2008
2. Dilanian, Ken (2008-03-18). "Defenders say Wright has love, righteous anger for USA". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
3. ^ Adubato, Steve (March 21, 2008). "Obama's reaction to Wright too little, too late". MSNBC.
4. Johnson, Alex (2008-03-14). "Obama Strongly Denounces his ex-Pastor". MSNBC. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
5. "Controversial minister off Obama's campaign". cnn.com. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
6. Sullivan, Andrew (2008-03-22). "The Wright post-9/11 sermon". Daily Dish. The Atlantic. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
7. Trinity United Church of Christ (2008-03-20). "FOX Lies!! Irresponsible Media! Barack Obama Pastor Wright". YouTube. Retrieved 2008-03-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. ^ Martin, Roland (March 21, 2008). "The full story behind Rev. Jeremiah Wright's 9/11 sermon". Anderson Cooper 360. CNN. Retrieved 2008-03-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
9. Extended video of Wright's sermon from which quotes had been excerpted.
10. http://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/facinfo/tab_faculty.cfm?Status=Faculty&ID=236
11. Anthony E. Cook, "Encountering the Other: Evangelicalism and Terrorism in a Post 911 World". Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. 20, No. 1, (2004 - 2005), pp. 1-30. Available with subscription at JSTOR.
13. ^ "Tell the Whole Story FOX! Barack Obama's pastor Wright". Excerpted from YouTube. Wright states: "The Roman government failed...the British government failed. The Russian government failed. The Japanese government failed. The German government failed.". Retrieved 2008-03-25.
14. Steyn, Mark (2008-03-15). "Obama's pastor disaster". Orange County Register. Retrieved 2008-03-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
15. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88552254
16. "Obama Decries Pastor's Remarks". Seattle Times. March 15, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
17. Martin, Roland (March 21, 2008). "The Full Story Behind Wright's "God Damn America" sermon". Anderson Cooper 360. CNN. Retrieved 2008-03-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
18. Moyers, Bill. "Bill Moyer's Journal:Jeremiah Wright". PBS.
19. "Rev. Jeremiah Wright's words: Sound bite vs. sermon excerpt", Chicago Tribune, 29 March 2008. Available online. Archived.
20. "ABC's Charles Gibson Talks to Barack Obama". ABC News. 28 March 2008.
21. Obama, Barack, "On my Faith and My Church". Huffington Post, 14 March 2008. Available online. Archived.
22. "Obama Would Have Left if Wright Stayed". Associated Press, 28 March 2008. Available online. Archived.
23. Michael Eric Dyson, "Understanding Black Patriotism." TIME Magazine, Thursday, Apr. 24, 2008. Available online. Archived.
24. J. Kameron Carter, "Obama’s Speech and the Politics of Race and Religion", Duke University Office of News & Communications, 22 March 2008
25. "Martin E. Marty: Curriculum Vitae". illuminos.com. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
26. Marty, Martin E. "Prophet and Pastor". The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11 April 2008. Available online. Archived.
27. Marty, Martin E. "Keeping the Faith at Trinity United Church of Christ". Sightings Available online. Archived.
28. Bennett title="Obama's pastor's words ring uncomfortably true", James B. (20 March 2008). San Jose Mercury News, http://www.webcitation.org/5WcldcmR8. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Missing pipe in: |last= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
29. "Professor checks out "new landscape" after King". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
30. Larry King Live, CNN, 28 April 2008. Also see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/mlk/legacy/legacy.htm for confirmation of fact about King.
31. Sanneh, Kelefa (2008-04-07). "Annals of Religion: Project Trinity". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
32. Trapper, Jake. "Obama's Church Blames Media". Political Punch (ABC News), 24 March 2008. Available online. Archived.
33. Arianna Huffington, "Shameful Days: Why Won't The Media Pursue the Pentagon Propaganda Scandal?" Huffington Post, 30 April 2008.
34. Jason Linkins, "Colbert Lampoons Media's Wright Obsession", The Huffington Post, 30 April 2008. Available online. Archived.
