Day Thirty-five, April 29

One of my favorite things about Obama is his willingness to stand up and say 'enough is enough'. In a way, this is one of the driving messages of his platform, his entire presidential campaign, the call to 'cut the crap, America' (but in much more eloquent terms). Whether it's the nation's desire for a speedy withdrawal from Iraq, to the flawed and failing No Child Left Behind Act, to politicians' opening their wallets to lobbyists and PACs, Obama knows when to quit. He has no problem with coming clean on these things out in the open, either. It's a rare and valuable quality in a politician. And perhaps today this is trait more pertinent than ever, as Obama has publicly denounced his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, for comments he made on Monday.

Saying he was "outraged and saddened" by Wright's recent comments, Obama has refused to stand by his spiritual leader since 1992. "The person I saw yesterday was not the person I met twenty years ago," he went on to say. The comments that the Senator is referring to occured Monday, when Wright suggested that it might have been possible that the U.S. Government engineered AIDS to harm the black community, and praising controversial Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan as "one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century". When Obama viewed the video of this speech for the first time this morning, he wasted no time in disavowing himself from such incendiary comments. "When I say I find these comments appaling, I mean it" Barack said today in a press conference. After watching yesterday's press conference (or reading this transcript), it's clear that Wright is making some pretty racially and religiously extreme comments in the media, without much fear of reprisal. Or, as my mom put it to me today discussing this week's development over the phone, "he's gone off the deep end." No kidding, mom. But did he jump so far off that he'll be bringing down the Obama campaign along with him? After Barack's prompt response today, hopefully not.

But many will wonder, is this merely a political tactic for Obama to regain (or avoid losing any more) clout with middle America? While he no doubt had this in mind while composing his responnse, after listening to the speech he gave today, this is surely a secondary consideration--or less--for Obama. In his somber, almost frustrated tone of voice, Barack seems to be wrestling with his conscience, suggesting just how much of he's put his personal life at stake by moving away from Reverend Wright like he has. But these are the words of a man who's fed up, not with having the limelight taken away from him, but with having the rants of a madman repeated as if they were his own.

One can only imagine what Wright's reaction to Obama's words will be, although we probably won't have to wait long to see just what he'll have to say, and how this will dampen the Obama campaign. The pastor has already done his damage, and the worst is probably behind us, we can be glad. But I think the courage that Barack has mustered to do this, to turn his back on an estranged , is a testament to his 'enough is enough' mentality. Wright has already spoken his piece several times over, and now there can be no doubt that he is not preaching for the most famous member of his church ever again.