In the wake of the Sen. Obama’s Rev. Wright debacle, I found it interesting to go back and read what Obama has said about his own spirituality. I think a lot of people have tried to draw conclusions about what Obama believes based on what his pastor has said in the past. I think it’s also silly and offensive to try and paint Obama as a Muslim when it’s clear that he’s not and that any attempt to do so is motivated by xenophobia and religious bigotry.

So what has Obama said about his spirituality?

Here’s an interview Obama did with the Chicago Sun-Times’ Cathleen Falsani — a fellow Wheaton College and Northwestern alum:

GG:
Who’s Jesus to you?

(He laughs nervously)

OBAMA:
Right.
Jesus is an historical figure for me, and he’s also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith, and one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher.

And he’s also a wonderful teacher. I think it’s important for all of us, of whatever faith, to have teachers in the flesh and also teachers in history.

There’s a lot of revealing stuff in the interview, including Obama’s view on hell, his practice of prayer, and his spiritual development.

More recently, Sarah Pulliam and Ted Olsen (another Wheaton alum), interviewed Obama for Christianity Today. He again spoke about his spirituality:

I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn’t ‘fall out in church’ as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn’t want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals.

I think that as the fallout from Rev. Wright’s comments continues, conclusions about Obama himself need to be made with this kind of evidence close at hand.

Ummm … well … This does not look good for Barack Obama.

Apparently, it’s not fair when the “vast right wing conspiracy” calls Rev. Jeremiah Wright on the ridiculous things he’s said over the years, as Obama defended him. I mean, after all, those snippets from sermons were taken out of context, right?

But now, something is different when Obama himself denounces the same pastor, making essentially the same types of remarks … unfiltered … unedited … in front of the whole world.

So what’s different? Other than a poor showing in Pennsylvania, I’m not sure.

Over a month ago, I wrote about Obama’s judgment gap. One of his claims has been that despite his relatively short legislative record, he possesses the judgment to bring change to the political process. However, in looking at his record in the area of judgment, it’s clear that he hasn’t exercised very much good judgment in recent years. Now, he’s essentially copping to that. Rev. Wright, Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers are not the kind of people you want to be associated with. It demonstrates poor judgment.

While I don’t think this is the end of the Obama candidacy by an stretch, it’s definitely a misstep on the heels of Pennsylvania and heading to Indiana and North Carolina.

I know it’s late April, and the Democrats haven’t even picked a candidate yet … but since the AP has released their analysis of the electoral map, I figured it was my turn to take a whack at it.

The AP’s analysis is pretty weak. They break it down into “Likely GOP,” “Likely Dem,” “Battleground,” and “Wild Card.” They are operating as if Obama and Clinton are each equally as likely to be the nominee. For that reason, they put a lot of states into the wild card column that won’t be there once Obama sews the nomination up. I quickly split those up among the two candidates.

After running the likely GOP and likely Dem numbers, by my math, I’ve got McCain 189, Obama 184, with 165 in battleground states.

Of those battleground states, I think New Mexico and Nevada go to McCain, as does Florida, Virginia, and New Hampshire, for a total of 242 − 28 shy of victory.

Obama picks up battleground votes in Minnesota, Oregon, and Wisconsin, for a total of 211 — 59 short of victory.

This means that if McCain wins Ohio (as Bush did in 2000 and 2004) and Missouri (which Bush won in 2000 and 2004) then he’ll pick up 31 votes and win the presidency. That would mean Obama can win all the other battleground states — Michigan, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Iowa — and still not win.

Now, this is contingent upon McCain winning in Virginia and Florida, which might not be easy.

It also means that Obama really needs to win Pennsylvania, which may be tough after the self-inflicted damage he’s suffered in the recent primary fight, and must win Ohio, Michigan, and try to win in Colorado which will be a dogfight.

At this point, the map looks to favor McCain, if he faces Obama in the general election. As of today, I’ve got McCain at 273 in a worst case scenario.

One of the first rules of politics is to never talk down to the people you want need to vote for you. Especially in states where you are in a tight race with a candidate who does a better job relating to the type of people you’re talking down to. Enter, Barack Obama:

“[O]ur challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Wow … Or maybe, just maybe, there are people who really believe in the Second Amendment, or their religious faith, or the idea of borders, language, and culture irrespective of their personal economic position.

I guess the real question is whether or not Barack Obama can relate to these types of people in places like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan.