The Wright "event" feels like an orchestrated opportunity...

I'm sensing that this two-day Wrightstock festival has been a media opportunity--handed
to the Obama campaign on a silver platter.

First off--does anyone really believe that Wright would have given these speeches
without the blessing of Barack Obama?

The two are close, and Wright understands the controversy he has caused the Obama campaign.
It is highly doubtful, in my opinion, that Wright would give these speeches, during
this highly critical time--without consulting and receiving the green light from Obama.

With that said--it is very curious that the media would cover these two speeches in their
entirety. It is rare that the media covers the full speeches of Obama or Clinton. The
media covered both speeches, and also the Q & A, at the end of the second speech.

Furthermore, the media is actually behaving--eerily well. I heard Andrea Mitchell describe Wright's
speech as "illuminating" and other commentators have made very positive comments. I've
heard several media comments that are almost mea culpas--conceding that Wright had many
important and insightful things to say. There is an obvious absence of the vitriolic back and forth
between the talking heads.

More importantly, the anti-Wright pundits--providing analysis and "balance"--are nowhere to be found.
That's a complete deviation from the routine format of CNN and MSNBC. There's always a "left" and
a "right" commentator--volleying their opinions back and forth. But not this time.

Also, the format given to Wright is important. The messaging was totally controlled by Wright. The audiences
were Wright's followers and those who held him in high regard. The Q & A at the end of Monday's
speech, was also controlled by Wright. He didn't take questions from the mainstream media.
He answered pre-selected questions from his own community.

These were PR events.

Given all of this---I'm really wondering if this two-day Wrightfest--wasn't an opportunity
orchestrated by the Obama campaign. Possibly, the campaign believed that if people heard
Wright and got to know him--that this would dissolve some of the fear and negativity surrounding
him. We could see him as a person, and begin to understand why Obama had a bond with him.

I'm an ardent Obama supporter. I'm not saying that doing this is a bad thing. I can surely
understand the campaign going to the media and saying, "Ok, you've had months to define this
person, is it possible that we could have some equal time?"

I'm glad we got to hear Wright. I think the media did a soundbyte hit-job on Wright, and subsequently
on the Obama campaign. I think Wright's recent appearances make it extremely difficult--going forward for anyone
to score political points, by trying to tear Obama down with the Wright issue. Both Wright appearances
were very moving.

Wright has, in effect, been brought out into the sunlight.

It's possible that this was orchestrated--which begs a great deal of questions about the media
and how they make decisions. This isn't a criticism of the Obama campaign. I just find it interesting
and curious that the media would provide this opportunity. Possibly, they are just giving the
Obama campaign some "equal time", or maybe it means a top-down shift in coverage of the campaigns
from now on--signaling to both campaigns that Obama will now enjoy media advantages. Time will
certainly tell.

Just my opinion--which may be right or wrong--but as a seasoned PR/media-relations professional--I
have a pretty good sense of when events are orchestrated. It seems highly unlikely that this confluence
of media advantages is coincidental.

First off--does anyone really believe that Wright would have given these speeches
without the blessing of Barack Obama?

The two are close, and Wright understands the controversy he has caused the Obama campaign.
It is highly doubtful, in my opinion, that Wright would give these speeches, during
this highly critical time--without consulting and receiving the green light from Obama.


Let me ask you something: Does Wright appear to be the sort of person who feels the need to ask anyone for permission before opening his mouth?


With that said--it is very curious that the media would cover these two speeches in their
entirety. It is rare that the media covers the full speeches of Obama or Clinton. The
media covered both speeches, and also the Q & A, at the end of the second speech.

It's cable TV. Shocking statements are their stock in trade. They were probably all foaming at the mouth waiting for him to say something "divisive" or "controversial" live on national television!!

...and have listened to the commentary about both events.

Of course, I didn't hear every word--but all of what I heard was positive spin.

Wright said some incendiary comments in both of these appearances. It would have been
very easy to do a soundbyte hit-job again on Wright. He was cocky at times and
a couple of his one liners could have easily been used against him.

I saw none of that.

The media had the ammunition this time---but it appears that they aren't firing it.

You know there are hundreds of right-wing pundits--who would relish the opportunity
to speak out against Wright and reiterate the intial incendiary soundbytes. Where
are all of those people? Nowhere to be found.

This has a "free pass" feel to it.

(Also--Gergen is on CNN right now--and he's highly critical of Wright--but is, in effect,
sticking up for Obama and criticizing Wright's timing and selfish motivations).

With his imitating Kennedy and LBJ, to emphasize different speaking patterns, one talking head on MSNBC was saying he was "mocking" them, which of course just made her look silly because when a somebody who is pressing a liberal, populist message he doesn't mock heroes of the liberal populists.

Another one called him "bombastic", then just minutes later as he started his press club speech he talked about differences in style, directly addressing the "bombastic" label.

They are trying, but he's just making them look STUPID as they do so.

I've yet to see either of the speeches, I've been locked in an office for the past 48 hours, but the primise that you've layed out is plausable.

The flipside is, the MSM probably showed the speeches in their entirety in hopes of getting the rhetorical kill shot on Obama. The bloodlust can be scene on the Today's Show framing of the story (Veara opened the show with the comments "There he goes again") and the fact that the only clip shown in the 7 o clock hour was of Wright giving his best JFK impression.

