Reverend Wright Revisited

If you've been reading this blog, you may have come across a rather rosy piece a few days ago generally praising Reverend Jeremiah Wright (within limits). Well, I wrote that piece just after his interview with Bill Moyers and before his speeches to the NAACP and the National Press Club. In those speeches, Wright tended to revert back to the old aggressive "preaching" style that had brought on so much criticism. The result was that Barack Obama finally had to publicly disassociate himself from his former pastor.

I have to admit that I do not appreciate the way that Wright ridicules other people to make a point. To me, this sort of rhetoric reminds me more of characters like Archie Bunker and George Jefferson. Maybe Wright is still rooted in the 70s and believes that this sort of talk is still generally acceptable. Well, it isn't! I believe that someone can make a point, even one very critical of others, and still be dignified and respectful about it. Adding a tinge of ridicule and cruelty only serves to make the target of criticism seem to be an unfair victim of the speaker's vitriol. In the Moyer interview, Wright restrained himself and, as a result, was much more compelling. But he now seems bent on making as much noise as possible and attracting as much media attention as possible to himself. But why should that necessarily have anything to do with Barack Obama?

Sure, Obama named his book The Audacity of Hope as a sort of tribute to his former pastor, and cited Wright as an inspiration and a source of counsel. But Obama is Obama and Wright is Wright. Neither speaks for the other. How would you like it if some friend of yours made a public spectacle of him/herself and everyone automatically put you down as a result, just because of your past association with that person?

But I recognize the politics of this situation as well. For the sake of argument, let me generalize a little. If all the McCain and Clinton supporters want Obama's campaign to fail, then at this time about three fourths of the people out there are currently "against" the Democratic front-runner. And so the "buzz" is going to be heavily weighted in trying to magnify anything that could remotely be used against him. I expect the situation to change after the Democratic Convention, but I'm sure we'll still have to endure television ads linking Obama and Wright during the general campaign.

Finally, my problems with Jeremiah Wright's beliefs and speaking style notwithstanding, I also believe that he has every right in the world to respond to the severe public attacks and insults aimed at him during the past few weeks. Of course, he's totally wrong in saying that it had nothing to do with Barack Obama, when Obama's success is the only reason anyone bothered to dig up Wright's old sermons in the first place.