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YES: Just when Senator Barack Obama seemed to be well on his way to winning the Democratic Presidential nomination, a major controversy has erupted. It is all about Rev. Wright and the fact that Obama has been a member of his church for the past 20 years. TV networks and internet sites showed excerpts of Rev. Wright's fiery sermons, which included many angry anti-White statements and implications that the United States deserved the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The minister, who has been on the Obama campaign staff as spiritual advisor, has also made charges that the U.S. created the AIDs epidemic to destroy minorities. In his anger against what he considers America's wrongdoings against other nations, on one occasion, he said the words of "God Bless America" should be "God Damn America".

Although Rev. Wright's emotional sermons have been public knowledge for many years, the showing of the videos at this critical moment in the Presidential campaign has created a firestorm of negative publicity for Sen. Obama in just a few days. Attempting to repair the damage, Obama quickly appeared on many TV news and commentary programs and denounced Rev. Wright's rhetoric. The candidate publicly and quickly dropped the now-retired minister as one of his campaign advisors.

However, the controversy continues, and political opponents will be quick to take advantage of it. Sen. Obama denies that he knew anything of the anti-American nature of Rev. Wright's sermons. However, as a regular member of the minister's Trinity United Church of Christ for the past 20 years, he attended with his family hundreds of Sunday services there. He has to be well aware of the implications of what Rev. Wright calls his black liberationist theology.

The biography of Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. is an impressive one. He served a total of six years in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, where he was a hospital corpsman. He later studied at Howard University and the University of Chicago. He earned four academic degrees, including his doctorate, and during the 36 years he was pastor of the Trinity United Church, he received eight honorary doctorate degrees. His dynamic leadership is credited with bringing the attendee rolls of his church from an original flock of less than 90 members to its current membership of more than 6,000.

Another potentially damaging effect on Sen. Obama's campaign is that, although he has always denied any relationship with Louis Farrakhan, Dr. Wright

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