Issues surrounding Obama now are superficial

John Esperian, Las Vegas

Monday, May 5, 2008 | 2:04 a.m.

Those of us who hope that the Bush years will finally end in January with the election of Barack Obama should be encouraged by what are truly superficial issues currently surrounding him, namely, the absurd swift boating-style fiction that he is a Muslim, the ludicrous lapel-pin business, and most particularly, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright contentiousness.

Wright is a product of the ’60s, an era when social change was shaped through turmoil, pain and sacrifice that carried a heavy price for all those involved. He is a black man who experienced what it was like to be told that a particular drinking fountain, or restroom, or lunchroom counter was off limits. These issues are difficult to forget, and there is no doubt that the residual anger became part of his sermons, but that does not mean that everyone shared his views.

The irony here is that Wright is inadvertently undermining the candidacy of a capable black man running for the highest office in the land, a person who has pulled himself up by his own bootstraps — and a man who represents the very causes on which Wright has preached and focused his life’s work.