Wright is a man, not someone to be understood: On O'Reilly's radio program yesterday, he argued that Reverend Wright should be given a break because, being an old black man, he's a hard life. Horseshit, I say. With fat donations like Obama's, he looks like he's doing just fine to me.

Five years in a prison camp is much more suffering than the extra pain inflicted on a typical black man who lives in America, but you don't see McCain spewing garbage. The special troubles of blacks have gotten so mild, they are offset by the pleasure enjoyed by self-pitying self-indulgence.

In less noble moments, I would like to play up the fact that I am the son of a white maintenance man. The pleasure of martyrdom would be delicious, indeed. To take responsibility for nothing would be luxurious. To see the world as evil and conspiring against little ol' me would give a great deal of satisfaction.

Myself, I respect Wright because he is a man, not a socially programmed automaton. As a man who has control over his life, his words make him an ass, not someone to be understood.