Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright

I'm really starting to like Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright. The more I learn about him, the more I hear him speak, the more I like him. I've never been much for religion, and I disagree with Pastors, Reverends, Rabbis, etc. endorsing candidates (they can, but they should immediately lose their tax-free status upon endorsing a candidate), but I'm really starting to get in to this "controversy" surrounding Reverend Wright.

We've all heard the clips from his 9/11 sermon. Most of us, whether we care to or not, can recite some of his "outlandish" claims from memory, much like we can recite annoying commercials (think ads for Jared jewelers, for example). We all know Barack Obama attended Reverend Wright's services for the better part of 20 years, and supposedly during that length of time we're supposed to believe that Reverend Wright's beliefs somehow became Obama's beliefs. It's the classic guilt-by-association argument, and it appears to be working to perfection.

Well, somewhat perfect anyway. Last week Reverend Wright gave an interview with PBS' Bill Moyers, wherein he let slip this juicy piece of information (emphasis mine):

BILL MOYERS:
Here is a man who came to see you 20 years ago. Wanted to know about
the neighborhood. Barack Obama was a skeptic when it came to religion.
He sought you out because he knew you knew about the community. You led
him to the faith.

You performed his wedding ceremony. You baptized his two children. You
were, for 20 years, his spiritual counsel. He has said that. And, yet,
he, in that speech at Philadelphia, had to say some hard things about
you. How did those words...how did it go down with you when you heard
Barack Obama say those things?

REVEREND WRIGHT:
It went down very simply. He's a politician, I'm a pastor. We speak to
two different audiences. And he says what he has to say as a politician. I say what I have to say as a pastor. But they're two
different worlds.

I do what I do. He does what politicians do. So that what happened in
Philadelphia where he had to respond to the sound bytes, he responded as a politician.

Indeed, Obama's politician-esque reaction to Reverend Wright's comments has helped shore up his campaign against the onslaught of attacks, but there's a larger lesson here: Obama is just more of the same. Anyone doubt the other candidates would have handled this issue differently?

But the Obama's ties to Wright is not what intrigues me most about the Reverend. In my estimation, the majority of Wright's "9/11 sermon" is accurate. In other words, from my viewpoint, what Reverend Wright was suggesting was that reckless American foreign policy is what contributed to the attacks on 9/11.

Sounds like blowback, doesn't it? Hmmmm, where have we heard blowback mentioned before? And, I could be wrong, but doesn't Obama subscribe to some form of blowback as well?

By far the most amusing Reverend Wright soundbite came out yesterday while Wright was speaking at the National Press Club in Washington. During his speech, in response to his alleged unpatriotic leanings, Wright asked the question:

"I served six years in the military. Does that make me patriotic? How many years did Cheney serve?"

Of course, the morning "conservative" talkers in DC had a field day with that comment, immediately shifting the focus of the conversation from Wright's brilliant quip to his 9/11 comments. And all was right with the world--my trusty morning show was back in their comfort zone, having successfully avoided addressing Wright's assertion.

Personally, I hope Wright continues to speak out, and often.