Barack Obama has just responded to the flap over the videos of Jeremiah Wright’s controversial and racially-charged sermons with statements to the Huffington Post and Christian Broadcasting Network. (When’s the last time a Democratic candidate chose those two outlets as the only recipients of a major statement?) God-o-Meter was taken by how forcefully Obama rejected the statements of his pastor. After all, even conservatives didn’t expect him to disavow Wright altogether. But if you look closely at his statement, it seems that Obama came awfully close:

I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church.

That implies that Obama would have thought it appropriate to leave his church if Wright was sticking around for a few years, right? God-o-Meter predicts that this is the question Obama will have to answer if he hopes to move past the current controversy. Wright’s retirement has been a big part of Obama’s explanation of why he’s maintained ties to his controversial church. Given that it was Wright who brought Obama to Christianity and what seems to be a continuing close bond between the two, God-o-Meter has its suspicions about this line of argument. But if it’s the argument that Obama’s using, it’s only a matter of time before the news media starts asking: “What if Wright didn’t retire?”

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