Ironically, this may be Barack's "Sista Souljah" moment

[andym]

The National Review just published an article claiming that the controversy about Rev. Wright could be Hillary's "Sista Souljah"
moment (in reference to Bill Clinton's 1992 criticism of Sista Souljah's lyrics that sanctioned the killing of cops). They suggest that this would be the case only if she attacks Wright.
http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=N2Q0YjU0NWIxZDNjZjhjM2Q3N2Q1N2NhMWY1MTE2MmY=

But I believe they got this wrong and that it is probably Barack Obama's "Sista Souljah" moment. Reasonable people hold potential leaders responsible for their own thoughts, opinions and deeds. However, they are interested in how they deal with crises and problematic associates. By criticizing Obama's association with his pastor, Obama's opponents gave him a wonderful opportunity to symbolically define what he believes about the racial divide and unity. He came down firmly on the side of unity. In this case, he denounced the statements, removed the pastor from any connection with his campaign, while at the same standing up for the American values of unity that he and the Democratic party represent.

This will likely be a classic example of attacks helping a candidate.
See this post:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5078728&mesg_id=5078728
The basic topic of that post is that:
Each time a candidate successfully fends off an attack, it builds confidence in that candidate in the eyes of the electorate.

The biggest irony here is that the attackers in the media and on the net, actually do a candidate a big favor when they attack on these type of indirect grounds, as opposed to more insidious attacks like the swiftboaters who lied about what happened in the past to score political points.

[navarth]

1. Interesting. k & r

Thanks

[tabasco]

2. Hillary supporters sure like the National Review, the Wall Street Journal,

and a whole bunch of other wingnut rags all of a sudden.

[David Dunham]

3. This story is VERY bad for Obama, who was very close to Wright.

[andym]

7. We'll see how this plays out in the polls next week.

There is a way to measure the effect of such things. The easiest is to look at next week's polls (tuesday/wednesday) and see if Obama's numbers go down as would be expected if it was bad news as you claim. If it actually vaccinates the candidate his numbers should be within their normal fluctuation. If it is actually helpful as predicted in the OP, his numbers may climb.

[ExtraGriz]

4. he may soften the damage in the short term

but the long term consequences havent yet begun. the rethugs will cream him with 527 ads.

[slinkerwink]

5. Hopefully there'll be a follow-up speech

[andym]

6. I think he will.

This really presents itself as an opportunity to bring people together, which is one of the focuses of Obama's campaign.

[andym]

8. Apparently some African American ministers will criticize Obama for rebuking Wright

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5094685

Very consistent with Bill's Sista Souljah's event.

[andym]

9. And now it gives him the invoke RFK's unifying speech after the death of MLK

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/obama_invokes_rfk_in_distancin.html