But in a way which I believe is utterly insufficient to defuse the controversy that has dogged him for some three months. Indeed, his stated reasons for quitting make it clear that, his disassociation is less about any fundamental disagreement with what goes on at Trinity than it is about the cost of him membership there to his campaign and the behavior of the media in covering the racist church.

"We don't want to have to answer for everything that's stated in the church," the Democratic front-runner said. "We also don't want the church subjected to the scrutiny that a presidential campaign legitimately undergoes."

Sorry, Barry -- you stayed a part of Trinity UCC for two decades and praised it in both of your books, even though the very things that you claim constitute “a cultural and a stylistic gap” have been a part of what goes on at Trinity for that entire time.

How timid is Obama in the break from the extremist theology and rhetoric of Trinity UCC? Consider this.

"I'm not denouncing the church and I'm not interested in people who want me to denounce the church," he said, adding that the new pastor at Trinity and "the church have been suffering from the attention my campaign has focused on them."

Got that? If you are concerned about what you heard from Wright, Pfleger, and Otis Moss, Barack Obama isn't interested in you (though he believes you ought to vote for him -- otherwise you no doubt are a racist). And given that it is Otis Moss, the new pastor at Trinity who was so effusive in his praise for Michael Pfleger in the video we've all seen (and who invited him to preach), I'd have to argue that the new pastor is every bit as guilty of the sins of the past as Jeremiah Wright -- and that he merits equal scrutiny. And given the response of the congregation to Pfleger's sermon (watch the background and listen to the crowd response), I'd argue that the whole congregation does merit serious scrutiny.

And let's be honest -- among the scrutiny deserved by Trinity UCC is an investigation by the IRS for violation of restrictions on political activity by a tax exempt organization AND under the standard enunciated by the Supreme Court in Bob Jones University v. United States, namely that an organization that practices racism is ineligible for a tax exemption as a charity even if it meets all other requirements.

Obama indicated he won't be making a choice of a new church until after November. Anyone want to bet that it will be a church just like Trinity UCC -- if not Trinity UCC itself, should he lose the election this fall? After all, the folks he claims to be the bad actors in all this (Wright & Pfleger) won't be there, and neither Moss nor the institution itself have done anything wrong in his eyes -- and as a failed candidate for president, will his choice of church really merit any scrutiny at all?

Here's the whole press conference in which Obama discusses the decision.

He ight be able to get away with that limp-wristed position except for the fact that less than a year ago he was more than willing to denounce a different group of religious believers for what the believe and say.

"Somewhere along the way faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart... Faith got hijacked partly because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, who’ve been all too eager to exploit what divides us.

So let's get this straight -- those who support traditional values and traditional Christian theology merit denunciation by Obama, but the race-baiters and their followers at Trinity UCC (ant Pfleger's St. Sabina Catholic Church) do not. After all, haven't they "stopped [using] faith to bring us together and started [using] it to drive us apart"? Given that double standard, I guess he wasn't lying when he said yesterday that he isn't people who disagree with him, is he?

MORE AT Malkin, Hot Air, Gateway Pundit, STACLU

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary's Thoughts, Alabama Improper, Right Truth, DragonLady's World, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Democrat=Socialist, Adeline and Hazel, Pet's Garden Blog, Online Gym, third world county, The Pink Flamngo, Woman Honor Thyself, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Chucjk's Place, , Right Voices, 123beta, Oblogatory Anecdotes, Cao's Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, Conservative Cat, Nuke Gingrich, Faultline USA, Allie is Wired, McCain Blogs, Alabama Improper, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Wolf Pangloss, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.