Yesterday Barack Obama sold out.  He knows it.  His pastor knows it.  And most importantly, the Democratic Superdelegates know it.  If he wasn’t already, Obama is now officially a politician.

If you didn’t catch it, yesterday Obama officially and completely denounced his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.  This comes after Wright - a pillar in the world of Black Liberation Theology, a liberal “Christian” movement that focuses more on social justice issues than the gospel of Jesus Christ - had made a series of completely racist, ignorant speeches over the last few days.  You’ll recall that just last month Barack took major heat due to clips of Wright’s sermons making the rounds on cable news wherein he “damned America” among many other things.

So yesterday, needing to protect his run toward the Presidency, Barack did what a ‘good’ politician must do.  He threw his pastor, their relationship, and likely, their future under the bus.

There is no doubt that Obama knew exactly who Wright was and is.  You can’t attend a man’s church for 20 years, have him officiate your wedding and baptize your children and not know what he stands for.  You can claim to be converted to Christianity during one of his messages entitled “The Audacity of Hope” and then take that same title and use it as the inspiration for your own book and the theme of your landmark speech at the Democratic National Convention that put you on the map and on the path toward the presidency and not know who a dude is.  You can’t hire this same guy as a key advisor to your campaign and not know how he is, what he stands for, and what may fly out of his mouth.  You can’t - unless of course you’re the worst listener known to man with a massive case of ADD.  But I doubt that to be the issue with Obama.

I don’t think Obama shares Wright’s views.  But I do think he tolerated them, sorted through them, and accepted those that jived with his own view of the world.  Which, by the way, is what all of us do in our relationships to some degree.  But the nasty nature of politics is that you can’t love a imperfect person, you can’t tolerate an imperfect person, you have to reject, denounce and publicly give the middle finger to them.

This proves why Jesus would never win public office.  “Sir, it is correct that you are friends with whores, cheats, and generally dispicable people?”  “Yes it is.  Why?  Would you like to join us?”

In some way I feel for Obama and Wright.  Yesterday, Obama had to sacrifice a personal relationship for the sake of personal gain and even if he wins the Presidency both men still lose one another.  Yes, I know that Wright has some seriously, backward views.  But at the center of this you have a pastor and his parishioner who were forced to part ways for the sake of personal agendas.  And any way you slice it, that’s sad.  It’s ironic for a guy that has trumpeted a message of unity.  But hey, that’s politics.