The Maverick Tribe

...will be the controversy over Reverend Jeremiah Wright.  I'm concerned about this.  I knew that Obama's church was a little fringy, but i didn't realize that its preacher would be wishing damnation on the United States, or firebreathing about "rich white people".  When Obama says he never saw any of this stuff, you have to give him the benefit of the doubt, but boy is there doubt.  Obama's denunciation of Louis Farrakhan was a tad too circumspect to me, but I chalked it up to his communitarian temperament.  Had Obama witnessed this kind of speech from his pastor -- in church, mind you -- would he have confronted Wright?  It seems amazing to me that Obama's spiritual advisor could say these things in any venue and still catch Obama unawares.

The depressing thing about this is the extent to which it undermines Obama's unifying message.  This isn't a black eye, this is arson.