I received an email today from a black elder asking me to reprint a column I wrote for an African American newspaper in April 2008 detailing the persistent racism in the Clinton campaign as it tried to derail Obama's historic run for the presidency. She wanted me to "remind the American people of how far the Clintons had stooped" a mere eight years ago.

What was done to Jeremiah Wright served no one well, simply further debasing political discourse. Whether such attacks come from the right or the left, they attempt to win an argument ad hominem by simply poisoning the waters.

Although Obama distanced himself from Rev. Wright in order to help his chances of winning the election, the fact of the matter is that Wright's message of the pervasiveness of racism was spot on... and it still is.