It wasn't much of a surprise. And Jesse Jackson had endorsed Obama a while ago.
Sharpton wants to publicly be "neutral" because than he could pretend to be like a referee/moderator between the two Democrat candidates and wanted to be seen as someone like Al Gore, who gets mentioned as someone who the media mentions as someone who could potentially help settle the Democrat nomination.
But for weeks now, Sharpton has been threatening to sue the Democrat National Committee, if they are to seat any of the delegates from Michigan or Florida. Seating those two states would help Hillary more than Obama. And people who are against counting those states, are supporters of Obama.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/03/19/2008-03-19_during_rally_al_sharpton_says_hes_keepin.html"he boasted of talking to Obama "two or three times a week" - and insisted the Democratic front-runner knows the rev is in his camp."
Obama probably asks Sharpton for advice. The Saturday Night Live joke about the idea of Obama naming Sharpton to a position of Secretary of State, is realistic. Maybe he wouldn't do something like that. But if Obama were to win, he would probably have Sharpton be an adviser to him from "behind the scenes."
Now that the Sharpton has finally admitted it, IT MUST BE EXPOSED.