What I find hard to do is
1) The laser cleric _really_ sucks if he gets closed with. A wizard can toss of an at-will blast, but the cleric just has ranged attacks for the most part.
Blasts like Divine Glow or Thunderous Word are good backup weapons for that situation. Sanctuary is a good strategy if you get closed in on -- you don't attack, you just turtle up and give the allies a chance to pull the monsters off you. (Note that you can happily throw out Healing Words and similar without breaking the "no attacks" restriction.)
And really, you can always choose to eat the OA and do what you need to do
anyway. Defensive Mobility can help you out with that.
2) Eliminating half of the attacks choices really is a big hardship. There are levels (3, 7 for example) when the encounter power choices really suck. There are good STR options, but not much in the way of WIS options.
Huh? Command is an AWESOME power. It's one of the few will-targeting powers you have access to. Daunting Light is situationally good, depending on whether there's a rogue in the party or not. Both of the level 7 ranged attacks are good too, depending on the rest of the party and whether you have good Charisma (you either blind the target or heavily penalize his attacks). You DO have good Charisma, right? It's not like you're spending those points on Strength...
3) Wizards will tend to have a better AC than you. Either you burn feats to get Scale, plate, heavy shield OR you have a high dex (something otherwise worthless).
Shield and armor feats are probably a good idea. You won't be as tough as a some, but you aren't a melee guy anyway. And if you're just sitting there going, "what feat should I take?", well, shields and armor are good answers. (Other good suggestions are the aforementioned Mobility, Linguist, and Skill Training.) I would be sure to get Astral Fire, since it applies to virtually every attack you make.
4) Your race options are human, elf and dwarf really. And the dwarf is really hard to make work. (heavy armor bonuses and weapon prof. just doesn't help when you don't have STR.)
There are other races that work fine. Tieflings actually make decent laser clerics, with a charisma bonus (as mentioned, charisma should be a strong secondary) that lets you put the points that would've been in CHA somewhere more useful. (For example, you can put a 14 instead of a 16 there, and still have +3 Charisma when you're done.) The Fire resist is always good, and Bloodhunt can be better for a ranged guy than melee, since you're more likely to be able to select a bloodied target. And if somebody does manage to hit you, you can Wrath 'em.
Halflings have similar benefits, and the +2 Dex means you can put an 11 in Dex and still meet the prereq for Astral Fire, and that Second Chance power is awesome.
I find that trying to pick the perfect race/class combo is rarely worth it. A dragonborn laser-cleric may be a bad idea, but it's not exactly crippling. Don't feel constrained to the few races that are maybe MOST beneficial. Pick what you want to play, and see if you can't come up with some interesting tricks with it.
