Huckabee gets criticized for using the "C" word

I thought that more people would appreciate a political ad that neither touted a laundry list of the candidate's claimed successes and virtues or attacked everything their nearest competitor had ever done (in other words, Romney ads). Huckabee sent a message to voters in the early states saying Merry Christmas, and made reference to the fact that the purpose Christmas holiday is to commemorate the birth of Christ. And our secular friends seem to be outraged, with some of them talking about the separation of church and state.

I respect the rights of athiests and people of other faiths to believe whatever they want - or to believe nothing at all. But, doesn't Mike Huckabee, even as he's running for the high office, have the right to mention the word Christ? A separation of church and state implies that the government does not tell the citizens what to believe or how to worship. It does not, however, imply that individuals who run the government are not entitled to have religious beliefs and to express them - otherwise this in itself would be an instance of the government telling people what to believe and what to say.

I think many of Huckabee's Republican critics are in such a tiff because they didn't think of it first. But this is one thing that Huckabee brings to the race that all the highly paid consultants and the bulk airtime in the world can't give Mitt Romney - originality.