20 years is a long time and Barack Obama’s repudiation of his former pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is too little too late. The Junior Senator from Illinois who made excuses for Wright in his “more perfect union” speech just a few weeks ago now acts surprised by the rhetoric coming from the retired cleric.
Barack Obama angrily disowned his former pastor and friend of 20 years, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., saying Tuesday that Wright’s recent comments about race, religion and the U.S. government were “divisive and destructive” and had undermined the purpose of Obama’s presidential candidacy.
This tells us one of two things; Obama is either lying when he claims to have not have heard similar sentiment from Wright or he is incredibly naive and poor in judgment. Either is anathema to being an acceptable and competent choice as the leader of free world. Obama cannot reasonably expect the American people to believe that he never has heard similar utterances from his Pastor, the man who married him and baptized his children over the 20 years he remained a member of his flock. No doubt the Trinity United Chiurch of Christ has done great works for the community and still does, but it is also clear that Wright’s separatist rhetoric and outwardly racist views has harmed the message of the Church and most certainly the overall campaign theme of its most famous congregant.
Obama is most certainly not stupid and thus it is hard to believe he was unaware of the philosophies of Pastor Wright. If he did not believe in the message of Wright then he is most certainly an opportunist without any real moral compass which is equally objectionable.
An op-ed in the Washington Post seems willing to believe the Junior Senator from Illinois on this one but I am not sure if the American public will be so forgiving. While the editorial board at the Post acknowledges that Obama should have known Wright’s true views, they do not question how they are at odds with Obama’s own message of unity.
But Mr. Obama is right when he says that his entire career is antithetical to the divisiveness of the Rev. Wright’s comments. We’ve found things to cheer and things to criticize about Mr. Obama during this long campaign, but we don’t see how anyone could question his commitment to transcending old racial battles and finding common ground. The Rev. Wright doesn’t speak for the candidate, and we hope the pastor doesn’t become a continuing excuse for political ads built on racial fears.
If Obama is truly committed to being the post racial candidate, how could he have wallowed in the message of Rev. Wright for so many years? If he was too blind to see the contradictions, what can we expect from an Obama cabinet? Jesse Jackson as Secretary of State? Ralph Nader as head of the EPA? It is easy to question Obama’s commitment to moving on and finding common ground because of the contradictions between his words and actions. Both in the associations he has kept as well as the thin legislative record that shows no such willingness to compromise.
Obama wants to sit down and talk to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong Il with no preconditions yet he cannot recognize the poison within the words of his closest associates. Barack Obama is simply not ready or able to be President of the United States. Words soothe but actions shout, it is time to start listening.
