The Democratic nomination battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is becoming increasingly personal.
At the same time, the racial waters have boiled over following a report of incendiary remarks by the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Obama's former pastor. Wright is being criticized for past racially charged statements such as calling America the "U.S. of K.K.K.A."
To minimize the damage, Obama hit the airwaves with appearances on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, during which he rejected Wright’s "inflammatory" and "appalling" statements:
I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it’s on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.
As my friend Jonathan Tilove of Newhouse News Service writes:
Americans aren't good at talking about race under the best of circumstances. A presidential campaign may be the very worst, as partisans search not for truth, love or understanding, but for competitive advantage and the most sinister reading of each other's words and actions.
It all holds special peril for Obama. This is because, to the extent that we retreat to racial corners, there are a lot more white voters than black. And it's because the implicit appeal of Obama's groundbreaking candidacy was that he could carry America beyond the ugliness now engulfing the Democrats.
The race genie has been uncorked. It will take more than the "audacity of hope" to put it back in the bottle.
