William Ralph Inge, the Anglican prelate, astutely if cynically observed, "It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion."

The remark applies to Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign on at least two levels.

Obama is campaigning on the promise that he is the candidate who can transcend issues of race and bring America's society together. But the bigotry and rantings of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor, punch large holes in that claim. Wright, and presumably many of his large Chicago congregation, believe the United States is still rent by a deep chasm dividing the white world from the black.

Obama was right to renounce Wright and his preachings. If he wished to preserve his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama had little choice. Wright's allegations that the U.S. government engages in terrorism and therefore invited the attacks of 9/11 and is capable of spreading HIV/AIDS to wipe out black Americans could not go uncondemned.

Still, vexing questions remain: How could two men of such distant outlooks, as Obama now stipulates, have so close an association for so long? And how can Obama unite society when he obviously failed to moderate the race-conscious resentments of his mentor and spiritual adviser? Wright is so indifferent to the concerns of some white Americans and the aspirations of black Americans that he is willing to alienate the former and torpedo the most promising campaign for the White House ever mounted by an African-American.

The news media might soon tire of covering Wright's statements as they alternate between the ridiculous and the outrageous. But many white, working-class voters whom the Democratic nominee needs in November might already be alienated from Obama's troubled campaign.

Apart from his long association with Wright, Obama is vulnerable to thenitpicking of the Hillary Clinton camp because his central campaign themes have not been persuasively fleshed out. Not only has Obama failed to show how he can transcend race, he has not revealed how he can lead the country away from partisan differences.

The tussle for power preoccupies politicians of both parties, but the rivalry also rests upon mutually exclusive policy goals: Democrats want universal health insurance; higher Social Security benefits; more money for schools; and higher taxes for Americans of the upper and upper-middle classes, among other costly things. Most Republicans want free-market health care; lower taxes, even at the price of higher deficits; Social Security privatization; and little or no federal role in public education.

Obama shares, in one form or another, all of the Democrats' aspirations and none of the Republicans'. Where and how shall the two parties come together?

Until Obama can redirect attention to how he would govern, he likely will be spending his time answering questions about such side issues as flag pins, his former pastor and his belief that many small-town voters are bitter and seek solace in guns and religion.