I sure hope that Steve Benen is right on this "bitter" controversy. He might very well be. We all know the conventional wisdom that Barack Obama's flap with his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, threatened his campaign until he gave a brilliant speech that ended the controversy. This is a neat, elegant version of events that happens to be utterly wrong. Obama's poll numbers dipped just a little bit during the Wright controversy, but there was never any point at which is campaign was imperiled, which gives me some hope with respect to this "controversy". The media seized onto the story because it is what they do--it's the politics-as-theater-criticism that many liberal bloggers have commented upon.
At the very least, it seems like Hillary Clinton is overreaching in her response. I thought her campaign was supposed to be more positive after the departure of Mark Penn. I guess the obvious musical reference applies...
