Obama raising money off proposed Jeremiah Wright attack

How worried is President Obama about a Jeremiah Wright attack?

In this March 25, 2012 file photo, Rev. Jeremiah Wright speaks in Jackson, Miss. (Rogelio V. Solis - Associated Press) Here’s a clue. While former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is staying far away from a strategist’s proposal to use the controversial pastor as a cudgel, Obama’s campaign is raising money off the prospect.

Campaign manager Jim Messina sent out a fundraising appeal Thursday night saying that the proposal, submitted to (and rejected by) a Republican super PAC, “shows in vivid and gruesome detail what the President and all of us are up against.”

He adds, “This is going to be worse than we could have imagined ... Pitch in today to fight these attacks and show them this only makes us stronger.”

The pitch, of course, does not mention that the plan was quickly repudiated by both the billionaire who was supposed to fund it, TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, and the presidential candidate it was supposed to help.

The Democratic National Committee’s Rapid Response team has also been working to link Romney to Wright attacks, pointing out that in February the candidate brought up the pastor in a talk radio interview.

These Democratic efforts to promote this unaired attack is a good sign that Wright won’t come up much again this cycle. While Romney’s favorability numbers are increasing, personal likability remains solid turf for Obama. A Wright-oriented attack would likely inspire more enthusiasm in the Democratic base than in the Republican one.

Here’s Messina fundraising appeal:

A 54-page, $10 million proposal by top Republican strategists titled “The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama” shows in vivid and gruesome detail what the President and all of us are up against.

The proposal laments that voters “still aren’t ready to hate this president” but lays out a plan to portray him as “slick” and “cocky” – and notes that they need to hire an “extremely literate conservative African-American” to insulate against charges of racism.

It says the President ran as a “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln” and includes plans to spend millions on inflammatory TV ads using everything from Rev. Jeremiah Wright to images of the September 11th attacks to show the truth about Obama’s alleged secret plan to destroy America.

In the words of one of these guys, they want to “do exactly what John McCain would not let us do” in the last election. And the plan was for it to be financed by a single billionaire.

This is going to be worse than we could have imagined. President Obama needs your help to stop it before it starts.

Pitch in today to fight these attacks and show them this only makes us stronger.