Political JUNGLE

When race, politics, and religion get intermingled in the public arena things are bound to get ugly. Today Barack Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, delivered a poignant yet cocky, and as he so aptly described, bombastic speech. Despite political disagreements with Rev. Wright, it was my hope that instead of another divisive rant he would choose to make some attempt to bridge the gap between his critics and his inflammatory statements. I didn’t expect an apology, but I did expect him to take the higher ground. He had the platform. He had the chance to make this about something more, something positive. Instead he chose to make this about slavery and the black church. This was a classic example of spinning the topic into something entirely different. He argued, “Any criticism surrounding his sermons is an attack on the black church itself.” That was the fundamental flaw in his speech and was actually incongruent with his supposed point in all this. The media coverage, citizen distaste, and pundit discussion was never against the black church, blacks, or any one group. It was against this one man, who is associated with a potential future president of our country. Rev. Wright rambled on making a crucial mistake in his characterization of America. He unfairly compared his church to the United States, claiming all the magnificent things his church has done, and all the horrible atrocities our country has committed, again avoiding and changing the real issue. As someone given the very stage for these remarks he should at least respect the country for that opportunity, an opportunity not granted in many other countries. That “free speech” was no doubt ringing through Obama’s ears as he sunk deeper and deeper into his chair, quivering inside, while his camp whirled in circles trying to come up with the proper public statement in reply. As Rev. Wright professed, Obama is a politician, and must act as one. The question then remains, if this is he as a politician, who is he as a person? This is really what its all about. A candidate supposedly above the fray, above Washington politics, now being referred to as that stuffy politician. Is his own pastor claiming that he leads these two separate life’s? What are Obama’s real opinions, ideas, beliefs? That’s the concern for many Americans. It’s just unfortunate that Rev. Wright turned this into a discussion about black churches only further creating racial tension. He began his speech with a litany of examples, declaring “Different, not Deficient.” I don’t think any reasonable Americans were ever arguing that the black church, or any racial group is deficient. He reiterated these points as the crowd cheered, but for what? This was never the issue. Yet he seemed to relish the opportunity to make this an issue. That’s what troubles me, especially in a world where we are so past this racial divide in many ways, albeit not in every way. Slavery was horrible, but it’s in the past. We are all Americans. Of course the country isn’t perfect, but lets not compare us to, or actually call us terrorists, as he did today. Rev. Wright had a chance to uplift, and really overcome this, and tell people this isn’t about him or his church. I guess with his mocking and condescending attitude, he showed us who he really is; just further muddying the perception of his 20-year friend, and possible Democratic candidate, Barrack Obama.

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