Did Obama Have to Leave His Trinity United?

Yesterday Barack Obama announced that he had notified Trinity United Church of Christ that after 20 years as a member, he and his wife Michelle were leaving the church. The incident that finally forced his hand was Rev. Michael Pfegler's sermon last Sunday in which he chastised Senator Hillary Clinton from the pulpit of Trinity. Clips of the sermon have conservative pundits again questioning Obama's judgement and liberal associations. Politically, Senator Obama really had no other choice but to sever ties with his church of 20 years. In the YouTube era, the scrutiny that the church has been receiving has been too damaging both to him and the church itself. As he closes in on the Democratic Nomination for President, he has to keep his distractions to a minimum as he begins to reintroduce himself to America as a candidate of change and reconciliation. So far during this campaign, Obama has been and continues to be resilient, and his political savvy belies a man who has only been known to mainstream America for a few years. He has to know that the battle with John McCain will be challenging, but he also has to begin to go into offensive mode, instead of the defensive stance that he's been in since the Rev. Wright controversy surfaced. He's been dinged as a candidate, but not completely damaged and he will need all of his political savvy to take on McCain in the fall.