When Does The Racial Reconciliation Begin?

Here is Barack Obama describing his Presidential credentials recently to the Houston Chronicle:

In a conference call, Obama told the Chronicle editorial board that "more than any other candidate, I can bridge some of the partisan as well as racial and religious divides that have developed in this country that prevent us from getting things done."

Barack, healing the racial divides.  It's a pretty thought, and I suspect that many others share that hope.

So, watch this video of Barack's minister, Jeremiah Wright, delivering a sermon recently, and ask yourself a couple of questions:

1.  When does Barack work his reconciliation magic on his minister?

2.  Does Barack actually bring his two young daughters to that church to listen to that stuff?

Obama has a huge opportunity for some racial reconciliation pretty close to home, and seems to have accomplished nothing (or, heaven help us, is this a newer, calmer Wright?)

Ben Smith of The Politico writes:

Sure does feel like we're plunging into the abyss tonight.

Six more weeks to Pennsylvania?

ERRATA:  There is plenty to dislike about Wright's sermon but let me single out his launch point, where he explains that he understands why "so many folks are hating on Barack Obama".

Who is the "so many"?  Not the media.  Not the voters in mostly-white states like Iowa or Wisconsin.  Not the adoring rock-band crowds.

Where is he seeing this hate?  I am sure it is somewhere off on the fringe, as it is for Hillary and McCain, but shouldn't a minister be looking for love, and the best in us?  OK, let's reprise the quote from the "Pollyanna" scene with the minister played by Karl Malden:

Reverend Ford: [reading Pollyanna's locket] When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will. - Abraham Lincoln.
Pollyanna Whittier: He was President.
Reverend Ford: Yes, I know... but I've never heard *that* before.

OK, one reason he had never heard that before was because Lincoln never said it.  Still, as Karl Malden's character realizes, he ought to be looking for the good in people, since you are more likely to find something if you look for it.

From ABC NEWS:  "God damn America"?  Wright is attracting attention now.

Here a post about some old Times coverage from April 2007, and some Jan 2008 coverage of the award by Wright's magazine to Farrakhan.

Comments

[sbw]

Two thing:

1) Repeating my comment in a previous thread

Perhaps the discussion would be better off if words like "sexist" and "racist" were put out to pasture for a while. They do not move the conversation forward and, more likely, are used to cut short any conversation at all. A dialog stopped is considered "won."

If, instead, one said, "It's been a very stupid media." then the door would be open to back up that statement with a compelling, meaningful explanation. If one could.

2) Too often what one sees seems to have [Jesse Jackson] more [Al Sharpton] to do with power and control, rather than racism. I see no reason [Barack Obama] to change my mind.

[clarice]

Where does he see that hate? In the mirror?

Here's some fun.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/03/a_modest_proposal_1.html>A way out of the DNC's dilemma

[Jane]

That's great Clarice. It really is.

[MarkO]

As one who faithfully read “The Greening of America” and has done his best to live his life by rock and roll lyrics, I wonder if Obama’s “plan” to heal racial, religious, political and even paleontological divides is nothing more than a feeling that by being elected, he will have done so. He certainly has no 12 step program. It makes Nixon’s secret plan to end the war seem rock solid.

[sbw]

It makes Nixon’s secret plan to end the war seem rock solid.

The emperor has no clothes.

[MarkO]

Clarice. Cool as always.

[kim]

Altogether now, Oh--Bah--Mah, Oh--Bah--Mah, O--Bah--Mah.

See, that was easy now, wasn't it?
===============================

[section9]

As Obama's Black Panther reverend says, "The Chickens are coming home to roost!", only not how he thought.

Barack is about as interested in reaching out as Henry Gibson and the Illinois Nazi Party at a meeting of Women's American Ort. This is all buncombe, and shall be exposed in the fall.

Wonderful "modest proposal" by Clarice.

[kim]

Yes, we chant.
============

[MarkO]

Kim, you could sing along with me . . .”I’m hooked on a feeling, I’m high on believing . . .”

[Elliott]

A guy from the BBC has a suggestion that is pretty amusing, if unintentionally so.

[BumperStickerist]

Hmmmm ...

