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Which Clinton Pastor Was Obama Referring To?
Posted by Russell Berman
Thu, 17 Apr 2008 at 2:15 PM
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In a moment of last night's Democratic debate that hasn't drawn much attention, Senator Obama struck back against Senator Clinton's criticism of his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, by noting that her "former pastor" had publicly stood up for Rev. Wright.
"But what I should also point out is that Senator Clinton's former pastor publicly talked about how Reverend Wright was being caricatured and that, in fact, this is somebody who had maintained an extraordinary ministry for many years," Mr. Obama said.
What was not immediately clear is which former Clinton pastor Mr. Obama was referring to.
The Clinton campaign assumed he was talking about Rev. Dean Snyder, the current pastor of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, where the Clintons attended services during their years in the White House. Rev. Snyder gained notice when he put out a statement last month calling Rev. Wright an "outstanding church leader" and praising his congregation.
Rev. Snyder, however, was not Mrs. Clinton's pastor. The pastor of Foundry church when she was first lady was J. Philip Wogaman. The Clinton campaign last night sent out a statement from the candidate from last month in which she said she had not attended Foundry since leaving the White House in 2001 and did not know Rev. Snyder.
An Obama campaign spokesman last night indicated that Mr. Obama was referring not to Rev. Snyder but to Rev. Edward Matthews, the former pastor of First United Methodist Church of Little Rock, which remains the only church of which Mrs. Clinton is a member. Rev. Matthews was the subject of a New York Sun article last month, in which he expressed sympathy for Rev. Wright and said his words had been taken out of context.
Mr. Obama's statement during the debate suggests he could have been confusing the two. While Rev. Matthews suggested, as Rev. Snyder did, that Rev. Wright had been caricatured, he did not speak about his ministry as a whole.
The Clinton campaign made no mention of Rev. Matthews in its e-mail to reporters last night.
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