Still going over Sen. Obama's speech, the prepared text of which is here, but I didn't hear anything that erases the seemingly indelible impression that, yes, Barack Obama spent 20 years being spiritually mentored and advised by a minister whose racism and anti-Americanism places him beyond the pale. How does Obama thus earn the trust of the people of this country? Depends, ultimately, on how many share or have learned to  "understand" the minister's vile creed. Obama rationalized the minister's rage, and also tried to persuade voters that there was more to the minister than rage--hardly the "post-racial" thing to do.

And then there was this:

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

Ferraro discussing the political perks of race and sex, which both Obama and she have enjoyed in the identity-obsessed Democratic party, is not in any way comparable to Reverend Wright's crude hate-mongering.