• Next day buzz on Obama’s big race speech was basically drawn along party lines: Most Dems loved it (or at least thought it a mild success) while the right pounced on Obama for carrying out what they see as race baiting. You can say that it means the speech was uber-boffo and has the GOP shaking in their boots over November, but the real impact is probably between the Right’s reaction and those who though it Abe Lincoln 2.0. It got the immediate job done - have Obama himself get a foothold in the Jeremiah Wright discussion that was spiraling out of control - and that’s all the campaign wanted and needed from the speech. Joan Walsh of Salon has a good take on the post-speech world of Democratic politics. Takes on a life of its own…
  • Although Obama finally was able to tell his side of the Pastor Wright controversy and did a good job in handling the prickly issue, it hasn’t stopped Republicans from taking advantage of a seemingly lose-lose sit for Obama and the Dems. They’ve seized Wright as a rallying point with which to finally combat the juggernaut of good will that is Barack - exactly what once made him a formidable foe to slime-happy GOP strategists in any general match up. Given the juicy ammo of Obama’s close relationship with an apparently off-his-rocker anti-American Pastor (who blames the U.S. for 9/11), the Right is only too pleased to file the controversy away as perfect attack fodder if they face Dem nominee Obama later in the year. They don’t have any dirt like this on Hillary, that’s for sure.
  • With John Edwards still out of the fight and leaning more towards Hillary if he decides to endorse, the search is on for a suitable running mate for frontrunner (still…) Obama. One name that surged onto the scene in the past day is Sen. Jim Webb from the potential swing state of Virginia. Webb is a straight-talking darling among mainstream Dems and could be a draw among independents and moderates. He has a sterling military background and will publish a new book in May dealing with both foreign policy problems facing the U.S. as well as economic concerns, thus broadening his resume`. But rumors will abound. And Webb isn’t particularly ambitious. But could he be talked into the job? And don;t rule out Tenn. Gov. Phil Bredesen.
  • And McCain says he’s the candidate with the “right stuff” on foreign policy and the threat of “Islamofascism.” Yesterday, during his whirlwind publicity tour through the Mideast, he made the biggest blunder imaginable when discussing the “threat” Iran poses to U.S. interests in Iran. It’s a biggie…
    • In news interviews in Jordan after his briefing with the American brass in Baghdad, Mr. McCain cited as a “well known” fact and “common knowledge” that the terrorist group Al Qaeda in Iraq was receiving training across the border in Iran. His traveling companion, Senator Joseph Lieberman, soon whispered something in Mr. McCain’s ear. Whoops, perhaps, followed by the correction that the Iranians are training different extremists. Al Qaeda in Iraq is actually a Sunni-backed group most unlikely to have ties to the Shiite country of Iran. (The terrorists Iran is accused of supporting are Shiites, not Sunnis.) “I’m sorry,” Mr. McCain said, correcting the record.
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