The "Let's Put This Behind Us" Speech

I'm not going to pick apart, line by line, Obama's speech from Tuesday. It's clear that he's trying to take positive steps to put the Rev. Wright issue to rest, so he can get back on his message and refocus his campaign, and everyone watching it, on his presumed nomination.

I can't fault the guy for wanting this issue off his list -- race is so divisive, so emotional, and often such an irrational issue it's sometimes better just avoided. Can we really avoid racial issues in America? Sadly, no. But given the choice would a candidate who is trying to paint himself as having broad appeal want to focus on them? Oh no not at all. And as I said, I don't blame him for that.

What I'm concerned about is Obama's admission that he was present when Wright made some of his incendiary comments. When this first came up, Obama was adamant that he'd never heard any of the nasty comments now readily available on YouTube, and now he's backed-off from that, saying that he had heard some things that people might find objectionable. What's the deal? Did he have an inkling that Wright was a bomb-throwing racial opportunist with nutty conspiracy theories? Did anything that might make Obama think that Wright was anything less than a great "spiritual advisor," and great theologian?

At first, the answer to those questions was NO. Now the door is ajar...and again, if Barack is so smart, so perceptive, so enlightened...why didn't any of those objectionable comments that he now admits he was there for (without, of course, providing specifics -- but isn't that Obama's stock in trade?) lead him to look deeper? After 20 years? PLEASE.

You can't be both a transcendent genius and a thick-headed lunk at the same time. I don't think he's either. But I do think he's a liar.