I have to admit, Senator Obama continues to fascinate me. Not to worry, though. I won't vote for him or any other Democrat running against John McCain. Still you have to wonder about some facets of this unique individual, his life story, his personal beliefs and how he formed them. For example:

Considering his long and wrong association with Reverend Wright, is he being intellectually dishonest with himself? I think so. Obama almost certainly considers himself an intellectual (with good reason) and I doubt he could easily convince himself to hold such irrational views. Black Liberation Theology? Same thing -- you can almost hear Obama asking himself, "How is it liberating to chain yourself to such contrived, inflexible beliefs?  Do my own experiences in life justify such a perverted view towards white people"? The Wright association is explained in part, no doubt, by political expediency. But there must be something more to explain such intellectual dishonesty.  Searching for a father figure? Doubt it -- he had done pretty well in life without a father. Any shrinks out there want to comment on that one? Searching for his Roots? Doubt it -- Barack Obama by birth trumps Kunte Kinte in your ancestry. Trying to understand where black Americans are coming from and thereby eventually fit in? He could do that without going to Reverend Wright's church and might have a more accurate view of black and white America. Obama does say Wright was a seminal figure in developing his religious faith. I take that at face value to be true. He also seems to have a more religiously inspired outlook on life than any other Democratic presidential hopeful since Jimmy Carter. (As an aside, I wonder what all the effete, I mean elite, Ivy League educated, wear-it-on-my-sleeve agnostic liberals make of that. "Hmm. Columbia, Harvard Law Review and religious. I must be missing something here.") And yet I remain suspicious there's another reason for the unreasonable Wright connection. One that can overcome any lingering worries that you are not being true to yourself. I suspect the real reason is Obama's wife, that it was she who strongly influenced him to go to that church and sit through all those years of Wright's demagoguery. I cannot believe that Barack Obama either believes those lies or somehow finds them useful in improving the black condition in America. Mrs. Obama, on the other hand, strikes me as a true believer in the Wright philosophy. And in their household she may wear the pants on that issue (as well as many others).  Should they wind up moving to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, that may be a problem for them and for us.