I am not terribly interested in saying that much more about Obama and Wright, so here are some final comments.  It has been talked to death, and Obama has finally made his public break with the pastor.  For a lot of people who have turned sharply against Obama since March, this is too little and at least six weeks late, while for many others it will seem as if he has sold out, but what I find more troubling about the latest episode of this sorry soap opera is that Wright has gone from being the virtual family member whom Obama could not repudiate to being just some guy who makes outrageous statements.  When the media seemed to be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, Wright was a “part” of him, and now it is as if he is a stranger.  It’s not clear to me how Obama can get credit for a lot of what he said in Philadelphia and get credit for what he said today, since the strong declaration that he could not disown Wright has been flatly contradicted by the fact that he just disowned him.  Having likened disowning Wright to disowning the entire black community (similar to the identification with “the black church” that Wright employed in his own defense in the last few days) and his grandmother, he now disowns him.  But it doesn’t interest me to dwell at length on this contradiction.  Suffice it to say when the media accepted a mild rebuke, Obama gave a mild rebuke, and when the media expected a more forceful repudiation he delivered what was expected.  I find the whole scene rather pitiful.