I'm sick of this Jeremiah Wright story

You know aside from the story about Gov. Spitzer, was the story about Jeremiah Wright. Rev. Wright is the outgoing pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ on the south side of Chicago. The controversy involves a number of things especially questions about whether this church is racist or not, but that's not the story this week.

The story this week was over some comments Wright made. These comments can certainly be seen as somewhat hateful or anti-American. These are comments that would give me pause and I'm certainly concerned that a man of the cloth would use such strong comments such as "god-damn America". A lot of his comments I wouldn't agree with certainly.

I also understand that he comes from a different generation. An activist generation that paved the way for the Barack Obamas of the world. Of course that generation may not be as apt to hear it as his generation was. Also note that Barack Obama is just young enough to have been involved in activism that led to the end of apartheid in South Africa in the early 1990s. Of course that's a whole other story.

If Barack Obama is to lead a new politics free of division then he would be correct to cast aside Rev. Wright in his quest for the White House. At the same time I understand that there are those elements out there that are uncomfortable with this old fiery preacher. I have no doubt that there are those uncomfortable with what Rev. Wright says especially if it involves the issue of race, though I'll be honest when I say I'm not that comfortable with it.

This week I saw this story beaten with a dead horse on FOX News Channel with Sen. Obama outright saying that he'd quit Trinity if he heard enough of the talk from the mouth of Jeremiah Wright. I would wish that Obama had never said that because the Senator obviously was inspired by his pastor. I would think it's a bit outrageous for anyone to expect him to dismiss a man who was such an important part of his life. I'm also sure that Wright respects a prominent member of his congregation enough to excuse himself from the campaign of said member if he turned out to be a problem.

All the same what's unfortunate is that Wright is a problem when a member of his congregation is seeking to become President of the United States. He's had a 40 year or better career in the ministry and I can't believe this is the first time he's been in the news. Even if he was perhaps it was never about what he said in a sermon. I wish I could tell you because I have never seen him in a news story.

BTW, I saw Obama's interview on Fox News last night during an episode of Hannity and Colmes. Sean Hannity seems to be the worst of the media beating on a dead horse. In addition to that he replayed an earlier interview with Rev. Wright when he appeared on Hannity and Colmes. Hannity always gives me a good reason to either not be a faithful watcher of Hannity and Colmes nor his syndicated radio program.

Also on FOX News, Bill O'Reilly interviews N'Digo publisher Hermene Hartman and a supporter of Barack Obama who wears dreadlocks. This segment was a drop-down drag-out brawl. Well I exaggerate but there was a lot of over talk in that segment. Of course Hartman and the Obama supporter support Wright and both said some things that confirmed some of O'Reilly's preconceived notions about where they stand. At the end of the interview Hartman invited O'Reilly to Trinity one Sunday with Billy O willing to accept the invitation.

You know what this is a dead horse. That's how I seem to look at this story. I'm sure that if there is a big picture to this perhaps Wright and Obama figured this out already when everyone else did. All I know is that this election has provided better soap operas than any other I have ever seen.