From CNN today:

"In Jeremiah Wright's first television interview since clips of his controversial sermons circulated the Internet, Barack Obama's former pastor says his words were unfairly taken out of context for 'devious' reasons.' "

Hogwash. If Rev. Wright had said, "It makes me sick when people say 'God Damn America,' " and someone had just used the last three words of that in a clip or a quote, THAT is "out of context." People say to not judge others until you have walked a mile in their shoes. But public figures invite judgment when they make public statements.

I don't think that Rev. Wright's many years of community service and work on behalf of the poor should be ignored when making judgments about him, but Wright hiding behind the "out of context" cliché is absurd.

I know if someone followed me around with a camera and a microphone all day, I would make numerous mistakes and statements that would look bad. But I would never say, "God Damn America!" in the way Rev. Wright did, no matter how disappointed and frustrated I was with our country. If I ever truly felt that I wanted God to damn America, I would move out of the country.

This is one of the reasons I like Obama, even though he is a bit too liberal for my taste: instead of saying that we should be damned, he says, "Let's work together to fix our problems. We are the change that we have been waiting for."