Rarely in the history of American politics has a bigot had as much power as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright enjoys today.

Support for Sen. Barack Obama has plunged nationally and (more importantly) in North Carolina since Rev. Wright confirmed at his National Press Club appearance Monday that he does indeed hold racist, lunatic, anti-American views, and implied that Sen. Obama has been insincere in separating himself from them. "He had to distance himself, because he's a politician," Rev. Wright said.

Mr. Obama was more upset by Rev. Wright's assertion he was being disingenuous than by the extremist nature of his remarks, The New York Times reported Thursday.

"As Mr. Obama told close friends after watching the replay, he felt dumbfounded, even betrayed, by Mr. Wright's implication that Mr. Obama was being hypocritical. He could not tolerate that," the Times said.

For good reason. In a Rasmussen poll in New Hampshire released Thursday, 56 percent of respondents said Mr. Obama denounced Rev. Wright because it was politically convenient. Fifty-four percent said it was at least somewhat likely that Mr. Obama shares some of his pastor's controversial views.

Mr. Obama's belated denunciation of Rev. Wright hasn't helped matters. "Does Obama really expect Americans to believe it was Wright, and not the prevailing political winds, that changed overnight?" asked the Denver Post.

He may be a foul-mouthed bigot, but the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is no fool. He had to know his high-profile speaking tour would harm his former protege. So why did he do it?

His feelings are hurt, a Wright intimate told Fredric Dicker of the New York Post:

"After 20 years of loving Barack like a member of his own family, for Jeremiah to see Barack saying over and over that he didn't know about Jeremiah's views during those years, that he wasn't familiar with what Jeremiah had said ... this is seen by Jeremiah as nonsense and betrayal," his source told Mr. Dicker.

Others speculate Rev. Wright may not want Mr. Obama to be elected, because if America has a black president, it would undermine his thesis that whites are incorrigibly racist.

The simplest explanation may be that Rev. Wright cares more about his moment in the limelight than he does about the harm he's doing to Mr. Obama.

If you're running as the candidate of hope and change who will "bring us together," it is hard to imagine how things could get worse. But they can.

Jeremiah Wright could destroy his former protege in a single interview. Radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt explains:

"If Pastor Wright agrees to be interviewed by other than Bill Moyers, the questions should ask not for his opinions on various controversies, but for facts about his relationship with the senator. Did Pastor Wright discuss (militant black Muslim) Louis Farrakhan before, during or after they both attended the Million Man March? Did Sen. Obama indicate unease with or criticism of Farrakhan? How often did you see Obama at Trinity on Sunday over the past 20 years?"

Rev. Wright need only grant such an interview to torpedo Mr. Obama's candidacy. It doesn't matter whether he answers the questions truthfully, because only he and Mr. Obama know the truth. What a club to hold over the head of a presidential candidate! I doubt Mr. Obama has slept well since Monday.

Rev. Wright already has drilled some big holes in the hull of the SS (sinking ship) Obama. Hillary Clinton has caught up with Mr. Obama in polls among Democrats since the reverend's appearance at the National Press Club, and she runs slightly better than he does against prospective GOP nominee John McCain.

The pundits say Mrs. Clinton faces a must-win primary in Indiana Tuesday. That's true. But the more important primary that day may be in North Carolina, which -- because of the state's large black population -- was to have been Sen. Obama's firewall. All polls taken since Monday show the race there has narrowed dramatically. One showed Mrs. Clinton with a slight lead. If she were to win in North Carolina, it would be clear the bloom is off the Obama rose.

If Mr. Obama wins, however narrowly, in North Carolina Tuesday and, two weeks later, in Oregon, he can limp to the nomination because super delegates are more afraid of offending blacks than they are of losing in November.

That's probably what will happen ... unless Jeremiah Wright opens his mouth again.