With that said, I havn't watched a lot of news today, but if the media heads are reacting as you say they are, and being respectful, then the "kill shot' just didn't exsist.

And you're 120% right about Rev Wright having his speeches vetted and blessed by Obama. Even a man as strong as Rev Wright knows where his bread is buttered.

It's not all flowers. If it were orchestrated, it's a waaaay risky move.

I'm all for it, and am delighted his speech to the Detroit NAACP was picked up nationally.

I'm going with this explanation:

Wright was invited to speak, partially because of the controversy surrounding him. If you heard his intro, you'd see that the NAACP wanted to stand up for him. CNN caught wind of this, and found an opportunity to get some new video on Wright. The NAACP and Wright welcome this. Mum from the Obama camp - I don't think they had much control over this one.

The bigots will never change their opinions, of course, but I think Wright's appearances will go a long way in easing the concerns of many a timid American who have been raised to fear the unknown.

if I am willing to go that far, but I will say that he seems to have given Obama somewhat of an "out." It depends on if it will be replayed and if anyone caught it. One question was posed to him this morning about how he felt when Obama "disowned him" and he corrected them and said he disowned my comments, "but he's doing what you're doing, he disowned comments when he didn't even hear the sermon." That part seemed to confirm Obama hadn't heard the particular remarks until the media started dragging them out. Maybe it'll work. I enjoyed it, felt he had every right, but I admit, I do not know how this will play out to people whose support might barely be tepid. Maybe they will be open minded, or maybe they'll just ignore it all together since the economy is in the toilet.

...I believe Obama knew the best way to handle Wright was to let Wright handle it and he would live or die by the outcome.

I watched it on cspan and they didn't show the Q&A and took phone calls instead: NOT ONE NEGATIVE CALL. I've been watching cspan for years (as have most of DU) you know that's not the norm.

Not only that, the calls were a constant stream of criticizing the media for showing only clips of Wright out of context.

Last night on CNN the two journalists who were at the speech went after the call in republican strategist like I have never seen on CNN, calling her on her crap.

Lastly, Andrea Mitchell said yesterday on Meet the Press that Wright going public was only going to be bad for Obama - I'm glad to see from your post that she found it "illuminating".

That Obama had agreed to go on FOX at the same time as Reverend Wright was on his tour.

if Wright were Hillary's problem - she would have muzzled him. She would have talked with him or her campaign would have gotten to him and told him to lie low until after Nov. '08. They would have effectively took him out of the picture - for fear that anything he would say would be held against her - and she couldn't have that - not on her road to the WH.

I admire Obama for this - that he didn't muzzle Rev.Wright. Barack gave his speech after this controversy blew up initially. He answered the questions of the MSM and stands by what he said and how he feels.

The fact that Rev. Wright is out in the public eye - to me - is a tribute to Barack Obama and what he stands for.

If this happened to George W. Bush - Rev. Wright would probably be whisked away to Guantanamo.

It shows real toughness. And real confidence in the American people. I hope it's warranted! But I really do think it's better to get the real Wright out there rather than the Swiftboated image of him. Obama is all about openness and transparency and he's already walking the walk that he talks. :)

he was having trouble tamping this down.

As a very serious Obama supporter who spends several hours a day preparing
the Obama Supporters Daily News thread, I am heartsick over this mess.

The guy should shut up, but its too late now.

He's sucking the oxygen out of Obama's campaign while independents
and party switchers are voting right now in my state of NC.

First, it's much better for Wright to get on TV and let us know who he really is, rather than going on with the image the media created for him. That should ease white anxiety about him.

Second, he's not at all like Barack Obama in his speaking style and temperament. He's a real firebrand. So maybe it will make people see that the two are not the same.

Just as when this first erupted and people expected Obama to duck and avoid it to make it go away, and instead he came up with a major policy speech to address it in Philadelphia, this appears to be a case of running directly into the fire, going head on into it to wipe it out before the general election. We know from the last election that just trying to ignore it doesn't work. It needs to be neutralized.

delete

of Wright's statement on Louis Farrakhan which will be spun as "anti-semitic.. It's one of two comments they "picked out" the second being that "Obama is a Politician and I am a Pastor."

If it seems orchestrated think of who is running America's foreign policy under Bush/Cheney. Josh Marshall had a piece up a couple months ago about how the Neo-Cons are against Obama and Eric Alterman has also written about it.

The snips CNN is using were from the speech at the National Press Club this morning.

...the current politics in this country.

The neocons are vehemently opposed to Obama, and they regularly bash him while
leveraging Hillary Clinton.

I saw Bill Kristol--the Godfather of the neocons--on Fox News, bashing Obama
and talking in glowing, over-the-top tones about Hillary. He made some comment
about how pro-Hillary he was appearing and the entire panel had a good laugh.

I am more convinced that Obama is the real deal, as I see the tailspin the
neocons are in--as they try to tear down Obama.

They know that he would thwart their agenda.

Clearly, their propping up of Clinton signals that she would do their bidding.

As if we needed more proof than her pro-war votes---to know that she's been
folded into the neocon fray.

The handwriting on the wall is very clear--and it's written in neon.

As it should have done.

I don't agree that it was done with the blessing of Obama however. You are correct, I think, in that it's partially PR. But I think Wright wants to defend not only himself but his church, and would do so with or without Obama's blessing, and that's the motivation for him. I feel his actions are independent of whats best for Obama.

But I could be wrong too. :)