Some Snark From The Clinton Camp and Cowboy Bill Richardson's Endorsement (JM)

In response to Rev. Wright situation, despite Obama's speech on race and getting beyond politics as usual, the Obama team has been pushing a picture of Bill Clinton shaking hands with Rev. Wright at the White House during his administration. When the NYT e-mailed Howard Wolfson, Clinton Communications Director, for a response he send the following: “Urgent indeed — a picture — oooooooo!”

Now maybe it's just me, but that seems like the most effective response to an incredibly different sort of situation.

Anyhow, last night, at around 12 AM Pacific Time, Gov. Bill Richardson endorsed Barack Obama. I have never been a huge fan of Gov. Richardson and I truly hope that he is not on Obama's short list should he get the nomination (though I would prefer to see him than Gov. Sebelius or, and I almost break my keys as I type this, Sen. Claire McCaskill). Richardson a bit silly and more of a rabble-rouser than anything else, and his foreign policy experience is as negotiator and back-slapper. If foreign policy credentials are what Obama is after (either that or economics would be desirable) I would think he'd be better off with Biden or Dodd. Anyway, I am not certain just how much impact a Richardson endorsement has at this point. The only state with a large Hispanic population yet to hold their primary is Puerto Rico, and that is an entirely different ballgame. The only real potential game changers left out there are Gore and Edwards, and at this point it just does not look like they will endorse either candidate.

(Hat tip: Marc Ambinder)

Quite The Speech (JM)

Ben Smith over at Politico posted the full text of Obama's race and religion speech he gave in Philly today. It was a shockingly good defense of the entire Rev. Wright situation and just an excellent speech in general. It got a bit too Obamaesque towards the end, but as someone who just hasn't been as impressed by his speechmaking as pretty much everyone else the universe let me say, this was very very impressive. He took a strong stand in defense of Wright, he rejected certain viewpoints and he contextualized the place where Rev. Wright and the black community was coming from. It was sophisticated and nuanced, something I have thought lacking in much of Obama's campaign rhetoric heretofore.

The media is going to eat this speech up. The question is, will it make a difference? Racism is racism and in the end this speech, while a rousing defense and explanation of the entire situation, serves in the end to remind people of division. It comes down to just how sophisticated are voters with racially biases. So in the end I am not sure this takes Wright out of Hillary or the GOP's arsenal, but it does make me feel much more comfortable about how Obama will handle GOP attacks going forward.