Jeremiah Wright

by tristero

If you haven't seen Bill Moyers' interview with Jeremiah Wright, go now and see both parts. You will encounter a very remarkable man, highly intelligent, articulate, charismatic - it's easy to see how someone as smart as Obama would find him so compelling.

You will also encounter someone entirely bereft of false modesty - or any other kind. To his credit, however, Wright appeared to have at least some genuine insight into his flaws (or lapses of character, or whatever you want to call them) and that adds to his considerable attractiveness. Most striking, and frankly refreshing if you have ever seen the likes of Pat Robertson speak, is Wright's refusal to play holier than thou. He comes across as human, if somewhat larger than life. In other words, he's not some cheesy plastic replicant out of a fifties fantasy of what America should be.

If the man who spoke to Moyers - and who's shown in long excerpts (for tv, that is) of his sermons - is who Jeremiah Wright really is, the rightwing likely has committed a spectacular blunder in trying to demonize him - and by extension, Obama. The more opportunities given Wright to reach a national audience, the harder it will be to counteract him, let alone brand him as some America-hating black power radical. So, as far as I'm concerned, the more the right wants to make an issue out of him, the better. He really is that powerful, and positive, a presence (and for a variety of reasons, I was predisposed to think exactly the opposite).

I really shouldn't need to say so, but I will anyway, that all is this is prefaced on the Jeremiah Wright persona which he showed to Moyers being who Wright is - smart, intellectual, socially active, religious, with a quick temper and a sense of grandiosity. I hardly know anything more about him. But what I saw was very impressive and made me want to learn more.

Anyone who has some substantive information on Wright - not mere reactions to the soundbites, which are utterly misleading - please drop in for some comments. Good, bad, or indifferent - who is he?

UPDATE: Some folks in comments are of the opinion that Wright should take a vacation, that he's harming Obama with more soundbites. Oh? Well, maybe he will say something stupid and I'll regret this but... It around time the press got used to liberals speaking out, too. You have to start somewhere and at sometime and with someone. When, when, and who would be better?