Jeremiah Wright is back in the news again.
The former pastor of President Obama made headlines back in 2008, when inflammatory remarks he'd made in his sermons about racism and September 11th were uncovered by the media. Mr. Obama already had distanced himself from Rev. Wright at that point, but some worried that the pastor's topics had influenced the future president's outlook.
Despite those concerns, Barack Obama won the presidency and Jeremiah Wright faded back into the woodwork.
Until now.
The New York Times has revealed a $10 million Republican proposal to launch a series of attack ads reminding voters of the Obama-Wright connection.
And so this week, we're asking our political bloggers this question: Does Jeremiah Wright matter in the upcoming election?
They'll be giving us their answers all week long. In the meantime, though, what do you think?
From a purely objective perspective, an ad campaign about Jeremiah Wright seems like a tremendous waste of cash. President Obama has had nothing to do with Wright for years, the dirt on Wright is already out there, and despite this, Obama already was elected to office once with no problem.
Republicans seem aware of this -- After the New York Times published its story, Mitt Romney publicly spoke out against the proposal, as did billionaire Joe Ricketts, the man said to be considering funding the attack ad campaign.
If anything, the resurrection of the Jeremiah Wright story would seem to illustrate the problem Republicans are having when it comes to uncovering any problems with Mr. Obama's past. Morally, he seems as unblemished as Mitt Romney, and if Jeremiah Wright is the best anyone can dig up on him, then good for the President. (Remember, for example, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush's pasts? Phew!)
Hopefully, the candidates' rather boring backgrounds mean that both parties will end up addressing the real issue when it comes to this election: the economy.
Here's what our political bloggers have to say on the topic:
Hushing Talk of Jeremiah Wright Is Racist & Shows Media Bias
Nothing Right About Jeremiah Wright
The Story About the Jeremiah Wright Story
Jeremiah Wright's 'God Damn America' Preaching Is Kind of a Big Deal
Jeremiah Wright: Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures
Image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
This Hot Dad Wants to Vacuum Your Rug
This Hot Dad Wants to Do Your Ironing
KStew Refuses to Shower
This Hot Dad Wants to Cook You Dinner
Comments 18
I don't think this has one iota of relevance to the campaign. NOT ONE! We need to talk about things that will help get this country back on track and what someone did that many years ago has nothing to do with now. This reminds me of blame and I'm sick of that too. Why don't we just stick to what's important to us as a country? Let's talk about stupid stuff after the election. It also goes the other way. What Romney did in college is also irrelevant.
Barack Obama is "morally unblemished"? Seriously? His close association with Jeremiah Wright is a moral failure, as is his close association with Bill Ayers. Then, of course, there's his support for infanticide.
Romney would be wise to stay far, far away from religious talk, as I'm sure he doesn't want to highlight certain aspects of his Mormon faith to his Evangelical Christian base. Like others here have said, religion should be left out of these campaigns and the focus should be on the economy & job creation.
Thank you for REALLY reaching with my comments as usual, Guest (aka Hot Iced Coffee).
http://m.newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2012/05/23/was-rev-wright-offered-hush-money-nobody-media-cares
That article explains the $150k they offered him. Very telling and interesting.