A reference to Wright? Doubtful — the ugly-head-raising he has in mind has been happening “over the last several weeks,” a timeline which would seem to point away from kindly Rev. Jeremiah and towards … who? Hillary? The GOP? Or the great mysterious They that’s forever trying to engineer race-hate, lately through the appalling practice of criticizing Barack Obama for shrugging off his spiritual guru’s rhetorical poison for 20 years? By caring that he’s bosom buddies with a hate merchant, you’re letting Them win — and he simply “will not allow us to lose this moment.” So here’s six minutes on MLK, RFK, and why it’s so important not to let the project of American unity be sidetracked by pausing to wonder how seriously he takes that project when he’s not busy running for president. The transcript’s here if you can’t spare the time. Consider it a refinement on Kaus’s post from this morning: Not so much “if it offends you, I condemn it!” as “if it offends you, you’re standing in the way of progress!”

Two lines to watch out for: His reminder that there is no “white America,” a point on which he once seemed to take a different view if Newsmax is to be believed, and the importance of speaking out forcefully “when people say things like my former pastor said.” By “when,” I can only assume he means, “within 20 years, assuming it’s politically convenient to do so.”

Update: As much as some of the left might wish it were so, it’s not just the wingnuts who find this problematic.

Update: I’m not accusing him of not finding Wright divisive; clearly he does or else he wouldn’t have been all over cable last night denouncing the sermons. I’m saying that, given how old the sermons are, his emphasis on “the last several weeks” means Wright’s obviously not one of the dark “forces” he suspects of conspiring against the coming of Hope and Change. He’s referring to Ferraro (and, by proxy, Hillary) and to the media, per what he says here about the supposed cherry-picking of Wright’s nuttier comments and the clips being shown on television. If anything, cantankerous old Uncle Jeremiah’s just being exploited for their nefarious purposes.

Link: sevenload.com