On throwing under the bus and bitch-slapping

Last night I found myself reluctantly watching some of the cable news coverage of the latest round of Nutso eruptions by Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. I say reluctantly because it, for me, as someone who likes Obama and relishes a McCain vs. Obama Presidential race because I think it'd be good for the country, is painful for me to watch. While watching video excerpts of Wright's recent round of various interviews and speeches, I came away with two predominant thoughts.

The first of those two thoughts was this...Why, for the love of God, can't this guy shut the fuck up? Why is he allowing himself to be paraded in front of the cameras to be used as a political weapon by opponents of Barack Obama? Does he not realize that he could be launching a harpoon directly at the heart of the Obama whale? And if he is aware of it, is it possible that he's put himself out there to act like a crazy man in an intentional effort to hurt Obama?

The last part of that thought was also speculated upon by Richard Wolffe on Keith Olbermann's show on MSNBC last night. His assertion was that Wright was envious of Obama, a former sheep in his flock who has wandered off to greener pastures and, in a short period of time, had his profile grow so massive that it has not only exceeded that of Wright, but also has him on the cusp of the Presidency. Wolffe contended that Wright was intentionally throwing Obama "under the bus" for what he perceived to be an act of disobedience, and that argument does seem more than plausible. Further, he argued that Obama needed to stand up to him by doing his own bit of under the bus throwing, a piece of advice that they apparently decided to heed today.

The other thought that I had about all this was that Wright's re-emergence was being orchestrated by the Clintons, a suspicion that was somewhat confirmed when I read a story by Errol Lewis in today's NY Daily News of how Reverend Wright's address to the National Press Club was arranged and organized by a fervent Clinton supporter. I have little doubt that this has been something that was developing in the shadowy corridors of Clintonland for the past couple of weeks. I'm sure that little birds dispatched by the Clinton's have been whispering in Wright's ears.

"You're not gonna take this laying down, are you Jeremiah?"

It's all part of their attempt to bloody Obama so badly that he can't win so the door is open for a Hillary run in 2012.

Or maybe the blame for Wright's unfortunate re-emergence is split down the middle. Wright may have been letting his animosity for Obama boil beneath the surface for a while. The Clintons just knocked on the door and handed him the spear to toss his rhetorical harpoon in the direction of the Obama whale.

I'm glad that Obama has decided to take it on the offensive here. I've been worried that he's been playing too nice over the last few weeks. Further, I think he needs to take off the gloves with Hillary. If she's gonna take it into the gutter, dare I say this, what with the racist AND sexist overtones that could be easily conjured up, but I can't think of a better metaphor at the moment...

Obama needs to bitch-slap Hillary Clinton.

By that I mean he needs to hammer away at the things that make her vulnerable like, the shady shit that has gone down over the last few years with the Clinton Presidential Library, and how Hillary's political "experience" that she and her surrogates crow endlessly about is quite flimsy. Obama needs to make the case that the donor records they have refused to release are incredibly relevant and reek of potential for political paybacks and blackmail.

I know that he's hell bent on taking the high road, but the air up there seems to be thinning to the point where there isn't enough wind to sustain forward progress with his battered sails.