St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

Jeremiah Wright has given several spirited and thought provoking interviews, talks and speeches. I have lots of disagreements with him, but I understand how he puts his logic together.

His presence in the media might cause a furor - people are wondering if his presence will harm the Obama campaign. But I suggest it will not hurt Obama. Because Wright and Obama will be revealed as two different people, in very different roles, the press will find it hard to attach the two.

Wright is doing a service to the country by talking about the black church. By fleshing out to white America the "family talk" within black churches, the country is invited to another level of discussion and potentially even deeper reconciliation. The white church had generally ignored the black church. Now the media has made black family talk a meme in the election. It was a long time coming. And this is good. It is time for whites to be confronted with the private thoughts of black America, and perhaps now - 50 years after Brown vs Board of Education, whites can handle it. I do believe that most really want to live into the multicultural dream, and have given up the intellectual notions of white supremacy. This is improvement. Now we can hear what we couldn't. By and large, whites have realized they have nothing to fear by blacks entering into public spaces.

I hope that Wright will continue to define himself. He'll look ridiculous for a while - but the media is diffuse enough that the monolith that is ABC or Fox News is now slowly challenged by people who do not trust that media. He'll be caricatured. He will also get even more respect because - God Bless Him - he just doesn't give a damn. What's great is that he doesn't even care if Obama becomes president or not.

Wright should continue to distinguish himself from Obama by explaining their different roles. When Wright says to Obama, "after the election I'm coming after you" the media will become clumsy - because they can't imagine a black pastor confronting a black politician - their own parishioner, no less. Wright won't be a whimp.

And Obama, for his part, should continue being clear about his own personal views, distinguishing between their roles, and critiquing Pastor Wright when necessary. But the distinguishing will be good for both men, and it will be good for America, and it will help, I believe, Obama's campaign.