Jeremiah Wright is an enormous problem for Barack Obama for three reasons.

1) Wright's "God d*mn America" comments play right into the "Obama isn't patriotic" meme. Obama makes a big deal over not wearing a flag pin, he doesn't hold his hand over his heart for the national anthem, his wife says she is really proud of her country for the first time, and now this provides just one more piece of evidence that, yes, Obama really doesn't love this country and thus, is unfit to be President.

2) Obama has been very careful to portray himself as a "post-racial" candidate. He wants you to believe he's not Jesse Jackson, he's not Al Sharpton, he's not a racial grievance monger who blames white people for everything.

However, Wright is obviously a virulent racist who despises white people and when you see that Obama and Wright have such a tight relationship, it raises serious questions about whether Obama's post-racial rap is just shtick that he's pushing for purely political purposes.

3) It's not unusual for a politician to get into trouble because of an unsavory acquaintance and for the pol to respond by trying to distance himself from the problematic person.

However, the problem that Obama has here is that he's had an extremely close relationship with Wright for a long, long time. Wright has been Obama's pastor for 20 years, he baptized Obama's children, Obama took his children to listen to Wright preach, he married Obama and his wife, and the title of Barack's most famous book, The Audacity of Hope, came from one of Wright's sermons.

So, with that in mind, it's going to be extremely difficult for Obama to distance himself from Wright or credibly claim that he didn't know that Wright had these controversial beliefs.

Summary: Will this kill Obama's campaign? That seems doubtful, but it is a damaging and lasting wound that will stay with him long-term.