I thought that, given the amount of restrictions found in the Old Testament regarding the lineage of the Messiah, God had sort of painted Himself into a corner about who His Son could be

... it was either Jesus in Nazareth during the Reign of Herod or God would have had to wait around another dozen or so generations.

~ cough ~

[clarice]

Thanks, all.(I decided to take Hit's vicious temper and vindictive nature into account and NOT steal his idea about one candidate for each of the two Americas.)

[Other Tom]

I believe Preacher Wright be ridin' dirty.

Great one, Clarice. Trot out the Grinning Dunce and let him solve it all instantly, after which he can lecture everyone on how easy it was for him.

[ben]

Let the healing begin, one Geraldine Ferraro at a time....

[Sue]

Other Tom,

I don't know if you ever visit Hot Air, but you need to see this video by YAF’s Jason Mattera.

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/03/12/hot-air-tv-sen-john-kerry-confronted-about-winter-soldier-ii/>Hot Air

This is the reporter that got Jack Murtha. He got John Kerry this time.

[centralcal]

A really funny line from a frequent commenter at Hot Air re: Obama's Pastor:

"Hah I think after watching that, Obama might claim he IS a muslim"

[bubarooni]

i honestly think 'they' are attempting to set ground rules for the general election with all this tripe.

for me, i imagine this must have been what it was like during mao's cultural revolution when individuals would get up before the party committees and 'denounce' whoever for whatever to prove their loyalty to the party.

kinda surreal. it'll never fly in november.

[Sue]

Never say never anymore.

[anduril]

This article re the Rezko trial (Rezko ran hospital planning board behind the scenes, jury told) doesn't mention either Obama, but it does contain this passage which I find suggestive:

Witnesses at the corruption trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko on Wednesday laid bare an upside-down world of hospital regulation in Illinois, where medical need took a back seat to political connections, an old-boy network and a delicate balancing act of favors.

And the government says that sitting at the hub of all this after Gov. Rod Blagojevich came to power in 2003 was his friend and fundraiser Rezko, who allegedly had an agenda of his own: prying kickbacks out of hospitals seeking state approval to grow.

Prosecutors portrayed Rezko as a behind-the-scenes strongman seen by some hospital regulators as enforcing the will of the administration.

Thomas Beck, appointed by Blagojevich in 2003 as chairman of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning board, testified under immunity from prosecution that he got the post after seeking out support from Rezko. When he approached Rezko, Beck said he also came with a $1,000 donation to the governor's campaign fund.

What would Rezko have to do with a hospital hiring an up and coming young politician's wife? Let's see...

Hey, New York seems to work the same way as Illinois.

[anduril]

Racial reconciliation? Hmmm. Is that, like, accomplished by means of a "natural bridge" between the races? That minds me of Steve Sailer (he who is widely ignored for a reason), who in his blog returns once more to Obama's autobio. This time he starts with Mona Charen's take on the book:

"In search of answers that go deeper than the Congressional Record, I read his first book, "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance." Once you get past the happy surprise of finding a politician who can actually write, the book contains some disquieting elements.

"Obama is the product of a union between a white Kansan and a black Kenyan who met in Hawaii. I had assumed, before reading his memoir, that Obama viewed himself as a natural bridge between the races and that his message of unity sprang in part from his biology. That was wrong. From his earliest years, Obama engaged in a preoccupying internal struggle to make himself a fully authentic black man."

Sailer then continues:

I think a lot of people just assumed that what they knew about Tiger Woods -- came from a stable mixed race home, didn't favor one part of his heritage over another, had a rock-solid psyche, etc. -- also applied to Obama. I realize that doesn't make one bit of sense, but stupid ideas can get stuck in people's heads for stupid reasons -- like all the doctors who assume that whooping cough is practically extinct because whooping cranes are practically extinct.

Charen very nicely sums up the slipperiness of the book:

"Left-wing ideas are not so much articulated in this memoir as presumed."

Which means you have to read the book to get a sense of where he's coming from. There are no soundbites in it.

You hear a lot of talk about whom Obama's role model might be: Martin Luther King? Malcolm X? Ronald Reagan? Obama's campaign kickoff rally in Springfield, Illinois last year was carefully crafted to remind voters of Abraham Lincoln.

