Barack Obama's pastor blames US policy for terrorism
Barack Obama may have to distance himself from his former pastor's remarks
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Tuesday, 29, Apr 2008 10:50
Barack Obama's bid for the White House may yet again have been jeopardised by his former pastor Jeremiah Wright after more controversial remarks regarding terrorism.
The Democratic presidential hopeful was forced to distance himself from Mr Wright in March after he claimed the September 11th terrorist attacks were an example of "America's chickens coming home to roost" as well as making a racial slur about Mr Obama's rival Hillary Clinton.
Illinois senator Mr Obama later wrote that Mr Wright's comments were "appalling and inflammatory" though his perceived linked to the pastor dented Mr Obama's race for the Democratic party's presidential nomination, with a Newsweek poll indicating that 41 per cent of respondents believed Mr Wright had had a negative effect on their opinion of Mr Obama.
And speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, Mr Wright has provoked further controversy, by praising Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and again citing US foreign policy as the cause of the September 11th attacks.
"You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you," said. "Those are Biblical principles, not Jeremiah Wright bombastic divisive principles."
He described Mr Farrakhan, seen by many as anti-Semitic, racist and homophobic, as "one of the most important voices in the 20th and 21st century".
And in remarks sure to incense Mr Obama's political campaign, he said the Illinois senator's response to Mr Wright's previous was an example of political expediency, rather than belief.
"Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on polls," he claimed.
"Pastors say what they say because they are pastors and they have a different person [God] to whom they are answerable," he said.
Following Ms Clinton's primary win in Pennsylvania, Mr Obama will be hoping to regain the initiative in the Indiana vote next week.