The latest reverend to slink out of the ooze and perform before an audience is once again tarnishing Barack Obama. Not content to let FOX obsess about it, MSNBC and even PBS's News Hour showed clips last night of a Catholic priest giving a "guest" sermon at Obama's Chicago Church in which, among other things, he ridiculed Hillary Clinton. (Obama wasn't there to hear it, but when he saw the clips he strongly condemned what the priest said.)
And, honestly, what the priest said was completely over the top. I'm not going to repeat any of his rant, which every Catholic should find embarrassing. Certainly Obama found it offensive. Mark Shields, of the News Hour, was so horrified by it that he suggested Obama apologize to Hillary for the ridicule that this priest directed at her. I wouldn't go that far, in that this crazy man's ideas do not reflect anything Obama has ever said or stood for. And Obama had no part in this nonsense, nor was he even there to see it firsthand.
But I do think Obama needs to do two things. He needs to leave the Trinity United Church of Christ and publicly join another church, one that is much more subdued and dignified and thus matches his own demeanor. While all of the members of this congregation may not be radical, its ministers flirt with radical ideas and while this may have been okay when Obama was simply a state senator, it is not okay for him to be associated with anything radical or unseemly now that he is running for the highest office in the land. Furthermore, Obama is nothing like either of these ministers, has never spoken any of these ideas, or acted like either of these men, and he needs to find a church that will befit his dignity and not continue to embarrass and hurt him. He needs to do this without insulting the members of Trinity United, and with gratitude to them for their love and support.
He also needs to make a concerted outreach to women, starting with a speech in which he talks about gender issues and reaches out to Hillary's supporters. Perhaps he even needs to ask Hillary to be his vice presidential running mate (if only he can put Bill in cold storage for eight years) to heal the growing rift between his supporters and Hillary's supporters. Because this rift must be healed.
What started out as a primary season to be proud of – with a female candidate, African American candidate and Hispanic candidate within a larger democratic field – has turned into a nightmare of racist and sexist accusations. The fellowship once felt between women and African Americans in their parallel fights for equality, has been turned into a competition as the two populations line up behind different candidates. There were shades of this in the seventies, of course, when African American women felt the women's movement was primarily about white women and ignored the problems blackwomen encountered because of their race, but no one could have predicted that these two candidates would inspire such division among Democrats who have always been champions of both women's rights and minority rights.
This primary contest needs to be resolved now. The leaders of the Party need to exert their influence and Hillary and Barack need to sit down and end this growing animosity. They need to speak to their followers about unity and common cause, and turn the anger of their supporters in the right direction – against the horrible record of this administration and the man who wants to continue those policies for four more years. They need to speak against sexism and racism, apologize publicly for anything they or their surrogates or crazy ministers have said or done to fuel the fire, and start working together for the good of this country.
One of these days I'm going to write a long post about the dangers of religious and clerical involvement in our political campaigns and our government, one that is long overdue, but that post can wait. For now, we need to unite this party and Hillary and Barack must lead that effort. We can't afford to continue this fight any longer. We must have a nominee now and begin to heal so that we can all be on board to return the White House to Democratic hands. Because there is one thing for certain. Anyone who cares about civil rights and the rights of women, anyone who cares about stopping this war, anyone who cares about the health of our citizens and their access to health insurance, will be sorely disappointed by a John McCain presidency.
