Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday admitted to being ”shaken” by a controversy over racial politics ignited by his pastor’s incendiary sermons.
Obama, who gave a landmark speech about race in America on Tuesday in a bid to shore up his standing in the race against Hillary Clinton for the party nomination, admitted in an interview with CNN that the matter had affected him personally.
”In some ways this controversy has actually shaken me up a little bit and gotten me back into remembering that, you know, the odds of me getting elected have always been lower than some of the other conventional candidates,” Obama said.
”And if I bring something to this conversation, it’s going to be because I do what I did yesterday [Tuesday], which is hopefully open up a new conversation about a new direction in the country.”
In the speech, the 46-year-old Illinois senator, the son of a black father from Kenya and white mother from Kansas, appealed to Americans to break ”a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years”.
Obama decried the sermons by Reverend Jeremiah Wright but refused to disown the 66-year-old Chicago preacher, who welcomed the young community organiser into the Christian flock 20 years ago.
Wright’s language, he said, ”expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country — a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America”.
The controversy erupted after videos of Wright’s inflammatory sermons from recent years surfaced on YouTube and conservative media.
Wright was shown assailing United States and Israeli ”terrorism”, calling on blacks to sing ”God damn America” and alleging that Aids in Africa was spread by the US.
Obama leads among delegates accumulated so far with 1 627 to Clinton’s 1 494. A total of 2 025 delegates are needed to secure the party’s nod.
Meanwhile, Clinton pressed on Wednesday for a new vote in Michigan that could be crucial to her aspirations in the tight battle with Obama.
”I am here for one simple reason: to make sure Michigan’s votes are counted and your voices are heard in this election,” the New York senator said in a hastily arranged visit to the state.
Democratic nominating contests in Michigan and Florida in January were invalidated by the national party because both states violated party rules. Both states were denied delegates to the August party convention that picks the nominee.
Clinton, a former first lady, won both contests and needs the delegates in those states if she hopes to overcome the lead Obama has built up.
Clinton urged Obama to give his backing to a proposal that would allow the state to hold a new Democratic contest in Michigan. — AFP, Reuters