Is Rev. Wright Obama's "personal cross"?
This morning's stirring speech by Rev. Wright, which was followed by an interesting Q&A, was not to be missed. Here's a full transcript of the event or watch it here. There's no question that Wright is an intelligent man, who is passionate and well respected by many in his community, but the man dug a canyon for Obama today. Not only did Wright speak of the differences between African-Americans and European-Americans, (that's what he calls whites), driving a bigger wedge in the electorate for Obama, but he also blamed the media for attacking the Black Church, which was, at best, an unintentional byproduct of the Obama/Wright story.
While keeping previous distastful comments fresh in the minds of voters, Wright's somewhat polaraizing performance today may work to slowly chip away at Obama's message of unity. Yes, Obama isn't Wright, but now that we've heard Wright unedited, unplugged, in long-form--raw--it's clear that his remarks jibe with his previous controversial sound bites. As a result, it is no longer difficult to conceive of Obama sitting in those pews for 20 years. And, that's where Obama gets into trouble.
In short, Wright's very re-entrance into the spotlight is undermining the promise of Obama's candidacy. Several times Wright has cast Obama in a light of phoniness by asserting: "He does what politicians do." It's as if he's saying that Obama will do or say anything because he's a politician. Sound familiar?
Obama, Jeremiah Wright
