I firmly believe in the separation of church and state. And it is true that Obama could have been more specific about which folks on the Left he meant with this comment:
Democrats, for the most part, have taken the bait. At best, we may try to avoid the conversation about religious values altogether, fearful of offending anyone and claiming that - regardless of our personal beliefs - constitutional principles tie our hands. At worst, there are some liberals who dismiss religion in the public square as inherently irrational or intolerant, insisting on a caricature of religious Americans that paints them as fanatical, or thinking that the very word "Christian" describes one's political opponents, not people of faith.
(Michelle Goldberg pretty much critiqued him pretty well on this point.)
Now with all that said, for all those who criticize Obama from the Left, he did damn good
for an opening argument. Hopefully, he will expand upon these remarks. And I think he will do so in future pronouncements.
Our purely secular allies on the Left must rembember two facts:
1) modernn liberalism would not have evolved into contemporay liberalism as we now know it without the Protestant Social Gospel movement, the Catholic distributive justice movement or Jewish notions of tzedakah or tikkun olam;
and
2) more importantly, secular liberals as well as religious liberals should stand shoulder to shoulder because both believe in seperating church and state--we just offer two different but equally valid arguments for doing so.
Purely secular or deeply religious, we are all liberals. Being able to welcome those with faith will do much to kill the backlash that is constantly cultivated against liberalism. We need each other; something everyone on the Left ought to recognize.