Of kings and candidates
Rob Price

In Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Part Two," a newly crowned King Henry is greeted by his old friend, mentor and all-around drinking buddy, Sir John Falstaff, and tells him in the bluntest language possible their old relationship is no longer possible, given the demands of kingship.

"I know thee not, old man," says Henry.

I thought of Henry's line earlier this week, reading of Barack Obama's repudiation of his minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. "All there was was a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in truth," Obama said of the Rev. Wright's remarks at the National Press Club in Washington.

The national media played up Obama's "repudiation" (according to some) of his former pastor. "Obama lambastes ex-pastor for 'rant,'" announced the Wall Street Journal on page one Wednesday.

"Barack has had his King Henry moment," I told my wife.

But has he? Since the practice of journalism involves a lot of internet surfing, I googled "Rev. Wright National Press Club transcript" and read what the Rev. Wright actually said. The remarks you may have read in the media were quoted accurately. Asked whether he really believed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were a case of America's "chickens coming home to roost," the Rev. Wright said: "You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to back on you." And asked if he really believed the U.S. government had invented the AIDS virus in order to effect genocide against Blacks, the Rev. Wright said: "I believe our government is capable of doing anything."

And these are mean-spirited, ugly things to say with which reasonable people would rightly take issue. The trouble is, they were remarks the Rev. Wright made during a question and answer period following his more extensive speech on the history of the Black church in America. They were remarks taken out of a larger context that I thought actually made for some interesting reading.

So I have to question where Barack Obama is coming from when he says, "There wasn't anything constructive out of yesterday. … The insensitivity and the outrageousness of his statements and his performance … shocked me." Because in all honesty, I read the same transcript and found that the bulk of the Rev. Wright's statements were interesting and educational, while only several remarks made in response to aggressive questioning sounded defensive and silly - and "divisive" in the words of his most famous parishioner.

Here are some of the Rev. Wright's remarks Obama seems to have found particularly irritating: "Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls, Huffington, whoever's doing the polls. Preachers say what they say because they're pastors. They have a different person to whom they're accountable."

Of these not entirely inaccurate words regarding politicians, Obama had this to say: "At a certain point, if what somebody says contradicts what you believe so fundamentally, and then he questions whether or not you believe it in front of the National Press Club, then that's enough. That's a show of disrespect to me."

Indeed it is. Which is why I think the Rev. Wright's characterization of Obama rankled the likely Democratic nominee more than any of the preacher's rants about AIDS or 9-11. If this is the case, could it be that Obama's repudiation of his former pastor contains a tinge of hypocrisy?

Only Obama can answer that question. But join me in a further reading of King Henry's own repudiation of his former mentor: "When you dost hear I am as I have been/Approach me, and thou shalt be as thou wast, the tutor and feeder of my riots."

In other words, Henry further explains, his effectiveness as king depends on whether the world regards him regally ("So shall the world perceive,/ That I have turned away my former self."). It's all a matter of perception, as we modern folk have learned over and over again. And in the event Henry decides to stop worrying about his kingly responsibilities, well then, he and Sir John Falstaff can be good friends again.

I don't know about you, but I find King Henry's speech one of the more eloquent expressions of political hypocrisy I have ever read. Along the same line, I can recognize the political necessity for Obama's own dismissal of his former pastor and mentor. But it's a sad thing too, this cutting loose a friend and dear father.