Remember when Mike Huckabee offered an innocuous and pleasant Christmas ad, only to be accused of Christianism for supposedly having a floating cross in the background — which turned out to be a bookshelf? Well, apparently the cross has suddenly become cool for politicians. Barack Obama has made it the centerpiece of his appeal in Kentucky with literature that shows a golden cross beaming down as he speaks. Note the sublety of the message in this image, with light bulbs blazing light while Obama addresses the congregation from the pulpit. Also note how “Faith” has suddenly appeared ahead of “hope” and “change” in the Obama sloganeering department:

Given the hysteria generated by Governor Huckabee’s Christmas greeting, we should see at least three of the ten plagues of Egypt accompanying such a “Christianist” advertisement for a presidential candidate. I’ll await the Andrew Sullivan excoriation with bated breath.