Speaking on Thursday (March 27) Rev. Kenneth Clarke defended those sermons by Wright, called them “a different style of patriotism.” According to the Ithaca Journal:

Clarke challenged the audience to go beyond the sound bites and listen to Wright's entire sermon from Sept. 16, 2001 where he criticizes America. Clarke compared Wright's criticism of America to commentary found in speeches by Fredrick Douglas and Martin Luther King Jr.

The critiques are not unpatriotic, Clarke said.

The statements “reflect a different style of patriotism to which the larger society is often not accustomed,” he said. “It is a willingness to criticize the nation and its practices to help the nation, as Dr. King once said, ‘to be true to what it has put on paper' in relation to the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution.”

Wright, the former pastor of Barack Hussein Obama’s Chicago church, has come under fire for remarks that include saying “God Damn America” and “the US of KKK A” in remarks from the pulpit, most famously in a sermon made a few days after September 11, 2001. He has also been criticized for statements that many consider racist or anti-Semitic.

Clarke is the Director of Cornell United Religious Work. According to its website, that department “offers programs of worship, study, and social life, as well as opportunities for students to engage in interfaith dialogue.” It is responsible for organizing the university’s religious services for the various faiths that are recognized in America. His remarks came during a panel discussion sponsored by the University entitled "America's Original Sin: Obama, Race, Religion and Politics".

In contrast to Clarke, Obama, the Democrat party frontrunner, has tried to distance himself from Wright in recent weeks, following speculation that Obama’s association with Wright could hurt him in the general election.

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