Collateral Damage

Has Barack Obama been swift-boated?

Journalists, like political operatives, tend to fight the last war. We all assumed that the 2008 version of the Swift Boat Veterans assault on John Kerry would come from a rival campaign, outside group or a shadowy 527 group. But what if it's a candidate's own former pastor who does the damage through not-so-friendly fire?

After being immersed in the media coverage for days, it's clear to me that Jeremiah Wright had become a huge albatross for the Illinois senator. Many liberal commentators had joined those on the right in ripping the reverend. But it didn't matter--Wright is obviously enjoying his 15 minutes and either doesn't care whether he hurts Obama or is ticked off and trying to take him down.

At the moment, when you think of Obama, you don't think of Michelle or Oprah or David Axelrod. You think of Jeremiah Wright.

That is what prompted Obama to speak out strongly against his former pastor. No more of this namby-pamby "he doesn't speak for me" or that some of his remarks were "objectionable." Finally, Obama said he was shocked and angry and denounced the "outrageousness" and "destructive" and "ridiculous" nature of Wright's false "rants," which he said contradicted his whole life and career. Before that, you had the impression he regarded Wright as a mere distraction that he could brush off his shoulders like lint.

This isn't necessarily over. Obama remains a strong favorite to win the Democratic nomination, but in the fall, the creeping doubts sowed by Wright's performances could exact their toll.

And here's what's odd: Almost no one believes that Barack Obama shares Jeremiah Wright's views on damning America. It's more a question of how he could have tolerated such angry views (whether he heard the most inflammatory words or not) in his church. But then, most people believed in the end that John Kerry was a war hero. It was the way he responded to the attacks that sunk his candidacy. Which is why Obama brought out the heavy artillery yesterday.

"Senator Barack Obama broke forcefully on Tuesday with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., in an effort to curtail a drama of race, values, patriotism and betrayal that has enveloped his presidential candidacy at a critical juncture," says the New York Times.

"In tones sharply different from those Mr. Obama used on Monday, when he blamed the news media and his rivals for focusing on Mr. Wright, and far harsher than those he used in his speech on race in Philadelphia last month, Mr. Obama tried to cut all his ties to -- and to discredit -- Mr. Wright, the man who presided at Mr. Obama's wedding and baptized his two daughters."

The Boston Globe questions the timing: "After Obama's uncategorical repudiation yesterday of the man who presided at his wedding and the baptism of his daughters, voters and other political observers will inevitably wonder what took so long - and how Obama could have misjudged someone to whom he was very close . . .

"Wright, with his defiance in three consecutive appearances over the weekend, made Obama look foolish. And not least because it took him so long to face Wright down."

The New York Post plumbs the depths of the reverend's thinking: