President Barack Obama...

Are you scared yet?

You damned well better be.

"I will slow our development of future combat systems."

Why are liberals trying to kill us?

That aside, thank God; literally, for Jeremiah Wright.

Speaking of Jeremiah Wright, Obama had stated that he hadn't heard any incendiary rhetoric from the mouth of his pastor prior to the videos that were widely distributed last week, and Obama made off like he didn't even know about Wright's rhetoric until he heard the videos.

Yet, even before this whole flak started to gain momentum, the NYT reported on March 7 of this year,

CHICAGO, March 5 — The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., senior pastor of the popular Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago and spiritual mentor to Senator Barack Obama, thought he knew what he would be doing on Feb. 10, the day of Senator Obama’s presidential announcement.

After all, back in January, Mr. Obama had asked Mr. Wright if he would begin the event by delivering a public invocation.

But Mr. Wright said Mr. Obama called him the night before the Feb. 10 announcement and rescinded the invitation to give the invocation.

“Fifteen minutes before Shabbos I get a call from Barack,” Mr. Wright said in an interview on Monday, recalling that he was at an interfaith conference at the time. “One of his members had talked him into uninviting me,” Mr. Wright said, referring to Mr. Obama’s campaign advisers.

Some black leaders are questioning Mr. Obama’s decision to distance his campaign from Mr. Wright because of the campaign’s apparent fear of criticism over Mr. Wright’s teachings, which some say are overly Afrocentric to the point of excluding whites. [Now there's an understatement if I've ever heard one--ED]

“Senator Obama is proud of his pastor and his church, but because of the type of attention it was receiving on blogs and conservative talk shows, he decided to avoid having statements and beliefs being used out of context and forcing the entire church to defend itself,” Mr. Burton said.

Instead, Mr. Obama asked Mr. Wright’s successor as pastor at Trinity, the Rev. Otis Moss III, to speak. Mr. Moss declined.

In recent weeks, word of Mr. Obama’s treatment of Mr. Wright has reached black leaders like the Rev. Al Sharpton and given them pause.

“I have not discussed this with Senator Obama in detail, but I can see why callers of mine and other clergymen would be concerned, because the issue is standing by your own pastor,” Mr. Sharpton said.

So the Rev. Al was less-than-pleased. But my friends, Obama's understanding of the possible need to distance himself from Rev. Wright was noted nearly a year ago, in April 2007:

From an April 2007 New York Times article:

“If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me,” Mr. Wright said with a shrug. “I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.”

Somehow that quote seems relevant today, with the news that Barack Obama has distanced himself from Jeremiah Wright.

Even if the heretofore thought-of- clean-as-the-wind-driven snow Barack Obama survives this flap (and I don't think he will); he will no doubt be damaged goods as the good Senator John McCain hands him his backside in November.