A member of the original Saturday Night Live cast used to begin phony news broadcasts by announcing "I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not." I am not Barack Obama. But if I were, this is what I would have to say about Rev. Jeremiah Wright:
When a few video clips of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons began appearing on U-Tube, I did not consider it necessary to make any change in my church membership, or my relation with my pastor of over 20 years. Rev. Wright is not running for office. Pastors have the option, sometimes even the obligation, to say things that nobody running for office would dare say, and nobody holding government office could responsibly say. The roles are different. Everyone has some disagreements with their pastor. There are many ties which bind an individual or a family to their church. The pastor is one, but fellowship, praise and worship, the ministries the church runs outside the walls, are equally important or more so.
I did consider it necessary to say, clearly and publicly, where Rev. Wright and I differ.
Something different has been happening in late April. Rev. Jeremiah Wright is no longer just giving sermons from his own pulpit, and speaking frankly for his own views. He has not only accepted, but eagerly sought, the opportunity to reassert some of his most controversial positions, and in my opinion, his most ridiculous statements, on a national stage. The microphones have not opened up for him because the national media are deeply interested in the ministries and accomplishments of Trinity United Church of Christ. The media has only taken an interest because Rev. Wright is "Barack Obama's pastor."
It seems from his most recent statements that Rev. Wright is doing more than saying what he believes. Rev. Wright's latest statements suggest that he feels genuinely threatened by the prospect that a member of his church, a person of known African ancestry, could actually be elected president of the United States. The possibility that a majority of people traditionally classified as "white" might actually vote for a man traditionally classified as "black" would upset some stereotypes that Rev. Wright desires to cling to. And so, while pundits insinuate that Rev. Wright is somehow speaking for Barack Obama, or providing essential insight into what Barack Obama believes, Rev. Wright is using this opportunity to make sure that Barack Obama is derailed as a serious candidate.
If Rev. Wright simply reminded us that racism remains a significant obstacle for many African Americans, I would agree. Anyone who doubts that need only read the first chapters of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's biography My Grandfather's Son. His experience at Holy Cross college adjusting to a different and sometimes hostile world is an experience that many young African Americans still have to grapple with. But Rev. Wright seems determined to prove that such difficulties are the result of a deliberate and continuing conspiracy, and they are not. If you are looking for conspiracies, perhaps its time to ask why a devoted supporter of the Clinton campaign arranged Rev. Wright's appearance at the National Press Club.
Most of the imperfect human beings who inhabit this world have our good points and our bad points. We all make mistakes. Rev. Jeremiah Wright's ministry has accomplished many good things for the community in which he has worked. I regret that he has chosen to hammer at the worst themes of his ministry, over and over, when thrust into the limelight. There is so much he could have said that would have been of great value.
Don't vote for Barack Obama just to prove that Rev. Wright is wrong. But if what Barack Obama has been saying, for himself, throughout this campaign and for the past four years, make sense to you, then a vote for Barack Obama would go a long way to show that Rev. Wright is clinging to fears that we must now cast aside. Rev. Wright can cling to the past if he wishes, but there is no reason that the rest of us need to do so. Now is the time to move forward.
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