Op-Ed: 'Wrecking Ball' Update on the Wright Effect to Obama's Campaign

According to a news CBS/New York Times poll, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's loss in the Pennsylvania primary and the political firestorm over his former pastor have cut into his lead over rival Hillary Clinton among Democratic voters. According to the poll, 51 percent of Democratic voters now say they expect Obama to win their party's nomination. That's an 18 point-slide from a month ago when 69 percent said they expected Obama to take on Republican John McCain in the November presidential election. The latest survey found that 48 percent of Democrats believe Obama, an Illinois senator, has a better chance of beating McCain than Clinton, a New York senator, versus 56 percent a month ago. The 10-point thumping Hillary Clinton gave Obama in Pennsylvania, where Obama enjoyed a 10-point lead prior to the BitterGate scandal, indicate both the Wright Wrecking Ball and perceptions of an elitist attitude on the part of both Obama and wife Michelle have been devastating to the huge leads and immense popularity Obama enjoyed not three months ago. Reuters reports that Obama may be trying to counter that elitist image: 'Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Thursday said he had grown up in less privileged circumstances than his rivals as he fought a perception among some voters that he is "elitist." 'In an interview on NBC's "Today Show," Obama sought to explain a series of missteps that have dogged his candidacy over the past month and led some voters to conclude that he is out of touch. "The irony is, I think it is fair to say that both Michelle and I grew up in much less privileged circumstances than either of my two potential opponents," Obama said in an interview with his wife, Michelle, at his side.' But is it all too little too late? American politicians have found to their eternal regret that you don't get a second chance to make a first impression with the voting public. The elitist tag from BitterGate may have just cost him Pennsylvania. Worse, Obama's reluctance to throw Jeremiah Wright under the bus long ago, as Hillary Clinton did with Geraldine Ferraro to avoid further controversy, may yet prove fatal to his campaign. Maybe even as soon as the Denver DNC convention in August. Way back on March 28th of this year (an eternity in Internet news reporting) I posted my first ever DJ article 'Can The House Of Obama Survive The Wright Wrecking Ball?' Since the story broke back then, many of you have been reporting on the Right Reverend Wright as well, in dozens of reports and OpEds on everything from his incendiary rhetoric, the damage by association to Obama's campaign, the $1.6M mansion Trinity UCC is constructing ($10M built-in line of credit included), in the middle of an upscale predominantly rich white neighborhood and all that entails. Recently, many here and elsewhere in the Blogosphere have been opining on whether it is too late for Obama to ever recover from his relationship with the spiritual advisor he "could no more repudiate than he could the black community." One esteemed DJ even reported recently that Wright may be deliberately trying to sink Obama. Like myself, I think you all know a hot story when you see it, and the Wright/Obama imbroglio has been burning as hot as the sun. It burns as we speak. The question is, will it burn down whatever wreckage is left of the House of Obama that the Wright Wrecking Ball has not already destroyed? Funny thing about American politics. You just never know. One thing you can count on is that the Republican 527s will be merciless on Obama in any general election should he be chosen as the Democrat nominee. He ain't seen nothin' yet. Then again, Bill Clinton was given up for dead in the same fashion in 1992. We all know how that turned out. And despite all of Obama's heavy baggage, a leader of the Democratic Party under Bill Clinton and former DNC chair Joe Andrew has just switched his allegiance to Barack Obama, and is encouraging fellow Democrats to "heal the rift in our party" and unite behind the Illinois senator. Many other prominent Democrats are in Obama's corner as well. Question is, are they backing the next Bill Clinton or the next Michael Dukakis? Lots more to come, for sure. Stay tuned.