Sen. Barack Obama deftly handled the flap over his pastor’s fiery sermons in a speech on race yesterday, but probably not enough to contain the controversy, according to a focus group of voters assembled by The Post.
“He addressed the main point, that he disagreed with the comments,” said Brian Benjamin, 31, a banker from Harlem, who was one of 10 voters – a mix of white and African-American and all but one a Democrat – who watched Obama’s 37-minute speech.
But Benjamin added that while he wasn’t personally offended by Wright, the comments were “harmful” to Obama and said he doesn’t believe the issue has been put to bed.
“I believe the fact that he didn’t sort of throw [Wright] under the bus is gonna give the talk-show hosts, particularly the conservatives, everything they need to keep going with this,” added Benjamin.
Joey Litman, 26, a communications consultant from Manhattan, said it was “risky” of Obama, but he applauded the speech.
Still, he said, “I think there are people who will hear [Obama] say he cannot completely divorce himself from Wright and say, ‘Why not?’ But I think that’s sort of an uninformed way” of approaching it.
Ginger Johnson, of Harlem, said she had no issue with Wright and said avoiding talk of race in the campaign has been “kind of like ignoring the elephant in the room. It’s there, it needs to be addressed. I think that it was very smart of him to take the time and not just a five-minute announcement.”
Alex Shoor, 26, of Manhattan and a member of the liberal group Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century, said, “Anytime you wade into racial waters it’s a challenge, but I think he successfully discussed it. Because his racial identity is both black and white, he gets these issues.”
Shoor added that he was “offended” by Wright’s comments, but also hopes people would respect Obama for not severing ties with Wright.
“I think there’s something about Americans – they gravitate toward someone who stands with their friends,” Shoor said.