And yet, Obama's most important role model would seem to be another Harvard Law School grad (Class of 1966), one who was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court during the summer between Obama's second and third years at Harvard Law School: David Souter, the "stealth nominee" with almost no paper trail. In contrast to the outspoken Robert Bork in 1987, Souter cruised to easy approval by the Senate.

It seems silly to accuse a man who published his autobiography at age 33 of hiding his views like Souter. And yet ...

[anduril]

Is this getting boring yet? Here's another link to Steve Sailer (he who is widely ignored for a reason), who asks: Why was Mrs. Obama worth $122k?

OK, we've already heard about how Barry O was chairman of the Illinois Senate’s health committee when la Michelle lost her vocation for corporate law and went into the helping (self) profession. But this takes on added interest in light of the article I linked, above, in the Chicago Tribune, which refers to Rezko's pervasive influence in hospital regulation. It all adds up to the Obamas being neck deep in Illinois' culture of corruption: Rezko, the political fixer, is the behind the scenes puppet master, Barry O is on the relevant legislative committee, and la Michelle strikes it rich by helping herself. Here's what Sailer says--although you may wish to ignore it:

Shortly after her husband was sworn in as a U.S. Senator, Michelle Obama famously received a raise from the U. of Chicago Hospitals from $122k to $317k for doing whatever it was she did for them.

But why was she getting paid $122k by the giant hospital in the first place?

An answer may have emerged in an NYT article, "In Developer’s Trial, E-Mail Note Cites an Obama Role." Like everything involving Tony Rezko and the Obamas, this article is complicated and boring. (For example, Rezko's involvement in the Obamas' purchase of their Chicago mansion had to do with zoning details and, likely, with Michelle being on the Chicago Landmarks Commission, but don't ask me to put together a lucid story of what exactly went down.)

What is interesting is part of this NYT sentence in reference to a 2003 email:

"The vaguely worded message also seemed to raise the possibility that Mr. Obama, who at the time was chairman of the Illinois Senate’s health committee, had been involved in recommending candidates for the board."

Yes, but there's no indication of ... Wait a minute? Did that say Mr. Obama was "chairman of the Illinois Senate's health committee?" And this was while Mrs. Obama was being paid over $100,000 per year by one of Chicago's three big private hospitals to do something or other?

Isn't that a conflict of interest?

If I didn't know that Senator Obama is a cross between Mother Theresa, Neo from "The Matrix," and Jonathan Livingston Seagull, I might almost suspect he could be a Chicago politician.

[Gerry]

What video?

[narciso]

"How about 15 minutes to never" Look the Democrats have a big problem; their trendier
democraphics (yuppies, African Americans)
love Barry Dunham; their more traditional
blue collar factions; don't hold Hillary in contempt. This is a mirror updating to the present day of the McGovern/Muskie-Humphrey split. How they're going to square that circle, I'd love to see.

[syn]

Now how will a Senator who voted to continue sucking out the brains of African-American babies be able to "bridge some of the partisan as well as racial and religious divides that have developed in this country"?

[GMax]

Clarice

You rock! But the devil is always in the details!

[Porchlight]

Gerry, click the link in the post that says "The Politico." I couldn't find it at first either.

[Anon]

anduril-

Well....

Gov. Blagojevich-who appointed members of the Illinios Health Facilities Planning Board was subject to an oversight committee in the Illinios State Senate-Health and Human Services-guess who was Chairmen of that committee?

The name of Barack Obama, the Democratic front-runner for the presidential nomination, also appears in the e-mail as a member of a strategic team reviewing hospital board matters with the governor's staff when he was a state senator. The hospital board was scheduled to be revamped in the summer of 2003.

Obama was then chairman of the Senate Committee on Health & Human Services. Other legislative leaders, including Madigan, were part of that review panel as well, according to the e-mail.

Rezko had four ringers on that committee because they were arranging to get kick backs from one of the contractors for the building of the Mercy hospital.

Rezko was also arranging kick backs {with one of these board members in another scheme} from investment firms interested in what was done with the Illinios Teachers Pension Fund.

[hit and run]

Clarice:

Thanks, all.(I decided to take Hit's vicious temper and vindictive nature into account and NOT steal his idea about one candidate for each of the two Americas.)

Reasonable!

Even though I am now described as a friend of the devil.

