Rev. Wright Show Goes On

Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. is making headlines again. In recent days, he was interviewed by Bill Moyers and delivered a speech before the Detroit Branch of the NAACP.

In an appearance before the National Press Club, Rev. Wright said:

Why am I speaking out now? In our community, we have something called playing the dozens. If you think I'm going to let you talk about my mama and her religious tradition, and my daddy and his religious tradition, and my grandma, you've got another thing coming.

In politics, words and associations are fair game. A reality that Barack Obama acknowledged on "FOX News Sunday":

The fact that he is my former pastor I think makes it a legitimate political issue. So I understand that.

Rev. Wright tried to put his inflammatory sound bites in context:

Well, let me try to respond in a non-bombastic way. If you heard the whole sermon, first of all, you heard that I was quoting the ambassador from Iraq. That's number one.

But, number two, to quote the Bible, "Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever you sow, that you also shall reap." Jesus said, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you. Those are biblical principles, not Jeremiah Wright bombastic, divisive principles.

He added:

God doesn't bless everything. God condemns something -- and d-e-m-n, "demn," is where we get the word "damn." God damns some practices.

Rev. Wright still doesn't get it: You can't contextualize "God damn America." For the overwhelming majority of Americans, God has blessed America. To suggest otherwise is anti-American and unpatriotic.

Rev. Wright may not have "trouble in mind" but his public reemergence spells trouble for Obama:

I think certainly what the last three days indicate is that we're not coordinating with him, right? He's obviously free to speak his mind, but I just want to emphasize that this is my former pastor. Many of the statements that he has made both to trigger this initial controversy and that he's made over the last several days are not statements that I've heard him make previously. They don't represent my views and they don't represent what this campaign is about.

Intentional or not, Rev. Wright is undermining Obama's efforts to woo white and blue-collar voters and close the deal.