Obama Responds To Wright's Speech

"If Reverend Wright thinks that’s political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well and based on his remarks yesterday, I may not know him as well as I thought either."

"I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia, explaining that he has done enormous good in the church," he said. "But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS; when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century; when he equates the U.S. wartime efforts with terrorism – then there are no excuses. They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced, and that’s what I’m doing very clearly and unequivocally here today."

"It is antithetical to my campaign. It is antithetical to what I’m about. It is not what I think America stands for,"

via Ben Smith

The Plank wonders what took Obama so long to respond.

Like Josh Marshall, I've heard a lot of panic from Obama supporters over the last couple days. His denunciation of Rev. Wright today seems to be pretty much a bullseye. Why did he let the story hang out there so long without a response? I don't know, but I do see a pattern here: Throughout the campaign, Obama has made very good tactical moves, but he's made them slowly. Hillary Clinton, by contrast, has made a lot of mistakes, but she does grasp the 24-hour news cycle and she acts very quickly.

I think a commenter answers the question of why Obama took so long (one day is long?) perfectly:

What I'm looking for in a President is someone who can make a lot of bad decisions in a very small amount of time.

touche!
via The Plank

When Obama has a problem that makes me worry about his candidacy, he comes out and reminds us why America needs him. Obama shows us, again, his intelligence and thoughtful demeanor.

He's back. Not that he ever left, that goodness!