Now that Barack Obama has publicly parted ways with Trinity United Church of Christ, are all those sermon controversies behind him? Maybe not. Unlike John McCain’s recent split from John Hagee and Rod Parsley, Obama and the two religious figures who ignited national firestorms from Trinity’s pulpit–Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Father Michael Pfleger–have longstanding friendships that go back many years.
As Michael Medved points out today:

He also cited Father Michael Pfleger as one of his three primary spiritual mentors (along with Jeremiah Wright) and until last week Pfleger played a prominent role in Obamas campaign.
Apologists say that the candidate’s three years in the U.S. Senate say far more about him than his twenty years with Pastor Wright, but he’s actually done nothing as a Senator from Illinois other than launch and conduct a hugely successful presidential campaign. Then, of course, there’s the record of his years in the state senate in Illinois –– where, as it happens, his proudest accomplishments included securing $200,000 in taxpayer money for Father Pfleger’s parish on the southwest side

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Of course, a right-winger like Medved might not damage Obama much among Democrats, Independents, and independent-minded Republicans. But how long till some investigative journalist does a long piece probing the Obama-Wright-Pfleger connection? Like Medved said, Obama has cited Pfleger and Wright as two of his three spiritual mentors.

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