Barack Obama's reaction to accounts that he attended a Madrassa in Indonesia as a child have been intense and indignant.

To be clear, Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago. Furthermore, the Indonesian school Obama attended in Jakarta is a public school that is not and never has been a Madrassa.

These malicious, irresponsible charges are precisely the kind of politics the American people have grown tired of, and that Senator Obama is trying to change by focusing on bringing people together to solve our common problems.

Below please find facts and citations rebutting the claims in the Insight Magazine story to help inform your editorial discussions about this issue. Attached also please find a letter from an ecumenical coalition of religious leaders denouncing this brand of negative politics.

One school of thought is that Obama senses a vunerability in his ethnic heritage--and wants to nip it in the bud. Yet in reacting so strongly to a minor story (Steve Doocy is a weatherman for crying out loud...), Obama is proving very thin-skinned indeed

Obama is very sensitive about his press. After his press conference, he headed toward New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and chided her -- in a kidding way -- for a comment in the 12th of 14 paragraphs in an Oct 21 column. She wrote that Obama's "ears stick out."

"I just want to put you on notice," he said.

"I was teased relentlessly when I was a kid about my big ears."

Obama's ovee-the-top response, which characterizes the story as a politically-motivated smear, stands in stark contrast to his well-crafted image of being a hail-fellow-well-met. He's looking more John F. Kerry than John F. Kennedy on this one.