Obama late in Wright decision

We wish that Democratic Party candidate for president Barack Obama had cut all ties to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright previously — but at least he seems to have done (recently).

Wright has been Obama’s pastor for many years — a time during which the candidate has said that he did not see signs of radicalism such as those revealed about Wright during recent months. But during the past week, Wright has made his extremist, ridiculous views even more clear.

During a press conference in North Carolina, Obama referred to some of those views, reiterated by Wright during the past few days. “When he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS, when he suggests that (Nation of Islam leader Louis) Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century, when he equates the United States’ wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses,” Obama said.

Precisely. Wright’s comments should offend all Americans — because they are racially divisive, and, again, absurd.

Never mind the political context, though it was important for Obama to disassociate himself entirely from Wright. What is worrisome to many Americans is that a so-called religious leader could gain a following as substantial as Wright’s, at least in some measure on the strength of his radicalism.

Long after the election of 2008 is history, that should be a concern of all Americans, of all races.