Do I judge a person who wants to hold the most powerful elected office on the planet by the company they keep? Of course I do, and so should you. More importantly, the voting public is going to judge him on these associations, make no mistake. That's why the story has not gone away.
The problem is not just the company Obama keeps, it is his total failure to explain in plain terms why he keeps the company he does. Wright is a raving racist who spouts lunatic conspiracy theories like the idea that HIV was introduced by the US government in an attempted genocide against people of color. Ayers is an unrepentant terrorist who advocated the violent overthrow of the US government. Rezko is a garden-variety criminal - that's almost tame by comparison. Let's understand why Americans are going to judge Obama by his association with Wright and Ayers in particular. Wright talks the kind of divisive, racist trash that Obama says he wants to overcome. Ayers advocated overthrowing the Constitution that Obama, as a US Senator, is sworn to protect, and would be sworn to protect as Commander in Chief. It bothers people that Obama would freely associate with someone who took such a radcal view and has never renounced his actions. What we have, then, is a politician saying one thing and doing another- saying he wants to rise above divisive politics and defend the Constitution as President, while he associates with a horribly divisive, racist preacher and an anti-US terrorist. Politicians do this stuff all the time, but the entire premise of Obama's campaign was that he was going to be different. So much for being different. That is why these stories have legs and why Obama has fallen back to earth, especially among working class whites, who are basically hard-working, patriotic people who love the United States. This kind of stuff makes them leery of the guy, and the polls show it. Loathe though I am to admit it, Hillary Clinton is right. Barring a major change in rhetoric coming from his campaign, Obama now has no chance in the general election. The problem for Hillary, though, is that she really doesn't have a chance, either. He loses Reagan Democrats, she loses independents and probably a big chunk of African-Americans who may not vote if she engineers a win for the nomination. The Democratic Party is in the process of completely self-destructing, it's almost surreal. On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 9:54 PM, denstar wrote: > Real issues is cool, but are you seriously saying you judge someone by > the company they keep? > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;192386516;25150098;k Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:259158 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
