Just what of Jeremiah Wright is Obama distancing himself from?

Well, possibly all sorts of things, if you look at the complete text of what Wright said to the National Press Club. Not that Obama needs to distance himself, let alone be offended by Wright, as he said he was earlier today, after hearing about Wright’s NPC speech.

Again, that speech. Here’s some highlights to which Obama might have, rightly or wrongly, objected.

1. Noting that the “chickens coming home to roost” of his Sept. 16, 2001 sermon was a quote of Iraq’s Ambassador to the U.S.? Or for continuing to defend its use and context?
2. For claiming Farrakhan was attacking Zionism, not Judaism? Or refusing to throw him under the bus?
3. For telling Obama himself that, if he got elected, Wright’s standard for him as the agent of the government would be no less than for previous presidents?
4. For noting that Obama doesn’t go to church that often, or as Wright told a reporter, “About as much as you do.”
5. For indulging in AIDS conspiracy theories? (Which is one area, Rev. Wright, where you ARE “wackadoodle.”)

But, let’s look at the rest.

No. 1 — without saying we “deserved” 9/11, which Wright didn’t either, he nonetheless has a lot of truth here.

No. 2 —Louis Farrakhan. Is he really anti-Semitic? Well, at the least, he is not as anti-Semitic as he has been made out to be. Despite mainstream media claims, he did NOT say “Judaism is a gutter religion.” Yes, he did warn people making threats against Jesse Jackson after his 1984 “Hymietown” comment that if anything happened, he would fight fire with fire.

And, in that case, some prominent Jews, including Net Hentoff, were perfectly happy pouring some gasoline on the fire.

That said, is Farrakhan anti-Semitic to some degree? Yes, but no more than he is anti-gay. Whether Jews or gays should feel more problem with that is an open question.

No. 3 — Maybe Obama is afraid Wright will indeed hold him to that standard.

No. 4 — I guess Obama doesn’t “praise Jesus” as much as he would like us to believe. Maybe less than Hillary Clinton, though I’m sure more than John McCain.

Of course, when your “bodyguard” includes Marion Berry you have opened yourself indeed to “wackadoodle” comments, Rev. Wright. (At the same time, Dana Milbank showed himself as a mainstream media hack with this piece.)

Doorknob, why can’t we have an atheist president?