Does this surprise anyone ?  I expect Otto to be dancing in the 
aisles....

=======================================


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obamas-year-keeping-faith-white-
house/story?id=9689272

Holy BlackBerry! Obama Finds Ways to Keep the Faith During First Year in 
Office

Has the First Family's D.C. Church Search Come to a Close? 

By DEVIN DWYER
Jan. 29, 2010 

If church attendance is one measure of a man's faith, then President 
Obama may appear to have lost some of his. The first family, once 
regular churchgoers, have publicly attended services in Washington just 
three times in the past year, by ABC News' count, even bypassing the 
pews on Christmas Day. 

Obama quit Chicago's embattled Trinity United Church of Christ months 
before taking office in 2008 and has not formally joined a new one in 
his new hometown. 

But sources familiar with the president's personal life say Obama 
remains a faithful Christian while in the White House, practicing his 
beliefs regularly in private with family and the aid of his BlackBerry. 

"Barack Obama is a Christian. He's always been clear and unapologetic 
about that, and he's comfortable with his own faith," Rev. Jim Wallis, 
an Obama friend and spiritual adviser, said. "But I think the president, 
particularly a president, needs the kind of pastoral care or spiritual 
counsel with people who don't have a political agenda. And it's hard for 
a president to get that." 

Obama told ABC Nightline's Terry Moran that his personal BlackBerry, 
which he famously fought with the Secret Service to keep, has actually 
become a tool of keeping the faith during his first year in office. 

"My Faith and Neighborhood Initiatives director, Joshua DuBois, he has a 
devotional that he sends to me on my BlackBerry every day," Obama said. 
"That's how I start my morning. You know, he's got a passage, Scripture, 
in some cases quotes from other faiths to reflect on." 

Keeping the faith in quiet moments of worship may be the best Obama can 
do given the realities of the presidency that make it nearly impossible 
to join a church without inflicting a heavy burden on taxpayers, fellow 
churchgoers and his own spiritual life, sources say. 

Security concerns mean costly and complicated measures to ensure the 
president's safety on church outings, including screening every member 
of the congregation for weapons and sweeping the church building and 
areas around it for threats. 

Incessant media attention is also distracting for any president trying 
to commune with God, exposing what is traditionally a private practice 
to public scrutiny, Wallis said. 

"I don't think for them [the family], it's a political decision," he 
said of Obama's church dilemma. "I think for the media, it's a political 
issue. Where they land and get their nurture, care and formation; that's 
very difficult for the first family to find." 


Go to URL to read the entire story ......

CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999 
Democrats --  The party responsible for the housing meltdown ....

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