By Jonathan Weisman
For a Democratic superdelegate who is officially still unaligned, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (S.C.) is sounding more and more like a Barack Obama fan.
In an interview today, Clyburn blasted the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s former pastor, but he suggested Wright’s recent re-emergence had not done lasting damage to the Illinois senator.
“I have a daughter the same age as Barack Obama,” said Clyburn, the most senior African American in Congress. “I’ve tried to provide shoulders for her to stand on. And I was absolutely saddened when it became clear to me Rev. Wright, rather than providing a shoulder for his parishioner to stand on, was engaged in some kind of knee-capping operation. That’s not the kind of anatomical analogy we ought to be involved in.”
He took particular umbrage with Wright’s suggestion that attacks on him were attacks on the black church, writ large. But, said Clyburn, if Wright had done grievous damage to Obama, the candidate would not have picked up the endorsements over the past two days from former Democratic Party chief Joe Andrew or Rep. Baron Hill, who represents a conservative district in Southern Indiana.
“Just because one sets out to do damage doesn’t mean it will be successful,” Clyburn said. “I don’t think it was successful.”
