* Without equating Obama’s race to Kennedy’s religion, it’s important to recall that after the defeat of New York governor Alfred E. Smith in 1928, the prejudice against Catholics was considered so great an obstacle that neither party had nominated one in the intervening 32 years; so great that Kennedy felt compelled to go before a meeting of Protestant clergymen to pledge that he would resolve any conflict between his civil and religious obligation in favor of civic duty and against his religion.