Reverend Wrong

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. is on a crusade — a purposeful, self-indulgent campaign to restore dignity, if that is the right term, to his name. This man of God exudes contempt for America and cares not a whit about the damage inflicted on his most-famous parishioner, Sen. Barack Obama.

The media spotlight is intoxicating, even to a preacher who supposedly lives for the betterment of the world. For the past few days, Wright has preened and primped before the cameras. He is teaching us, you see, about an angry and historical time that needs to be understood. If you don't like what he has to say, you just don't grasp the enormity of his experience.What a huge disservice to Obama before the Indiana and North Carolina primaries. A fiction writer could not invent a plot with a preacher who goes off on an anti-America rage and destroys a qualified, graceful candidate. Wright's oratory becomes a vehicle for ensuring the election fixates on racial divisions.

Obama delivered a careful, historic speech on race that did not opportunistically throw the reverend aside. He was clear that he disagrees with Wright.

Close observers of Obama's campaign and personal story know he is not an angry man. He is blessed with an even temperament. He happens to be a person of mixed race focused not specifically on improving everyday life for blacks or whites — but for all Americans.

Along comes Wright, fiery and hellbent on imposing himself on every audience he can find. Until the Wright controversy erupted, Obama was able to transcend race. Obama is new generation; Wright is old generation.

Wright clearly does not care if he ruins Obama. He is not a man of dignity or compassion. He is a man of more egocentrism than anyone imagined.