Other People's Words, Accountability for

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, as exemplified by Microsoft and Earthlink, I lost the original of this post. Well, I'm trying again:

The latest frenzy by the "liberal" media seems to be centered around the pastor of Barack Obama's church, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and somewhat inflammatory remarks he's made over, oh, the past five years or so. (Seems to me the oppo researchers could have dug deeper on this -- I'm sure if they go back another twenty years or so, they could come up with something even worse.) Obama, who gains more of my respect every day, has done what War Hero John McCain didn't have the balls to do. Here's the beginning of his statement:

The pastor of my church, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who recently preached his last sermon and is in the process of retiring, has touched off a firestorm over the last few days. He's drawn attention as the result of some inflammatory and appalling remarks he made about our country, our politics, and my political opponents.

Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.

Read his whole statement: not only does it address the issues around Wright and Obama's membership in his church, but it quite nicely sticks it to the Dobson Gang and their anti-social justice agenda.

Just for fun, I checked out Andrew Sullivan to see if he was able to leave Clinton-bashing long enough to notice this story. I'm not impressed. Part of Sullivan's problem is that in lieu of citing Obama's own statement, he seems to be relying on a news story from MSNBC (not a credible source when we are talking about Democrats) and a piece by Daniel Larison that purports to compare Obama/Wright with McCain/Hagee. (Maybe Sullivan is afraid of geting HuffPo cooties.) There's no real comparison there, and Larison pretty much lets McCain off the hook by citing "obvious political cynicism," which is a breathtaking bit of doubletalk. I should think we'd had enough of political opportunists at this point. Don't be fooled by the ostensible fairness of the post -- he's holding Obama to a different standard, quite obviously. (It's somewhat amusing to read through the comments and see how many of the commenters decry the "double standard" and then proceed to enlist it in their arguments. I should also point out that Larison thinks Obama's policy positions are completely wrong for the country, and prefers someone who will give us Bush's third term.)

The comment by Sullivan that I found particularly appalling is his statement that Obama's condemnation of Wright's remarks "won't end the debate, and it shouldn't." Considering that this "debate" is simply another pretext for avoiding any real issues, I find Sullivan's comment ludicrous. It's a manufactured issue -- of course, since Sullivan is one of those who manufactures these things, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that he wants to keep it alive as long as possible -- it saves him from having to deal with anything of substance.

The more I see of Obama, the more impessed I am. I don't agree with all of his policy positions, but I also start to doubt that they're carved in stone -- he seems like someone who can learn, which is the kind of person who has been in short supply in Washington the past few years. When I start to compare him to Clinton and McCain, who seem to be moving closer and closer together, I don't see that there's any real choice.

As a footnote, I first became aware of this whole flap from a discussion at EA Forums, started by one of our reliable sources for right-wing talking points, who apparently is hoping that this will finish Obama's career. I doubt it. It will probably have an adverse effect among those who weren't going to vote for him anyway.

Thanks to Joe Sudbay at AmericaBlog.

Update:

Read this stunning post by hilzoy at Obsidian Wings about, among other things, why people join churches, and some insights on Obama's relationship with his pastor. It's long, but terrifically insightful and moving.

Update II:

See John Cole's post at Balloon Juice for a sampling of the wingnut reaction -- hysterically funny, even if they are sooo predictable. My question is, if you never deal with reality, how to you reconcile your bank statements? Just take the bank's word for it?