Many of us who believe Barack Obama should be the next U.S. president began to feel some relief on Tuesday when Obama finally distanced himself decisively from his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., and his politically damaging diatribes.
Traditional African-American values hold elders and the clergy in high respect, so Obama had many cultural scruples (as well as political concerns about black folks’ feelings) to overcome in denouncing his former religious leader. Unfortunately for their personal relationship and for the Obama campaign at this critical juncture, Obama was left with no choice. As Wright insensitively, even flamboyantly, continued to call attention to himself and his criticisms of the U.S., Obama was left with a clear decision: sternly and unequivocally reject Wright, or waste an unprecedented political opportunity and the hopes of millions of Americans who have invested in his historic campaign.
Wright, of course, is entitled to his views. Many of them, while politically inflammatory, are also reasonable, if we are honest about U.S. foreign policy. For many years, Wright has had a pulpit from which to voice his views. Had he behaved more prudently, he might have enjoyed the historic privilege of providing spiritual counsel to the first black man to serve as president of the United States. Instead, Wright is foolishly behaving as if the most important matter at stake is himself.
It now should be made clear by Obama that Wright will not provide spiritual counsel to the nation’s first black president. If Obama is to make history with his campaign, and fulfill the hopes he has so successfully inspired, he needs to put Wright far behind him. Hillary Clinton, John McCain and their surrogates (not to mention the media, which have feasted on the story) will do all they can to keep the controversy alive. A blogger persuasively suggests that Wright’s appearance at the National Press Club may have been set up by a well-known Clinton supporter.
The irony is that the backlash in the black community against Wright’s harmful antics are what gave Obama the freedom to make a clean break with his former pastor. Moreover, in next Tuesday’s two primaries, the prize is North Carolina, where African Americans are expected to be one-third of the electorate. The furor over the Wright fiasco and the Clintons’ behavior in this campaign should motivate a strong black voter turnout.
The voters in North Carolina, Indiana and the rest of this country have many concerns more important to them than the opinions of one eloquent, short-sighted pastor in Chicago. While Obama needs to address those concerns with all of his own eloquence, he also needs the strong public support of prominent, moderate white Democrats. Party officials know that Clinton has no chance of winning the primary without doing huge damage to the party and its prospects in the fall election. If Obama continues to act with the decisiveness he began to show on Tuesday, he can turn his former pastor into an awkward, painful footnote to an inspiring and new page of American history. That is all Wright now deserves to be.