Posted by
Andrews on Tuesday, October 07, 2008 1:41:30 PM
Earlier I dismissed those who engage in conspiratorial thinking, and I realized that some may even include me in that category for insisting that we consider Obama's ties to Wright, Ayers, Rezko, Pfleger, even Farrakhan, who was honored by Obama's church. However, I think there is a difference.
I do not claim there is any conspiracy between Obama and Ayers, or Obama and Farrakhan. I do not think Obama is engaged in any sort of conspiracy. (Though I do think we need to look closely at his financial dealings with Rezko, as one doesn't need to be paranoid to ask about Rezko and illegal financing.) What is important about these men is that Obama claimed both Wright and Ayers as mentors at one time or another. He saw these men as people with whom he should not only associate but whose ideas were influential enough for him to follow them.
That is why these men are important and why Sarah Palin is right to bring them up. If Obama sees Ayers as a "mentor" then it is important that we know what Ayers was saying that appealed to Obama. If he is still an unrepentant domestic terrorist, if he is still espousing the overthrow of the US or the restructuring of the government into a radical socialism, then it matters quite a bit that Obama found such ideas appealing, and has never once repented of the value he placed upon them. Similarly, the fact that Obama only severed his 20 year relationship with Reverend Wright when it became a political liability tells u quite a bit about his views on race. The candidates and the press may be too squeamish to mention it, but Obama has given every indication of holding radical, divisive views on race.
So, in this case, it is hardly paranoid to ask what Obama was thinking when he associated with these men, and what these men believed when Obama found their company so appealing. That is the precise sort of question we should have asked back in 1992 and avoided the entire Clinton fiasco. The fact that the media (and even some conservative pundits) is telling us it is unfair tells me it is a very important question, and one likely to be damaging to Obama.
POSTSCRIPT
On the other hand, the sort of conspiratorial thinking I am opposing, claiming Obama has a forged birth certificate, is a stealth Moslem, and so on, is not productive. These charges are based on the most flimsy of evidence, if that, and they serve not to raise questions in the mind of he public, but only to paint the Republican party as insane. Just as Democrats are harmed when they treat 9/11 turthers with more deference than they deserve, we suffer when we give credence to far fetched claims about Obama.