By Michael H. Cottman
Every day, senior strategists for Sen. Barack Obama are holed up analyzing poll data, listening to sound bytes from Hillary Clinton and John McCain, studying policy statements, and planning the best approach to respond to critics in the Republican Party.
But how could Obama - or anyone inside his campaign - guard themselves against a perceived enemy within?
How could Obama know that Rev. Jeremiah Wright, - his pastor, a prominent ordained minister who professes to be a child of God - would become such a monumental distraction; a man now accused of trying to sabotage the campaign of the first viable black candidate in American history to have a legitimate shot at the White House.
How could anyone have foreseen that the preacher who brought Obama to Christianity, who baptized his children, who officiated his marriage, would, as some suggest, become Obama's Judas?
In just a few short weeks, Wright has gone from Obama's top spiritual advisor to political pariah. Word is the Obama campaign asked Wright not to take his controversial media show on the road and that Wright declined and pushed ahead anyway.
This week, standing in a room packed with reporters, Obama, saying he was "angered," denounced Wright for "divisive and destructive" remarks on race. "I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday," Obama told reporters.
"When he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS, when he suggests somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st centuries, when he equates the United States' wartime efforts with terrorism -- there are no excuses. They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans."
Obama is trying desperately to put the Wright controversy behind him. In a video clip seen around the world, Wright preached a sermon days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks where he said: "America's chickens are coming home to roost."
On May 6, Obama faces two critical primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, contests that could decide the Democratic nomination. Obama is struggling to gain ground in rural areas where whites are overwhelmingly supporting Clinton.
Obama has five days to shake himself of Wright, to get back to his message about hope, change and uplifting Americans. He has five days to convince blue-collar workers and suburban white voters in Indiana and North Carolina that he's the right person to lead the nation.
He also needs to win over the uncommitted super delegates who are watching this controversy closely and prove to them that the Wright mess will not linger, torpedo his campaign, or give Republicans the needed fire power to beat him in November.
Michelle Obama is asking voters to judge her husband by the way he responds to adversity.
Indeed, the next five days will be a critical test for the Illinois senator to get his head back in the game, to replace talk of Wright with talk of empowerment, and, as a Christian, forgive Wright for his betrayal - but perhaps never forget.