You know I make the point about obama's pastor...here I am afraid that my pastor will find my blog...and obama is afraid voters will find his pastor.

Now I have to hope my pastor doesn't read AT!

Just kidding.

I do love the piece!!!

[Anon]

Ok - must of been typing at the same time-I see where you find that Obama is Chairman of the committee-but in relation to Michelle.

I think more importantly that he was charged with being a member of a strategic team reviewing hospital board matters with the governor's staff. That Obama had two chances at oversight and as a friend of Rezko's for over seventeen years, and political prodigy he might not have been too interested in checking the "movements" of Rezko.

The same staff that was prioritizing all of Rezko's picks at the Governor's request.

[clarice]

Thnx, GMax..I've had my nose in an article in PUK's Daily Mail:"The bizarre diet secrets of the stars"

Short take:Illegal and dangerous drugs and starvation. And I just thought it was fortunate genes.

[Appalled Moderate]

The question that has me wondering:

Why is Obama loyal to this guy?

The usual way is to jettison people like this before you go mainstream.

I see the following possible explanations:

1. He doesn't go to church enough to realize the guy is a potential political embarassment. (I really doubt this)

2. Obama figures jettisoning this guy would cost him too much support in the black community. (Given the accusations early in the campaign that Obama is some sort of Oreo, this is plausible. This is one explanation for the cynics.)

3. Obama figured the press would give him a free pass and he didn't have to jettison him. (Since I think Obama cannot stand the press, I don't believe this. Others of you may differ.)

4. Obama and/or Michelle really believes this stuff.

5. Obama has a deep personal loyalty to the guy, forged before Obama was a major public figure. That has allowed Obama to look past the political stuff, which is easily disregarded because of the strong personal relationship.

6. This guy was an early backer of Obama, and Obama feels a strong political loyalty to him.

7. Mix and match.

I vote for #5, with a tinticure of Obama's black identity and ivy league identity blinding him a touch about how the non-black non-elite feel about comments like this.

Discuss among yourselves.

[clarice]

Whew! Thanks, Hit. I'd been sandbagging all entrances to my house just in case.

[steveaz]

Tom,

"Where does [Wright] see all this hate?"

Wright doesn't "see" hate, he invokes it. There is a difference.

Actually "seeing" a sign or symptom of hate can be an empirical exercise. But the invocation of it by Barry's preacher is a willful, rhetorical exercise.

The Doa-ist thought of the day: I think it is time we looked at Wright's finger pointing at "the moon," rather than continue to look at the figment (ie. all "that Hate") that it's pointing to.

Cheers!

[glasater]

A video clip that ran extensively on Fox yesterday showed Obama walking past a line of retired generals (at attention) supporting his candidacy. Then turning smartly and forming a semi-circle behind BHO while the candidate answered questions.

I found that whole scene deeply troubling.

[DebinNC]

"...their more traditional blue collar factions; don't hold Hillary in contempt."

I'm listening to Rush play audio from Obama's incendiary pastor of 20 years, and raise fears about Obama. Why is he doing that unless he really wants Hillary to face McCain? Since blue collar white males are currently supporting Hillary, why wouldn't it be better for McCain to face Obama, who won't get all those Dem votes in November? I'm disquieted by the current Repub "meddling" in the Dem primaries, because it makes me sick to think that Hillary could get the WH through too-smart-by-half conservatives gaming the system.

[bubarooni]

my bro is telling me that michelle was making about $150K working at a hospital. shortly after bho became u.s. senator she got a nice little bump in her salary to, ohhhhh, something like $320k.

he said he read it somewhere, i can't remember where and the numbers are approximations from my own flawed memory.

still, i'd like to know where the money for that pay raise came from.

[centralcal]

AM - I think, based on comments by Michelle Obama, that number 4 on your list is probably the correct one.

[bubarooni]

byron york on nro:

'In 2006, the Chicago Tribune reported that Mrs. Obama’s compensation at the University of Chicago Hospital, where she is a vice president for community affairs, jumped from $121,910 in 2004, just before her husband was elected to the Senate, to $316,962 in 2005, just after he took office.'

not bad. i wonder how that timeline fits in with rezko's dealings...

[Bill in AZ]

glasater, Clinton had 8 years to populate the flag ranks with moonbats - who are retired or retiring. It IS disturbing.

