Well will wonders never cease? It took long enough and I didn't want to bring it up since I'm known as anti-religion and for good cause...

But, while others have been fretting over Obama's middle name and his once Muslim father and what that might portend, I've been seriously concerned about his association with Pastor Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Obama's church for 20 years (until his recent retirement); his spiritual adviser and friend. Obama named one of his books after a Wright sermon, was married by the man and had his children baptized by Wright.

I've had the jitters ever since I read this article. How amazing it was to finally hear the cable news shows talking about Wright!

How does Obama have such strong ties to a man who says wild, incendiary statements and stirs up his black congregation to a froth? Check out his sermon after September 11th, or his less than delicate statement about Natalee Holloway: "One 18-year-old white girl from Alabama gets drunk on a graduation trip to Aruba, goes off and 'gives it up' while in a foreign country, and that stays in the news for months!"

This man preaches hate. The African-American chip on his shoulder is as big as a Buick.

What's worse is he preaches hate with poor grammar even though he has a masters degree in English. Ex: "Hillary ain't never been called a n****r. Who's he talking down to? His congregation? Not nice. (Can't figure out what pisses me off more, his words or his especially chosen poor language as if African Americans can't understand proper grammar. )

Oh and by the way, Obama ain't never been called a c**t either!

I cannot reconcile the man I think Obama is with the man he is so close to; the man who supposedly gave Obama his "come to jesus" moment; the man who has been advising him spiritually to think what? Think like the above statements?

And again, who's more excited over the color of one's skin? Obama is evenly white and black. White mother and black father. So why is he constantly referred to as African American? Why pick one side of the family, especially when he was raised by his white mother and white grandparents with almost no connection to his black side of the family? Unless one is going by the color of his skin, Obama is both.

I can just as easily say Obama is white. He's a white man with the white man's privileges and if he were going to an all white church that spoke disparagingly about black people - well we know what would happen.

The elephant in the room is not pink, it's black and the tip-toeing around this issue, the walking on eggs, the apologizing etc. makes it impossible to elect any democrat running at this point.

I think President McCain will be glad to put Obama on a committee for African American issues or put Hillary on a committee for the advancement of women in America.

Too bad the Dems seem to have dropped the ball yet again and Republicans will continue in the white house - more of what we've grown to loathe.

If instead of black skin - thick skin could prevail, perhaps race and gender could be pushed aside and then we could ask the questions we want to ask but are afraid to because we'll appear racist or sexist.

My first question to Obama would be: Why on earth have you attended a church and befriended a man who is a racist? Yes, in my mind, Jeremiah Wright is a racist. And I want to know how it is Obama's okay with that?