After Wright made scalding statements about the U.S., Obama separated himself from the statements, but refused to completely disown Wright whom he considers to be like family. Since then he has been attacked from both the left and the right. Everybody thinks that he should damn both the statements and the man.
For awhile Wright was silent. In the last few days he has spoken out. Every time he speaks he makes more outrageous statements than before. Obama has answered as forcefully as he could:
What Rev. Wright said yesterday directly contradicts everything I've done during my life. It contradicts how I was raised and the setting in which I was raised, it contradicts the issues that I've worked on, it contradicts what I've written in my books...it contradicts everything I've been saying on this campaign trail.
This is obviously true. If you have heard Obama speak you know that what he's saying is true. Both McCain and Clinton, his opponents, know this is true. But the attacks continue. Here is what Jonah Goldberg said today:
To cap it off, Wright threw Obama under the bus. First, the pastor explained, Obama himself had taken Wright out of context. Moreover, Obama neither denounced nor distanced himself from Wright. And, besides, anything that Obama says on such matters is just stuff "politicians say." They "do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls." So much for Obama's new politics.
Unwittingly Goldberg is praising Obama. When he says "So much for Obama's new politics" he is implying that Obama's "new politics" is better than the old politics that HE IS USING IN HIS ARTICLE. If a die- hard conservative such as Goldberg sees the difference and approves - reluctantly, of course - other people will eventually see it as well.
All Obama has to do now is be himself and follow his "new politics" of honesty. respect and inclusion. It may take time, but once people see the difference between Obama's politics and the character-assassination politics we have today, Obama will get the votes.
I echo the conservative Andrew Sullivan:
And today, we found that he can fight back, and take a stand, without calculation and in what is clearly a great amount of personal difficulty and political pain. It's what anyone should want in a president. It makes me want to see him succeed more than ever. It's why this country needs to see him succeed more than ever.
Rev. Wright did not realize that he was boosting Obama. He and everybody else thought that he was hurting Obama. This so-called problem will eventually be recognized as a gift from Wright to Obama.
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