Six weeks ago today, Barack Obama delivered a stirring, arguably historic, speech on the issue of race in America. It came in the midst of a major controversy surrounding the remarks of Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but the address seemed to settle the nerves of the political world. Obama heard the discontent, addressed it head on, and made clear that Wright’s more contentious opinions are not reflective of Obama’s beliefs or worldview.
Six weeks later, Wright is once again in a position to undermine Obama’s campaign. Why? Apparently because Wright decided to claim the spotlight for a while, which has re-opened a political wound that had started to heal.
I suggested yesterday that it was only a matter of time before Wright mounted some kind of defense; he’d been vilified to the extent that his reputation had been ruined. But it appears that Wright is intent on doing far more than just defending his name. I found Bob Herbert’s column today on Wright to be quite compelling.
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright went to Washington on Monday not to praise Barack Obama, but to bury him. Smiling, cracking corny jokes, mugging it up for the big-time news media — this reverend is never going away. He’s found himself a national platform, and he’s loving it.
It’s a twofer. Feeling dissed by Senator Obama, Mr. Wright gets revenge on his former follower while bathed in a spotlight brighter than any he could ever have imagined. He’s living a narcissist’s dream. At long last, his 15 minutes have arrived. […]
The question that cries out for an answer from Mr. Wright is why — if he is so passionately committed to liberating and empowering blacks — does he seem so insistent on wrecking the campaign of the only African-American ever to have had a legitimate shot at the presidency.
Obama very gently distanced himself from Wright, and did so in such a way as to not repudiate the man, but his ideas (and even then, only some of his ideas). Nevertheless, as Herbert noted, Wright seems to believe he’s been “thrown under a bus” by an ungrateful congregant. “What we’re witnessing now is Rev. Wright’s ‘I’ll show you!’ tour.”
My friend dnA makes a convincing case today that Obama “needs to dissociate himself from this man, quickly and harshly.” That may very well be true — Wright wants to keep this controversy stirring, so it’s up to Obama to try to end it.
But in the meantime, the ordeal is causing a surprising amount of panic among Obama supporters.
I noticed that Andrew Sullivan, a rather enthusiastic Obama supporter, had this item this morning:
So many readers seem to be feeling it. I have too. But remember what we’re dealing with here: last fall, no one gave Obama a chance. It was always a very long shot. When I wrote that Obama piece, Clinton was ahead by at least 20 points and it wasn’t budging a jot. Every pundit also expected the classic Clinton-Giuliani set-up for 2008: the perfect boomer red-blue battle. It didn’t happen. The Republicans, from a smaller and demoralized base, gave us McCain. And the Clintons have lost the mathematical chance of winning the nomination by any fair means. The change has already happened.
Obama is a freshman senator; he is 46 years old; he is African-American; he is a liberal – even if he is very gifted in talking to conservatives. He has taken on the biggest brand and machine in American politics, the Clintons, and won. If you didn’t think this would be an uphill struggle, you’ve been deluded.
Now, Andrew’s point was not to rationalize defeat by pointing to expectations. In fact, he insisted that this is “no time for a failure of nerve.” But the sense of dread is clearly there.
Josh Marshall has been hearing the same kind of talk.
[O]ne thing running TPM affords us is a barometer, a unique window into the collective minds of the different candidates’ supporters. Those most apt to hit the panic button are often those most ready to hit the send button. So it’s important not to over-interpret the evidence. But we do seem to have come to some sort crisis of confidence for a number of Obama supporters. It all seems to have come together in the last few days, even the last 48 hours.
There are clearly multiple factors at play here, and the more attuned one is to current events, the more sensitive one is to subtle shifts. And what have we seen since the weekend? Nothing good, as far as Obama is concerned.
But it’s Wright that’s dominating, and I’m not sure what Obama can do about it.