naked candidate

People trying desperately to debilitate the Democratic Party heading into the General Election (people like Rush Limbaugh and Hillary Clinton) are flaming the Reverend Wright controversy as much as humanly possible.  They cling to this issue out of bitterness.  And even though, in reality, this issue has ultimately no bearing on whether Obama would be a good President or not, it is the issue du jour, and must be served up until something else more viable comes along. 

Make no mistake, this controversy will indeed sway voters. 

But, in which direction??

Just when you thought we had started to move beyond Wright, and perhaps moved into new subjects (like the fact that Hillary’s win in Pennsylvania means a heightened, new barrage of negative attacks with an upshot of crippling the Democrats chances at White House residency), Wright has stepped front-and-center into the spotlight of his own accord.  In a recent television interview, Wright said of Obama: “He’s a politician, I’m a pastor.”  Wright dug new problems into the Obama camp by claiming Obama is merely a politician, and thus supporting an image of Obama as a masked figure hiding his somehow true feelings of alignment with all of Wright’s insanities.  He threw fuel onto the fire called the ”mystery of Obama” that Clinton is now advertising through her “Swift Boat” arm called “The American Leadership Project.”  Wright contributed to “Obama, just another typical politician.”  An image which is in direct opposition to the very campaign Obama is espousing: to recognize unities, not divisions, and to bring all Americans together under one common goal; to be more than politics as usual.

What the hell is Wright doing?  Does Wright want Obama to lose?  Or has he caught the age-old political cancer – when the ego outweighs all sense of logic and you become self-defeating to your very ideals?  (Enter hazy picture of Hillary here).

Many of us agree with Karl Rove when he recommends that Obama pick one simple explanation and stick with it.  Obama went from “I wasn’t sitting in church when Wright said that” to “his words don’t give a well-rounded portrait of him” to “his words were divisive, but I can no more disavow him than I can my own grandmother” to “if Wright hadn’t retired, I might have left the church.”  Now Obama is “saddened and angered over the spectacle of Wright” and admits that whatever relationship they had is now forever changed. 

On the other hand,  we all must admit that these varied responses are not actually different responses.  They are an organic progression of a human response to an issue that is constantly changing and evolving.  And a showing of humanity like this is what endears Obama to his supporters: he seems more human than the run-of-the-mill-win-at-all-costs-say-whatever-it-takes politician.  (Enter hazy picture of Hillary here).

(It should be noted that Hillary Clinton on Tuesday chastised McCain for not doing enough to stop ads that politicized the Wright controversy, then the very next day she took up the GOP torch, did a complete 180, and went on Fox’s Bill O’Reilly politicizing the controversy by saying how outrages Wright’s statements were.  This say-one-thing-then-say-the-opposite in such a short amount of time is a record even for her.  Not to mention that she’s doing it on Fox’s Bill O’Reilly).

But, is there a silver-lining to this seemingly undying controversy? 

How about this: the issue whether Obama is secretly a Muslim has run out of steam.  The only voters still clinging to this old controversy (probably out of bitterness) are the same ones who think Obama is the Antichrist sent here from hell to destroy the world with superhuman powers.  Essentially, my family out in Texas.  These are voters already committed to McCain regardless of any controversies that spring up.  And they are still forwarding ridiculous emails.

The Wright controversy has brought full attention to the public at large the fact that Obama has been going to a Christian church for quite a while, and has been quite involved in that church.

Mind you, I think a debate over which candidate is more Christian is incredibly shallow and, moreover, contrary to the very values that this country was founded on.  I am a supporter of the Interfaith Alliance.

But, the “mystery of Obama” critique is lessened when the question is “does Obama believe what his former Christian preacher believes?”, and not “is Obama a Muslim?”

Don’t you think so, too?

Lee@thenakedhillary.com