And gets what he asked for, though I doubt he'll be happy about it.
In an editorial in the LA Times today, Goldberg called on Barack Obama to use his speech in Philadelphia to distance himself from Rev. Jeremiah Wright, saying:
Obama needs to do two things. First, he needs to make it incandescently clear that Wright doesn't speak for him in any meaningful way. If he won't do that, his campaign is a fraud and he is not qualified to be president.
Second, he needs to explain to black America why Wright's views are so poisonous.
In his speech in Philadelphia today, Obama answered these demands from Goldberg saying:
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
Bam, in three paragraphs Obama answered Goldberg’s demands in terms far more eloquent than Goldberg himself could have. Not only that, but he gave one of the most compelling and honest discussion of race in America that I have ever seen, especially from a politician on the national level.
So who here thinks Goldberg will give credit where credit is due? Yeah, me neither.