The Lamb & The Lion

If it was just him alone, it would not be about race. Barack Obama is not a threatening presence. To start with, he is one half white. He did not grow up in the inner city but in, of all places, Hawaii. He spent parts of three years working with local folk in Chicago. The rest of his career has been in places like Los Angeles (Occidental College), New York (Columbia), Boston (Harvard Law), Springfield, Illinois (state senator), and in Washington D.C. (U.S. Senator). He has a picture perfect family, with an accomplished beautiful wife, and two darling daughters. Throughout this long campaign, he has rarely, if ever, raised his voice or shown deep emotion. He is well spoken, self assured, and an excellent ambassador for the legions of young voters who have flocked to his cause.

The problem is that Barack Obama is not alone. And he has known that for a long time. When it came time to announce his candidacy, Obama went to great pains to keep his long time pastor, Jeremiah Wright, from blessing the occasion. Having spent around twenty years in Wright's UCC Chicago church, Obama must have had an inkling about the danger Pastor Wright might bring to his campaign. After scoring a long list of February victories over Hillary Clinton, the video (almost definitely dreaded by Obama) of some of Wright's more passionate sermons, came to public light. Denunciations of America, spoken in a violent manner that most white Americans have never been exposed to, have caused great concern among many voters.

People are not voting for Jeremiah Wright. They are casting votes for Barack Obama. But the clips of Wright have put the race card back into the election. Obama will never speak the way Wright does. He might never even agree with most of what Wright has been quoted as saying. But, he is linked forever more with the fiery preacher. And here lies the damning questions that may cause Obama the Democratic Party nomination and/or the general fall election.

Was Obama in the pews when Wright gave these sermons?
Was Obama exposed to the messages through friends, family, church tapes, etc.?
Why didn't Obama move away from Wright before this campaign began?
Why didn't Obama and his handlers realize the negative impact that Wright would have on the voting population?
Coupled with other missteps (i.e. Michelle Obama's supposed lack of pride in the U.S., Obama's "bitter" comments), would it be fair to say that Obama does not understand the concerns of the everyman?

Obama is the Lamb. He appears to be the gentle voice of reason in the dog eat dog world of politics. True or not, Pastor Wright is the Lion of black anger and identity politics that Obama was trying to avoid. The question now is how much of the public still buys the initial view of Obama that was on stage for so many months and how many will see him through the prism of the roaring Lion?