Clintonite Lanny Davis expresses his discomfort with Obama's relationship with Rev. Wright in the Wall Street Journal:

Some have suggested that any Clinton supporters who continue to raise this issue are "playing the race card" or taking the "low" road.

When I said on CNN recently that concerns about the Wright-Obama issue were "appropriate" to continue to be discussed, my friend Joe Klein of Time Magazine said, "Lanny, Lanny, you're spreading the poison right now" and that an "honorable person" would "stay away from this stuff."

Could Joe Klein provide any better example of the liberal elitist mindset and how disconnected it is from the real world? Rev. Wright is on tape spewing some pretty vile anti-American stuff from the pulpit, yet Klein accuses Davis of being the one "spreading the poison" for having the temerity to question whether it was appropriate for Barack Obama to sit silent in the pews of Trinity United for 20 years. You see, Joe Klein, in his infinite progressive wisdom, has declared this subject off limits, and apparently anyone who thinks otherwise is dishonorable, a bigot, a racist, or worse.

Davis continues with a fair warning to Klein and other Democrats:

Attacking the motives of those who feel this discomfort about Senator Obama's response or nonresponse to Reverend Wright's comments is not just unfair and wrong. It also misses the important electoral point about winning the general election in November: This issue is not going away. If many loyal, progressive Democrats remain troubled by this issue, then there must be even more unease among key swing voters - soft "Reagan Democrats," independents and moderate Republicans - who will decide the 2008 election.

Davis is probably overstating his case when he suggests "many loyal, progressive Democrats remain troubled by this issue." I don't think we've seen much evidence of that at all. In fact, the polls seem to indicate the opposite. But I do think Davis is correct when he warns about the potential fallout among Reagan Democrats and Independents, and he's absolutely right that the issue is not going away. As sure as the sun rises in the East, a Republican-leaning 527 is going to use Rev. Wright against Obama in the general.

This may offend Joe Klein's political sensibilities, but it's clearly within bounds. To most people, Obama's twenty year relationship with Rev. Wright (not to mention his long association with shady dealer Tony Rezko) goes directly to the question of Obama's much-touted judgment.

Were the shoe on the other foot, of course, and the issue was John McCain's close, two-decade long relationship with a right-wing preacher with a history of saying offensive things from the pulpit, Joe Klein would almost certainly find that a legitimate topic germane to McCain's presidential bid. And he would scoff at those who suggested discussing the matter constituted "spreading the poison."