So now…the great CBS debate between Hillary and Barack that was scheduled to precede the North Carolina primary election has been scrubbed. More's the pity, since the last debate, conducted by ABC's Gibson and Stephanopoulis, centered on the more abstract but probably more important aspect of aspiring for the presidency – fitness for office. Neither Clinton nor Obama looked good, with Obama's performance actually abysmal.
The report is that Clinton was amenable to another circus of "me, too" histrionics (since the two always put forward the same socialistic approach to governance) but that Obama, probably realizing all too well his inability to perform without a teleprompter or off-the-cuff before characters who know whereof they speak, stood down. He was wise to do so, even though Clinton has established herself as being without peer in fabricating tales of wonderment, so far from the truth as to be in the ether orbiting Mars at this moment. Okay…the Serb snipers were supposed to be at the airfield in Bosnia in 1996 (hubby Bill said 1995, but that was close enough) but stopped at a local hookah-opium-bar on the way and wound up in Uzbekistan instead.
Obama is bothered mightily by his associations and can't seem to shake them. He probably hears the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright in his sleep singing "God Damn America" or quoting Wright mimicking President Reagan in a Shakespearean soliloquy of "Out, Out, damned HIV/AIDS spot" for plaguing African Americans with the dreaded disease in the 80s. It's no wonder he looks worn-out during the debates lately…he's sleep-deprived. To make things worse, Bill Moyers, the nation's most rabid Bush-hater, is interviewing the reverend this week on his government-sponsored PBS program, thus calling attention yet again to Obama's 21-year exposure (approval?) concerning the saintly Wright's hate-speech.
Obama also can't shake the association with his wife, who's helped his patriotism by claiming that the USA is a "mean place" and that not in her entire adulthood, all of which happened suddenly last year, has she felt proud of this awful nation, in which she and hubby have only managed to become millionaires. It's enough to give any candidate the heebie-jeebies when his own spouse claims to have spent a virtual lifetime in a place so mean that no one, especially her husband, would want to touch it with a ten-foot pole, let alone be president.
Then, just as he was busy and seeming to succeed in trying to explain away dear Jeremiah and dear Michele, along comes William Ayers, the guy in whose house/presence he wrestled with the question of running for office. There's nothing wrong with that, except that Ayers, a pooh-bah in the terrorist Weather Underground of the 60s and an admitted and proud public-building bomber (though certainly not the type looking for the virgins) is not the best friend to have around, since most Americans take a dim view of the LSD-hyped hippie-dippy types who have grown old now and become college professors, thus proving that idiocy has its place. Idiot-friends can be a problem.
And then there's Raila Odinga, Kenyan prime minister who claims to be Obama's first cousin and who visited with Obama last fall, both of them trying then for their respective presidencies – Odinga lost but yelled "foul" and got the PM spot for his trouble, but only after a few hundred were massacred. According to the BBC of 17 April, his critics call him a "party-wrecker," who would do anything to achieve his political ambition and described him further: a mechanical engineer by profession, accused of plotting a coup against President Moi in 1982, charged with treason and detained without trial for six years before fleeing to Norway in 1991. Actually, he spent about eight or nine years in prison for his trouble.
Odinga received a scholarship from the Communist government of East Germany in 1965 that sent him to the Technical University (Otto Von Guericke), Magdeburg, in what was then known as East Germany. In 1970, he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Five years learning communism in one of the most repressive of communist regimes does not make for a good relative-reference.
According to the Jerusalem Post of 21 January 2008, "On August 29 [2007] Odinga wrote a letter to Kenya's pro-jihadist National Muslim Leaders Forum. There he pledged that if elected he would establish Sharia courts throughout the country; enact Islamic dress codes for women; ban alcohol and pork; indoctrinate schoolchildren in the tenets of Islam; ban Christian missionary activities, and dismiss the police commissioner, 'Who has allowed himself to be used by heathens and Zionists.' Although Odinga is an Anglican, he referred to Islam as the 'one true religion' and scorned Christians as 'worshipers of the cross.' Obama strongly supports Odinga who claims to be his cousin."
Egad! Religion rears its ugly head again for Obama…shades of Jeremiah! Whereas Jeremiah demands reparations for slavery, Odinga demands money for subterfuge. Whereas Obama cited his grandmother as the typical white person – leery of those around him/her – Odinga cited missionaries as cross-worshippers and thus presumably of an inferior class.
Okay…it's not fair to judge Obama on the basis of his associations, whether present or past. On the other hand, he attempted in his "Race" speech to vindicate Wright's animus toward this country, even though Wright has not suffered unduly and is even now preparing to move into a $1.6 million mansion financed by – what else – his church.
Obama's associations would come into play as he chooses his cabinet members, if elected. They would come into play as he appointed judges on all levels. Anyone for reparations, for instance? His associations would determine his ambassador-appointments and his alliances, such as with Kenya, now a U.S.-ally in that strategic part of the world, but under Obama – what…maybe statehood…or guns for Odinga?
Hillary would face the questions of Whitewater, futures speculation, Rose Law Firm, Travel-office firings, mistakenly misplaced records, sniper and other kinds of lies, socialized medicine, and 80 trips abroad (her bragging rights currently) in which she had no official capacity other than having a great time on the government dime. Obama faces questions about those strange associations. McCain looks better all the time.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
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