When Wright is Wrong

When Wright is Wrong
by Jean Carnahan

            I can’t believe I’m commenting on the Jeremiah Wright flapdoodle.   But since I’ve invested a couple of hours listening to the Moyers’ interview, Wright’s NAACP speech, and his Press Club debacle, I will tiptoe cautiously into the fray.

First, let me say that Wright’s remarks were despicable.  He alone should be held accountable for them—not Barack Obama; not the black church.   

I have sat in many a pew and listened to a revival preacher get carried away with the sound of his own voice.  Heaven forbid, that I would be held accountable for every bit of nonsense I have heard spewed from pulpits and podiums. 

But Obama remained at Trinity Church for twenty years, as his critics are quick to point out. While the Reverend sprinkled his sermons with droplets of truth, his messages were too often marred by jarring and divisive rhetoric.  As the Good Book suggests, there are times when we must sift the “wheat from the chaff,” which is apparently what parishioners—including the Obama family—did.  Like many church-going Catholics and Protestants today, he apparently found solace in a community of believers and relevance in their many laudable works. 

Barack has tried to be respectful of his former pastor—a fading religious icon whose words once gave him hope and whose accomplishments in the community were noteworthy.  But Wright did not return the respect.  As Maureen Dowd pointed out, Obama has  again been abandoned by the father figure in his life.

Apparently, Wright could not stand to see this young man move on to form his own ideas and solutions for bringing people together.  As one internet pundit put it: Wright is “old school” and he’s flunking out of “new school.”  But the registration of one million new Democratic voters tells us that something new is afoot. 

This election is shaping up as a massive contest between the “new” struggling to be born and the “old” refusing to yield.  During this campaign, a host of new voters. volunteers, and contributors have joined the political arena largely because of the inspiration of Barack Obama and the change that he embodies.  Let’s hope that neither they nor he are turned off by the tone of this campaign.

In light of this pew/pulpit fiasco, here’s my advice to the Senator.  For spiritual guidance, stick with St. Paul, whose sermons have already been vetted.  Look to the apostle’s encouraging words to the Corinthians: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but no in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.”

Hang in there.