• 3/23 David Broder

Obama’s speech was impressive, but his message may not have the desired impact. 

• 3/23 Jim Hoagland 

Obama’s speech, with its message of transcending barriers, probably also defines future Obaman foreign policy.  

• 3/23 Wrap: I think this quote from Hoagland is indicative of a pundit’s dismissal of hard thinking, in favor of blather: “The reach of this address is also global. It illuminates far better who Obama is than do all of the carefully scripted, opportunistic position papers on Iraq and NAFTA.“  

• 3/22 Colbert I. King

3/22 Wrap: People ask why Obama would stay in Wright’s church. They might be unaware of how black were forced into their own institutions of worship and how such institutions often serve an emotional, cathartic purpose.  3/22 Wrap: Anyone else sick of the Wright “controversy.”

• 3/21 E.J. Dionne Jr.

Reverend Wright’s criticism of America is not that different from the criticisms of Martin Luther King Jr. We should not be so hasty to judge Obama based on this rhetoric.

• 3/21 Charles Krauthammer

Obama’s speech was a disingenuous attempt to excuse himself for his presence in Wright’s church. Wright uttered his hate publicly, and therefore his offense was not morally equivalent to the offenses of Obama’s grandmother.

• 3/21 Wrap: Kraut’s rebuttal was predictable. You could almost hear his inner thoughts on this one: “Nooooo!!!!! You can’t turn this into a GOOD THING! This ridiculously unimportant scandal HAS to destroy you!”

• 3/20 David Broder

With his Al-Queda gaffe, John McCain missed an opportunity to position himself as the expert on Middle Easter affairs. 

• 3/20 Wrap: Sentient beings might assume McCain ruined his “expert” reputation when he cheerled the Iraq War quagmire. Whatever, I’ll take any “moderate” pundit criticism of El Maverick.  

• 3/19 Eugene Robinson

Obama defied conventional wisdom (wisdom that instructed him to run away from the Wright issue) in delivering an important road map for how we should overcome our racial divide. 

• 3/19 Michael Gerson

Obama’s speech failed to do enough to address his pastor’s anti-Americanism and other flaws.  

•  3/19 Wrap: Wow, it’s so funny to read speech critiques from a former Bush Jr. speech writer. I half expected Gerson to write, “The speech was all wrong! Obama didn’t stutter, mispronounce, or give the lingering impression of idiocy!” It’s worth noting that Gerson doesn’t detail what the correct speech would have been–instead favoring the ‘Obama should suffer from guilt by association until the end of time’ approach. 

• 3/18 Eugene Robinson

All three candidates must propose solutions to the current economic crisis.  

• 3/18 Wrap: Nice sentiment behind Robinson’s piece, though its frustrating to see the following quote: ”You’d think that when former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan predicts that the deepening financial crisis will be “judged in retrospect as the most wrenching since the end of the Second World War,” the candidates might take note.” Greenspan may be the most overrated public figure since Kissinger. If I recall correctly, the former Fed chairman told us that there was no housing bubble. Though I’m in agreement on the ‘most wrenching since WWII’ statement, how seriously should we be taking this man? Why is there no accountability for being wrong on very important issues? 

• 3/17 Robert D. Novak

 The Ferraro gaffe is evidence of a deep, damaging “racial” divide that could hurt the Democratic party. 

•  3/17 Wrap: I’m not sure what Novak means by “ugly racial divide.” Yes, I know that Barack gets a large percentage of African American votes, and Hillary Clinton gets a majority of caucasian votes. But why does such a dichotomy have to be ugly and damaging? I’m noticing a lot of recent handwringing over how the protracted battle will end civilization as we know it.