UCCtruths

Obama, who claims the title of his second book, “The Audacity of Hope,” was inspired by Wright, is now audaciously hoping to defuse the latter’s inflammatory rhetoric by suggesting his comments were “part of his social gospel.”

It’s not going to fly. Even a smooth talker can’t get away with that.

It’s true, Christianity does have a social gospel as well as a saving gospel, and no one personified the former more passionately or effectively than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who gave his life for it 40 years ago next month.

To his everlasting credit, King called black extremism exactly what it is, which is every bit as evil and dangerous as white extremism, because neither side of that lunatic fringe moves us any closer to the common ground he died believing we could all attain.

Listening to Wright’s racially polarizing polemics is to realize Obama’s rationalization is ridiculous. Social gospel? Please. George Wallace, Lester Maddox and Orval Faubus all thought they had a social gospel, too.

Black or white, a nut is a nut.

This won't end the debate, and shouldn't. But it's a classy move. You don't disown a man this close to Obama's spiritual development over the years for political reasons. Obama's not a Clinton. But a more forceful explanation of why and how Obama rejects Wright's most inflammatory sound-bites would be helpful at some point. A bigger speech reiterating his own rejection of racial resentment would be even better - soon. Why not in a black church? [Sure, as long as it is not a campaign speech]

Obama must not be given a pass on this. Any white candidate who clung to a warm relationship with a racist hate-monger would be put out of business by the media.

It certainly could be the case that Obama personally didn’t hear Wright’s 2003 sermon when he proclaimed: “The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, not God bless America, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people. ... God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human.”

But Ronald Kessler, a journalist who has written about Wright’s ministry, claims that Obama was in fact in the pews at Trinity last July 22. That’s when Wright blamed the “arrogance” of the “United States of White America” for much of the world’s suffering, especially the oppression of blacks. In any case, given the apparent frequency of such statements in Wright’s preaching and their centrality to his worldview, the pretense that over all these years Obama had no idea that Wright was saying such things is hard to sustain.

Critics say Obama may not have ended the controversy because he has had a relationship with Wright for nearly two decades. Obama had described Wright as his spiritual mentor. He was married in the church, and Wright was a member of Obama's African American Religious Leadership Committee.

"This is a man who he chose to be associated with. It's not a family member," said Juan Williams, a Fox News analyst and National Public Radio correspondent. "It could be a big problem."

He said Obama's relationship with Wright "speaks to his character, and it speaks to the judgment which is the basis on which Barack Obama has been running."

The church attended by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) fought back Sunday against mounting criticism of its pastor, accusing the media of character assassination and “crucifixion.”

Otis Moss III, the current pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, used his pulpit to defend his congregation and its past minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., from a wave of controversy stemming from inflammatory statements made by Wright.

"We have listened and watched as the wonderful work of our church has been vilified this week," he told about 3,000 congregants on Palm Sunday morning. "This week should be special for us because I guess we know a little something about crucifixion."