The Democratic primary as “Fatal Attraction”: Who’s playing Glenn Close’s role? The Beeb lazily casts Hillary but Newt has someone else in mind for the part. Wright’s not just going to be ignored, Barack.

He makes a fair point about the possible significance of having to pray in the basement — the prospect of being thrown under the bus by Obama has been on Wright’s mind for a year — but I wonder if he doesn’t go far enough. Someone I read over the weekend (can’t remember who) speculated that part of Al Sharpton’s hissyfit in New York over the NYPD acquittals was aimed at reclaiming the spotlight from the new most powerful black politician in America, one who happily consorts with vicious racial demagogues but is not, at least, one himself. The more success Obama has, the theory goes, the more endangered Reverend Al’s shtick is. Maybe Wright’s thinking along the same lines, that the best way to preserve his viability as a grievance merchant is to kneecap Obama before he reaches the throne of power. In fairness to Sharpton, his own anxiety on this point hasn’t stopped him from threatening the DNC on Obama’s behalf, but then he hasn’t spent six weeks watching Obama distance himself from him at every turn. In Wright’s case, the personal may well have become political, and vice versa.

Update: Maybe I spoke too soon about Sharpton.