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Another Perspective

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Some say Richard Nixon would have been re-elected in 1972 no matter what, but McGovern's mishandling of the Eagleton affair destroyed whatever hope the Democrats had.

OBAMA'S MISHANDLING of the Wright controversy resembles the Eagleton affair in that it reveals a lack of foresight and preparation. Wright's sermons were available for sale on DVD, and Ronald Kessler of NewsMax.com had reported about Wright's controversial views as early as January. Yet when the ABC News story broke in March, the Obama campaign appeared to be caught flat-footed.

Much like McGovern's initial "1,000 percent" support of Eagleton -- which only encouraged Eagleton's attempts to stay on the ticket -- Obama's Philadelphia speech defending Wright has prolonged the crisis, with Wright now refusing to leave the spotlight.

And, like McGovern in '72, Obama finds himself with no good options. If he fails to repudiate Wright's racialized theology, Obama can't hope to win in November -- and Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign has made "electability" a crucial part of her appeal to the superdelegates who will ultimately choose the Democratic nominee. But if Obama does repudiate Wright, it will contradict his earlier statement that doing so would be to "disavow the black community."

Obama could have put this controversy behind him six weeks ago. Instead, the candidate of Hope and Change allowed it to mushroom into a crisis that threatens to undermine whatever hope for change the Democrats might have in 2008.

topics:
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Islam