Fr. Andrew Greeley thinks you’re racist. If you’re a regular reader of CMR, I’d have to imagine you’re probably not a big fan of Barack Obama for many legitimate reasons including his embrace of infanticide. But Fr. Greeley knows that you’re just making up those reasons as a way to hide your true reason for not liking Obama which is that you’re secretly a racist!

Sen. Barack Obama’s victory, we are told by the cheering sections, was a great victory for the American dream. Racism may well be in retreat. In the immortal words of Humphrey Bogart: Not so fast, Louis. The United States looks pretty good now — for a change. What if Obama is defeated? The whole world and most African Americans will scream “racism!” Better not to try at all than to try and fail.

In fact, only a little more than half of the Democratic voters chose the senator from Illinois as their candidate. Were the other voters racist? Influenced by racism? Inclined to racism, which they hide even from themselves? Surely all of these factors were at work, but it is virtually impossible with the current research technology to sort them out. Moreover, is the voter a bigot who says — to himself or others — “He’s too young for it,” “I don’t know anything about him,” “He’s an elitist,” “He’s just a lot of fancy talk,” “The country isn’t ready for a man like that,” “He’s weak in his support of Israel,” “He’s Muslim, possibly the anti-Christ!” Are these hints of lurking prejudice? Are the voters of regular members of the Democratic coalition — Hispanics and union members — against Obama partly because of racism?

How many of the male readers of this column who are habitues of bars, locker rooms, commuter train bull sessions, pool rooms and men’s clubs have not heard the indigenous racial slurs of such environments applied to Obama?

Who’s this guy hanging out with? Is Fr. Greeley hanging out with people who drop racial slurs on a regular basis? Seems to me he needs to start hanging out with a better group of people.

Then Fr. Greeley inexplicably defends Obama sitting in the pews at Trinity while Jeremiah Wright damned America.

And surely some of the explicit chatter during the campaign was racist, especially the obsession with the various clergy who mounted the pulpit of his church. By what stretch of sick logic could the candidate be responsible for what his clergy said and did?

Listen, Obama’s not responsible because his ears heard Rev. Wright’s foolishness. He’s responsible for his little feeties not walking out the door the moment he heard it.

But, according to Greeley, no matter your reasons for not loving Obama, it’s racist. Come on. You know it, you closet racist pig:

Certainly there are solid political and personal reasons that some Americans might have had for voting against the senator that would not be in principle racist. He is one of the most “liberal” members of Congress. He stole the election from a woman who was entitled to it. He is one of the “boys” beating up on the female candidate. He is a not a patriot dedicated to final victory in Iraq. He is weak on national security. He lacks experience. He supports abortion. Yet behind these arguments, might racism lurk?

So no matter what, if you’re against Obama you’re a racist. So I have one question, what does it make me if I think a priest is crazy?