Dick Morris has brought this issue up, and it cuts to the core of the problem Obama is facing. Obama cannot tell the truth regarding why he joined and stayed with his church and his pastor.
The answer is political. Obama wanted to get into politics in the South Side of Chicago. To get into politics there, you need the black vote. Period. And Obama was definitely worried he would not be perceived as black enough. That’d he’d be perceived as an Uncle Tom. He needed to make himself blacker.
I know a lot of people will violently disagree with me on this, and that’s okay, because I’m speculating. But I think the speculation is really rooted in political reality. And not only does it mean Obama cannot tell the truth about why he chose this pastor — political expediency — but it also means that now, for the first time, we are seeing Obama act like…every other politician on Earth.
Think of his first comments on this, in which he carefully parsed his words to say: “I was not in the pews when those comments were made.”
It begs the question — were you in the aisle?
So it’s a double-whammy for Obama. First you have just the Wright issue on its surface, second you have Obama descending into the very “divisive” brand of politics he claims to transcend.
I like Obama. I like the cut of his gib. I don’t agree with him on — almost every issue — but I like the guy. I think he’s highly intelligent. And a highly intelligent man would not be in the dark about what his pastor was saying for 20-some years.
But for 20 years, Obama never felt the need to sit down with his pastor and tell him, look, I love you, but some of your screeds are simple hate speech, and something I can’t stand for. You’ve helped me; let me help you now.
Instead, Obama has been brought down a peg by this whole thing. Which I think is a shame, because had his campaign dealt with this pre-emptively — and believe me, they knew this guy was a problem, why do you think the pulled him from the campaign and refused to let him give the invocation? — anyway, had they dealt with this before, perhaps in one of his books, and had he said much the same thing as he said yesterday, it wouldn’t be an issue. It just wouldn’t. He would have effectively killed it.
So I do feel bad for Obama, because I know he doesn’t believe the hate spewed by Wright, I know why he chose that pastor, and that church, and I don’t think it was a terribly slimy move…but I cannot forgive the stupidity on Obama’s part in somehow thinking that Wright would not emerge as an issue at some point. After all, these DVDs containing the hate speech from Wright were being sold by the church. No one “dug this up”, it was out there for everybody to see.
Make no mistake, I do not agree with Obama on politics, but I admire the man greatly for his personal achievements and for the kind of race he’s been running. And it’s sad to see him reduced to the level of “typical politician”.
This thing has legs, and it’s going to hound him all the way to November, and may well cost him the general.