Obama's former pastor calls attacks 'devious'

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

April 25, 2008

NEW YORK - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor to Barack Obama, said publicizing sound bites of sermons in which he condemned U.S. policies was "unfair" and "devious," and done by people who know nothing about his church, according to excerpts of a PBS interview released yesterday.

Wright said that, as an activist, he is accustomed to being "at odds with the establishment," but the response to the sermons has been "very, very unsettling." The interview, scheduled for broadcast tonight, is the first the pastor has given since video of his preaching gained national attention in March, putting Democratic presidential hopeful Obama on the defensive.

Among the most remarked upon sound bites was Wright proclaiming from the pulpit "God damn America" for its racism. He accused the government of flooding black neighborhoods with drugs.

The furor forced Obama to explain his 20-year association with the minister, who is stepping down from Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

"The blowing up of sermons preached 15, seven, six years ago and now becoming a media event, not the full sermon, but the snippets from the sermon ... having made me the target of hatred, yes, that is something very new," Wright told "Bill Moyers' Journal." "I felt it was unfair. I felt it was unjust. I felt it was untrue. I felt - for those who were doing that - were doing it for some very devious reasons."

In a March 18 speech in Philadelphia, Obama described the history of injustice that fueled Wright's comments, while also condemning his pastor's statements and acknowledging white resentment of African-Americans.

Asked his response to the senator's speech, Wright said, "He's a politician, I'm a pastor. I do what I do. He does what politicians do," Wright said.

Wright gave the interview as presumptive Republican nominee John McCain and the North Carolina GOP argued over a TV ad featuring Obama and the pastor scheduled to run Monday, ahead of the state's crucial May 6 primary. A narrator in the spot says, "He's just too extreme for North Carolina." McCain has asked that the ad not be aired.

However, North Carolina GOP leaders are standing by the ad despite dissension in their ranks and one station's refusal to air it. Republican National Committee member Linda Shaw said yesterday she was shocked that her colleagues decided to produce and air the ad, which shows Obama with Wright and a clip of Wright's anti-U.S. comments.

"I do not support it," Shaw said. "I had nothing to do with it ... and I'm very disappointed." Shaw, a longtime party leader, said she repeatedly urged state party chairwoman Linda Daves to withdraw the spot. McCain asked party officials to not run it Wednesday and again yesterday.