THE COMPANY BARACK OBAMA'S KEPT (Reinhard)

The Oregonian ^ | May 1, 2008 | David Reinhard

[jazusamo]

You know that bus under which Barack Obama threw his grandmother (a "typical white woman" who "has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe") when he addressed the Jeremiah Wright Jr. matter the first time? It roared back down the campaign trail Tuesday, and Obama tossed Wright -- the man, as he said in his Philadelphia speech, "I can no more disown . . . than I can disown the black community" -- right under there with granny.

The only question that remains is the same one that remained after Obama's first stab at putting distance between himself and Wright's hate-filled crazy talk: What took so long?

"What we saw yesterday out of Reverend Wright . . . is antithetical to our campaign, it is antithetical to what I am about," Obama said of Wright's Monday show at the National Press Club. "It is not what I think America stands for. . . . I cannot prevent him from continuing to make these outrageous remarks, but what I do want him to be very clear about, as well as all of you and the American people, is that when I say I find these comments appalling, I mean it."

OK, fine. Obama's had it with Wright. The question still remains: What took so long?

After all, Obama's pastor didn't break any new ground Monday when it came to "outrageous" and "divisive." It was the same racial poison and anti-American claptrap he's trafficked in for years. Hailing Louis Farrakhan, equating America with al-Qaida, blaming the U.S. government for unleashing the AIDS virus on the black community -- the Monday material that Obama found nasty enough to condemn was the stuff of old Wright sermons.

The only thing new was Wright's assertion that Obama had to distance himself because he's a politician. Perhaps this is what Obama deems outrageous and appalling -- the notion he's just another politician -- though it's the sanest thing that Wright said at his lunatic extravaganza.

Obama is asking American voters to believe that all this wrongheaded Wright stuff is all new to him. This is asking too much. His claim that he never heard, or never heard of, Wright's exotic pronouncements over two decades is just incredible. In fact, after initially denying he'd ever heard anything controversial from Wright, Obama admitted in his Philadelphia speech that he had found some of Wright's views offensive.

Was Obama clueless about Wright over two decades? Or has he been disingenuous about Wright over the last months? It's one or the other. Neither cluelessness nor disingenuousness is attractive in a president.

"I'm particularly distressed that this has caused such a distraction from what this campaign should be about, which is the American people," he said.

Sorry. This may be a distraction from the campaign to make Obama president, but it's not a distraction from what a presidential campaign should be about. The fact is we know little about Obama. He makes a good set speech, but his supermodel-thin record does not match his uplifting words about unity. On the contrary. Given all this, his associations, past and present, are especially relevant. They're a window into his judgment. They may not be an indication of what views he embraces -- I cannot believe they are -- but they're an indication of what views he's tolerated.

Obama's asking voters to elect him to the world's most personal and powerful office. Imagine if John McCain had a 20-year association with a pastor-confidant who spewed the white flip-side of the Wright stuff. Imagine if he had a working relationship with a still famously unrepentant bomber of abortion clinics in the 1970s -- a William Ayers of the violent right. The guess here is that this would be a burning, character-clarifying issue rather than a distraction, even though McCain has a far thicker record of public service than Obama, and properly so.

After all, we would be told, "You are judged by the company you keep," "Birds of a feather flock together," "You cannot choose your family, but you can choose your friends." And your pastor.

And, of course, Obama's current apologists would be saying all this, and they would be right to do so.

And, if those associations happened to be back in a distant past? They'd probably quote the Rev. Jeremiah Wright: "The chickens are coming home to roost."

[roses of sharon]

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/04/30/2008-04-30_barack_obama_pal_is_an_enemy_too.html

Obama was indeed only 8 in early 1970. I was only 9 then, the year Ayers’ Weathermen tried to murder me.

In February 1970, my father, a New York State Supreme Court justice, was presiding over the trial of the so-called “Panther 21,” members of the Black Panther Party indicted in a plot to bomb New York landmarks and department stores. Early on the morning of Feb. 21, as my family slept, three gasoline-filled firebombs exploded at our home on the northern tip of Manhattan, two at the front door and the third tucked neatly under the gas tank of the family car.

I still recall, as though it were a dream, thinking that someone was lifting and dropping my bed as the explosions jolted me awake, and I remember my mother pulling me from the tangle of sheets and running to the kitchen where my father stood. Through the large windows overlooking the yard, all we could see was the bright glow of flames below. We didn’t leave our burning house for fear of who might be waiting outside. The same night, bombs were thrown at a police car in Manhattan and two military recruiting stations in Brooklyn. Sunlight, the next morning, revealed three sentences of blood-red graffiti on our sidewalk: Free the Panther 21; The Viet Cong have won; Kill the pigs

(my 2cents; since no one can read his heart, we MUST TAKE HIM AT FACE VALUE. If he tolerated and funded Wright for 23 years, then he must pay the price. Who in their right mind would allow a racist anti-American to pollute their children’s minds and the minds of other congregates, without speaking up or leaving!)

[geo40xyz]

I am the one I was looking for and I will change America

Lets look at the democRAT Presidential candidate of CHANGE/HOPE:.

He "hopes" no one notices when he quotes anti-white lines from movies while speaking to mostly black audiences.

He "hopes" no one notices when he uses gangsta rap gestures which reference misogynistic lyrics..

He "hopes" no one notices when he says he took no DC lobbyist money he didn't include Nadhmi Auchi or George Soros..

He "hopes" no one notices that he attended Rev Wright's Church for 20 years and didn't hear a word.

He "hopes" no one ask him any questions about Most Rev Wright or Black Liberation Theology.

He "hopes" no one ask him any questions about who he will through under the bus next.

He "hopes" no one notices that he is completely comfortable hanging out with America hating bigots..

He "hopes" no one notices that his political career shows very little if any accomplishments that he can call his own..

He "hopes" that he can continue to run a gutter/negative attack campaign against Hillary and no one will notice. Audacity, baby!

[jazusamo]

Who in their right mind would allow a racist anti-American to pollute their children’s minds

Very well said! Obama received an Ivy League education and expects people to believe he didn't know Wright's beliefs. He knew exactly what he was exposing his children to, IMO.

[jazusamo]

I suppose he believes there are enough leftists in our country now to put him in the White House, hopefully there aren’t.

[TBP]

Show me who your friends are and I’ll show you who you are.

[Dajjal]

Here's another Amerikkka-hating "friend of Obama."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2006110/posts
The Art of Politics ["Obey Obama"]

Shepard Fairey, the artist who designed the official fund-raising set of Obama posters, like this one:

Fairey has a company ("Obey") that produces his own artwork, such as these.
See Fairey's website: http://www.thegiant.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Prints

[is_is]

antithetical????????????????????

[jazusamo]

WOW! I checked your thread and Fairey is a weird guy, I guess Obama seeking him out says a lot.

[okie01]

Wow! That Fairey guy is sick. And twisted.

Wonder how he'd like living in Stalinist Russia? Or Cuba?