Hillary Questions Obama’s Decisions Regarding Pastor

By Pamela Mortimer

Hillary Clinton broke her silence on Tuesday regarding the controversy caused by Barack Obama’s long-time pastor. The pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr., has come under fire for presenting "anti-U.S. and racially charged sermons" to his congregation at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Clinton made a point of saying that she would have found another pastor.

"He would not have been my pastor," Clinton stated at a press conference in Greensburg, PA.

"You know, we don’t have a choice when it comes to our relatives. We have a choice when it comes to our pastors and the churches we attend," she said. "Everyone will have to decide these matters for themselves. They are obviously very personal matters … I think the choice would be clear for me."

Obama’s camp fired back at Clinton for the timing of her remarks, stating that she only came forward to distract attention from her own statements regarding a March 1996 trip to Bosnia.

"After originally refusing to play politics with this issue, it’s disappointing to see Hillary Clinton’s campaign sink to this low in a transparent effort to distract attention away from the story she made up about dodging sniper fire in Bosnia," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said.

"The truth is, Barack Obama has already spoken out against his pastor’s offensive comments and addressed the issue of race in America with a deeply personal and uncommonly honest speech. The American people deserve better than tired political games that do nothing to solve the larger challenges facing this country," Burton continued.

Senator Clinton reiterated comments she made to The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review earlier on Tuesday. Clinton compared Rev. Wright to controversial radio talk show host Don Imus, who was fired by CBS radio last year for calling members of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team "nappy-headed hos".

"I gave a speech at Rutgers, about a year ago, that was triggered by the Don Imus comments. And I said that it was time for standing up for what is right, for saying enough is enough, for urging that we turn a culture of degradation into a culture of empowerment, for saying that, while we, of course, must protect our right to freedom of expression, it should not be used as a license or an excuse to demean and humiliate our fellow citizens," she told reporters.

In an attempt to defend his refusal to denounce Wright, Obama has said he was present when many of Wright’s anti-U.S. statements were made, although he admits to hearing objectionable remarks and knew that Wright’s views were controversial.