Far Left, Far Right or Center?

There once was a man who stood for change. And, shortly after Palm Sunday the opinion of the establishment turned violently against Him. They were wrong to do so, but unless they did, He would not have been able to convert His nation and the world to His message of love, tolerance and unity. The recent “scandal” concerning Barak Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and video clip catalogues of his sermons may just be the catalyst needed to center this country’s collective political consciousness from either the far left or the far right.

I almost had to fall on my knees as I watched former U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, explain to a cable news show host how Rev. Wright’s comments were not based as much on race as they were representative of the “Far Left” political rhetoric. He went on to say that the views of the reverend were not dissimilar from those of liberal ideologues of all races. I almost fell to my knees because I realized the power of this year's presidential campaign and its issues caused me to agree with the politically conservative icon, Gingrich, for the first time in my life. If the Obama campaign could bring Newt and I together, their must be the hand of God in it!

As a pastor myself, my opinion is that Jesus represented a radical change agent to the status quo in ancient Jerusalem. “Radical change” might be considered, as I consider it, another term for the modern political label “Liberal.” Political “Conservatives” might be described as those who long for the “good old days” and the values of their fathers and grandfathers. Many of those who gather under that political label, like former Speaker Gingrich, President Bush and Rush Limbaugh, might argue that they are indeed agents of change, but the fact is that our country has been under the reign of conservative government leaders and their policies for quite some time now. If Gingrich is right and Jeremiah Wright is not a hate monger, as many in the news media (and Clinton campaign operatives) would have you think. Rather, if he just speaks from a very “Liberal” socio-political perspective, it stands to reason that a large number of African Americans agree with that perspective. Duh!!! Who didn’t already know that!

Conversely, who speaks for the “Far Right?” Why, Christian conservative evangelical pastors who blame the September 11, 2001 attacks on the perversion of God’s law by gay rights activist, or others who would also be considered representatives of the “Far Left” within the American political process, of course. Another voice of ultra-conservative, “Far Right” ideology might be white supremacists, neo-Nazis and former Ku Klux Klansmen, like Louisiana politician David Duke. To string together video clips of their pastors’ sermons might be to create a similarly incendiary set of phrases and thoughts as those created from the sermons of Jeremiah Wright.

Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain are running for the highest political office in the land. Each of them would claim to be “Centrist” and not “Far Left” nor “Far Right.” McCain claims to be politically Conservative, running on issues like lowering taxes and a smaller federal government. Obama and Clinton, while refusing to be labeled Liberal, nonetheless represent the political ideology that the federal government should play an active role in improving the lives of marginalized, middle class and poor American citizens. Each of the candidates have been accused by those of either political extreme of not being conservative or liberal enough. However, it is only Senator Barak Obama whose campaign, when it was under attack by disclosed sources (i.e. Clinton campaign supporters with YouTube internet accounts) had the power to bring a liberal African American pastor, like me, and a conservative, “Ronald Reaganite,” former congressman, like Newt Gingrich, into agreement with one another. If the Obama campaign can bring the two of us into agreement with each other, perhaps Barak Obama is the presidential candidate who can best bring the Far Left and the Far Right together for the good of the nation and the political changes that we all desire, when he is elected as the next President of the United States of America.