Obama distances himself from the realities of racism
Dan Rosenberg
Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: Opinion
Recently Senator Barack Obama has come under fire for some comments made by his pastor Jeremiah Wright. Indeed, these comments were so controversial that Senator Obama was compelled to deliver a speech about the issue of race in his campaign. His pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ frequently utilizes his pulpit to engage his congregants in discussions of race, freedom and unity. While these are always worthy topics of discussion, many conservative pundits have taken issue with the pastor and his message, as well as the close relationship between Wright and Senator Obama. Naturally, since Obama speaks highly of Wright, a man who has made such provocative points as saying American foreign policy was to blame for 9/11, pundits have implied that Obama shares these beliefs. Thus, Obama found it pertinent to denounce much of Wright's message during a recent speech. Characterizing Reverend Wright as his "former pastor," Obama condemned "in unequivocal terms the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy." Addressing the question of whether he knew Wright was given to such polemics while he was a member of Wright's flock, Obama admitted that he had always known Wright had a propensity for polarizing speeches; however, he distanced himself from guilt by association in two ways. First, he described Wright as a child of the '50s and '60s and explained his incendiary language on this account. On the other hand, he challenged his critics with the very legitimate assumption that we have all probably "heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with which [we] strongly disagree." From my personal church experiences, I have witnessed this. I have heard pastors call the war in Iraq a holy war, say that atheists and agnostics are de facto stupid and even heard some opine that AIDS and other STDs are God's way of telling us not to have premarital sex. Certainly not everyone in the audience agreed with these statements. Indeed, one makes a mistake if one tries to equate church membership with unquestioning and dogmatic allegiance. In Obama's account of how he came to be a member in Wright's church, it is evident that it had little to do with doctrine and more to do with Obama's larger perspective on the importance of the church in the black community.
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