Enough 'distance' for Obama?

Michelle Malkin liveblogged the press conference in which Barack Obama tried to put more distance -- more like a Grand Canyon -- between himself and Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Malkin notices a big difference between what Obama said yesterday and what Obama said today, and concludes:

It wasn’t the fact that Wright has been spewing this same recycled crap for years that finally got Obama mad. It was that he finally realized it was hurting his campaign. And he was personally miffed by Wright’s insults against him.

Will this do the trick? Will the MSM now drop the Wright issue? Don't bet on it. This is the kind of juicy narrative that the MSM will still be chattering about on the Sunday shows. And then, if Hillary wins Indiana, the story will be revived: "Did Wright hurt Obama with white Democratic primary voters?"

UPDATE: Allahpundit has video and says:

Imagine his surprise at finding that his spiritual mentor of 20 years is a preening, hateful, attention whore. . . .
The bottom line: After 20 years of friendship, if Obama didn’t know Wright held these beliefs he’s a moron and if he did know he’s a fraud.

Allah also links Ace, who provides the obligatory Ace-ification of the story:

Throwing him under the bus. I could no more disown him than I could disown someone who had become a serious political liability.
This time, the media will crow, he really has put this issue completely behind him. Of course they said that last time, too, and six thousand times since then.
Wright is a "distraction" from what really matters, he informs us. Wow, I didn't see that one coming.

Ace has more -- a lot f***ing more -- so read it all because, I remind you, he is the CPAC Blogger of the Year.

UPDATE II: At the American Spectator blog, Philip Klein says of Obama's press conference:

This is exactly the way Obama should have addressed the issue to begin with instead of letting it linger. This is about as good as he could have done under the circumstances, but I still think Obama has major credibility problems on how he could have been so blind for so long about Wright.

That's just it. The ABC News story on Wright broke on March 13. It then takes 47 days until Obama finally comes out with a strong response?

Hate to repeat myself, but it's like McGovern and Eagleton. It was McGovern's delay in dumping Eagleton that proved so damaging. For 10 days, Eagleton sort of dangled in the wind, thereby producing a bummer of a story that clogged up news cycle after news cycle.

Oh, and anybody want to bet we haven't heard the last from Rev. Wright? He's liable to come back with a denunciation of Obama that stretches the story out even further.