At long last, Democratic presidential aspirant Barack Obama has resigned his
membership in the controversial Trinity United Church of Christ. It only
took him two decades to renounce his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah
Wright, despite Obama’s previous insistence that he could no more disown Wright
than his own grandmother. What a difference a few weeks can make! Time will tell
if this desperate move occurred too late to be of any real value to his
staggering candidacy.

Of course, there are cynical observers who will insist that Obama acted out
of pure political expediency rather than as the result of a genuine crisis of
conscience. The inflammatory racial rhetoric issuing from the pulpit of the
Trinity United Church of Christ seemed better suited to a beer hall meeting
than a house of worship, but the senator is a deliberate man not given to
making rash decisions. The fact that Hillary Clinton has hammered him in states
where white primary voters outnumbered minority voters had nothing at all to do
with Obama’s being thrown from his horse while on the road to Damascus (or
was it Denver?) and undergoing a miraculous late hour religious conversion.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was a guest sermon at Trinity which
was delivered by the Reverend Michael Pfleger, of St. Sabina’s Catholic parish,
who seemed to be speaking in tongues or using dialects last heard in radio
broadcasts of “The Amos and Andy Show” with Charles Correll and Freeman
Gosden doing the pontificating. It seems decidedly odd to listen to Pfleger
speaking. He has not only adopted slang expressions, but he sometimes tries to
mimic stereotyped African American speech patterns while delivering his sermons.
Strangely enough, none of these minstrel show antics upset Sun-Times
columnist Mary Mitchell, who ordinarily seems unable to write a column that does
not accuse anyone critical of Obama’s candidacy of being racially biased.
Mitchell found all of the hooting and hollering that occurred at the Trinity
United Church of Christ to be perfectly acceptable. She also favorably compared
the Reverend Pfleger to the fiery abolitionist John Brown. His clownish
behavior did not bother her in the least.

Initially, Cardinal Francis George issued a written statement condemning
Father Pfleger’s statements and reaffirming that it is inappropriate for priests
to engage in partisan politics by endorsing candidates from the pulpit. Given
Pfleger’s history of histrionics, I found myself longing for a more
authoritarian response from Cardinal George. After several days of discussions, the
Cardinal acted and Pfleger was placed on a “temporary” suspension for his
outrageous behavior. This decision was protested by Pfleger. As duly noted by
several other contributors to The Chicago Daily Observer, in a prior outburst,
Pfleger called for the owner of a licensed gun store to be hunted down “like
a rat” and snuffed out. Obama has longstanding ties to Pfleger. As a state
senator, Obama earmarked state funds to be used for social programs conducted
at St. Sabina’s.

In a simpler time, Democratic party activists had to worry and fret over “
bimbo eruptions,” but for Obama it has been a series of scandals related to “
pastor eruptions.” To a degree, I think that Obama’s belated effort to
distance himself from the Reverends Pfleger and Wright and the Trinity United Church
of Christ has more to do with trying to defuse the volatile issue now rather
than slugging it out until November. Opposition researchers have been
probing Obama’s background and his controversial associates and striking pay dirt
on an alarmingly frequent basis. The Obama campaign has had to try to
acknowledge the controversy and disavow it quickly and hope that it does not gain
currency with the voters. Few pundits ever imagined the incalculable harm that
the complaints of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth would effectively
paralyze the Kerry campaign for the duration of the 2004 election, but the committee
’s low budget commercials struck a chord that resonated. Obama faces a
similar challenge.

The truth has a way of coming out. Sometimes, it occurs rapidly. Sometimes,
it seeps out slowly. Obama and his advisors are hoping to run the clock out
before the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth surfaces. Who
knows? Stranger things have happened. Recently, Obama has tried to claim spousal
privilege in that he claims any criticism of his wife is off limits. Michelle
Obama has, of course, played an active role in his campaign beyond
participating in photo opportunities, trading cake and cookie recipes and attending
tea parties. In fact, she has created some controversies of her own. In
fairness, during the 1992 campaign, when Hillary Clinton was in the same position
as Michelle Obama is today the former Goldwater Girl was subjected to intense
media scrutiny. Mary Mitchell may not like it, but as I see Michelle Obama’s
activities are properly open to questioning.

Barack Obama promised to be the first post racial candidate and his
supporters urged us to believe his unifying campaign would transcend race. It has not
happened. Despite the constant political spin doctoring, The New York Times
admitted in a rare moment of candor that Obama has struggled to cross the
finish line. The Obama camp once derided the notion that super delegates would
be necessary for Clinton to secure the nomination and claimed that to rely
upon such delegates would be illegitimate. Now, of course, it is Obama who is
courting the super delegates to provide him with the winning margin since he
failed to win the prize outright, so it is alright to seek their support now.

As Obama prepares to declare victory, once again, something that his
campaign publicists have been doing for weeks and weeks, he seems to be unraveling.
The jury in the Tony Rezko trial are deliberating and a verdict may be
announced shortly. Contrary to Obama’s assertions, Clinton played a full nine
innings and put up some impressive numbers in the most recent primaries. The
closing contests were not simply a victory lap for Obama. He has been limping
since Super Tuesday. Clinton nearly erased his lead in the interim. Had the
Democratic National Committee not ruled in Obama’s favor as to the disputed
primaries conducted in Florida and Michigan, the game may have gone into extra
innings.

It remains to be seen if Obama is “damaged goods” as the political parties
assemble for their respective conventions and the start of the general
election campaign.

Daniel J. Kelley is a contributor to the Chicago Daily Observer.