Deborah Howell, Post ombudsman, weighed in over the weekend on a recent article in her paper that apparently caused confusion that Barack Obama was somehow a Muslim, or somehow has Muslim ties (Obama’s Kenyan grandfather was a Muslim).

Howell said the article needed a better news peg, and should have included “convincing evidence” the falsity of the alleged Obama / Muslim ties.

In a move that has riled critics in the liberal blogosphere especially, Howell did not denounce the article. “[T]here was no deliberate ’smear job,’ as some readers charged,” she wrote. “The story said clearly in the second paragraph that Obama is a member of a United Church of Christ congregation in Chicago.”

Big Head DC has reported previously that questions about the WaPo article were deliberately raised by the Politico in an effort to undermine the Post, a former employer of two top editors at the Politico.