For all the talk of Barack Obama turning the corner following his vehement denunciation of Rev. Jeremiah Wright this week, the poor mainstream media is still trying to suck the last, fainting whisps of breath out of what has been, for them, a blockbuster ratings grabber.
MSNBC devoted a full day -- no joke -- to agonizing over the Wright aftermath. CNN did better, which is why I got my actual news from them yesterday. This morning on "Morning Joe," the team tried to wring some news value out of the clips of the Obamas answering a SINGLE QUESTION about Wright, out of what I must imagine were dozens, on the trail yesterday, and a fleeting moment of Wright drama with Meredith Vieira on "The Today Show."
It's almost pitiful, watching the press try and extend the life of this very dead story. Poor Pat Buchanan seemed lonely and apoplectic yesterday, all but calling for a media black-in, meaning his pals at MSBNC must continue to cover Wright every day to the exclusion of all else, including the scintillating question of WHY BARACK OBAMA DIDN'T DO HIS DISTANCING ACT SOOOONER! Robert Novak pitches in to help his friends in the GOP, too, and David Broder, also at the WaPo, does his usual "both sides of the fence" agonizing. (Chuck Todd went off the reservation yesterday, reporting that GOPers he's talking to are lamenting the fact that the Wright issue might be "off the table for the general election," having peaked too soon, and been foreclosed by Obama's angry reaction to Wright's grandstanding.
Meanwhile, the New York Times throws one more Wright Hail Mary pass this morning, digging deep, deep into the Obama-Wright split with this actually quite well done piece:
Late Monday night, in the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, N.C., Barack Obama’s long, slow fuse burned to an end. Earlier that day he had thumbed through his BlackBerry, reading accounts of the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.’s latest explosive comments on race and America. But his remarks to the press this day had amounted to a shrug of frustration.
Only in this hotel room, confronted with the televised replay of the combustible pastor, did the candidate realize the full import of the remarks, his aides say. At the same time, aides fielded phone calls and e-mail from uncommitted superdelegates, several demanding that the candidate speak out more forcefully.
As Mr. Obama told close friends after watching the replay, he felt dumbfounded, even betrayed, particularly by Mr. Wright’s implication that Mr. Obama was being hypocritical. He could not tolerate that.
The next afternoon, Mr. Obama held a news conference and denounced his former pastor’s views as “divisive and destructive,” giving “comfort to those who prey on hate.” And so, with those remarks, a tightly knit relationship finally came apart — Mr. Wright had married Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, and baptized their children.
Theirs was a long and painful falling out, marked by a degree of mutual incomprehension, friends and aides say. It began at the moment Mr. Obama declared his candidacy, when he abruptly uninvited his pastor from delivering an invocation, injuring the older man’s pride and fueling his anger. ...
... As for Mr. Wright, he saw a cascade of perceived slights coming from the campaign of a bright young follower whose political ambitions were tugging him away from Trinity United Church of Christ. He saw the church he had founded coming under pressure from reporters and critics, forced to hire security guards. And he made no secret of whom he blamed: Mr. Obama’s political adviser, David Axelrod, a white Chicago political operative.
Not to be outdone, The Hill reports on Capitol Hill reaction to the media obsession crucial issue of Rev. Wright:
Lawmakers supporting Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) say they have no fears about a backlash against Democrats or their candidate because of the controversial remarks by Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), an Obama supporter whose state has a key primary Tuesday, said he’s not worried: “African-Americans I’ve talked to feel it’s imperative for him to distance himself from Rev. Wright.” ...
... Some lawmakers, such as Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), suggest worries behind the scenes about the re-emergence of Wright are more serious. After coming off the floor Tuesday night, Cleaver said an Obama supporter had just told him, “We’re scared to death.”
Cleaver has a unique perspective. He’s a black preacher himself, and a supporter of Clinton’s. He worries that white voters will be angered by Wright’s remarks, and that black voters will be put off by Obama’s rejection of his onetime spiritual leader.
“I don’t think there is a way out of this,” Cleaver said. “If African-Americans are convinced that Obama was treated fairly, they will come out. If not, we will lose the black vote for two decades — the young black vote.”
But other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including prominent Obama supporters, aren’t so worried.
“I think Sen. Obama said everything he needed to say,” said Butterfield, who has been tapped by the Obama campaign to help deal with the uproar over Wright’s remarks. This weekend he’ll be making appearances and doing interviews in his home state to help put distance between Obama and Wright. ...
Back in Barack's home state, the Chicago Tribune appears to have tired of the Wright story, and the Sun-Times goes with an AP wire story -- signs that for some newspapers, the Wright story is finally losing its sexiness.
Not so for the cable news folks, especially at MSNBC, and I'm assuming, Fox News. They'll try to drag the Wright story into the weekend if they can, and if possible, beyond. But as Lawrence O'Donnell said on MSNBC Tuesday night, after Obama's definitive statements on the matter, any news outlet that continues to try and cover the Wright story ought to examine its motives.
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"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
