Catholic Cardinal Condemns Pastor's Anti-Clinton Remarks

May 30, 2008— -- The job of uniting the Democratic Party after a long and divisive primary season just got tougher, thanks to yet another Chicago Christian leader who's a longtime friend and associate of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

"She just always thought that, 'This is mine. I'm Bill's wife. I'm white.' … And then, out of nowhere, came 'Hey, I'm Barack Obama.' And she said, 'Oh damn, where did you come from? I'm white. I'm entitled. There's a black man stealing my show,'" Father Michael Pfleger said at last Sunday's services at Trinity United Church of Christ.

The Catholic priest then parodied Clinton, pretending to wipe tears from his face with a handkerchief, evoking the famous moment on the campaign when New York Sen. Hillary Clinton welled up after the Iowa caucuses and before the New Hampshire primary.

"She wasn't the only one crying," he said. "There was a whole lot of white people crying."

Pfleger, a well-known activist, was rebuked by both Obama and the Catholic Church for the sermon, which was delivered at the church formerly led by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

"The Catholic Church does not endorse political candidates," read a written statement from Cardinal Francis George, head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. "Consequently, while a priest must speak to political issues that are also moral, he may not endorse candidates nor engage in partisan campaigning."

"Racial issues are both political and moral and are also highly charged. Words can be differently interpreted, but Fr. Pfleger's remarks about Senator Clinton are both partisan and amount to a personal attack. I regret that deeply," Cardinal George added.

Obama was forced to say Thursday he was "deeply disappointed" by Pfleger's pulpit performance, but the Clinton camp was not mollified.

Clinton's campaign put out a statement decrying the "hateful language" and said that Obama "should have specifically rejected the despicable comments."