Wright, the race issue won't leave Obama alone

Jeremiah Wright appeared to be smiling slyly when he mentioned the rich history, the splendid tradition, and the "significant majority" of blacks in the American church.

In other words, not everything this spokesman tells you is as simple as it first sounds. With much criticism directed at him - ever since his harsh statements against America came to light due to his long connection to Democratic presidential hopeful Barak Obama - Wright has interpreted such criticism as slamming the black church. It's not personal, rather communal.

He also had hopes: Perhaps following this exposure, there would be more interest in the theology of the black church and in its leader.

"The Invisible Institution" is what Obama's former pastor called his church. This was not his original expression, but one which expresses an incontestable fact: Only a few whites acknowledge the existence of the black church as being a parallel and separate universe. Even fewer understand it. Whether or not this was his intention, Jeremiah Wright is currently the most well-known spokesman of the institution.

Speaking at a press conference in Washington on Monday, Wright's speech was aired live by several networks, as if he was a leading politician. Wright appeared to enjoy and to be amused by this position.

And this time around, he did not hold back in attacking his critics: "My goddaughter's unit just arrived in Iraq this week while those who call me unpatriotic have used their positions of privilege to avoid military service while sending over 4,000 American boys and girls to die over a lie," he said.

He reminded the audience that those same people now question his American patriotism.

Almost 20% of people polled in a "Newsweek" survey said they do not believe that a black candidate could be elected to the U.S. presidency. This is a high percentage, although considerably lower than that before Barak Obama became the leading candidate of the Democratic party.

Do you suspect that white voters who say they have no problem voting for a black candidate are not telling the truth? - asked the poll. Here lies the crux of a persistent problem: More than half of those polled are of the opinion that those white voters who would vote "black," have a degree of hidden hesitation about doing so.

This phenomenon - of voters who say they will vote for a black candidate but in practice, don't actually do so - has a name and an address: "The Bradley Effect." Tom Bradley, the incumbent Los Angeles mayor, ran for governor of California 25 years ago. Throughout his campaign, he seemed to be leading in all polls taken, including on the actual election day. The polls exaggerated his lead to the extent that several television networks even pronounced him the winner.

In reality, Tom Bradley lost. White voters who reportedly supported Bradley, or were considered to be "swing" votes, abandoned him at the ballot box. In the Democratic Party, many are fearful of a similar occurrence in November should Obama be the party's candidate - and the results of the Pennsylvania primary only exacerbated these suspicions.

Hillary Clinton won in Pennsylvania by a little less than a 10 percent margin - but in the battle for white votes, her victory was quite impressive. More than 60 percent of whites voted for her, and less than 40 percent voted for Obama (the final results showed that the Jewish constituency votes were almost identical to the white votes - 62 percent for Clinton and 38 percent for Obama). Eighteen percent of voters said that Obama's skin color influenced their votes. Those who anticipate an Obama win in North Carolina next week base this forecast on the high number of black voters in the state.

Obama was quoted as saying this week that race was not a "determining factor" in the election. Not everyone was convinced. Race was a factor in the struggle between him and Senator Hillary Clinton, ever since former president Bill Clinton scathingly dismissed Obama's early victory in South Carolina, comparing him to the black candidate Jesse Jackson in the 1980's.

In the face of suspicions that white racism will hurt Obama's chances, there are also fears that a Clinton win might disappoint black voters, alientaing them from elections come November. This is a trap with no clear way out: For over 30 years no Democratic candidate has succeeded in winning the majority of white votes in America. In other words: Without massive support from black voters - there cannot be a Democratic victory.

The timing of the pastor's speech Monday was somewhat uncomfortable for Obama. Wright brought an issue back to the political arena that is neither effective nor useful to Obama's campaign. Perhaps his speech won't affect the North Carolina primary, where both Obama and Clinton appeared Monday. However, in the battle for white Indiana, a significant state also voting next Tuesday, Obama's chances can only be hurt by Wright.

"Newsweek" found that more than 40 percent of the voters formed a negative opinion of Obama after Wright's speech. The Obama campaign staff sent Susan Rice, its top representative, to television networks in order to respond. She said that Wright's address did not reflect the candidate's position. Apparently, the black pastor was not moved. It was not in his job description, he said, to debate the petty thoughts of politicians.

In any event, it appears that Wright actually did have such thoughts. At moments he came off as mocking and somewhat vain, but made an effort to soften the hardliner perception his speech had left behind. He was also asked about his views on Israel. "Apartheid?" he asked, adding that Jimmy Carter used this term, not him.

Israel, Wright said, "has a right to exist". His only desire was that the Israelis and Palestinians live in peace. He made no reference to the sermon in which he connected the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the September 11th attacks, but he did make sure to emphasize his "Jewish friends". As it turns out, Jeremiah Wright also has a couple of those.