I was wrong on that one!

I thought Obama wouldn't totally disavow Jeremiah Wright, but that was before I saw the Wrong Reverend's amazing performance at the National Press Club -- that is, before I realized that Wright is a total lunatic. Does he really believe the U.S. government created HIV as a plague on minorities? Hard to say for sure, but I think Obama was genuinely surprised when he saw the clips. If he'd known just how far over the edge Wright would go when bathed in the lights of the national news media, I'm sure he would have put a lot more distance between himself and his old political ally much earlier.

In truth, I was kind of amused that Wright accused Obama of political posturing in his campaign, since I'm convinced that it was political cupidity that drew Obama to Wright's church in the first place. Perhaps it's my personal prejudice, but I always find it hard to suspend disbelief when I hear a smart politician talking about his "spiritual needs." As we all know, church attendance is required for political success in this country, and so is facile hypocrisy.

By the way, just because I think Wright is nuts doesn't mean I think he's entirely wrong. A good part of black America might indeed be targets of genocide, albeit not by HIV. America's penchant for keeping black children undereducated and well supplied with drugs and handguns comes to mind -- something you might call genocide by neglect.

Will Obama emerge from the far side of the Wright debacle unscathed? Probably not, but I think he'll still be viable as a candidate. Time will tell.

The Wrong Reverend Wright

Well, I told you so.

Back here, I called your attention to the Sean Hannity interview of Reverend Jeremiah Wright. The broadcast networks hadn't noticed yet, and Wright coverage in the print media didn't exactly jump out at you. It seems the Obama campaign hoped it would just go away. It didn't.

When Wright's oratory went viral on YouTube and all the media began to pay attention, Obama had to respond. Nothing he could have said would have been good enough, of course. He couldn't totally disavow Wright without alienating his black base, and when you get right down to it, even a total disavowal wouldn't have done the trick -- he'd have appeared both disingenuous and disloyal.

Of course, he also couldn't say that he'd attended Wright's church to advance his political career in Chicago, where a Wright endorsement is a big plus. One of the biggest problems politicians face is that somebody who helps you today can turn out to be the proverbial albatross around your neck tomorrow.

Don't blame Hillary. She didn't create the Wright problem, she just accelerated it a bit. It's better for Barack to deal with it now, as best he can, before the Republican attack machine gets into high gear. After all, he'll still have to deal with the Tony Rezko mess, which hasn't gotten much play outside of Chicago yet (with the emphasis on "yet.")