This is easily the most sickening political story of recent memory.

This story has gotten a lot of play the last few days. Obama stuck a prayer written on a piece of paper in the Western Wall. It was a big photo-op and the media played the clip over and over showing the unwashed how prayerful, religious and Christian Obama actually is.

The following day, however, the contents of his prayer were published by an Israeli newspaper. The prayer read “Lord – Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will.”

A nice little prayer, right?

According to the press, it was pulled from the wall by a student and leaked to the press. The rabbi who supervises Jerusalem’s Western Wall condemned the removal of a prayer note, saying the action was “sacrilegious.”

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, who supervises the Western Wall said, “This sacrilegious action deserves sharp condemnation and represents a desecration of the holy site. Notes placed in the Western Wall are between the person and his Maker. Heaven forbid one should read or use them.”

But news from the Israeli Insider may prove that the “leak” may have been intentional.

What initially seemed to be a journalistic scoop of dubious moral propriety now seems to be a case of an Israeli paper being played by the Barack Obama campaign. Maariv, the second most popular newspaper in Israel, was roundly criticized for publishing the note Obama left in the Kotel. But now a Maariv spokesperson says that publication of the note was pre-approved for international publication by the Obama campaign, leading to the conclusion that the “private” prayer was intentionally leaked for public consumption.

This is sickening. This prayer was not to God at all but to the media. Hey Obama, remember this from the gospels?

Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.

When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

Looks like Obama skipped that part of the Bible. I can’t imagine this is going to fly well with Jews. The Israel Insider newsmagazine observed:

“If the Maariv statement about pre-approval of publication of the note is true, it would mean that the Obama campaign had managed the event brilliantly, if deceptively, getting the double benefit of appearing to be victimized by the invasive Israeli press and [a] prayer-thieving Jew while at the same time leaking out his humble Christian plea to the Lord.”

And to many Christians this kind of deception in praying for his family and ironically to guard against the sin of pride and only doing it for the press attention is sickening.

Now you just watch. While Obama praying at the wall received tons of coverage this latest round of news will be buried. Perhaps the Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz’s words are more apropos for Obama rather than the young man or the newspaper. “This sacrilegious action deserves sharp condemnation and represents a desecration of the holy site. Notes placed in the Western Wall are between the person and his Maker. Heaven forbid one should read or use them.” Looks like Obama used it for his own purposes. But where’s the denunciation?

But this fits into exactly who I believe Obama is. His prayers are poll-driven rather than sincere. They are not whispered but spoken with a bullhorn. They are to voters and not to God. They are simply not prayers at all.