Wednesday, March 19th (2)- Zero: Jeremiah Wright

I couldn't let this one go another day. I have been somewhat speechless about Senator Obama's pastor, it's one of those things where you think no one can really be that stupid, so it must be a joke...

The now retired, but still influential Pastor Jeremiah Wright has made a career of peppering his sermons with some very inflammatory and controversial statements.

Some of these sermons are made available by the Trinity Church on DVD, just in case you’re sitting at home with an urge to listen to some ranting, disguised as sermonizing, about why America sucks.

The controversy for Senator Obama is that he’s been a member of the church for over 20 years. He was married by Pastor Wright, his kids were baptized by him, he has referred to the pastor as his mentor and has said in the past that he didn’t make any big political moves without consulting first with Pastor Wright.

Sounds like they’ve been pretty close, and in fact the Senator did say in a speech Tuesday that the pastor is like a member of his family.At the same time, in an effort to suspend disbelief, Senator Obama is claiming ignorance over some of the pastor’s past incendiary statements.

Now, I know people sometimes sleep through the occasional sermon, waking up just as the hymn starts, with absolutely no recollection about what was said during the past twenty minutes. Shoot, I've nodded off a couple of times myself..

But then again, I’ve never attended the same church for 20 years and have never considered a pastor as my professional mentor. And, to be fair, none of my past preachers have stated that AIDS was invented by the U.S. Government, that the U.S. was to blame for 9/11, that Israel is a dirty word or that America essentially deserves all the ills visited upon it because it is a racist, arrogant country.

The most inflammatory statement I’ve ever heard while sitting in church is that the band is getting too contemporary or that too many folks have signed up to bring Jell-O salad to the fellowship lunch and we could use some volunteers to bring hot covered dishes.

So, the Obama campaign now has its knickers in a knot because people, meaning the newly aggressive media or people who haven’t drunk the Change elixir, have dared to point out that the senator’s association with the fiery pastor might need some context.

It seems unlikely at best that Senator Obama was unaware of Pastor Wright’s positions on various issues and his past statements that many in America might find offensive, questionable, or hateful. Yet that is the tact taken by the senator and his campaign.

You want change we can believe in?

Maybe Senator Obama and his campaign ought to change the way they’re explaining the relationship with the pastor.

The issue here isn’t race, except to the degree that the Obama campaign tweeks it that way. The issue here is the friendship and mentoring relationship between the senator and Pastor Wright, given the pastor’s anti-American attitudes and rants.

The senator can’t set himself up as the Great Unifier and Changer of all things divisive, and then act surprised or disappointed when people ask how that image coexists with his close 20 plus year relationship with the hateful, divisive Pastor Wright.

Any candidate, regardless of race, gender or political leanings, would undergo the same treatment if they were in a similar situation. No, I take that back. It would be much, much worse. Close your eyes for a minute and imagine a white candidate sitting in a white church while the pastor asked God to damn America because of the doings of the black race.... Hear the door slam shut?? That would be the white candidates entire future.

Peace, Love, and GOD,
Tracy