[Jane]

OT:

The other day someone commented on the 600k pages of the Pentagon report that said Saddam was not linked to al Qaeda by saying they ignored 400k pages.

Anyone remember that (or am I delusional - again) and what's the source?

[glasater]

From John Fund's Political Jornal...no link to provide.

Quote of the Day I

"[T]he percentage of Republican identifiers voting in Democratic nomination contests has increased significantly in recent weeks -- from 4 percent in states that held primaries in January and February to 9 percent in the March 4 primaries to 12 percent in Mississippi on Tuesday.... Overall, 9 percent of the Mississippi Democratic primary voters were self-identified Republicans who voted for Clinton.... But did these Republicans just turn out to assist McCain by prolonging the Democratic fight or boosting a candidate they consider easier to beat? The exit poll suggests another motivation. These Clinton Republicans also expressed very negative views of Barack Obama... [so] the primary motivation of Clinton's Mississippi Republicans may be a desire to stop Barack Obama, although many may be motivated by tactical shenanigans as well" -- Mark Blumenthal, editor and publisher of Pollster.com, writing in the National Journal.

[RichatUF]

glasater-

I found that whole scene deeply troubling.

In the Manchurian Candidate sort of way. Here is a clip. Notes on BHO believer Gen. McPeak.

Can't believe that this going to go on and on through the convention.

[Porchlight]

AM, good list. I honestly can't tell what's going on in his head strategy-wise. But at minimum #4 has to be true or he couldn't have stood to listen to it for 20 years.

Unless he's deeply cynical. And we know that can't be true, right?

[Bill in AZ]

Jane, I said that - I was being cynical (I think).

[bgates]

AM, your #5 doesn't work. It's not like Obama and Wright were college roommates, and years later Obama found out his old friend was now a rabidly anti-white black nationalist preacher. Wright was a rabidly anti-white black nationalist preacher when Obama met him, yet Obama decided to form a close relationship with the guy - and that's the charitable explanation. For the less charitable take, replace 'yet' with 'therefore'.

[Bill in AZ]

Jane, it had to do with a Pentagon "study" being selectively leaked by MSM this week until it got spitzered. The gist of the headlines is that after reviewing 600,000 pages of Saddam/Iraqi documents, they found no connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda.

[Anon]

RichatUF-

Well....McPeak actually did something? Heh.

I thought his main accomplishment was those spiffy new unifroms.

[Bill in AZ]

Jane (continued)... if you search 'pentagon' 'study' '600000', you will find some hits on this. Not coincidentally, you'll also get a number of hits on the thoroughly discredited Lancet study. I suspect an MSM computer algorithm randomly spits out this nonsense every few weeks for headlines - but their programmer should occasionally use different numbers. "600000" has been used too often for dramatic effect. Damn, there I go being cynical again...

[PeterUK]

Oh--Bah--Mah, Oh--Bah--Mah,
Oh--Bah--Mah, Oh--Bah--Mah,

You have a boy, Obama is his name
Since he arrived you've never been the same
'Cause you love that boy
Obama it is he,yes it is he.

[Pofarmer]

glasater, Clinton had 8 years to populate the flag ranks with moonbats - who are retired or retiring. It IS disturbing.

Which explains a WHOLE lot about the problems in Iraq.

[Pofarmer]

And, BTW, I think Rush is just trying to keep the fires stoked. Let's get this out there. I'm beginning to think that Obama would be exponentially worse than Hillary.

[hit and run]

All this cynicism...I'm feeling a tingle running up my leg.

[Rick Ballard]

"I'm beginning to think that Obama would be exponentially worse than Hillary."

As President, yes. As Presidential candidate, no.

He's a cheap Chicago hack pol with a Red core and a good voice. More beatable than Gore, maybe a little less than Dukakis. Rendell pegged him from the Dem side very well, using "conservative" as a substitute for "non-black making less than $50K". The Dem core are going to rightfully see him as the epitome of affirmative action (as some of them view RW) and they will embrace him as heartily as they would the fellow with low scores who got their cousin's job at the fire department.

