Remember all the fuss when Mike Huckabee put out a Christmas ad with a bookshelf in the background that media pundits were sure was a “cross”? There were plenty of howls. Well, Barack Obama’s latest ad, in the the form of direct mail, doesn’t leave anything to the imagination. The cross stares you right in the face. And there is plenty about his religious faith in the ad copy.

Surely People for the American Way, the ACLU, and other outspoken critics of mixing religion and politics must be on the case, right? No? Well, it’s like the flag pin: It’s for the little people. Obama’s media fans know their man is just putting on a show, you see. So it’s alright. It’s the New Politics!