Enjoy It While It Lasts, McCain

Even conservatives can see the writing on the wall. The Wright mess was in full force this week. Obama had to cut the guy loose. This should be McCain's peak, and...well he's not really peaking that much. Real Clear Politics has the Obama-McCain matchup as a tie.

Obama still has bumps ahead, including expected losses in Kentucky and West Virginia, but ultimately he's gonna win this primary. And this Wright stuff will be old news by the fall.

The Weekly Standard:

A few thoughts on the good Rev. Wright. First, what fun this is. Nothing like a candidate's crank associate going off on an egocentric rant in front of the media to spice up a political campaign. Though I'm not sure it will be as ultimately bad for Obama as it now appears since he got the excuse he needed to finally throw the toxic Rev. Wright under the bus. Obama was sloppy about it and late, but he now has the right political answer to Wright: I'm finished with him. And while GOP hearts were undoubtedly warmed by the whole fiasco, the odds are that Rev. Wright is now an issue in decline; some damage done but little chance he'll be the big factor in October among swing voters who will decide the election.

The American Conservative:

How meaningful is Obama’s slump? Not very. After all, who would expect Obama’s ratings to be rising at a time when most of the media’s attention has been on Wright and the acrimonious race between Obama and Clinton? He would have to be superhumanly popular to withstand all of that without losing support.

The political environment that exists now, however, is nothing like the one that will exist in the summer, let alone November, when the Democrats will be fighting McCain instead of each other and the media glare will be upon the Arizonan as well as Obama. The present circumstances are — as several commentators, including me, have pointed out — the best that McCain is likely to enjoy for the rest of the season. I suspect present conditions are also nearly rock-bottom for Obama, though it’s a mistake ever to underestimate how much slime a Clinton can excrete. Nevertheless, barring new skeletons spilling out of Obama’s closest, the race is going to get better for him and worse for McCain.