Why, tell me why?

Back and forth, back and forth. Rev. Jeremiah Wright says; Sen. Barack Obama responds. Blah, blah, blah. If you're a political junkie, you've seen, heard and read it all by now.

I just have one question: What is Mr. Wright up to?

As columnist Bob Herbert put it very succinctly in The New York Times, "The question that cries out for an answer from Mr. Wright is why -- if he is so passionately committed to liberating and empowering blacks -- does he seem so insistent on wrecking the campaign of the only African-American ever to have had a legitimate shot at the presidency."

Clearly, this isn't helpful to Mr. Obama in the upcoming North Carolina primary -- unless you think that state's Republican Party is running a campaign highlighting the Wright-Obama connection for nothing.

But we haven't heard the end of Mr. Wright who clearly is relishing his moment in the national spotlight for which Republicans, in this screwiest of political years, should give great thanks.