Barack Obama 's
speech on race has left the public divided on whether he
has sufficiently put the issue behind him, a poll shows.
Even so, the
Wall Street Journal-NBC News survey
released Wednesday showed that Obama's remarks and the
attention paid to comments by his longtime pastor,
Reverend Jeremiah Wright, so far have had little
effect on his race with Hillary Rodham Clinton for the
Democratic presidential nomination.
Videos of Wright
sermons include one in which he shouts ''God damn
America'' for its treatment of minorities. He also has said
the U.S. government invented AIDS to destroy ''people
of color'' and has suggested U.S. policies were to
blame for the 9/11 attacks.
In a speech last
week, Obama rejected Wright's divisive comments but
stood by him otherwise and said it is time for the country
to address its racial schism.
By 55% to 32%,
more who had seen or heard about Obama's speech said they
were satisfied with his explanation of his association with
Wright than said they were dissatisfied.
Yet people
familiar with Obama's remarks were about evenly split
between those who said they felt reassured about his
feelings on race, and those who said they still had
doubts. Slightly more said Obama has said enough about
race than said he needs to address it further.
In all instances,
whites were more dubious than blacks about whether
Obama had handled the issue successfully. Democrats were far
more supportive than Republicans, while independents
were likelier to be divided. (AP)