IMO - Republicans should cheer every low blow thrown by either the Empty Skirt or the Empty Suit. Rendell threw a nice gutter shot and Ferraro jumped into the sewer to land another foul. BHO is lying through his teeth every day and listening to his wife prattle should generate sympathy - for him - even though his mendacity is matched only by his willingness to engage in meretricious behavior.

In the end, I believe that RW is going to finish off this loser. Right now my hope is that he has the strength to keep lying long enough to convince his prog/black coalition to stay home in November.

[MikeS]

University of Chicago Hospital, ... vice president for community affairs = $316,962 per year!

What does a vice president for community affairs do? How do you tell if she is doing a good job or not?

[Other Tom]

Thanks, Sue--I just watched the YAF/Kerry video.

I have looked in vain for any identification of the retired flag and general officers with Obama. Has anyone seen any?

[Jane]

Bill,

Thanks. Cynicism is the order of the week I think.

[Anon]

Admiral Robert, 'Willie' Williamson, U.S. Navy; Major General Ralph Wooten. U.S. Army; Admiral Don Guter, U.S. Navy; Brigadier General James Smith, U.S. Air Force; Admiral John Nathman U.S. Navy; Major General Hugh Robinson U.S. Army; Brigadier General David McGinnis, Army National Guard.

I think "Tony" McPeak is also in the group and Scott Gration-JIATF-West.(AF)

[RichatUF]

Other Tom-

Here is the list and remarks from his site.

He's got a new slogan "Judgement to Lead"...

[Anon]

He's probably promised McPeak something-...

[glasater]

Rich-

Thanks for the links @ 1:01. Anon--thanks for the identifiers.

After Obama shook each of their hands and patted shoulders, they turned smartly and formed the perfectly spaced semi-circle.
It was as if he were already CIC.

[anduril]

"Wright ... begins by describing the Romans, who crucified Jesus, as Italians, and thus white..."

Gosh, ya think that Wright realizes that there are some--like, more than a few--Italians in Pennsylvania, and that they're a big part of the blue collar constituency? And that the use of Ferraro wasn't coincidental?

[Pofarmer]

All this cynicism...I'm feeling a tingle running up my leg.

It might just be the flu. I ache in places I wasn't sure I had.

[anduril]

Shoot. That video of Wright cuts off just when he was hitting his stride. I was really getting into it--ya'll.

[Enlightened]

Actually Mrs. Obama's "raise" included a signing bonus, and she received it in January 2005....the Auchi transaction was in May 2005, 3 weeks later the Real estate deal....

[MayBee]

AM-
I vote for this:
4. Obama and/or Michelle really believes the general gist of this stuff.

They chose the church. There is nothing that made them step foot in there the first time, or time after time for that matter. The Obamas donated $22,500 to the church in 2006.
That's pretty good evidence they approve of the church's teachings, don't you think?

[anduril]

There is plenty to dislike about Wright's sermon but let me single out his launch point, where he explains that he understands why "so many folks are hating on Barack Obama".

Who is the "so many"?

Blue collar Italians--he as much as said so.

I was deeply amused when he spoke of the poor black boy being raised in a single parent home. The non-poor black father walked out and the white mother, goofy as she may have been, raised him--with the white grandparents.

Not privileged? Not rich? The Obamas have made up some ground.

[anduril]

Just listen to la Michelle and Barry when they're asked about Wright--they are very careful not to renounce him. The furthest they will go is to say they don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but they WILL not be specific.

[Cecil Turner]

Anyone else get a little hint of nausea over a group of flag officers endorsing one candidate or another? I don't really have a problem with individual endorsements, but the idea of a military group endorsement (with the implication the military supports a particular candidate) is a bad precedent, IMHO. (And, to be fair, Barack is hardly the first.)

Also got a bit of a kick out of the "Obama is the grandson of a soldier who marched in Patton’s Army." If that's the closest thing he has to a military qualification . . .

[sbw]

McPeak? McPeak! Obama wants to be associated with McPeak? He's the ding-dong that spent too much time redesigning uniforms and not enough time managing the Air Force. Although not in the military at the time, I heard enough unguarded remarks like these. Want a taste:

It looks like the Air Force Uniform Board is gonna get rid of the stupid business suit "uniform" that stupid Merril McPeak forced on us during his ill-starred tenure as COSAF.

