I'm into victory celebrations as much as the next guy, but I can't help fretfully obsessing about what seems the only powerful negative argument in the Republican's bag--the Wright stuff. The vast majority of my compatriot Obama supporters want to let sleeping dogs lie, as though talking about this issue can only make things worse. Speaking as a psychotherapist and politics junkie of 35 years, that depends on what's said. 

The now conventional companion arguments for ignoring this issue are that the damage done to him by the Wright stuff is insignificant and/or irreparable. My best response to those arguments is in my dailykos.com blog, To Build the Largest Possible Majority, Obama Must Deal Better With the Wright Stuff, which is an improved version of a blog published here at TPM. I argue that voters who initially were for Obama and then convinced by the Wright stuff that he is a closet radical are readily reachable in a major speech that addresses not only their complex list of damning facts but also the tricky illogic of guilt by association. I also suggested that, in the world of politics, races can be decided by a few percentage points, so even if there are just a few of the above kind of voters, it's worth trying to reach them. Moreover, I believe from talking with Clinton supporters that some of them who say they will vote for McCain are influenced most by the Wright stuff. There's more in that blog in favor of taking on the Wight problem more decisively now.

Incidentally, in response to the TPM version of the above dailykos blog, a blogger quoted what may be the most compelling demonstration that Obama was completely against black radicalism. He argues extensively for the positions and methods he has advocated throughout this campaign and his Illinois Senate career. Google What Makes Obama Run? by Hank De Zutter.

In this post, I only want to argue that, as odd as it may seem, I think Obama and his supporters are against more decisively addressing the Wright stuff partly because of low expectations. That seems absurd considering how high Obama has reached. But I think he can reach much higher.

In the beginning of the campaign, there was much more idealism in and around it. There was even talk of him being a kind of savior. After the Wright flap, that idealism partly disappeared, and it was widely observed that Obama's spirit flagged. He seemed stunned for several months. And he finally choose to try to let the Wright stuff pass into oblivion.

Now things are on the upswing, but I long for a return of the kind of blinding promise Obama's capacity for empathy coupled with his intelligence and other aspects of his temperament represent. The positive response of the radical militia in Nigeria to his call for a cease-fire is suggestive of the depth of his capacity to bring people together. But in America, his capacity to bring us together in the largest possible numbers definitely has been diminished.

If he can once again wow us with his capacity for empathy and sense making and thereby interest disaffected people in his presidency, his chances of having enough support to create substantial and lasting change will be greatly enhanced.

My enthusiasm for him is partly because of my belief that he will greatly enhance the forces of empathy that lay underused in many corners of America. Not the least of these is in the work of James Blight, who I think should be considered for Secretary of State. Blight is a professor of international relations at the Watson Institute at Brown, and he is well known throughout the world for his work on the Cuban Missle Crisis. Blight advocates "deploying realistic empathy" in international relations and makes a strong argument that, had we used it in the runup to Vietnam, that war would not have happened.

There is a flood of work also showing the power of empathy in dealing with our big ticket psychological/social problems, ranging from the break-up of the family to alcoholism and mental illness. In this vein, I believe that Obama can make a much bigger difference than you might imagine if you weren't schooled in the forces of empathy that are poised and waiting for a champion to encourage and support them.