2008-05-05 The Candidate, the Preacher and the Unconscious Mind

2008-05-05 Washington Post Shankar Vedantam \guilt by association\2008 US presidential race\Barack Obama\Jeremiah Wright http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/04/AR2008050401849.html The Candidate, the Preacher and the Unconscious Mind &ldquo;On the eve of crucial presidential primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has found himself dogged by questions about his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.&rdquo;: guilt by association  On the eve of crucial presidential primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has found himself dogged by questions about his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. As the Democratic front-runner's popularity has suffered after public statements by Wright about race relations in America, Obama supporters have been at a loss to understand why Wright's views are being linked to their candidate, when Obama has explicitly told voters that Wright does not speak for him.

Explains the problem as an example of guilt by association, with some details on that phenomenon.   