What The Right Doesn't Understand

A reader writes:

I just watched the latest Obama clip on your site.  As a lifelong cynic (whose cynicism, unfortunately, has always proved prescient) I find myself able to believe in this man.  It is truly extraordinary.

The Wright affair seems to have impacted Republicans the most:

A large number of voters - three-quarters - say that what Wright has said has not changed their opinion of Obama. However, Wright has caused 24 percent to change their view, with 22 percent saying their view of Obama is less favorable. Republicans are more likely than Democrats or Independents to describe the Wright impact negatively.

I think the association has given many Republican-leaning voters permission to stay away from Obama. That's a shame - because Obama clearly represents, whatever his faults, a different racial politics than that of Jackson, Sharpton and the past. Insofar as he represents a repudiation of the last eight years, he is also a gain for conservatism, properly understood - because his election would force Republicans to rethink where they have gone so awry.