I think that the current suspended animation helps Obama. Clearly he has benefited from the media's decision to anoint him. In this regard New Republic has already confirmed what we  witnessed.
    I think until the nomination is fully resolved it is unlikely that the media will help the republican machine propagate their  attacks on Obama  for the fear that it may resurrect the Clinton candidacy which the media uniformly opposes. Witness the extent to which Joe Klein went to cover Obama gaffe on unconditional meetings with Iran.(I think unconditional meetings are fine and I dont buy the Khruschev-Kennedy analogy for the simple reason that Iran is no soviet Union)
   If Clinton was to be completely and definitively out of the picture it is more likely that the republican with their limited resources would try to define Obama and at that stage the media is going to be torn between  their love for Obama and adulation of McCain.
     If the republicans manage to dent Obama in the summer, it is possible that the Supremes may still turn to Hillary at the convention. So  in my analysis the suspended animation helps Obama.
   I also dont see him getting a major bounce once nominated. Despite the faint hope that we nourish for Hillary we are resigned to an Obama nomination and the current polls between Obama and McCain are unlikely to get more favorable for Obama any time soon.

A consistent complaint coming from the Hillary Clinton campaign has been the degree to which Barack Obama has been vetted in his short political career. The resurfacing of the Rezko affair in Chicago, the controversy about Obama's church, the Trinity United Church of Christ and his Pastor/mentor Jeremiah Wright Jr., and the questionable antics of Obama's friend/cousin Raila Odinga in Kenya would seem to justify their concern.

What kind of fun can the Rep oppo artists have with the fact that Obama was involved in some shady ventures with people named Antoin Rezko (Syrian background), Abdulmuhamid Chaib (Algerian), and Milorad Blagojevich (Serb/Chetnik heritage)? Given those names, along with Obama's, and no other information, the average American would probably conclude it was a terror cell. Particularly when they are being prosecuted by the All American defender of democracy Patrick Fitzgerald.

What kind of fun can they have with a loose cannon like Jeremiah Wright Jr. who represents an essentially "blacks only" church, and has recently honored Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan? How soon before they take that debate back to the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s via Louis X, and the tenants of the TUCC pledge?

What kind of fun can they have if the Kenyan situation blows up and all the details about Obama's cousin Raila Odinga, their mutual support system, and the convoluted history of Obama's African family emerge? Odinga inherited his power via his father, a former tribal cheiftan and Kenyan Vice President. He embraces a Marxist doctrine and has strong ties to Muslim interests and nations in Africa. He courted the Muslim vote in Kenya by offering to facilitate the influence of Sharia Law there, and "loosen ties with Washington".