Obama's Damned Spot

Barack Obama should accept the fact that the matter of his close relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright is an issue that's not going away.

Obama chose to make the Trinity United Churh of Christ his spiritual home. He chose Wright to be his spiritual mentor. He financially supported the church with tens of thousands of dollars.

That 20-year period of bad judgment by Obama won't and shouldn't be forgotten.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday sought to quell concerns over anti-American remarks by his former pastor, saying people are paying too much attention to a small number of "stupid" comments.

Obama gave a sweeping speech on race last week in which he condemned incendiary remarks by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but the words of the former pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago continue to dog the candidate. Reflecting the campaign's concern about the fallout, Obama used a question about religion at a town hall forum as an opportunity to address the issue.

"This is somebody that was preaching three sermons at least a week for 30 years and it got boiled down ... into a half-minute sound clip and just played it over and over and over again, partly because it spoke to some of the racial divisions we have in this country," Obama told an audience in this central North Carolina city.

"There are misunderstandings on both sides," the Illinois senator said. "We cannot solve the problems of America if every time somebody somewhere does something stupid, that everybody gets up in arms and forgets about the war in Iraq and we forget about the economy."

On Tuesday, Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, weighed in directly, saying: "I think that given all we have heard and seen, he would not have been my pastor."

Hillary obviously has reason to declare that she would not have accepted a man like Wright as her pastor.

I think what's more important is how many voters share the opinion that Wright is not a pastor that they would have ever considered embracing -- for 20 YEARS.

What Wright said wasn't just stupid. It was far worse. It was pure hate. Nonetheless, Obama is trying to dismiss his pastor's words.

That has the effect of making Obama seem out of touch and out of step with the American people.

He doesn't seem to get it.