obama dances…a little

if you’ve read my previous posts about my feelings concerning the black blogosphere’s opinion on obama, you know that i’m in full support of the senator. i’ve seen him speak, i’ve met him in person, and although i haven’t read his book, i like his message. i listened to his podcasts, i’ve read his emails, and i feel what he says is very genuine.

to my surprise, however, i found a recent article in the new york times about obama’s disinvitation to reverend jeremiah wright jr regarding the invitation to speak at his presidential coming out party. not only is rev. wright obama’s spiritual mentor, but he is also the pastor of trinity united church of christ in chicago that plays host to oprah winfrey and other ‘important people’.

so what is this about?

well, let’s review. the senior pastor has been given the scarlett letter by conservatives as ‘racially exclusive’ and ‘wrong’. he also has met with controversial col. muammar el-qaddafi with farrakhan in 1984. seeing as how obama just came from his talks with jewish leadership, the stage is set for obama’s rock and hard place.

obama’s spokesman responded

“Senator Obama is proud of his pastor and his church, but because of the type of attention it was receiving on blogs and conservative talk shows, he decided to avoid having statements and beliefs being used out of context and forcing the entire church to defend itself.”

while it’s easy to get into the black-ball politics that will undoubtedly come from this story, the senior pastor also spear-headed the million man march in 1995 and was the first to speak about apartheid while supporting gay and lesbian worshipers.

so why the backstep?

as i thought about it (and discussed it), i can empathize. obama’s spirtuality is a choice. the elements involved with that choice, including his church and pastor are important to him, as it is important to those parties involved. what people often forget, however, is that being thrust into leadership and public spectacle does not afford the same rights that personal choice implies. while it would be nice for all who know him and ‘knew him back then’ to be able to latch arm-in-arm and say that ‘he represents me and i represent him’, the reality is that leadership requires a broader perspective. in fact, i dare say it demands a worldly perspective. while anyone can point and criticize and call him a sellout to a certain audience, the reality of knowing how to play the game to CHANGE the game is something all black leaders face.

he hasn’t hid his spirtuality. he hasn’t distanced himself publicly from the church. he politically stated to rev. wright, in person, the reality of playing politics.

democrats cannot be afraid to mudsling with the conservative white boys. the pig pen has been laid and we cannot criticize the man who aims to clean the pen by saying he hasn’t acknowledged who gave him his stick. he has to dance and he will dance. let’s just let the song finish before we throw our arms up.

obama ‘08.

[updated 3/22] hat tip to jb1125. apparently the new york times journalist was COMPLETELY off-base and pulled the ol’ bill o’reilly on pastor wright. i encourage all to read his response to the article here (pdf). it begins on page 10 of bulletin.