And Obama wouldn't be the first politician in history to play identity politics.
The fact that Obama had this advisor does not necessarily mean he's playing identity politics. If he were running as a "black" president then I would agree. But he is not (at least no more than any of the other candidates). Sure the sermons display identity politics but they are the Rev's not Obama's. I would trust Obama to display more judgement than to use them (and he does), but that doesn't mean he needs to repudiate where they come from--which is the cross that most people want to nail him on (oh no Rev Wright is Divisive, Obama too must be Divisive! Let's forget the points where they agree about helping the black community!).
This call for him to cut off any indication of roots (aka Divisive talk) just because it leads to a more complicated take of what's happening is not right. Race shouldn't be the issue that it is, I agree, it'd be better to learn about policy--that said, to deny it's there only makes it worse.
It continues to be unfair to take the words of someone in a specific space out of context to judge someone else, even if there is a personal connection. Especially, if the offensive content of the words has been repudiated and dismissed.
Oh and I wanted to add:
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And then there are the public opinion surveys among Muslims, who say they don't think terror tactics are all that wrong.
Right. That's the logic of "because women score less in science, that means they're just not as smart as men."
