Barack Obama has now stepped up and denounced the Rev. Wright, his pastor for some 20 years, saying that some of his ideas have “given comfort to those who prey on hate.” Yet back in March, the senator was referring to him as his mentor and akin to being an uncle, defending the racially divisive and anti-America sermons by saying the pastor’s words were being taken out of context – in the manner he claims the media have done with elitist inferences in his own recent speech.

Obama reminds me of bamboo trees in an Indonesian monsoon – they bend whichever way the wind blows, though my late mother-in-law had a better term: “wishy-washy.” Defending the reverend didn’t work as he had wished, so he washed his hands by deriding his former pastor for having said such things – an attempt to recoup the support he lost.

It is bad enough for one to sit in the Oval Office, inexperienced in Washington and international politics, but to sit there with a wishy-washy character, as Obama has displayed with the Rev. Wright fracas, is not what this country needs as its leader.

Then there is his would-be First Lady, who just a few months ago announced that until Obama entered the presidential candidacy, she had never previously had any pride in being an American. Not much of a role model.

In fact, not much of a team for either job.

America deserves better.

John R. Davis, South Paris