“Barack Obama will be president of the United States over my dead body.”

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright may as well just have said those words after the performance he put on at the National Press Club this past Monday.

Wright’s been on a speaking stump since last Friday, putting in appearances on public television and with the Detroit chapter of the NAACP. When Wright was all done, he had praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, repeated his assertion that the U.S. government created the virus that causes AIDS and dismissed Obama as a politician trying to get votes.

I caught most of Wright’s speech on You Tube, and I have to admit that there were things he said I agree with. At one point, he let loose with a corker directed at his critics who claim he’s unpatriotic.

“Our congregation has sent dozens of boys and girls to fight in the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War and the present two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq," Wright intoned. "My goddaughter’s unit just arrived in Iraq this week, while those who call me unpatriotic have used their positions of privilege to avoid military service, while sending over 4,000 American boys and girls of every race to die over a lie.”

Touche, Rev. Wright. Now, if you’re perspicacious enough to realize that, then you have the smarts to know that by dummying up, you’d have increased the chances of Americans electing a president who has promised to end the war over the lie. That candidate is Obama, who wants to bring American troops home as soon as possible if he’s elected.

There are only two other candidates who can win the presidency. One is the old fart who’s promised to keep American troops in Iraq for 100 years; the other is the woman who had her lips all but sutured to President Bush’s tush when he made the bogus case for war with Iraq.

Lest you get the impression that Obama’s my choice for president, I have to reiterate: I’ll be writing in Rep. Ron Paul’s name when I cast my ballot for the nation’s chief executive in November. But Obama’s supporters can’t be too pleased with Wright. Michael Baisden, who has a nationally syndicated radio show, hinted the day after Wright’s remarks that he’d wished the pastor had kept his mouth shut.

Wright, of course, didn’t see it that way. He repeated throughout his speech that he was speaking out because his critics weren’t attacking him, but attacking the black church.

Negro, puh-leeze. I was under the impression that the United Church of Christ, of which Wright is a member, was -- at least nationally -- a predominantly white body.

But even if Wright is correct, you have to be appalled at the guy’s megalomania. King Louis XIV of France was famous for the quote “L’etat, c’est moi,” which translated into English means “I am the state."

For Wright, the comparable phrase he in essence uttered is “L’eglise noire, c’est moi” -- “I am the black church.” But no, in the real world -- not the alternate universe of Wright’s own creation that he inhabits -- the black church is a lot bigger and certainly not monolithic. There must be thousands of black pastors at as many black churches throughout the country. The only one being criticized for his comments is Wright.

News flash for the reverend: That does NOT constitute an attack on the black church.

As much as Wright tried to portray himself as a minister who’s above politics and who’s compelled to preach in the “black prophetic” tradition, the fact is many of his comments at the NPC were political. He took the U.S. government to task for supporting apartheid in South Africa, and rightly so.

“Our congregation feeds over 5,000 homeless and needy families every year,” Wright said in his speech, “while our government cuts food stamps and spends billions fighting in an unjust war in Iraq.”

That’s a POLITICAL statement.

“Our congregation stood in solidarity with the peasants in El Salvador and Nicaragua,” Wright said, “while our government, through Ollie North and the Iran-Contra scandal, was supporting the Contras, who were killing the peasants and Miskito Indians in those two countries.”

That’s a POLITICAL statement.

Some might say it reflects a political position of the far left. And presidential candidates from the far left -- and those supported by the far left or even perceived to be associated with those from the far left -- tend not to get elected in this country.

I wonder if Wright will attend President McCain’s inauguration. I’m betting the reverend at least gets an invitation and a thank-you note.