An unapologetic, semi-denial of a convenient distancing.

As you have obviously heard by now, Barack Obama has officially left his church of more than 20 years. In his statement you can see for yourself that the junior Senator from Illinois isn't very happy about being forced from his church.

"This is not a decision I come to lightly ... and it is one I make with some sadness," Obama said at a news conference after campaign officials released a letter of resignation he sent to the church on Friday.

"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."

What? Who is forcing him from his church? What about his first amendment rights? What a travesty!

If I had to lay money on who is making the most noise foro the Senator to sprint away from his church with the speed of a gazelle with a cheetah on his tale, look no further than his own campaign handlers. With Obama's poll numbers in decline with white, working class voters, the one group he cannot win the election this fall without, he has to hope when more video of the craziness going on inside his church surface, and believe me, there will be plenty more to come, by distancing himself from the church now he will try to use the ' that is why I left Trinity' defense. Will it work? Maybe.

I am sure the faithful Obama supports wouldn't be swayed if someone found a video of Senator Obama in the first pew cheering loudly while the Reverend Wright was spouting some crazy conspiracy theory about AIDS or some other such nonsense. I keep coming back to looking at a candidate's actions and not their words. If you waited to quit because the spotlight of a Presidential campaign became too bright on the troubling doctrines being preached from your church's pulpit, then it would stand to reason, you would not have left Trinity Church if the press never reported what went on inside. That is not standing up for unity and bring people together, that my friend is standing up with those who revel in the victimhood mentality running rampant inside your church. That is a message that will not be embraced by the vast majority of Americans.

For those of you who think I am nothing short of a blind, Republican party hack who thinks the GOP is just wonderful, I use the same test on them. When Republicans run on small government and conservative values, then get to Washington and spend money like drunken sailors and don't kick people like Larry Craig out of the party, I stop sending money to them. If they want my support, and my money, they will start acting like the Republicans of 1994, not 2004. It cuts both ways, be who you are and don't change with culture that surrounds you. If you are going to govern one way, don't campaign the other way.

Barack Obama's decision to leave Trinity Church is as politically calculated as his joining the church some twenty years ago. When you strip away the veneer from Senator Obama, his warm smile and smooth speaking persona, you are left with a Chicago politician who thinks very, very highly of himself, and not too highly of those he wants to govern.