It was a rough week for Barack Obama thanks to some of his reverend’s more hateful comments coming to light. Brit Hume got to the heart of the problem on Fox News Sunday. “It’s worth noting also, I think, certainly Obama knew what sort of church this is,” Hume said. “Now I have no doubt that the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago has done many good things; it is clearly a thriving parish with active programs for youth and anti-drugs and all sorts of other good things. There’s no doubt about that. On the other hand, for a candidate who would like us all to believe that he is post-racial this is an interesting institution. For example, this is what it says about itself: ‘We are an African people and remain true to our native land, the mother continent, the cradle of civilization.’ And it goes on to say this is a congregation with a ‘non-negotiable commitment to Africa.’ Not to Chicago, not to Illinois, not to the United States of America. But to Africa. Now look, there’s nothing wrong with that, and I wouldn’t say it’s racist, but it’s racial.” George Will was even more direct, saying on This Week “This strikes right at Obama’s strength: I am a.) post-racial, I’m not obsessed with race, and b.) I will get you away from the acoustics of the 1960s, this blame America first, God Damn America. Of course, the candidate’s wife says America is a mean country. Why not have ‘God Damn America’?” This flap is almost certainly taking a toll; as Dean Barnett pointed out this weekend, Obama appears to be sinking in the Rasmussen tracking poll. Who will take the Democratic nomination remains to be seen. Obama’s surrogates were out in force, making the argument that whoever leads in pledged delegates should take home the prize. On Face the Nation, Deval Patrick said he hopes that “the superdelegates, in the end, will ratify the will of the people and the pledged delegates, whichever candidate has the majority of them. I certainly hope so.” But former senator Bill Bradley painted a less rosy view of things on Meet the Press, fretting “where this is headed, potentially–and I hope it doesn’t get there–is a Credentials Committee battle. Last time that happened was 1972, and the Credentials Committee made a decision not to seat the Illinois delegation of Mayor Daly and to say that the California primary was a winner-take-all, not a proportional. And if either one of those decisions had gone the other way, Hubert Humphrey would have been the nominee.”
