Jim Geraghty, National Review's "Campaign Spot"The Obama campaign is off the rails.
The entire tone of the race changed the moment we saw the first fiery Wright sermon. The sight of those sermons triggered a question in a lot of voters' minds: How do you get the moderate-sounding, pleasant, agreeable student Barack Obama from an angry, divisive, radical, way-out-of-the-mainstream teacher like Jeremiah Wright? The sermons weren't quite a deal-breaker, but many Obama supporters, leaners, and undecideds were asking... how did Obama choose this man as a mentor? How could he possibly not know that his mentor had these attitudes? And does Obama agree with any of Wright's inflammatory statements?
In response, Obama gave a very eloquent speech about race relations in America. But it never quite answered the question, and in fact tried to blur the distinction between family we are born into and those we choose to turn to for guidance. Hillary jabbed at this in the debate, and Obama never quite had an appropriate response. He even said he disowned Wright, then backtracked and said he disowned his controversial statements.
And since then, it's gotten worse, even with a Bill Moyers interview that wasn't softball so much as it was Nerf Tee-Ball. We've heard Wright compare the Roman Legions who punished Jesus to the U.S. Marines, we've heard him argue that the U.S. and al-Qaeda are doing the same acts under different flags, etc.
Now we hear Wright analyzing the differences between white and black brains (!) and that the criticism of him for his comments was "an attack on the black church." He didn't retract his assertion that the U.S. government created the AIDS virus. He didn't retract his accusation that the United States had committed terrorism. He raved about Louis Farrakhan.
And again, we're left with that question... presuming Obama strongly disagrees with all of Wright's statements in these areas... how did he end up selecting this pastor? This church? (I know we get the story in Obama's autobiography. But did Obama once agree with all of the crazy conspiracy theories? Does he still agree, late at night, when the microphones and television cameras are far away?)
Obama is saying he should be president, instead of two much more experienced rivals, because of his superior judgment. But what kind of judgment is needed to select Wright as a surrogate father figure?
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This morning's Wall Street Journal house editorial:
Anyone raised amid the wisdom of mothers knows well the dictum that "some people just talk too much." Meet the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
At the moment, Rev. Wright is out in public saying whatever happens to be on his mind. It is not a coincidence that at least some of what is on Rev. Wright's mind and tongue may be pushing Barack Obama's presidential candidacy into a ditch. . . .
The last time around this track, Barack Obama responded with a long speech meditating on the status of race in America. It was both an interesting speech and an attempt to get the Wright mess behind him. Now just yesterday Rev. Wright said that Senator Obama has neither denounced him nor distanced himself from the pastor but instead "did what politicians do."
Meanwhile, more inflammatory remarks by Rev. Wright from past sermons are coming to light, and he has taken to explaining away everything as "soundbites" taken out of context. Past some point that doesn't fly, and we are past that point. On Sunday, John McCain said Rev. Wright's commentary is likely to be "a political issue." The Obama campaign cracked back that Mr. McCain had broken his word to run a "respectful campaign."
This won't wash. The one fact that Senator Obama can't undo is that he was a member of Rev. Wright's church for 20 years. Jeremiah Wright is insisting on making this long relationship an issue in the 2008 presidential campaign, and many voters understandably want clarity on the subject from candidate Obama.
Early in his campaign, Senator Obama earned support from many voters with the notion that he wanted to transcend racial politics. Rev. Wright is exacerbating them in a way not seen in recent years. Barack Obama cannot remain on both sides of this. He has to make a decision. He is not running for national Mediator. He is running for President. In time, that job brings tough decisions. He's there now.