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Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. (AP)
Last update - 18:18 19/03/2008
Obama at oratorical best, but Wright saga still not over
By Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Barack Obama, Israel, U.S. 
Presidential hopeful says can no more disown minister who 'damned' U.S. than can 'disown the black community.'

Barack Obama continues to insist he is not naive. This indeed is what many fear as they hesitate about whether to vote for the Democratic presidential hopeful. He is certainly a liberal candidate, his advisors assert, but far from a dangerously naive one - in connection to the Middle East, and also regarding the fateful question of his skin color.

On Tuesday, for the first time, the Democratic presidential hopeful spoke about this at relative length - a late, although apparently unavoidable, product of the "Wright affair."

The harsh remarks by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the minister to whose church Obama belongs, continue to haunt the Illinois senator. Obama spoke in Philadelphia on Tuesday at the height of his rhetorical prowess, while walking on eggshells: "I can no more disown [Wright] than I can disown the black community."
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He disagrees with the minister's opinions, but cannot spurn a man who has accompanied him for many years. "I have never," he said "been so naive as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle."

Some three weeks ago, at an event on the eve of his defeat to Hillary Clinton in the Ohio elections, former U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer climbed onto the speeding Obama bandwagon and became his supporter and advisor.

Quite a busy man, with his new book "Negotiating Arab-Israeli peace" out in stores, the former envoy is a sort of a decoder for Obama's future intentions toward our region. Kurtzer is a statesman accustomed to the serious discussion of problems in the Middle East, not in political altercations.

On Monday, however, when he represented Obama before a Jewish audience -at an assembly of the United Jewish Communities (UJC) young leaders group - Kurtzer found himself embroiled in just such an altercation.

While the Middle East and Israel were up for discussion, the former envoy was diverted by the audience to other pressing issues on the agenda. One of these, for example, was the exposure of the extreme language that Wright has used, which brought the Obama campaign its most severe crisis to date. As such, this certainly has a special meaning in front of a Jewish audience. Wright spoke against America, and against Israel.

The objects of the minister's esteem also undoubtedly would not be received well by this crowd: Louis Farrakhan, an open American anti-Semite, and the Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi. In any event, the "Wright crisis" is no longer just a crisis in relations between Obama and the Jewish community. The whole of America is reflecting today on the ties between the candidate and his spiritual leader.

And Kurtzer is stuck in the middle. He reminds the audience that Obama has already spoken, and already announced that he does not agree with Wright. He also mentions that this is not the first affair, nor the first slur.

Kurtzer also told the audience that there are "nagging doubts, there are e-mails, there are innuendos: These are the kinds of things which we [Jewish-Americans] as a community have suffered over the years at the hands of anti-Semites." By doing so, Kurtzer is attempting to characterize Obama as a victim, not an aggressor.

This claim is backed perhaps by a few previous incidents, but not in this instance. In the Wright affair, Obama is in real trouble. This is the reason for Tuesday's Philadelphia speech - an address whose main subject was the race question, but part of which also directly relating to his observers in the Middle East.

Obama described, in an enrapturing manner, Wright's position as expressing "a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam."

This was a hard week for the candidate, although his campaign staff hopes that the storm will pass. Such is the nature of campaigns - today's drama is quickly replaced by that of tomorrow. If Obama is lucky, this will be an affair relating to his rival Hillary Clinton.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton was represented at the UJC assembly by her senior advisor Ann Lewis. Republican John McCain also had a representative: former U.S. secretary of state Lawrence Eagleburger. In their appearances, the trio reflected each candidates' abilities wonderfully, almost as if they had been coordinated beforehand.

Kurtzer was quiet and pensive, at times disconnected, or it at least appeared so. Lewis was methodical, mechanical, and to the point; although uninspiring and frugal with her use of humor. Eagleburger was lively, short-tempered and scathing. He branded the Christian right-wing of his party as a serious problem. Speaking of the Baker-Hamilton report on Iraq, to which he contributed, the former secretary of state said he made a mistake.

It may be that the mistake was in fact McCain's. A presidential campaign needs to be safeguarded from the way in which Eagleburger's tongue wags. If one needs evidence for the problems these spokespeople are liable to cause, Obama himself has provided that. Over past fortnight he has been forced to distance from his campaign Samantha Power, a close friend and important advisor. Now he is preoccupied with Wright's remarks.

One can feel a degree of sympathy in both instances, for in both Obama was forced to distance himself from people who had a real influence on him. And in both instances the brutal superficiality of the election system has been forced on complex human situations.

In one incident, Power did indeed speak "off the record," even if the newspaper was technically correct in publishing her comments. In the second incident she simply told the truth, that Obama can promise to leave Iraq - but may not necessarily keep that promise.

The case of Wright is also not clear and simple, as Obama attempted to explain on Tuesday. The extent to which he succeeded in doing so will be clear when the dust settles.

It is possible that Obama made a mistake by maintaining contact with Wright. But this is a mistake that clearly stems from Obama considering short-term political advantages, disadvantages and reservations over some of the pastor's positions against his esteem, loyalty, long person connection and social obligations to the man.

