The Brody File received an e-mail this morning from a key Democratic strategist who tells me the following when it comes to the controversy surrounding Barack Obama's pastor:
"This is killer and I don't think the Obama camp gets how lethal this stuff can be. It's the problem with appealing to ivory tower and young folks and surrounding yourself with such. This is killer in the heartland and regular white voters.
The initial response by Sean Casey on ABC where he basically accused the press of being racist is not going to work either. What is so killer about this is that it goes right at Obama's strength and his unifying/non-angry black man image. And the initial response of being defensive or angry just isn't going to cut it.
The next questions that will happen on the blogs and news is how would people react if a white pastor was saying similar stuff and they'll start drawing parallels to the attacks on Bush for just going once to Bob Jones. This won't go away, and it is how Clinton can win the super-delegates despite losing the state delegates. Unless Obama's camp can get this turned around quickly, I think it very well could be the "Swift Boat" point of this race --though in my mind, this is a fair question-- where the wheels start to come off the bus."
This Democratic strategist does not want his name revealed so he can speak more freely about the controversy, but suffice to say that this person is very much up to speed on the latest campaign happenings.
Do you agree with the strategist? Comments?