Posted by
Andrews on Wednesday, April 09, 2008 2:11:44 PM
I have been told by some on the left that I cannot fault Obama for Reverend Wright as that would constitute a "religious test" for president. I have already explained why that is a
bunch of twaddle, but even if we accept that argument, can I fault Obama for incredibly bad judgment? Is that enough to keep him out of the Oval Office?
I already explained why I think Obama was foolish in his handling of this whole Wright thing came to light. I explained what he
should have said, were he a real "racial healer". I
explained why he should have simply left Trinity, rather than waiting for the new pastor to come to Wright's defense and dig Obama an even deeper hole. I have, in short, painted a pretty clear picture of the many ways Obama completely mishandled this Wright issue.
But now we find that yet another Obama adviser is of less than sterling character. It appears Father Michael Pfleger is not only an extremist, given to rather violent rhetoric, but also another admirer of "Minister" Farrakhan. Worst of all for Obama, it appears that Father Pfelger is, though white, a race hustler of the Jackon/Sharpton mold.
So, why does this matter?
First, it gives voters more reason to wonder if Obama is not the "postracial" politician he pretends to be. If he surrounds himself with those who espouse the same old line of grievances and activism, and he himself
reverts to blaming racist America when trying to
excuse Wright, is it not possible Obama himself is just another left-wing politician who will
fall back on racial rhetoric and grievance mongering when it suits him? To the independents and the blue-collar Democrats,
this makes all the difference. They were open to voting for a black president who espoused racial healing, they will be
much less inclined to support yet another race baiting liberal.
Second, even for those who are not turned off by this sudden change in the Obama campaign's focus, this revelation raises other questions. Obama is running for the highest office in the land. he has known he was going to run for some time. He has had years to prepare. Yet, in all that time, not only has not wisely separated himself form his mentor (
even though he knew there would be problems), but he has also surrounded himself with men like Pfleger, men he should recognize as potentially problematic.
Even those who want to support Obama, even those who do not mind his
racial rhetoric or his
extreme left politics, must be somewhat disturbed at the thought of electing a man who either
cannot see that his associates may cause him problems or, much more likely, sees the problems, but,
for whatever reason, cannot deal
with those problems effectively.
Do we really need such an ineffectual man leading our nation? Even Democrats must see that, underneath the
flowery rhetoric and "
charisma", despite the
fanatical support he receives, Obama is proving to be a completely passive and incompetent individual.
POSTSCRIPT
Best of the Web does note a
story (also reported
here) about someone Obama will not tolerate. One of his delegates called her neighbor's children "monkeys", and was aksed to step down. She claims it was because they were climbing trees, not because they were black, but apparently, Obama accepts racist rhetoric only in one direction.
As Mr. Taranto wrote:
Let this be a lesson for other Obama delegates: If someone is bothering
you, shout at the top of your lungs, "God damn America!" You know Obama
will stand by you then.
It is interesting that Obama will stand behind Crazy Uncle Jerry, but not Crazy Aunt Linda.
Correction: Some of the links in my original posting were incorrect. I think I have corrected all of them, but if an article sems wrong, please let me know.