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Obama, Wright Echo Early, Late MLK

Barack's pastor sounds like King near the end of his life

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 4, 2008 2:08 PM CDT

(Newser) – Barack Obama can easily be compared to the early Martin Luther King and his hopeful message of change prior to 1965, writes Michael Eric Dyson in the Los Angeles Times. But  it's Jeremiah Wright who most resembles King after that—when his message grew "angrier" and increasingly skeptical of white America and its capacity for change.

King considered the nation's progress in class and race “at best surface changes,” called the Vietnam War a “bitter, colossal contest for supremacy,” and said “the vast majority of white Americans are racist.” He—and later Wright—used such language mostly before black audiences in the tradition of preachers assailing the powerful. They are both “easily caricatured when snatched from their religious and racial context," Dyson says.

In this undated photo from Trinity United Church of Christ, Sen. Barack Obama poses with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright in Chicago, March 10, 2005.
In this undated photo from Trinity United Church of Christ, Sen. Barack Obama poses with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright in Chicago, March 10, 2005.   (AP Photo/Trinity United Church of Christ)
President Johnson with Martin Luther King.
President Johnson with Martin Luther King.   (Getty Images (by Event) Individuals)
US Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.
US Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.   (Getty Images (by Event) Individuals)
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is seen in this undated file photo.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is seen in this undated file photo.   (AP Photo/file)
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