DAVE WEIGEL: “If Rev. Jeremiah Wright had greeted the new year with a self-imposed exile to Tibet, or if—even better—he’d turned off the cameras in Trinity United Church and never recorded himself saying ‘God damn America,’ Barack Obama would be knocking Hillary Clinton out of the race today.”

Plus this: “The Daily Kos has the only early exits that are ever any good: racial voting. Blacks went against Clinton in both states by about 85 points. That’s nightmarish and much worse than in the polls that showed her closing strong–they showed her climbing back into the teens.”

UPDATE: “Take that, Jeremiah Wright!” Obama blesses America, instead of damning it.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Prelude to the convention?

MORE: Megan McArdle wasn’t that impressed with the Obama speech: “Gack. Now Obama is ranting about how he’s going to make the corporations give us super fuel-efficient cars, find awesome new sources of oil, make renewable energy affordable, and invent a really delicious fat-free ice cream. However did we manage to get through the first 200 years without Barack Obama to beat some progress out of the corporations that have been holding us back?” And she’s an Obama supporter. . . .

STILL MORE: Rapture!