From Ben Smith at Politico:
Obama's campaign has disavowed Wright's media tour, and a correspondent notes an interesting detail:
Wright was invited to the National Press Club by a journalist and minister who supports Clinton.
The Tribune reports that Wright was invited by Barbara Reynolds, a former USA Today editorial board member who has written on personal blog of her support for Clinton.
But Smith hastens to add (in a conclusion that will be ignored by some Obama supporters who will assume that Wright's appearance was a set-up):
I don't mean to suggest some kind of plot. Her agenda here seems to have been the same as Wright's: To protect the minister's reputation from, among others, Obama.
"[I]t is a sad testimony that to protect his credentials as a unifier above the fray the Senator is fueling the media characterization that Rev. Dr. Wright is some retiring old uncle in the church basement instead of respecting Wright for the towering astute father of progressive social and global causes that he is," Reynolds wrote in March.
Reynolds' is well placed to defend Wright. Her bio says she teaches "prophetic ministry and the media" at Howard University's divinity school.
ALSO: Richard Prince points out that Reynolds has spoken critically of Clinton as well, after grilling her -- and being dissatisfied with her answer -- on the Ferraro flap.
ALSO: She'd first pitched inviting Wright to the press club two years ago.
So this Clinton supporter thinks Wright is a "towering astute father of progressive social and global causes." (Yeecgh.)
Wright's appearance wasn't necessarily a set-up. It was also inevitable that Wright would show his true colors again and again. This is all a direct consequence of Obama's poor choice of associates.
Don't get me wrong. I'm sure Hillary Clinton would not hestitate to engineer this type of trouble for her rival, and much worse. It's just that Barbara Reynolds seems extremely sincere in her naive appreciation of the anti-American anchor around Obama's neck.
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