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Home Front: Politix |
More Wright stuff |
2008-04-30 |
Jim Geraghty, National Review's "Campaign Spot" Two additional thoughts on the political landscape after Obama' denunciation of Wright: 1) Most, but perhaps not quite all, of the damage from Jeremiah Wright has been done. He's dominated news cycles, Americans have seen many of the worst of his sermons, he's made a jaw-dropping appearance at the National Press Club, he has made Obama's Philadelphia speech, suggesting that Wright was being unfairly judged on "snippets" look foolish, etc. ... But there's one more shoe left to drop. How does Wright react to Obama's press conference yesterday? Does he start accusing Obama of lying? Does he begin saying that he shared his controversial opinions with Obama many times? Does he begin saying that in private, Obama indicated he agreed with Wright's theories? Or does he stay away from reporters? The story really goes away when Wright decides he's had enough of the public spotlight. 2. As we've seen, the McCain campaign may be hesitant to swing away at Obama when the topic is Jeremiah Wright, but they'll hold nothing back when the topic is William Ayers or kind words from Hamas. Pretty clearly, John McCain would rather he never had to address a racially-charged issue, and he probably instinctively knows that almost any comment will bring reflexive accusations of racism or racial insensitivity from Democrats. If and when the Wright issue no longer dominates the news cycle, those other issues will come to the foreground. And then, McCain and his surrogates will have no incentive to hold back. For example, if you want to know how William Ayers can stay in the news, check out this must-read New York Daily News op-ed: Obama was indeed only 8 in early 1970. I was only 9 then, the year Ayers' Weathermen tried to murder me. John McCain and his campaign held back on the issue of Wright; nothing will be held back on Ayers. |
Posted by:Mike |