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| Rev. Jeremiah Wright |
Following Rev.
Jeremiah Wright’s incendiary speech at the National Press Club Monday, the blogosphere is buzzing with accusations that a long-time supporter of Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, set up the appearance to embarrass Sen.
Barack Obama.
Barbara Reynolds, a former editorial board member of
USA Today and a teacher at the Howard University School of Divinity, who publicly admitted to having voted for Clinton, helped organize the event during which Wright accused the U.S. Government of creating HIV as a form of genocide against minorities.
Reynolds and Wright were photographed sitting together at the Press Club luncheon, sparking
Errol Louis, a writer for the
NY Daily News to charge that the Clinton campaign enlisted Reynolds to invite Obama’s former pastor and spiritual adviser, Wright, to speak with the sole intent of sabotaging Obama’s shot at the Democratic nomination.
And Wright’s searing remarks to the Press Club regarding HIV set off a firestorm of controversy, causing Obama to sever ties with the man he’d called a friend for 20 years.
“Based on this Tuskegee experiment and based on what has happened to Africans in this country, I believe our government is capable of doing anything,” Wright told the Press Club.
In his
Daily News column Tuesday, Louis formulated the Clinton / Reynolds ties based on a February post on Reynolds blog—
www.reynoldsnews.com—in which Reynolds wrote, "My vote for Hillary in the Maryland primary was my way of saying thank you," to Clinton for the prosperity during Bill Clinton’s presidency.
But Reynolds’ post went beyond praising Clinton to criticizing Obama.
"Hope by definition is not based on facts," wrote Reynolds. “It is an emotional expectation. Things hoped for may or may not come. But help based on experience trumps hope every time.”
Louis further formulated his argument based on another of Reynolds’ posts in which she pointedly criticized Obama’s attempts to distance himself from Wright following the first Wright dust-up earlier this year.
"It is a sad testimony that to protect his credentials as a unifier above the fray, the senator is fueling the media characterization that Rev. Dr. Wright is some retiring old uncle in the church basement,” Reynolds’ wrote.
In the 24-hours since Louis posted his theory, bloggers from the
Washington Post and the
Los Angeles Times have picked up and run with Louis’s charges against Reynolds and the Clinton campaign.
Meanwhile, Obama, calling Wright’s words "divisive", on Tuesday, decidedly parted ways with the man who baptized his two daughters.
"What became clear to me is that he was presenting a world view that contradicts who I am and what I stand for," Obama said.
Earlier this year, Obama, implying fond memories of his pastor, attempted to diffuse the fury over Wright’s fiery sermons, which were played on heavy rotation by the media.
But Obama’s now famous speech on race in America, in which he denounced a few of Wright’s controversial comments, sparked Wright to accuse Obama of speaking only for the sake of the Democratic nod.
“If Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected," Wright said, according to the
Associated Press.
Responding to Wright’s assertion, Obama said Tuesday, "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."
When questioned about his current relationship with Wright, Obama said there was a marked shift between the two men.
"Obviously, whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed," Obama said. "I don't think he showed much concern for me, more importantly I don't think he showed much concern for what we're trying to do in this campaign.
"I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992, and have known Reverend Wright for 20 years," Obama said. "The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago."
