Exactly, Carol. And, look...anyone who has a modicum of patience and is willing to look at the whole of Obama's statement on that day can see that.

Anyone, on the other hand, who simply is emotionally set against Obama from the getgo can only see bad things whenever they see Obama, because that's how the human mind works. It forms an opinion. It forms a prejudice. It then hunts around ever afterward for anything it can possibly find which appears to it to support its prejudice and it interprets everything it sees to support its prejudice. It hates. It does not forgive. It does not make exceptions for its hatred. It does not recognize or compromise with those it hates. It cherishes its chosen enemies, and would have to find new ones if they all went away.

It wouldn't matter to Riginslinger what Obama said or did, he would always interpret it in a bad way, because he has simply decided he can't stand Obama. He is the same toward anyone or anything he labels "religious", meaning, oh, a few billion people out there in the world.

There's no remedy for such an attitude. Such attitudes replicate themselves eternally regardless of any and all other possibilities. They are the soul of fanaticism. They are their own judge, jury, and executioner. They are immune to all other viewpoints. To expect them not to be would be as futile as to expect a goose to stop shitting on the lawn.