Obama, Farrakhan, Double Standards

Now, there's a new bar for Obama to meet: Abraham Foxman now demands that Obama leave his own church because his preacher has all sorts of crazy views that relate to politics. Examining Jeremiah Wright's theology as it has influenced Obama's thinking seems to me to be interesting and even important. And Obama will have to take some lumps for it. But demanding someone leave their own church because of some political views espoused by their pastor seems a bit over-the-top to me. David Bernstein doesn't go that far but he argues it is not enough for Obama to condemn Farrakhan, as he has, nor to condemn Wright for things he has said directly related to the campaign, as he has, but to condemn Wright for his church-sponsored magazine's kind words for Farrakhan. I don't think this kind of pressure has any logical end - except for where Foxman wants to go. And Obama should resist being pushed around.

I should add, contra Bernstein, that I think it's fair to criticize candidates when they are endorsed by a religious figure on the campaign trail, when they have a religious figure hold a campaign fundraiser for them, or when, as in Giuliani's case, they employ a priest credibly charged with child molestation. But holding a candidate answerable for everything a magazine sponsored by his church says unrelated to the campaign is a step designed purely to sling the smear of anti-Semitism onto someone whose life and career has been transcending racial and religious barriers, not deepening them.