Barack Obama had been a presidential candidate for more than a year before he outright repudiated his long-time pastor for racially charged, anti-U.S. sermons. But when talk show host Don Imus was in hot water 11 months ago for racially insensitive comments, Obama was the first candidate to call for his firing.
When asked about the different responses to his pastor and to Imus, Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor questioned the premise of the comparison and defended Obama’s response in each case.
“He spoke out both times, so it’s entirely consistent,” he told FOXNews.com Tuesday.
Click here to see the original ABC News interview with Obama.
Click here to see Obama discuss the Imus fallout on MSNBC.
Obama — who in a major speech Tuesday decried controversial remarks by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. dating back to 2001 — called for Imus to be fired just one week after Imus made the remarks in April 2007, two months after Obama had announced his candidacy.
“There’s nobody on my staff who would still be working for me if they made a comment like that about anybody of any ethnic group. And I would hope that NBC ends up having that same attitude,” Obama told ABC News in an April 11 interview.
Imus ignited public outcry for calling members of the women’s basketball team at Rutgers University “nappy-headed hos” on his popular morning talk show.
The controversy dogged Imus, even after he issued an apology to the team and met with the players personally seeking forgiveness.
The public atonement wasn’t enough to save his job. He was fired by CBS Radio and by MSNBC, which produced the TV simulcast, but since then he has returned to radio with a show on WABC-AM in New York that started in December.
Obama said in the 2007 ABC interview he would never appear again on Imus’ show.
“He didn’t just cross the line,” Obama said. “He fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America.”
In the case of Wright, Obama denies ever personally hearing his pastor give sermons that blamed the U.S. government for HIV and cast the country as institutionally racist. But Obama has had a 20-year relationship with Wright, and on Tuesday he said he knew Wright had made controversial remarks.
When some of Wright’s remarks were publicized last year, Obama rescinded an invitation for Wright to speak at his Feb. 10, 2007, presidential announcement.
Obama didn’t outright condemn Wright’s views until last Friday, but Vietor said Obama had started putting the issue to rest long before now.
“He denounced specific comments months ago and he gave a thoughtful speech today,” Vietor said Tuesday.
