Cheers for Rev. Wright

As off-base and far-out and wacky as Rev. Wright may be, I still think he is a genuine, authentic American and deserves a lot more respect. How many true Americans don't harbor some kind of suspicion about something or believe in some sort of oddball conspiracy theory? At least Rev. Wright is being honest and direct, with absolutely zero attempt at "spin." Barack's Rev. Wright is definitely my kind of guy! I'd much listen to him than Barack. That does not mean that I agree with everything that he says, but I do appreciate his honesty and candor. Frankly I am a little bit offended at Barack's tone. He knew what Rev. Wright was all about, but it wasn't such a big deal to him, but now that he is running for president, in theory in pursuit of a "new politics", he belittles someone who is so much more honest and candid than himself. Shameful. I can more easily forgive Rev. Wright for his quirky beliefs than I can forgive Barack for saying that he, unlike Hillary, et al, is above it all, and then turning around and proving that he can play "old politics" with the best of them. What a fraud.

I would like to see Barack volunteer Rev. Wright to debate Hillary one-on-one. That would be a great match-up! They could sell tickets, and maybe do it in Vegas. Maybe Rev. Wright could invite himself. Or maybe Hillary could invite him.

I am sure that there are plenty of people in "the black church" and "the black community" who share Rev. Wright's believes and biases, just as there are plenty of whites who share beliefs and biases just as off-beat if not odious, but for Barack to try to spin his way away from his own past tolerance so cleverly seems to be an insult against a large number of people, not to mention Rev. Wright himself.

And remember, the issue here is not what Rev. Wright believes or whether Barack shares any of those beliefs, but the fact that Barack was so tolerant of those beliefs for so many years and only now has had a change of heart that he refuses to acknowledge. That is what critics are referring to. The issue is not for Barack to issue denials about beliefs today, but simply to acknowledge that he was so tolerant of such objectionable beliefs for so long. Personally, I suspect that Barack was simply doing the "politically" expedient thing to do years ago by politely and tolerantly listening.  But now, Barack refuses to own up to his own actions or inactions years ago, and that is the issue, not what Rev. Wright may do or say today.

I do wonder how "in touch" Barack is with even the core "black church" and working class black community in America. Sure, plenty of blacks support him, but how deep is the underlying cultural affinity? Was his passion for his church and pastor really that deep, or was it much more "practical" if not political in nature?

I think Barack's problem is that his "blackness" is only skin-deep. Even Bill Clinton has more "inner blackness" and connectedness to the core black community than Barack.

I still think Barack has a shot of getting past all of this, but he will have to do so by transcending all of these distractions rather than resorting to spinning himself away from his own history with a lot of clever, smart-mouth sound-bites or diversionary speeches. Transcendence requires deep candor, not spin and cleverness.

The ultimate problem here is that the underlying agenda of The Progressives is to defeat their foes, not to embrace them. Barack needs to embrace Rev. Wright and all others in America that he may disagree with, and simultaneously recognize differences and tolerances and then gradually and incrementally work through compromises and accommodations, but The Progressives' and Barack's own mockery of a "new politics" encourages spin over accommodation. Rev. Wright is not a core problem for Barack. What is a core problem for Barack is his own refusal to admit to his own humanity and to acknowledge a deep and passionate sense of humility. What we have instead is "Yes we can!" run amok.

Rev. Wright deserves an apology from Barack.

And the American people deserve an apology from Barack for his ongoing refusal to acknowledge that he is not just as much an "old" politician as the rest of them.

-- Jack Krupansky