Was Obama In Wright’s Christmas Audience?

As we have previously noted, Mr. Obama is now claiming that he has never heard his pastor for twenty years say anything untoward:

The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation.

Indeed, Mr. Obama has specifically denied attending Mr. Wright’s fiery Christmas 2007 “sermon”:

But, at least according to the New York Daily News, Mr. Obama was home in Chicago for the holidays:

I’m no Muslim, says Barack Obama

By Michael Saul

Sunday, December 23rd 2007

PLEASANTVILLE, Iowa – A day before he will fly back to Chicago to spend Christmas with his family, a voter asked Barack Obama to explain his “Muslim background” – an Internet-fed fallacy that continues to dog his campaign…

And the Associated Press says so as well:

For candidates, relative peace marks holiday

Published: Wednesday, December 26, 2007

MANCHESTER (AP) – Christmas Day offered a brief break from the campaign trail for presidential hopefuls, but their ads didn’t stay off New Hampshire televisions.

With less than two weeks to go before New Hampshire voters cast ballots in their first-in-the-nation presidential primary, campaign staffs stayed close to the offices, and the candidates stayed on the air.

“Historically, they’ve not really campaigned on Christmas Day, but this is completely different,” said Andrew Smith, a University of New Hampshire political scientist.

With Iowa and New Hampshire contests coming so soon after the holidays, taking a break wasn’t an option.

“They’ll be doing some sort of campaigning. It may just be making sure the press sees them going to church services,” Smith said…

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., will celebrate the holiday with his wife and daughters in Chicago.

“We’ve got family coming in to spend the holiday with us, and we’re looking forward to taking a little break to celebrate before the final sprint.” …

So are we to believe he did not take his family to his church for Christmas?

Moreover, Mr. Obama may have also been in attendance during Mr. Wright’s January 13, 2008 rant sermon.

For Mr. Wright appears to have acknowledged his presence, according to Fox News:

Obama’s Spiritual Mentor May Put Church in Hot Water

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

By Jeff Goldblatt

… “There is a man here who can take this country in a new direction,” Wright said during his Jan. 13 sermon, according to recordings obtained by FOX News…

This is the same “sermon” in which the Reverend Wright also intoned:

Hillary is married to Bill, and Bill has been good to us. No he ain’t! Bill did us, just like he did Monica Lewinsky. He was riding dirty.

Of course Mr. Wright may have just been speaking generally about Mr. Obama. But it’s difficult to find the video to verify the context.

(By the way, the young man who “pats” Mr. Wright on the back in the clip is Trinity’s new, more moderate, replacement pastor, Otis Moss, III.)

And what little media coverage it received, even downplayed Mr. Wright’s rhetoric. In fact, the only quote about Ms. Lewinsky was:

Some argue that blacks should vote for Clinton “because her husband was good to us,” he continued.

“That’s not true,” he thundered. “He did the same thing to us that he did to Monica Lewinsky.”

Many in the crowd were on their feet, applauding – amazed, amused and moved by the fiery rhetoric of their preacher, who is about to retire.

A longer clip from this sermon has since been removed from YouTube “due to terms of use violation.” (They have such high standards, you know.)

Mr. Obama was photographed with Mr. Wright around this time:

The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright (left), pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune / January 17, 2008)

Though it is unclear where exactly this photograph was taken, or even when. Since Mr. Obama was campaigning in Nevada on January 17, 2008.

Of course it is still highly possible that Mr. Obama was absent on either or both of these two occasions.

Indeed, it is hard to believe that the media would not have tagged along to church with the candidate. And if they had been there, it would have been very hard for even his most besotted fans to ignore such a performance.

But then again, maybe not.

Maybe the reporters wouldn’t have even noticed what Rev. Wright was saying since hey probably agree with him — except for perhaps his cracks about Bill Clinton.

(Thanks to Bohemianwaxwing for the heads up.)

Update!

Update!

Reader (and well known internet researcher) Wallaby has pointed out that Mr. Obama was in Las Vegas on Sunday, January 13, 2008, as evidenced by the following from the January 14, 2008 edition of the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Obama rallies union members

Molly Ball, Las Vegas Review-Journal

January 14, 2008

Obama had a full Sunday in Southern Nevada, first making a surprise appearance at a downtown black church, where he spoke at the end of the service.

Before he arrived, the pastor of the Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ, speaking from the pulpit, advocated for Obama, possibly breaking the law. Pastor Leon Smith told the congregation that “the more he (Obama) speaks, the more he wins my confidence, and … if the polls were open today, I would cast my vote for this senator.”

He urged them to do the same, saying, “If you can’t support your own, you’re never going to get anywhere. … I want to see this man in office.”

Under federal tax law, nonprofits such as churches are prohibited from endorsing or opposing political candidates. The Internal Revenue Service has ruled that the forbidden partisan activity includes speech from the pulpit that indicates the church favors a particular candidate.

The campaign said the pastor simply had made supportive statements about Obama’s record. The church could not be reached late Sunday.

As Obama took the stage, the church choir of mostly red-jacketed women swayed behind him, breaking into song at the word “change,” the Obama campaign’s byword.

Obama spoke to the congregation of more than 400 for more than 20 minutes. He told them about his home congregation in Chicago and his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, who is somewhat controversial for his black-separatist views…

So apparently Mr. Wright was just using a figure of speech in his January 13th sermon.

Still, Christmas Day is unaccounted for. Even on Slate’s handy “Map The Candidates” site.

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