All's Not Wright with Obama

Though I'm not an Obama supporter, I do admire him and, consequently, feel sorry for him as the Rev. Wright stuff has dominated the news of the last few days. Of course I do find it hard to understand how some of Wright's positions and statements could have come as a surprise to Obama--could this really be a completely different side of Wright than Obama has encountered over the last twenty years? Yet still, I can understand how Wright and Obama may share a common understanding of some of the problems occupying American (esp. black) while dividing over how to frame those issues and what solutions to offer.

Clearly Wright is taking a more divisive approach while Obama, whether because of temperment or ideology, wants to provide unification in moving forward toward solutions. It's possible that what came across in their past dealings was a mutual agreement that these problems do exist, but, either because Wright didn't listen or because Obama didn't offer (Wright, after all, was the superior in the context of their relationship), Obama's more measured policy solutions were not understood by Wright. This does not seem improbable to me. And I do not hold Obama responsible for Wright's rhetoric.