Did Obama Say Enough, SOON Enough?

(The weeks he let the Reverend Wright flap simmer call his leadership into question)

 

In politics, as in war, a key is the ability to recognize a genuine threat and move to eliminate it quickly. Democrat presidential contender Barack Obama should have seen over a month ago that the ex-pastor of his church could be a severe liability and acted at that time to put major distance between himself and Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Instead, he limited himself to a few censorious remarks about Wright’s inflammatory rhetoric and apparently hoped the whole thing would go away. It didn’t, because Reverend Wright didn’t.

Late last week and early this, in an interview with PBS’s Bill Moyers and a news conference at the Washington Press Club, emeritus Pastor Wright defended his anti-American statements from the pulpit and even repeated his assertion that the government somehow was involved in inventing and introducing AIDS into minority communities. Wright even suggested the only reason Obama had said anything negative about him was politics, hinting the Illinois Senator secretly agrees with him. Finally, on Tuesday, Obama decided that he, or his campaign, could brook no more nonsense from Jeremiah Wright. During a news conference, Obama said, “I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday (Monday).” He added, “His (Wright’s) comments were not only divisive and destructive, I believe they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate.” Those reactions are right on, but Obama’s lengthy delay in delivering them have his opponent and media pundits questioning his leadership because he waited so long. I have to concur. I would want the commander-in-chief of U.S. armed forces to react more quickly to real threats.

Barack Obama remains ahead in the delegate count and polls of likely Democrat voters nationwide. But, paradoxically, voter surveys also indicate Hillary Clinton would be a more formidable foe for Republican John McCain in November. Author George Gamow’s little gem of a book, “How to Lie with Statistics”, should be required reading for anyone who pays attention to polls and percentages anywhere in the political weal, not just elections.

In any event, Clinton is said to have “more bounce in her step” these days, and her campaign is flushed with a new optimism. She has secured commitments from a couple of the Party’s uncommitted ‘super-delegates’, although Obama has, too. In just a few days, Democrats will stage primary votes in Indiana and North Carolina. The Hoosier state appears to belong to Clinton, so she has been campaigning hard in North Carolina, trying to cut into a comfortable Obama lead there. But it would be nearly impossible for her to surpass her opponent in delegates at this point, and if the Democratic National Committee is truly serious about one or the other dropping out after June 3^rd’s South Dakota primary, the Party may well find itself between Scylla and Charybdis. Black Democrats, especially, would be angered if Obama were forced out while he has the technical lead. Women and other Clinton supporters would be similarly unhappy if their candidate had to throw in the towel, even though she might have a better chance against John McCain. There’s still a long way to go, but it ought to be extremely worrisome for Democrats that substantial percentages among both Obama and Clinton supporters say they’d sooner stay home or vote for McCain than push the button for the Democrat rival. Not good for the Democrats; not good at all.

John McCain has his own problems. The de facto head of his party, President George Bush has just achieved the distinction of having the highest disapproval rating of any President since that statistic began being collected in the 1930’s, 71 percent. Challenge for McCain: to put political distance between himself and Mr. Bush, while maintaining solid support for two major Bush policies - tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. McCain at least can say he has a largely unified party behind him, although conservative dissenters remain.

When the campaign gets down to one-on-one, and the gloves come off, as they inevitably will, things could get rough indeed. Both Clinton and Obama have baggage far beyond anything they can dig up on McCain. Clinton, for her somewhat shady dealings as a lawyer and her actions as First Lady; Obama, mainly for his financial ties to Chicago slumlord and racketeering suspect Tony Rezco, although let’s not forget Reverend Wright. All in all, we can look forward to four or five months of mano-a-mano political combat that would be more entertaining if the ultimate outcome were not so vital to this country’s future. Handing the Democrats both the Legislative and Executive branches of government would be tantamount to giving the fox a boost over the henhouse fence.

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