Nor is his 20 years of going to a church whose pastor has praised Louis Farrakhan and condemned the United States in both sweeping terms and with obscene language.

The Obama camp likens mentioning such things to criticizing him because of what members of his family might have said or done. But it was said, long ago, that you can pick your friends but not your relatives.

Obama chose to be part of that church for 20 years. He was not born into it. His “personal” character matters, just as Eliot Spitzer's “personal” character matters -- and just as Hillary Clinton's character would matter if she had any.

We cannot risk all that for the sake of the fashionable affectation of being more non-judgmental than thou.