ST. LOUIS — Barack Obama implored the thousands attending a national meeting of the African Methodist Episcopal Church to help fix national and local ills.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee preached individual responsibility Saturday, saying he knew he risked criticism for “blaming the victim” by talking of the need for parents to help children with homework and turn off the TV, to pass on a healthy self-image to daughters and to teach boys to respect women and “realize that responsibility does not end at conception.” But Obama’s main message was the government’s duty to address what he said are “moral problems” — such as war, poverty, joblessness, homelessness, violent streets and crumbling schools — and to employ religious institutions to do it.
Earlier, Obama told reporters he was surprised at how the media has “finely calibrated” his recent words on Iraq and reaffirmed his commitment to ending the war if elected. The Associated Press
