Obama Speech Halts Slide

According to Rasmussen, the pastor Wright saga had a significant impact on Obama's tracking numbers, and the speech (as I suspected) did do the job of stopping the slide.

Two days after Barack Obama gave the most important speech of his life, it remains unclear what impact the controversy over Pastor Jeremiah Wright will have on the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination. However, early data suggests that it has already had a negative impact on Obama's chances of winning the general election against John McCain. The good news for Obama is that his numbers have stopped falling since his speech on Tuesday. The bad news is that they haven't bounced back.

Emphasis mine. I think the speech did do the job in stopping his slide among the Democratic voters, but the overall takeaway is that Obama is a little bit weaker for the general election:

Obama's favorable ratings have also fallen below the 50% mark since the world learned of his former Pastor. This can be seen as part of a larger trend that began shortly after Obama's victories in the Wisconsin Primaries. At that time, just before Hillary Clinton began raising questions about her competitor, Obama was viewed favorably by 56% of voters nationwide. That had slipped to 52% just before Pastor Wright's views became big news and to 47% just before Obama's speech. Two days after the speech, Obama's favorables remain at 48%.

The first gut instinct is that the long drawn out primary is hurting Obama for the general election. Much as many Democrats feared. But I think it's important for them to remember that this is what primaries are for, and they have a chance for a second or third look at Obama, as in, "are you sure this is the guy you want to run?" This is a vetting process and pastor Wright is part of it.

In other words, this was all going to come out anyway, and for Obama supporters, better now than later. We'll hear more about pastor Wright when he's up against McCain, but Obama can paint that as "old news" by then.