PJ Media

“Barack, this is about a pathological minister whose uncontrolled anger wounds his own people and keeps them down.”

Well, you’re right.

But you also know full well that he can’t change the guy. Fact is, he gave Wright as severe a dressing-down as anyone could give an associate. It was on TV. It’ll be on the Internet forever. That’s about as embarrassing a repudiation as someone can get.

Yet Wright will still go on spouting that same rhetoric. Not at that church, for sure. He’s retired from there. But he’ll speak, and people will support him.

Here in Hoboken, we have a mayor who was indicted. When he got out of jail, there were block parties for him. He’s a scumbag, but there’s a community that’s declared him a hero, for reasons that are ineradicable. His relationship to certain members of this community are very much like Wright’s with his church.

So I am very familiar with the ‘what do you do about it’ aspect of all this. And I have to say, Obama has done about as much as I could ask him to. Wright will go on being Wright, and our ex-Mayor will live out his days on the money he swindled, and the Feds never found, in his rent-controlled, HUD-underwritten home.

At the end of the day, in the affairs of men, there is a limit to what you can do. And that limit is to take responsibility for yourself, apologize for others when that is your responsibility, and move on.

But you’re right, that church is crippled by that minister. Would they be better off if Obama had left that church years ago? What if Obama supported some other preacher to wrest control of that ministry, and a bloody fight for power ensued? Or how about if Obama took matters into his own hands, and ripped the ministry in half, saving those he could from Wright? And what if the people in charge of this new half had the same failings as Wright did?

The Bible actually contains guidelines for problem preachers, but at the end of the day it stresses unity above all. The solution offered is something that, frankly, sickens people. We are told to love the flawed. We are told that someone like Wright, who is an embarrassment, should be made less visible. But we do not know who in that church would have replaced him (though he IS in fact being replaced right now, so I guess we will find out). Maybe the church is full of Wrights, or maybe those who are more able are simply unwilling.

Few people WILL lead a church, you know. The pay is lousy, unless you’re crooked. The people will treat you as if you were their slave. They expect 24/7 access into your personal life. They will ask for favors. They will complain about the other parishioners. In fact – it’s exactly like running for office. Will you run for office, Mr. Simon? Of course not. That’s crazy. Well, now you know how churches wind up with guys like Wright. It’s one of those jobs damned few people want.

You’re right, though, Mr. Simon. That church does its members a disservice in many ways. I have seen too many like it.

But what, exactly, was Obama to do that would have left them in a better place? Leave, and join a flawless black church? All right, you’ll concede there is none. A “better” church, then? All right. When he leaves, though, are those people he left behind better off? Imagine what a voice of reason Obama must have been in that ministry over the years. Now, take that away from them. Imagine the far more radical church that results.

If there is a step by step answer to addressing these difficult problems, please offer them up. This is not the only dysfunctional social situation in the world. There are plenty of problem preachers, plenty of dysfunctional communities. They all need that magic touch, and I have no idea what it is. It’s enough for me – hell, it’s more than enough – that I should be responsible for my own actions.

I cannot ask of any man that he make those people around him perfect. I CAN ask, and pray, that a US President have some ability to do the best he can with what he is given. Our leadership in this world is pretty terrible. We cannot ask the next President to fix all that s wrong with this bitter, divided world. We can only ask him to please keep it from tearing itself apart. A man who can find common ground with both Wright and people like you and me, who would be appalled by Wright, might be a good choice for the job.