Obama's separation from Wright. . .

. . .over the past couple of days has had the odd effect of giving me a slight twinge of empathy. Granted, it is the barest hint of a twinge of a pang, but it's there nevertheless. I suppose it's because, while I think Barack Obama is wildly wrong, and in some respects dangerous to our nation, I can't help feeling that at the center of his elitist, arrogant, left-liberal core is a somewhat befuddled, but well-meaning heart.

Most likely, this is a product of his undeniable ability to connect with people through the spoken word. Listening to the man, you can't help but feel as though you're hearing the words of a person who truly does care about the plight of his fellow human beings. Whether this is a well-practiced bit of flim-flam picked up over the years as he's polished and perfected his craft, or an outgrowth of his deep conviction that he, and he alone, is prepared to shape America into a place where everyone can beam with pride in being a part of it, I'm not qualified to say. What I am qualified to say is that, as one of those people of whom he spoke at that San Francisco speech, he has come to embody the single most offensive element of left-liberal ideology: the smug condescension that allows some people to conclude that liberals could fix everything for the people, if only the people would get the hell out of their way.

What stirred my sense of human compassion for Obama was a piece by CBS's Jay Levine which questioned whether or not Jeremiah Wright intentionally set out to damage Obama's campaign. The very title of the piece, "Pastor vs The Pol: Did Wright Mean To Hurt Obama?" somehow has the effect of sad puppy eyes. It reminds me of every time I've carelessly said something that made a woman cry without meaning to. Suddenly, the head drops a little and I find myself wondering, "OK, am I really a human being at all, or just some cold, heartless automaton specifically designed to crush souls?"

And, just when the media had me at "hello", it rudely interrupted itself and stopped at "hell". Hell came in the form of today's column by the execrable Chicago Sun-Times columnist, Mary Mitchell -- a woman for whom my distaste can't be properly expressed without using the kind of language that would cause the staff of the Ohio Attorney General's office a case of the vapors. Here's a sampling of the offending screed:

This is a sad day for Black America.

At a time when African Americans are on the cusp of watching a barrier come crashing down, up jumps a divisive issue that is being driven by those outside of the black community.

Obviously, Wright's timing for a press conference about his sermons couldn't have been worse.

Still, when Obama says he is "offended" by Wright's latest comments -- given in defense against an orchestrated assault on his character and on his ministry -- he's opening up a can of worms.

There is no institution in the black community more respected than the black church. And the notion that white pundits can dictate what constitutes unacceptable speech in the black church is repulsive to most black people.

Even so, after Wright's fiery speeches surfaced on the Internet, most African Americans understood why Obama had to distance himself from Wright.

This filth-flarn-filth-flarn-such-and-such-and-so-and-so (apologies to Bill Cosby) is such a complete moral dullard that she manages to saddle "white pundits" with the up-jumping "divisive issue" at hand!

No, Jeremiah Wright isn't the problem, says Mary. The problem is the issue. And, the issue is being foisted upon the public by "white pundits" who should be minding their own damned business.

Well, Mary, white pundits were gleefully going along with the premise of the Obama campaign, and for years they had completely ignored what was going on in the apparent secret society that is the "black church". And look what that got them. While they were dutifully keeping their noses pointed the other way, celebrating you as a voice of diversity in the nation that has allowed you to make a comfortable living spewing your insipid nonsense by the barrel, your deeply respected institution -- or at least this iteration of it -- spent twenty years teaching you that it's your spiritual obligation to loathe the very idea of America.

So, Mary, what started out as a day of post-partisan recognition of common humanity has turned into an evening of bowel-roiling disgust leading me to make a solemn vow to rethink every charitable thought I have for Barack Obama until I see him, with my own eyes, throttling you like the moral and intellectual rag doll that you are.