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I watched the interview of Senator Obama by Anderson Cooper about the statements made by the Pastor of his church. The Pastor's statements sounded like the ranting of an old man who had experienced much discrimination during his life, while Senator Obama's replies sounded like those of someone who had experienced much the same kind of discrimination but who had risen above that, and who is now asking America to rise above that with him, expressing, at the same time, his deep disapproval of the Pastor's statements.

What I found surprising, however, was Anderson Cooper's asking Senator Obama why, given the Pastor's statements with which he disagreed, the Senator had not simply left the Pastor's church. Now, perhaps Anderson Cooper has never been faced with leaving his church because of disagreement with its Pastor, or with some aspect of its doctrine, or its proclamations, or its approach to some newly emerging condition in the world. But leaving one's church must be a lot more difficult, or simply more inappropriate than Anderson Cooper seems to believe, since almost every member of every congregation of every church has a disagreement with some aspect of the church, so, if leaving one's church was easy, there would be more empty pews in America's churches than one could count! For example: every woman in a Catholic Church who uses birth-control pills should leave the church; every white (black) person in a de facto segregated white (black) Christian church should leave the church; every person who accepts gay marriage in a church that condemns it should leave the church; every person in an American Catholic Church, who believes in the separation of church and state, should leave the church because the head of the Catholic Church is the head of another (Vatican) state; and on and on one could go.

A continuing member of a church who has no differences with some aspect of it is the RARE EXCEPTION. So the significant question is not why Senator Obama didn't leave his church, but rather how does he show that he has risen above the outrageous ranting of an elderly and retiring Pastor in the way he shows his own devotion to America and to what he's trying almost desperately to help it become. His recent speech on this question was about as close as anyone could come to an answer, and a historical speech it was, going as it did beyond just that question to a much broader and vital question for all Americans.

Just something to think about...and I believe we just divide the delegates in FL and MI, and ALSO really look at how Hillary is handlig this issue as opposed to Barack...very telling indication of the kind of President each would be.