To some degree, I guess most who read the papers or watch television have heard the latest flap about Sen. Barack Obama and his pastor, Jeremiah Wright. It seems that the 1960s’ black-militant-style Wright has a penchant for using his pulpit to pummel U.S. governmental policy and practice. His preachments have been all over the news. Of course, although it rankled some members of the black clergy, Sen. Obama immediately and soundly denounced Wright’s words.

Major media, however, will not let the story go. In fact, in time alone, it has eclipsed the tragic downfall of New York Gov. Spitzer and the $80,000 of somebody’s money he spent cavorting with a 22-year-old prostitute. In the meantime, to my knowledge, neither Sen. Clinton nor Sen. McCain has had anything to say about the media-stew Obama is in.

The interesting thing to me is that video clips I’ve seen of Wright’s pulpit tirades are from years and years ago. One must wonder why, so close to the important Pennsylvania primary, did this “news” emerge now. Also, whatever Wright may have said, he is not the candidate, and I do not believe it can be safely assumed that the real candidate, Sen. Obama, is just a blind follower.

Again, in view of Obama’s actions to denounce the minister’s rhetoric and to distance himself, what is the big deal? And don’t you wonder why Clinton and McCain are mum on the subject even though it seemingly hurts Obama’s campaign and helps theirs? With only my nose to rely on, I’d say something stinks about the whole thing. In addition, I’d be willing to bet that there are many Americans out there — black and white — who smell the same odor I do.

As I warned in a previous article, as we get closer and closer to the Democratic National Convention, things are likely to heat up. The campaigns have been nice-nasty up to now. Nevertheless, the Geraldine Ferraro and Jeremiah Wright incidents are an omen that things are likely to quickly drift away from “nice-nasty” to down and dirty. It would be funny if it were not so unfortunate.

Ferraro, for instance, who was one of Sen. Clinton’s campaign fund-raising advisers, claimed that if Obama wasn’t a black male from a single-parent family he would not even be running for president. I am pretty grown up, but I never knew that these two qualifications constituted some sort of advantage in politics — or in life, for that matter. Thanks for clearing me up on that one, Geraldine.

As to the facts that Sen. Obama is a top graduate of Harvard Law School, a brilliant campaign manager, a fighter for America’s unemployed and disenfranchised, and an eloquent speaker, Ferraro attributes all of this to luck. Of course, after enlightening America with these gems of wisdom, Sen. Clinton had no choice but to ask her to step down. Ferraro did step down but, apparently immune to any personal embarrassment for her goofball chatter, she enjoyed a brief moment as a media darling.

In the meantime, a host of real domestic, global and environmental challenges gets less than the scrutiny they deserve. Indeed, we have far more important things to consider than mouthy preachers, who said what, and media madness. These challenges include the economy, immigration, healthcare, the status of Social Security, the national debt, the threat of war, the energy crisis, unemployment, insane U.S. incarceration rates, the purity of our lakes, rivers, streams and drinking water, global warming, and on and on. In view of these challenges, we have no time to be distracted by media madness.

The next decade may well be the most important in the history of this country. The threats are many. The variables are uncertain. The future is cloudy. In this context, it is not about who will answer a telephone at 3 in the morning, it’s about who has the courage, intelligence, flexibility and vision to safely guide us into an era destined to bring challenging new relationships between all living things, the earth, the sea, and the sky.

Have a nice day!

Primus Mootry is an Anderson resident and a high school teacher.