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Don't bet on it. However much there is to this New York Post story, this is exactly why Barack Obama didn't disavow Jeremiah Wright the first time: Wright will not go quietly, he knows that Obama was familiar with his views long before they became campaign issues, and he is capable of making quite a bit of trouble all the way through November. That is, if Wright doesn't deliver the nomination to Hillary Clinton in the meantime.

I'm sympathetic to those who find it outrageous that a black community leader would make himself an obstacle to the election of the first black president. But let's keep in mind something I'm sure Wright remembers well: Obama benefited politically from his affiliation with Trinity United Church of Christ. It gave him crediblity and clout as a community organizer. It helped him in his quest for racial authenticity. Those benefits do not come cost-free. And as George Neumayr points out on the main site, identity politics is a double-edged sword.

topics:
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton