Conservative Donnybrook

In the face of repeated scandals involving racist comments at Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s south side, on Friday, Barack Obama wrote a letter to his church resigning as a member of that congregation. He gave as part of his reasoning for leaving the church, “a cultural and stylistic gap.”

Obama said he has “tremendous regard” for the church community, but said he could not live with a situation where everything said in the church, including comments by a guest pastor, “will be imputed to me, even if they conflict with my long-held, views, statements and principles.”

It is to Obama’s credit that he has finally rejected the church, which routinely preaches hate from the pulpit. It is astounding, however, that his judgment was so poor that it took him twenty years to come to that decision. His reputation has been tarnished by his slowness in realizing what was patently obvious. Which, of course, leads one to wonder if he truly disagrees with the church, or if the move is rooted in political expedience. The facts indicate that the latter is more likely true than the former.

Neither says much about the fitness of this man to lead free world.