For a white Republican from Cape Girardeau who has been an outspoken critic of Barack Obama, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder seemed remarkably comfortable at the head of the parade of 20,000 black men through the streets of north St. Louis on Sunday.

Kinder, who just last week attacked Obama as a class bigot, made his way to the front of the “Call to Oneness” march standing next to St. Louis Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, 4th Ward Alderman Sam Moore, and State Rep. Rodney Hubbard. Kinder even had a better spot than St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and City License Collector Mike McMillan, both of whom were in the second row.

Here is what Kinder said about Obama last week in an editorial entitled “Missourians Reject Obama’s Brand of Radical Liberalism” published on the website HumanEvents.com:

It was not too long ago that Barack Obama, surrounded by radical supporters in San Francisco, claimed that Missourians and other hard-working Americans were clinging to our faith and our 2nd Amendment rights because we are bitter. Is this the kind of class bigotry that Barack Obama will represent? Are we going to see more cases in which wealthy liberals mock the millions of Americans who actually believe in standing by their God and country? There is no other rational answer to these questions than an emphatic “Yes.”

Kinder’s Democratic challenger, State Rep. Sam Page, was also spotted at the “Call to Oneness” march.

In related news… Here’s Kinder’s speech from the Missouri Republican Convention over the weekend in which he called for Republican unity and, of course, took a few shots at Democrats.