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      1.   The "Black Candidate" 15:55  |  MIKE 19/03/08
      2.   Shmuel,what he said was I can no more disown Pastor Wright,than I 16:16  |  lakshmi 19/03/08
      3.   in trouble 16:44  |  al 19/03/08
      4.   Wright and Obama 16:45  |  Ken Levy 19/03/08
      5.   Obama`s speech twenty years too late 17:08  |  Mark Jeffery Koch 19/03/08
      6.   I`M GLAD 17:23  |  indrajaya 19/03/08
      7.   It`s disgraceful Obama has to apologize for Rev Wright`s truth 17:31  |  Dutch 19/03/08
      8.   Obama attempts to shift focus from his 20 year association with 17:37  |  Pssd off American. 19/03/08
      9.   Ken Levy - More than sheep who blindly follow 17:43  |  Pablo B 19/03/08
      10.   I get the impression 17:45  |  English Resident 19/03/08
      11.   Why read this pap? 18:05  |  Yoel 19/03/08
      12.   I expect better from Ha`aretz 18:14  |  david 19/03/08
      13.   the regular venom spewing left on this talkback 18:18  |  Bob 19/03/08
      14.   #4 Ken Levy...sounded a whole lot like hatred to me 18:19  |  Lynn 19/03/08
      15.   Obamamania is a sick cult 18:21  |  Disgusted 19/03/08
      16.   Bob`s KKK 18:21  |  Pablo B 19/03/08
      17.   CORRECTION Mark Jeffery Koch, not Ken Levy 18:28  |  Pablo B 19/03/08
      18.   Glibness over integrity 18:33  |  Voice of Reason 19/03/08
      19.   # 14, LYNN 18:35  |  indrajaya 19/03/08
      20.   Pablo B, actions speak louder than words 18:51  |  Bob 19/03/08
      21.   #7 - I have no idea what you are talking about 18:55  |  redmike 19/03/08
      22.   #14, Lynn 18:59  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 19/03/08
      23.   #3 - you demonstate a complete misunderstanding of the issues 19:02  |  redmike 19/03/08
      24.   # 19 INDY...I usually wait and listen to the 19:06  |  Lynn 19/03/08
      25.   # 16 Pablo`s KKK... 19:10  |  Lynn 19/03/08
      26.   No problem, Pablo B 19:11  |  Ken 19/03/08
      27.   reply to obamamania is a sick cult 19:11  |  eileen 19/03/08
      28.   #6 INDY...I have replied three times to your posts 19:15  |  Lynn 19/03/08
      29.   Lynn, on Haaretz censhorship nowadays 19:29  |  Mark B. 19/03/08
      30.   Obama is innocent, but Wright is an agitator. 19:30  |  Fortuna Benmayor 19/03/08
      31.   the question is 19:37  |  Harry 19/03/08
      32.   #14 Say Cupcake, Lynn 19:37  |  ballistic 19/03/08
      33.   another man 19:38  |  Harry 19/03/08
      34.   kahn and the JDL 19:40  |  wh 19/03/08
      35.   On Hatred - to Lynn (14.) 19:43  |  Ken Levy 19/03/08
      36.   2 wrongs do not make a right, but just 1 Wright makes a wrong. 19:44  |  common sense 19/03/08
      37.   #15 Say Disgusted 19:45  |  ballistic 19/03/08
      38.   #24, Lynn 19:58  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 19/03/08
      39.   #38 Say Cipora 20:19  |  ballistic 19/03/08
      40.   Obamamania 20:24  |  Eileen 19/03/08
      41.   Reply to Post #5 ( Mr.Koch ) 20:28  |  Tod Zuckerman 19/03/08
      42.   Associating with our imperfect co-religionists - to Harry (31.) 20:33  |  Ken Levy 19/03/08
      43.   #40 a Shining Example 21:10  |  Disgusted 19/03/08
      44.   say ballistic, since when you`ve become a talmudic scholar? 21:10  |  Bob 19/03/08
      45.   Disqualify Jews from office for Rabbi Dov Lior`s statements 21:14  |  Pablo B 19/03/08
      46.   Bob - a few minutes of video does not equal 20 years 21:22  |  Pablo B 19/03/08
      47.   Obama is finished; Democrats face Catch 22 21:23  |  Joel Stein 19/03/08
      48.   #42, Ken, why come up with poor excuses? 21:23  |  Bob 19/03/08
      49.   # 32 Wormwood...back from vacation with 21:24  |  Lynn 19/03/08
      50.   You ain`t seen nothing yet!! 21:27  |  US Citizen 19/03/08
      51.   #25 Lynn - baning candidates based upon religious leaders 21:41  |  Pablo B 19/03/08
      52.   Obama is finished; Democrats in Catch-22 22:06  |  Joel Stein 19/03/08
      53.   Obama 22:16  |  JJ 19/03/08
      54.   Obama`s Hypocrisy 22:21  |  MIKE 19/03/08
      55.   Pablo B., another racism apologist 22:24  |  Bob 19/03/08
      56.   #51, Pablo B. lies, lies, and more lies 22:31  |  Bob 19/03/08
      57.   Obama diagnosed with incurable disease: ED "Electile" Dysfunction 22:31  |  Dr. (Angry as hell) 19/03/08
      58.   52 Agreed. I came to the same conclusion last week. 22:35  |  another democrat 19/03/08
      59.   Thank to all INDRAJAYAS of the World! 22:37  |  Wizclique 19/03/08
      60.   # 38 Cipora JK 22:37  |  Lynn 19/03/08
      61.   #55 #56 Bob wants to destroy religions 22:59  |  Pablo B 19/03/08
      62.   Reply to Pablo 23:02  |  Mark Jeffery Koch 19/03/08
      63.   not over 23:04  |  Shmuelshachor 19/03/08
      64.   Oratory,however rated,won`t save Obamas backside. 23:05  |  bill gordon 19/03/08
      65.   Election 23:16  |  Bob M 19/03/08
      66.   #60, Lynn 23:16  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 19/03/08
      67.   Re: 42, Ken Levy 23:19  |  Harry 19/03/08
      68.   No excuses indeed. 23:23