Pride injured, angry Rev. Wright blamed Axelrod

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: A Strained Wright-Obama Bond Finally Snaps
By MICHAEL POWELL and JODI KANTOR
Published: May 1, 2008


(Top, Paul Sancya/AP; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Mr. Wright’s multiday media tour of the last week was the breaking point in a 20-year relationship with Mr. Obama.

....As Mr. Obama told close friends after watching the replay (of Wright's National Press Club appearance), he felt dumbfounded, even betrayed, particularly by Mr. Wright’s implication that Mr. Obama was being hypocritical. He could not tolerate that....

Theirs was a long and painful falling out, marked by a degree of mutual incomprehension, friends and aides say. It began at the moment Mr. Obama declared his candidacy, when he abruptly uninvited his pastor from delivering an invocation, injuring the older man’s pride and fueling his anger....

Mr. Wright...saw a cascade of perceived slights coming from the campaign of a bright young follower whose political ambitions were tugging him away from Trinity United Church of Christ. He saw the church he had founded coming under pressure from reporters and critics, forced to hire security guards. And he made no secret of whom he blamed: Mr. Obama’s political adviser, David Axelrod, a white Chicago political operative....

***

...Mr. Wright still went to Springfield (for Obama's announcement of his candidacy), praying with the Obama family privately before the event. Weeks later, Mr. Wright said the blame belonged not to Mr. Obama but to his advisers. He repeatedly mentioned Mr. Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s chief strategist, saying that while he was expert at promoting black candidates with white voters, he did not know much about relating to the black community. “They’re spiriting him away from people in the African-American community,” Mr. Wright said, “David doesn’t know the African-American church scene.” “I don’t like this,” Mr. Wright added. “I’ve been his pastor for 20 years.”...

***

At the church, as well, the presidential campaign had placed a congregation under a microscope. Trinity, of late, took up a collection — the Resurrection Fund — to pay expenses like security guards and public relations. Some reporters began covertly taping services, and others took to calling infirm members whose names are listed each week in the church bulletin, pressing even those in hospice care for details about Mr. Wright. This infuriated the pastor....

Mr. Obama gave his speech on race in Philadelphia, a long, pained, nuanced take that purchased distance between himself and his mentor, even as he struggled to explain Mr. Wright’s hurt to the larger world....Mr. Wright was on a long-planned cruise about this time; he returned to find his name a term of opprobrium all across the nation. Mr. Obama and his advisers decline to say if they attempted a reconciliation. Mr. Obama himself has acknowledged talking with Mr. Wright after the Philadelphia speech, and people close to both men tried to caution the pastor to remain silent.

Mr. Wright, however, wanted only to explain himself. His first steps seemed to go well enough, particularly a relatively temperate interview with Bill Moyers on PBS. But at the National Press Club on Monday, Mr. Wright took a few questions, and his scholarly mien fell away. “His initial statement was fine,” said the Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church in Chicago and a friend of Mr. Wright. “But the questions caused a response from Reverend Wright that I wasn’t expecting.” Mr. Wright seemed to sense nothing wrong. A friend said he appeared buoyant and relieved afterward. But a couple hundred miles south, Mr. Obama was soon seething....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/us/politics/01wright.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

[rocktivity]

1. He blames Axlerod but not Obama,

closing the circle. Mission accomplished...

:evilgrin:
rocknation

[DJ13]

2. At this point, who cares?

He isnt relevant anymore, time for the MSM to move onto the next phony issue to keep Clinton alive.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. I think this is just a little more info on the inside, psychological drama...

that has played out between these two men -- which is probably of interest to some aside from politics. I think there has been a lot of "water cooler" talk, trying to figure out why Wright would do something so damaging to Barack and his quest for the Presidency.