North Carolina Republicans ran an ad zinging Obama for his association with Jeremiah Wright

North Carolina Republicans ran an ad zinging Obama for his association with Jeremiah Wright. There are enough degrees of separation here to question the ad's implicit argument. But that wasn't enough for liberaldom (which decided that any raising of the Wright issue was racist) or for John McCain (who floridly denounced the ad as beneath his standards).

Later, noting that Obama himself had conceded that people had legitimate concerns about Wright, McCain backed off. At press time, his convictions require him not to raise the issue himself, but also not to denounce those who do. McCain has to avoid two traps here. First: Many Democrats are going to try to rule any criticism of Obama off-limits as racist. Stopping that tactic will require both restraint (not making criticisms that could easily be twisted) and assertiveness (challenging any twisting). Second: McCain will want to demonstrate that he is unlike other Republicans, but without dampening those Republicans' enthusiasm for him. His handling of this North Carolina ad is a discouraging sign that he may not be able to navigate these waters.

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