35. "Controversial minister off Obama's campaign". CNN. March 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
36. Barack Obama (March 14 2008). "On My Faith and My Church". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
37. Kantor, Jodi (March 6 2007). "Disinvitation by Obama Is Criticized". Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
38. Obama for America (December 4 2007). "Renowned Faith Leaders Come Together to Support Obama (press release)". George Washington University. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
39. "Jeremiah Wright, Obama's Pastor, Leaves Obama Campaign". The Huffington Post. March 14 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
40. Alex Mooney, CNN.com, March 15, 2008
41. Alex Johnson, Minister Leaves Obama Campaign MSNBC.com, March 14, 2008
42. Obama's Chicago Pastor No Longer Serving On Campaign, Bloomberg.com
43. Mark Steyn (March 15 2008). "Uncle Jeremiah". National Review. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
44. VandeHei, Jim (2008-03-18). "Racial problems transcend Wright". Politico. Retrieved 2008-03-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
45. Remarks by Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union' Christian Science Monitor, March 18, 2008
46. "Mr. Obama's Profile in Courage". The New York Times. 2008-03-19. Retrieved 2008-03-19.
47. "Obama decries 'forces of division'". CNN. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
48. Lydia Saad. Gallup Daily: Clinton Now at 47% to Obama’s 45%, Gallup, March 21, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
49. Jeff Jones. Gallup Daily: Obama Edges Ahead of Clinton, Gallup, March 22 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
50. Cose, Ellis (2008-05-05). "McCain's Hidden Advantage". Newsweek. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
51. "CBS Poll: Pastor's Remarks Hurt Obama". CBS. March 18, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-31. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
52. "Gallup: Obama has 10-point lead over Clinton -- largest this year". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
53. "Democrats are tied in new poll". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
54. "Clinton: Wright would not have been my pastor". CNN. 2008-03-25. Retrieved 2008-04-08. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
55. Harnden, Toby (April 16, 2008). "Barack Obama stumbles in hostile TV debate". UK Telegraph.
56. McCain, John (2008-03-14). "Exclusive: John McCain Sits Down With Sean Hannity". Hannity & Colmes. FOX News. Retrieved 2008-03-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
57. ^ "FOX News Poll: Obama's Favorable Rating Drops". Fox News. April 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
58. ^ Murray, Mark (2008-04-30). "NBC/WSJ Poll: Bush a liability for McCain". MSNBC. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
59. ^ Toner, Robin (2008-05-01). "Primary Loss and Furor Over Ex-Pastor Hurt Obama in Poll". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-01. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
60. ^ Staff writer (2008-04-30). "CBS Poll: Obama Leads, But..." CBS News. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
61. Full video available at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04252008/watch.html
62. ^ Thomas, Mike (April 24, 2008). "Rev. Jeremiah Wright appears on PBS' 'Bill Moyers Journal'". The Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
63. Nichols, Darren A. "Wright delivers fiery, humorous speech at NAACP dinner". Detroit News. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
64. rtsp://video.c-span.org/archive/c08/c08_042808_wright.rm - Full video of Wright's 28 April 2008 speech on the Black church at the National Press Club. Requires RealPlayer or Real Alternative.
65. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/28/wright.transcript/
66. http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YjZjODhlYTE2MDViN2VlMDYyZmZmNjBmNDMxNTFjMzg=
67. 360 with Anderson Cooper, CNN, 29 April 2008
68. Harshaw, Tobin. "Obama's Wright Response". New York Times.
69. ABCNEws, http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/04/gingrich-wright.html "Gingrich: Wright May Be Deliberately Trying to Hurt Obama."
70. Zeleny, Jeff. "Obama Says He's Outraged by Ex-Pastor's Comments". New York Times.
71. Cenk Uygur (2009-03-18). "Different standards for black and white preachers". Huffington Post.
72. Brian Ross and Avni Patel (2007-10-23). "Giuliani defends, employs priest accused of molesting teens".
73. Christopher Hitchens (2007-11-26). "Mitt the Mormon:Why Romney needs to talk about his faith".
74. Reviewed in Think Progress. "VIDEO: McCain Says Jerry Falwell is No Longer an 'Agent of Intolerance'".
75. "McCain embraces bigot". Catholic League. 2008-02-28.
76. Glenn Greenwald (2008-02-28). "Some hateful, radical ministers - white evangelicals - are acceptable".
77. David Corn (2008-03-12). "McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam".

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• Barack Obama
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