Marty Peretz On Obama And Wright

A big heart; a gracious piece. Some believe that in the Obama candidacy, there is more at stake than others do. Like Marty, I am still open to supporting McCain this fall, primarily because of character and decency. Hagee and Falwell should not be ignored; but nor should they be dispositive. Iraq is in a terrible, near-impenetrable flux and how McCain and Obama respond to its shifting levels of crisis in the coming months will tell us a lot about the enormous burden of the presidency in the wake of the Bush-Cheney disaster. And how they respond to the economic clouds will be fascinating too.

But like Marty, I find something deeply rotten in the state of the Clintons, and know in advance that they cannot be trusted and will not respond genuinely to events or candidly to democracy. Like Marty also, I am not prepared to dismiss all that Obama is and represents because of the ugly intemperance of a preacher whose context is wide and complex, some of whose statements are simply indefensible, and many have been sincere and prophetic.

This election, I feel, is less and less about ideology. It is more and more about conscience and judgment. Keep examining yours and I will try to keep examining mine. There is a long way to go.