Whether or not McCain scolds the use of this tactic, we will most surely be subjected — between now and Nov. 4 — to repeated reminders of the Father Pfleger/Revered Wright diatribes.
And with each reminder of Pfleger/Wright, Obama’s boosters will defend the Senator with their own reminder: He does not share those views.
In turn, Obama’s detractors will respond with a question, the same question they’ve asked whenever this debate has been engaged: “But Why didn’t Obama speak out sooner? What didn’t he denounce the Pfleger/Wright mentality earlier, before he was running for President?”
And each time that question is raised, I think it should be the responsibility of all reasonable people — pro-Obama or not — to respond, without hesitation or equivocation: “He did.”
In the book he published 13 years ago, before any of us knew his name, before his political career started, before he was a state senator or U.S. Senator or presidential nominee, Obama denounced and rejected militant black ideology. Yes, he chose to live and walk daily among the contradicitions within the black community, but he made it very clear which views he accepted and which he most certainly did not.
Steven Waldman outlines the facts of the matter. [H/t Andrew Sullivan.]
Do what you wish with Waldman’s essy, but for my part, I’m bookmarking it, printing it, copying it, and wallpapering my office with it. I have a feeling I’ll need to refer others back to it … again … and again … and again.