My hat off to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. In this nail-biting race between Obama and Clinton, every little word, every phrase, can be taken out of context, or mistrued, to damage one or the other, and most of the time, the words are not even uttered by either candidate.

Such was the case last week when Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, really got the pot boiling when, among other comments, he said that blacks continue to be mistreated by whites and made the suggestion that U.S. "terrorism" helped bring on the Sept. 11 attacks. Forget the fact that there’s a lot of truth in what he said. Who cares about the truth these days, anyway, especially during a presidential race?

These remarks hurt Obama at a time when he needs all the support he can get, particularly from whites. He obviously was facing a dilemma. Ignore it and hope the media forgets about it in a few days, or face it head on, even if it means denouncing the man who had officiated at his wedding and baptized his two daughters?

He chose the latter, in a speech today at the National Constitution Center, a museum dedicated to the U.S. Constitution. And he told it like it is. He rejected what White said, saying the reverend‘s remarks "rightly offend white and black alike."

But he added: "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother — a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

Obama wrapped up by saying, "If we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected."

This guy deserves to win the nomination. Not because he may be smarter than Clinton or is more charismatic, or younger, or black. But because he isn’t afraid to confront a problem that has plagued our country for too, too many years, and though it has improved, racism still rears its ugly head much too often. He offers not only a message of change, but also one of healing and at no time in our recent history has America needed both.

We face difficult times. At home, the economy is in a slide, affecting us all. Millions are without health care, despite the never-ending talk about it by politicians; some 12 million illegal immigrants are straining our resources, particularly in the southwest; our education system is terribly flawed at a time when we need our students, when they graduate, to be able to keep our country ahead, or at least competitive in a rapidly changing world; the number of homeless increases every year; and every month, more of our sons and daughters are being killed in a war that should have ended with the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Of the three people left in the race for the presidency, I believe Barack Obama has the best chance of providing the leadership we must have over the next four years. And I believe he can win. Unless, of course, we are still so small-minded and racist not to elect a black man.