Rev.Wright cannot be swept under the rug. Obama cannot disown him after a 20 year parishionership. His best tactic would be to show the minister to be within the broad specrum of American Sunday sermonizers, although less obnoxious than Rev. Pat Robertson or Rev. John Hagee.

I have felt all along that, even though Obama is a better campaigner, he is less electable than Hillary. Wright gives people a "rationale" for voting against Obama, when in fact they were going to vote against him anyway.

He could have said that he was his spiritual advisor, he can't hide that, but he doesn't agree with some of the inflammatory things he has expressed and he (Obama) is mature enough and has enough experience in life and his religion to decide for himself what is right and what is wrong, spiritually and as a representative of the American people.

Plenty of blacks, old, and poor people have no gvt ID. I guess we'll be seeing the numbers soon.

Well, considering the upheavals of civilization through the centuries that have been the result of religion--whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or even anti-religion (like China vs. Tibet)--I don't think America really stands out that much. Of course it's ridiculous, and I think it's another of those things that the media enjoys because it rouses passions and sells papers, but it's something that always has to be taken into account by politicians.

Which somehow reminds me of a cartoon in the new New Yorker, in which a gentleman at a party is critically asking a medal-festooned military officer, "Where's your flag pin?" In a way, politics IS religion, sometimes.

...but it's something that always has to be taken into account by politicians.

This is exactly what Obama's response was.