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Can you stand the drama? As John McCain and Sarah Palin make Barack Obama’s cloudy past, and perhaps his present, center stage in the campaign the media rushes to his support like drama queens. ‘McCain and Palin are playing with fire‘ reads one headline while two others indicate McCain has to calm the crowds and warn of possible violence over the campaign topic turning to Obama’s history and choice of associates.

If discussing Obama and friends like William Ayers is causing this much reaction from the Illinois Senator, his campaign and his media it just may be the proof these things need to be discussed. Khaled Hosseini writes in WaPo that he and others are offended at the way Barack Obama’s middle name is being used. He has a lament that we have somehow returned to another time and place by pointing out Obama’s middle name. Hosseini needs to get over himself and abandon the far left’s tired old ploy of acting offended even if he is offended. Could he also be offended that Barack Obama downplays his connection to a domestic terrorist named William Ayers who scoffs at the country in which he lives and shamelessly admitted his guilt and the fact that he was never prosecuted for his crimes? Probably not.

The Obama camp never felt badly about the complaint that John McCain invokes his military background too much or their ad ridiculing him as out of touch for not using the computer or email even though it is his injuries from being a POW for over five years that prevent him from doing so. Khaled Hosseini, where is your ‘dismay’ about that?

Accusing McCain and Palin of not having ‘the moral courage’ to ‘denounce the use of Obama’s middle name’ by Khaled Hosseini is really a request to not bring up issues if they may have a negative effect on the campaign of Barack Obama. Few on the left seem to have a problem with freedom of expression if it involves burning the American flag. But when the issues related to Obama’s history and friends are raised in a campaign freedom of expression requires strict limitations. No one is yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre here. That the discussion provokes anger in some may have more to do with the poor judgment by a Democratic party nominee for president and people’s outrage that these matters have been ignored by the left and their media. Or more correctly, they haven’t ignored it they simply dismiss or discount it as no big deal.

The fact that Barack Obama spent part of his youth living in Indonesia and having both a father and a mentor who are Muslim plus other foreign born friends who are Muslim together with the fact that there are many Muslims who are terrorists and have stated their interest in destroying the US and other infidels plays no role in Hosseini urging the use of Obama’s middle name as off limits. Ya, right. It is not the fault of McCain or Palin or anyone else in the presidential campaign that Obama’s history and guarding of his past includes references to the Muslim faith and related items. It is just the luck of the draw so deal with it. That is all anyone has been asking Obama to do. Deal with it. People want answers and avoiding the questions will not solve anything. Questions of judgment in a presidential election are important.

And if Hosseini wants to ask if ‘inaction is tantamount to consent’ then Obama must bear the same burden. Is refusing to answer questions about Ayers tantamount to consent for terrorist actions. Obama denouncing Ayers’ terrorist past was no stronger than McCain’s request for people to keep the discussion respectful. But asking people to behave in a public discussion is not the same thing as being connected to a terrorist.

And for the last word here on Khalad Hosseini, thanks for the shameless plug for your book sales that do nothing to convince a reader of the piece that you are sincere or at least diminishes the impression of an honest opinion born of genuine concern. It’s just politics from a liberal agenda.

As for ’seething anger of the crowds’ in a report from the LA Times and Obama’s response for the push to know more about his history and choices by saying ‘it’s easy to rile up a crowd’ it is better to elicit public emotion and attract the necessary attention to issues that matter rather than accept the apathetic indifference thus far from Obama supporters and the media. Ignoring questions about Obama’s history does not render the allegations false. To be fair, raising the issue and receiving no answers does not make the allegations true. That is the whole point behind having a discussion on a candidate’s troubling history and personal alliances.

Even some Republicans are falling for the liberal bait in describing the McCain campaign’s recent push to know more about Obama and people like William Ayers. The left is content to dismiss the whole story or define it as a smear or character assassination. In the LA Times piece a former MI governor, William Milliken calls it a ‘personal attack.’ That is an over the top description of holding a candidate accountable for his actions or inaction as the case may be. Questioning a candidate’s judgment and reason for personal decisions and choices is not a personal attack.

For the LA Times to suggest using Barack Obama’s middle name to link the candidate with the Muslim faith on one hand but have others say the name should not be used at all yet claim there is nothing significant about Obama’s middle name or his associations is wanting to have your cake and eat it too. As if to say there is nothing wrong with the Muslim faith or having attributes that lend themselves to the distinction of appearing Muslim yet no one should utter any words that notice these relationships. Are the media and other Obama supporters suggesting a list of what people can say in an election campaign? That would make for a rather complicated mess that would distract from the issues. But maybe that is what they want. You think? Since the economic or financial troubles favor Obama when facing a Republican candidate during a Republican administration would it be fair to call his use of those issues a smear or personal attack or character assassination? He tries to link McCain to Bush every chance he gets and the entire left including the media go out of their way to chant the change mantra and warn voters that McCain will be four more years of Bush. But that is not a smear or personal attack, etc. C’mon people, this is politics. The discussion is whatever the discussion is. And the way candidate’s respond likely shapes voter’s opinions.

Mr Obama, you could have avoided all this if you would have simply answered the questions when first asked. But no, you chose to say that Ayers was ‘just a guy from the neighborhood.’ And your supporters echoing that Ayers is a non-issue did not make it so. If people are getting angry over this issue that should convince you of its importance and relevance in this election campaign and stop trying to define it as a smear. You may notice this post does not make use of your middle name which should be ’sneaky.’

And as a final note, there is a story out there explaining that both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama appear to have a fondness for the life and works of Saul Alinsky who is often referred to as a Marxist or some equally descriptive label. Funny we don’t hear Hillary complaining about a connection to Saul Alinsky but the same probably cannot be said about Barack. Mr Obama, your philosophy, choices and history have much to do with how people will view your potential as a president. Stop complaining that they want more information. You cannot deny a link between you and William Ayers. So again, deal with it.

The upside of the three references highlighted in this post is that the third one from the SJ Mercury News at least offers some parallels between the tactics used by the left during the 1980 presidential campaign and the reverse this time around. While hoping the election does not favor the one being questioned this time, it is a fair point which is rare these days. But then, you can read it yourself by following the link.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 11th, 2008 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Public Affairs, Terrorism, wordpress, Politics, campaign, election, McCain, disclosure, ethics, United States, obama, Islam, Muslim. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.