There’s a growing consensus in the commentariat that Jeremiah Wright has sought not just to protect himself, but to damage Obama:
Take Roger Simon in The Politico:

Wright is also interested in taking Obama down a peg or two. In his speech at the National Press Club on Monday, Wright was contemptuous of Obama, accusing him of being just another hypocritical politician.
Why? I imagine because Obama had the audacity to distance himself from Wright and some of his more inflammatory statements a few weeks ago.

Mark Silk goes further at Spiritual Politics:

In the wake of the latest Wright/Obama tempest, a view is taking hold (see Ambinder here) that the Wrights of the world would actually prefer to see Obama lose, inasmuch as an Obama victory would give the lie to their conviction that the American deck is irredeemably stacked against people of color. This analysis might be extended to make the point that the professional black establishment, if one might call it that, has more to gain (especially at this point) from a Clinton presidency than an Obama one. In an Obama presidency their swot would certainly be reduced.

To the extent that Obama’s supporters could further this line of argument, Obama stands to benefit, positioning himself as an underdog betrayed by his own pastor and by rebranding Wright as one more exemplar of the old politics of division that Obama’s candidacy is built on slaying.

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