For more than 200 years, the United States has relied on a single document to guide it in all matters of liberty and freedom. Unfortunately, the media sometimes neglects to consult the Constitution.

Yes, it’s true. The profession that produced heroes like Peter Jennings and notorious muckraker Upton Sinclair loves to embrace the First Amendment as a tool for shielding against intrusions into any investigation, but currently those publishers of truth seem to forget about that other part of the First Amendment: the separation of church and state.

In the past week the media have encountered a verifiable boom of controversy with the latest person to receive his 15 minutes fame, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. He makes controversial statements, he gives speeches and he’s not a politician.

However, Barack Obama is. Wright used to be Obama’s pastor, and according to the laws of proximity, Wright must have a huge effect on Obama. That effect is actually so strong that Wright no longer needs Obama’s name to get mentioned on television. Obama denounced Wright’s comments, but still the media can’t seem to discern between the importance of a politician and the pulpit.

“Some see the renunciation as helping Obama with the working-class white voters he has struggled to attract. But it could soften support among African-Americans, prompting some to stay home in the general election if it helps crystallize a picture of him as out of touch, analysts say,” wrote Ariel Sabar in The Christian Science Monitor.

Yet, I still don’t know Obama’s full plan for the Middle East. Oh well.

I’m sure when John Sullivan of The New York Times wrote about Obama recently gaining the support of more superdelegates, he fully intended to remind his readers about Wright in the same sentence. That is the problem.

The connection between Obama and Wright concerns two men and religious beliefs. Whether or not Obama agrees with Wright is his concern and worth one question at a press conference. I don’t see the media doing daily reports on political stances or platforms. I don’t know how candidates get campaign contributions.

I guess I’ll just hope for someone at CNN to ask Wright those questions so I can finally get an answer.

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