On Divisiveness

Mickey Kaus in his blog on slate.com has an interesting take on what was otherwise a commendable denunciation by Barack Obama of Jeremiah Wright in the senator's 3/18/08 speech in Philadelphia, Pa.of 3/18/08. Obama stated, definitively and forthrightly:

As such, Rev. Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive.

Kaus intriguingly wrote:

Doesn't Obama mean Rev. Wright's comments were 'not only divisive but wrong,' rather than the other way around? Isn't it worse to be wrong than "divisive"? Is unity the overriding virtue for Obama?

Given one of the overarching themes- post-partisanship- of the Obama campaign, perhaps this was a rhetorical question. Still, it is insightful and brings to mind (at least, my mind) the vote on the Iraq war resolution of 2002.

Obama boasts, understandably, that while Hillary Clinton voted in favor of the resolution authorizing President Bush to take military action he might deem warranted against Iraq, Obama spoke out against the vote. His was the right stance, as he, his surrogates, and campaign officials repeatedly have reminded us.

But was it unifying? Or was it divisive? Voting in favor of the resolution supported by the White House- the wrong move on policy and now, it appears, politically- was in fact unifying. It was a vote to support our President if he decided to take action, even rash action. Voting against the resolution, some Democrats feared, would be exploited by Republicans in the succeeding couple of election cycles as being traitorous- or at least divisive.

Given that- and Obama's emphasis both in his impressive and inspiring speech this month and in his campaign- one can reasonably ask how the Illinois Senator would have voted on the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resoulution of 2002 had he then been a member of the United States Senate. It is only a hypothetical question, but one I think without an obvious answer.