Barack Obama’s education in the bare-knuckled and often tribal politics of Chicago says much about his ambition, as well as his ability to cultivate powerful mentors.

As Sen. Barack Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. is cast as Public Enemy No. 1 by some commentators for his rants against the white establishment, it’s worth remembering that his congregation belongs to a liberal mainline Protestant denomination in America with a long history of offending people.