PHILADELPHIA-- Judge Lance Ito wasn't impressed with the O.J. Simpson defense team's legal work earlier this week, but over the weekend Johnnie Cochran had hundreds of journalists convinced that the Simpson case is not just the "trial of the century," but the civil rights trial of the century.

"Smooth operator" doesn't begin to describe Cochran, who works on behalf of his main client "Mr. O.J. Simpson," as he always calls him in public even when he is ostensibly taking the weekend off.

Cochran, a maestro in the courtroom, demonstrated his skill outside that forum when he played a Philadelphia gathering of black journalists like a keyboard tuned only to racial chords, major and minor. Disturbingly, he viewed the audience as "supporters," as members of Team O.J., with "all of us in this room work[ing] together."

"We will go forth. We will not let you down," Cochran declared, as if he were the general of an army going off to protect the nation's borders from marauders. "We will do our absolute best win, lose or draw. We do expect to win."

More disturbing than Cochran's message was the rousing ovation he got from many, though not all, of the 1,000 or so journalists present. One person shouted, "Bravo!" The scene was slightly nauseating.

I am not a member of Team O.J. or of the Johnnie Cochran Fan Club. But give him credit. Cochran is a superb advocate, fighting for his client, obfuscating the truth when necessary and playing to the audience in this case, people who help dictate which evidence is heard in the court of public opinion.

The scene was a reminder of just how confused some people are. This is a trial to determine if Simpson is guilty of slaughtering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. It is not a trial of all black people. While it obviously has implications for the Los Angeles Police Department, it is not a trial of all police departments. But Cochran says otherwise in a bid for support among the race.

Cochran says that for more than a year he's been searching for "a meaning of this case beyond Mr. O.J. Simpson." He says he found it five or six weeks ago in the form of taped conversations in which Mark Fuhrman, then a Los Angeles police detective, bragged about planting evidence and abusing suspects while also disparaging women, blacks and Mexicans.

"These tapes that you will hear this week are very, very important to this trial and beyond this trial," Cochran predicted, asserting that they reveal "a police culture" that prevails throughout the nation. That may be true, but without further investigation by reporters and government oversight agencies, all we know for sure is that the tapes reveal something about Fuhrman's brand of policing.

Cochran denies "playing the race card" while doing just that. Masterfully, I might add. When he says, "We know that our cause is right and our cause is just," he knows that his listeners are probably thinking about the broader struggle for justice and equality.

But the notion that Simpson is now the symbol of a quest that began when blacks arrived on these shores nearly 400 years ago is laughable.

"We are fighting for dignity. We're fighting for integrity," Cochran said. "We're hopefully saying that competence comes in all colors. It is no respecter of age, race or gender." Whether the "we" is Cochran and O.J. or Cochran alone, he can count on many of his listeners to think about their own precarious place in a profession in which more than half the nation's newspapers still don't employ any people of color. So Team O.J. is representing all black professionals. Right.

Perhaps that "Bravo!" was in order, for we were treated to a bit of the artistry Cochran demonstrates in Judge Ito's courtroom. If the jurors are as receptive as the journalists were, can there be any doubt about the eventual outcome of Mr. O.J. Simpson's trial?