Wright Fallout, Contd.
A day after all things Wright on the campaign trail, New York Times TV reporter Alessandra Stanley writes a bruising front-page review of Wright’s performance at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. yesterday. Here are the highlights:
“„Viewers who had seen the Chicago preacher only in brief cable news clips or campaign attack ads finally saw the unexpurgated version, and it was an illuminating display.
“„Followers of Fox News may have been appalled by the sound bites, but so were members of Mr. Wright’s congregation, including Mr. Obama, who complained that the inflammatory snippets were reductive and unfair.
“„Now it turns out that Mr. Wright doesn’t hate America, he loves the sound of his own voice. He is not out of touch with the American culture, he is the avatar of the American celebrity principle: he grabbed his 30-second spots of infamy and turned them into 15 minutes of fame.
Stanley’s interpretation raises an interesting question: Could Wright’s recent remarks help Obama? Obama called an impromptu press conference on the tarmac at the Wilmington, N.C. airport Monday to reiterate that Wright "does not speak for me; he does not speak for the campaign." Maybe the more outlandish Wright appears, the easier it will be for voters to differentiate him from Obama. right now.
