Posted on 05/08/2008 9:11:06 AM PDT by The_Republican
So, as expected, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have split the Indiana and North Carolina primaries, sending the race stumbling along to West Virginia (where Clinton should win decisively) this Tuesday, and then beyond. But the big story in the campaign continues to be the whole Reverend Wright affair, which has undoubtedly damaged the Obama effort, despite his impressive showing Tuesday night.
The crucial question is whether the damage is temporary or permanent. And one helpful precedent for Obama comes from an incident 16 years ago that you won't hear the Clinton campaign mentioning at all: the Gennifer Flowers episode.
For those with short memories, Flowers was the Wright of the '92 campaign. She burst on the scene in the period before the New Hampshire primary, holding a press conference and asserting that she had had a long-running affair with then-governor Bill Clinton in Little Rock. Most pundits concluded that the damage to the Clinton campaign was close to terminal. (Disclosure: I was one of them.)
The fallout from the "affair" was enough to send Clinton tumbling out of first place in the run-up to New Hampshire, and Paul Tsongas won the Granite State primary. But in the months ahead, though Flowers resurfaced occasionally, the story faded and Clinton went on to win the Oval Office (and, not coincidentally, face future Flowers-like controversies during his presidency).
Obviously, there are huge differences between a sex scandal and one involving what your preacher happens to say in church. And there are enormous distinctions that can be made between 2008 and 1992. In '92, a three-way race enabled Clinton to become president while winning only 43 percent of the vote. Furthermore, there's now a huge cable and Internet universe that relentlessly fans the flames of every controversy.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Doesn’t Larry Sinclair have dibs on that role?
Now I’m thinking of Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) in “Tombstone” — “I’ll be your huckleberry.”
From what I can gather the young Obama base has an anything goes attitude toward sex and are pretty much clueless as to what goes on in churches as they are not themselves affiliated with churches. Besides...its “his personal life”. Sigh...
“Will Wright Be Obama’s Gennifer Flowers?”
Were Wright and Obama having sex, too?!
Ha ha!
The key for Obama is how many other skeletons escape from his closet.
“The darker the berry, the sweeter the juice”.
....in knife fighting there’s a move called a “distraction cut”....you’re not going for the kill yet....it’s merely a slash to draw blood....make the guy worry....begin the process of weakening him...Wright is merely the first distraction cut...next will be Ayers trampling the flag...then sound bites of Obama’s wife in action....until Obama will be unable to defend himself.
Genifer Flowers didn’t impact the election enough to keep Bill Clinton out of office.
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