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He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin-roof shack. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words.
People are coming together around a simple truth - that we are all connected, that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper. Religious leaders like my friends Rev. Jim Wallis and Rabbi David Saperstein and Nathan Diament are working for justice and fighting for change. Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. That is one option. Not this time. You make a big election about small things.
More to do for the father that I met who was losing his job and choking back the tears, wondering how he would pay $4,500 a month for the drugs his son needs without the health benefits that he counted on. It wasn't until after college, when I went to Chicago to work as a community organizer for a group of Christian churches, that I confronted my own spiritual dilemma. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words - within our borders, and around the world.
But what I will not do is suggest that the Senator takes his positions for political purposes. We did not go by choice, we went because of necessity.
Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. He does not say health care or the economy. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work.
God bless you.