Lavery-log

While talking about the upcoming election with friends awhile ago, I heard something alarming. Two of them—both Democrats—said that they would not be voting for Sen. Barack Obama, even though they liked his politics. Instead, they weren’t going to vote for him because of his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.

“I don’t want a president who listens to someone who’s racist,” one said.

The media, it seems, has had a field day examining the controversial pastor and Obama’s ties to him. News outlets have jumped at the chance to cover past remarks Wright has made; they have jumped at the chance to cover Obama’s response to these remarks; they have jumped at the chance to scrutinize the two’s relationship and Obama’s opinion of him.

On March 16 in The New York Times, a story ran with the headline “Obama Denounces Statements of His Pastor as ‘Inflammatory.’” On March 6, Jodi Kanter said in The Times that “some black leaders are questioning Mr. Obama’s decision to distance his campaign from Mr. Wright because of the campaign’s apparent fear of criticism over Mr. Wright’s teachings, which some say are overly Afrocentric to the point of excluding whites.” CNN ran extensive coverage of the issue. Fox News, not surprisingly, ran even more.

And while it could be argued, I suppose, that it is worthy to discuss a presidential hopeful’s opinion of “reverse-racism,” I could never imagine such scrutiny about other politicians’ religious pasts. For others—who enjoy non-controversial middle-names and cookie-cutter, idealized-“American” religious histories—I could never imagine such analysis.

Has the media ever dissected George W. Bush’s former pastors? What if they held views that were misogynistic? Racist? Would the media—or the American public—even care?

Obama’s middle name is Hussein. He has taken controversial steps as a presidential hopeful—not wearing an American flag lapel pin, for example. And, as a result, the media has taken every opportunity to fill space and time by giving extensive and incessant coverage of his religious past.

After making a heated speech about Sen. Hillary Clinton, one which quickly made its way onto heavy rotation at CNN and Fox News, Wright was officially taken off of Obama’s campaign.

So even though, for now, Obama’s ties to Wright have been publicly severed, I’m not convinced the media will stop making the issue seem significant.