At the start of his campaign, Obama ran in counterpoint to the previous candidacies of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Here was a black man running for president on issues that had nothing to do with race, as he rose above the victimization rhetoric that characterizes so many speeches of African-American political figures.

Now, in attacking the Rev. Jeremiah Wright as he did Tuesday, Obama can further define himself in contrast to Wright, just as he did earlier vis-a-vis Jackson and Sha ...

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