Senator Clinton, it seems to me, has been presented with a wonderful opportunity to regain some of the high regard in which she was once held, and from which in recent months she has fallen with many people like myself. All she would need to do is to come out with a strong, public statement decrying Republican attacks on Barack Obama on the issue of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Were she to express some understanding of where the pastor's fiery words might come from, and to support Obama's powerful utterances on race in America instead of muttering about how she, righteously, would have shunned this pastor's church, she would do much to rehabilitate herself with those of us who believe that Wright was right in substance, if infelicitous in tone. If she were now to side unambiguously with her own party instead of the Republican candidate on this issue, she would demonstrate to Americans a good faith that has been singularly lacking in her campaign of late.
Alas, I think the opposite is likely: my guess is that she will use the opportunity of Reverend Wright's re-emergence, with his appearance on Bill Moyers tonight, to cast more stones. Not having seen the interview, I'm holding my fire about its content, but the network media seem content to let loose before it airs. I do plan to watch...
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