Op-ed: A persona built upon anger and hate

Should Mitt Romney use Jeremiah Wright to attack Barack Obama?

There was recently a proposal floated by some members of the GOP to attack Barack Obama by using his association with his former pastor, the reverend Jeremiah Wright. Romney distanced himself from that strategy, and repudiated the proposal.

Romney's decision has been criticized by more than one conservative. Specifically I heard Rush Limbaugh complaining that Romney attacked his primary opponents more aggressively than he will attack Obama.

Personally I have mixed feelings about Romney's decision. I personally have a low regard for Jeremiah Wright, and I believe that Obama turned away from the reverend Wright for purely political reasons. Wright's sermons are full of black liberation theology, and much of his message can be viewed as anti-American. In fact I view it as such. For years Obama sat in Wright's church and was seemed to be perfectly comfortable with Wright's point of view. Once Obama sought the White House, however, Obama cast Wright aside.

On the other hand, Jeremiah Wright is a private citizen. A few years ago Rush Limbaugh criticized Harry Reid for attacking him, a private citizen, but now Rush thinks it is perfectly okay to assassinate the character of Obama by assassinating the character of Wright, a private citizen. Granted, I have come to believe that Rush Limbaugh is capable of hypocrisy, so I am not exactly surprised that he doesn't recognize the double standard. I agree with Limbaugh that Reid's going after a private citizen was wrong. And it is just as wrong for Romney to attack Wright.

As I understand it, the focus of Romney's campaign is jobs and the economy. Obama has proven himself to be utterly incompetent in dealing with those issues, and Romney has attacked Obama aggressively on that.

I say let Romney continue to act presidential, continue to resist the temptation to pit American against American as Obama and his campaign do, and focus on jobs, the economy, Iran, contrasting Obama's government-centric vision with Romney's vision of limited government, repealing and replacing ObamaCare, and the issues that really matter.