Obama belatedly suggests firing host
WASHINGTON -- Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who some political observers noted was slow to criticize racially offensive remarks by influential radio host Don Imus, strongly suggested yesterday that Imus should lose his job.
Obama, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, compared his two young daughters to the African-American women on the Rutgers University basketball team, whom Imus disparaged on his nationally syndicated radio show last week.
"I believe that NBC should not be having hosts like Don Imus who are making derogatory statements toward women and minorities," Obama, who is of African descent, said in an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN's "The Situation Room." "I've got two young daughters who I hope will be athletes, and the notion that somehow they would be degraded and insulted and that that would pass as humor and that NBC would be running that over the public airwaves, I think, is atrocious."
Shortly after Obama's comments, MSNBC announced it would stop its live cable TV broadcasts of Imus's radio show.
Although Imus's remarks sparked a firestorm on Monday, Obama declined to comment on the issue throughout the day. After Imus was suspended for two weeks, Obama's campaign issued a statement late in the evening declaring the remarks were "divisive, hurtful, and offensive to Americans of all backgrounds."
Still, Obama was the only major politician who spoke out on the issue that day. None of the major Democratic or Republican presidential contenders -- several of whom are regular guests on Imus's show -- made statements until yesterday.
Obama had been criticized by the black community for failing to come out stronger against the talk show host, especially in the wake of early and strong comments from the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Some analysts in the black community questioned whether Obama should have been more forceful on the issue -- and saw the Imus ordeal as a missed opportunity to engage African-American voters.
RENEE DUDLEY 