Barack Obama’s relationship with his longtime minister Jeremiah Wright continues to draw scrutiny. But beyond the obvious problems caused by being closely associated with somebody who has a record of giving inflammatory sermons, there is the fact that all the publicity surrounding Wright will make it more difficult for Obama to pursue his goal of reaching out to religious voters in the general election. In my profile of him last year, I noted that in his book The Audacity of Hope:
But now, when he tries to talk about faith, it will only draw more attention to his radioactive pastor, which is something Obama will want to avoid at all costs.
