In all the discussion of Barack Obama as the potential savior of our nation, there’s been relatively little attention to the idea that, rather than behaving like a person of strong leadership, Barack Obama seems to have been acting like a real follower for the past twenty years.

Analyses of Obama’s relationship with his controversial minister Jeremiah Wright seem to focus more on the question of whether or not Obama shares any of Wright’s zany beliefs and less on the question of how Obama could have possibly chosen this man as a mentor, to have stuck with him for twenty years, and to have failed to have any sort of moderating influence on him. Put simply, if Barack Obama is a person of such remarkable leadership and character that he will be able to diplomatically influence the world’s worst demagogues (Ahamdinejad, Kim Jon Il,) towards better behavior, how could he possibly have endured being preached to by this domestic demagogue in what appears to have been a very one-way power relationship, with Obama the follower?

Weeks ago, shortly after tapes of Pastor Wright’s recent sermons first surfaced on TV (and before most commentators identified the dynamic) my friend Kevin said it: “He’s trying to sabotage Obama.”

Coming off his big win in North Carolina and narrow loss in Indiana, Senator Obama has reason to be optimistic about winning the Democratic nomination. If that happens, I predict the Democrats will again seize defeat from the jaws of victory, and our next president will be John McCain.

The cloud of controversy surrounding Obama will prove too great for Americans to choose him as the leader of the free world, for good reason. In particular, Reverend Wright is likely to be his protégé’s undoing.

I’m reminded of the movie Amadeus, in which the aging Salieri is driven nearly mad with sick, obsessive envy of the young Mozart. Seems to me Reverend Wright is the type who, unable to take pride in Barack Obama’s success or his own accomplishments (he is praised in some circles for helping AIDS victims and others), and to gracefully surrender the things of youth, is actively working to undermine Obama.

But Wright could not achieve this feat were Obama not genuinely tainted by this extremely dubious and very long-term connection.

In Obama’s long-awaited denunciation of Wright, he said, “During the course of my attending that church, I did not see those kinds of statements being made or those kinds of views being promoted.” Even if we accept Obama’s claim that Wright’s rhetoric became more irresponsible of late (something I would not rule out, given the envy/sabotage motivation), clearly the man is a demagogue whose appeal lies at least partially in pandering to his congregants’ emotions, appeal to the cult of victimhood, and propagandistic distortion of facts combined with out and out falsehoods.

How else to explain the congregation’s applauding as he shouts, “G.D. America!” or the fact that these revolting words brought some of his congregants to their feet to cheer and shout? Was this an appeal to refined emotion? To reason? To spirituality?

What religious tradition encourages its followers to erupt in riotous cheers at the suggestion that anyone or anything, much less their own country, be damned? I’m no Bible expert, but I know that in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, G-d himself reprimands the Israelites for rejoicing in the drowning of their most grievous enemies, the Egyptians who enslaved them. And that’s the fire and brimstone God of the Hebrew Bible, who in his righteousness did not hesitate to smite evil–not the pacifist Jesus.

Whether or not Rev. Wright’s theories about the U.S. government creating the AIDS virus to infect blacks or his “G.D. America” speech are more radical than his usual fare, what clearly emerges from his recent hijinks are several basic revelations about the man’s character. He is egomaniacal, and remarkably selfish, evidenced by his choice to grandstand and deliver remarks sure to further damage Obama’s campaign (as Barack Obama himself said, “He does not seem to have much concern for me, or for what we are trying to do with this campaign.”)

So what does it say about Barack Obama’s ability to judge people, that Wright was, for almost 20 years, his choice of pastor? I’m sure there’s no shortage of fine black pastors in Chicago.

One of them appeared on Fox News about a week ago. I don’t recall his name offhand, but he shared an interesting perspective. He said he knew Jeremiah Wright, and had been acquainted with Barack Obama through the years, having encountered the former at church conventions and the latter in organizing around Chicago. His impression, knowing them both, was that while Obama might not subscribe to each and every one of Reverend Wright’s views, Wright had been a kind of “father figure” to Senator Obama.

More on this subject to come, but for now I’ll say that, having read Obama’s memoir, “Dreams from My Father,” I find this father figure theory highly plausible. In the book, Obama comes across as impressionable, somewhat naïve, confused, and struggling with heavy duty identity issues related to race and the absence of his father. In short, he comes across as a nice, somewhat troubled guy – and anything but a strong leader.

Either he is more in agreement with Wright than he admits, or he is more passive and naïve than a President ought to be. I’m inclined to think it’s the latter, and I pity Obama his albatross. But I’m not looking for a President I can feel sorry for.

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