Obama slights his own pastor, another error in wooing blacks
When Barack Obama launched his presidential bid last month, he did so without the public blessing of his pastor, Jeremiah A. Wright. Wright, an activist and the senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, had prayed for Obama when he won his U.S. Senate seat in 2004, and Wright was in the galley when Obama gave his electrifying speech at the Democratic National Convention that same year.
But when Obama made his big announcement, Wright was forced to pray with him behind closed doors.
But when Obama made his big announcement, Wright was forced to pray with him behind closed doors.
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that "some black leaders are now questioning Obama's decision to distance his campaign from Wright."
Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, responded that Obama is "proud of his pastor and his church," but defended the decision.
"Obama decided to avoid having statements and beliefs being used out of context and forcing the entire church to defend itself," Burton told me -- the exact language he used with The New York Times.
In any event, Wright shouldn't have to defend himself or his church.
Trinity, the church home for countless black professionals, has been at the forefront of social justice issues, and was the first church to organize protests against South Africa's apartheid.
More important, Wright is more than capable of defending his teachings. He also understands the political climate in which Obama has to operate. So it wouldn't have been unreasonable for Obama to pull him to the side and caution him to temper his public remarks that day.
But Obama took some bad advice from campaign staff who underestimated the impact such a slight could have on a candidate who have to woo the black vote. Now, the shuttered prayer has come back to haunt him.
Although sources close to the campaign assured me that the relationship between Obama and Wright is "closer than ever," in an interview with the Times, Wright "expressed disappointment but no surprise" that Obama "might try to play down their connections."
"When his enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli to visit Moammar Gadhafi -- with [Louis] Farrakhan -- a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell," Wright said in the interview.
Knowing Wright's affection for the Obama family, I can only chalk up his bluntness to hurt feelings.
But this entire incident provides some insight into a missing ingredient in Obama's campaign stew.
"First of all, I don't know who you would call in Barack Obama's campaign," Conrad Worrill told me.
Worrill is the national chairman of the National Black United Front, and a longtime grass-roots political organizer across the country. If he doesn't know who to call, that's a problem.
"It is clear that black people want to support his candidacy," Worrill said. "What is missing is an African-American at a high level to assist in structuring black participation in his campaign in black communities across the country."
Obama's campaign claims this is not a matter of "neglect," but that Obama's had a slow start in putting together his staff. Two weeks ago, he brought Ertharin Cousin on board as a senior adviser for African-American and women's outreach.
For instance, the Rev. "I-still-might-run" Al Sharpton has already seized on the snub as a potential wedge.
"I can see why callers of mine and other clergymen would be concerned, because the issue is standing by your own pastor," Sharpton said in the Times' article.
Still, right is right.
As any person of faith knows, it takes a lot of prayer offered up by a lot of people to overcome the evil that awaits those who try to do good.
Obama should have taken a stand.