Jeremiah Wright

Just how ugly is the 2012 campaign going to get?

WEEKEND ROUNDUP

Must-reads: Dan Gardner on gas prices and climate change; Terence Corcoran on the income gap; Daphne Bramham on women in Iraq; Colby Cosh on Albert Hofmann.

In recent days Pastor Jeremiah Wright resurfaced to give his version of the events which occurred in the past month. He made three important media interventions: one with Bill Moyers on PBS, another at the NAACP conference in Detroit and and yet another at the National Press Club in Washington. His goal was to set the record straight. He believes the media was unfair in its treatment of various excerpts from his post-9/11 sermons to the current campaign. Pastor Wright says he was quoted out of context and the media failed in its overriding obligation to be objective in the circumstances. His appearance on PBS was subdued and well balanced, and had he left it at that, we would all be acknowledging he was a victim of biased reporting and the impact of web 2.0 technology. His speech at the NAACP emphasized the theme that being different does not mean being deficient. His message was presented in a powerful and sometimes funny manner, which only confirmed a speaking style prone to ‘showboating.’ The event of the National Press Club, however, showed a much different picture. Pomposity, arrogance, condescension, and distortion dominated his intervention. It was a sad and sorry spectacle. His dismissive attitude to Senator Obama and what he represented provoked Obama’s later reaction.

What, am I the only one who now deems Jeremiah Wright’s every TV appearance to be must-see TV? Of course, George Will disapproves, but that’s what we pay him for. The gleeful demagogue’s appearance at the Washington National Press Club yesterday (official motto: “Unlike Canada’s National Press Club, we haven’t run ours into the ground”) was so full of spirit, rhetorical style, mischief and purpose it was riveting. (This isn’t that speech, but it’ll give you a taste of the man’s style, plus it gets extra bonus Detroit points.) (Ah. Here we are, with a chunk of the Washington speech.) Of course some of what he says makes your jaw drop, and of course any given sentence directly contradicts its neighbour, but if that was enough to disqualify a man from public service then Pierre Poilièvre and Peter Van Loan would be out of work.