While I am sure there are good retired generals, some of them need to be put out to pastures far away from microphones and politicians. Like Hollywood celebrities, expertise in one field does not always translate well. McPeak, if I recall, was logistics.

[RichatUF]

glasater-

I remember a while back some generals came out with some big letter criticizing the President and the war. It made a big stink in a few circles and the letter and story was quickly dropped. Found this item that seems to overlap BHO's list fairly well, but the story I was thinking about was from maybe 2006 and got Byron York a bit ticked off.

Very interesting theroy the left is developing of civil-military relations.

[Asian Bering Straight]

It begins with the soultrean hypothisis:

Another theory, The Solutrean Hypothesis, is that the there was a early pre-Clovis Atlantic migration route in addition to the Asian Bering Straight land bridge as shown on the following map: of course, the assertion is you have to be asian to use the land bridge. There is also the Atlantis(like in Atlantis) hypothesis, as an exception to the asian cloned space alien non land bridge people hypothesis.

[RichatUF]

glasater-

More sorry for the back to back post...

It was as if he were already CIC.

I was thinking the same thing-it is of a piece with sending emissaries to Canada, Syria, and where ever else Bush has a tough foreign policy challenge. The progs that run the DNC just can't for the life of them think that Bush is not running for re-election, but he is still commander in chief. It must pain them thinking that they delivered a House and Senate and Bush is still getting some of his agenda through. Bush is that clever and devious.

[Anon]

The one that grates me the most is Gration. They could be friends or something-that might explain it. He was born in Africa and the JIATF-West command is in Hawaii.

Gration happened to be with him in Kenya/Somalia during that "photo-op" for Hillary. So he's been with Obama for some time.

Hell maybe he "identifies" with him.

[Neo]

Why is it that I now have this image of Barack Obama playing the part previous performed by OJ Simpson in the SNL spoof of "Saturday Night Fever", know as "Samurai Night Fever".

I mean who can forget those famous lines as guest host OJ Simpson plays Tony's (John Belusi) brother the priest, says he is tired of being black ..
"I don't want to be black anymore .. it was cool in the 60's .. but not any more"

[clarice]

As far as I'm concerned Wes Clark and Shinseki are the prototypical officers who get involved in political endorsements:idiotic losers entitled to no great respect.
Semi-circle? Really? Where's that Leni Riefenstahl gal when she's needed?

[pagar]

"He got John Kerry this time"
As long as John Kerry is walking around with a job of US senator, fresh from a campaign to be President of this great Nation, no one has gotten to John Kerry. We can bring down a governor of a state in just a matter of hours after it is made known that he paid whores, yet John Kerry can slander every US soldier and their families, that fought in Vietnam over and over, including meeting (by his own admission) with the enemy in Paris, adopting the enemy positions and promoting them when he returned to the US. Yet still not be charged--IMO, no one has gotten John
Kerry.

However I do believe if we had a few reporters like Jason Mattera, during the Vietnam sellout tour of John Kerry, instead of Walter Cronkite, it could have made a difference in the outcome of the Vietnam era. I thank Jason Mattera for continuing the fight that began long ago in a far off land and that will continue for many of us until we draw our final breath.

[Enlightened]

Well...I go to church and my pastor has NEVER, not EVER, EVER given a sermon such as this. The sermon was spoken with hate and anger, and contained only hate and anger. Every church I have ever been to has never, ever sermonized in such a hateful manner.

I'm not saying Wright's sermons are all thus, but it only take one to influence a young man or woman to perpetuate the hate.

If I stumbled into a church and such a sermon was in progress, I would have immediately left the building.

IMO - Anyone that supports this race baiting, hate mongering, reprehensible dogma should be ashamed of their stupid, ignorant selves.

[MikeS]

pagar,
HEH

[original anonymous x]

Equality with Mutant X morphology of DNA(time model, constant, with no time compaction from travel) as compared to the general population, not as a racial sequencomology genesis or species:

Mutation dna selection in tandem duplication in single repeat deletion frequency as by two factors frequency on the iMutants applying the mutation bell shape dna frequency of mutation(change to environment, new binomial) discrete population at three percent of Xi transition as a new binomial in alliel with time on application to population through drift or traditional pop. Each generation may not duplicate the domination or fixation as randon drift frequency mutation. Allials final frequencies will be functioning as pop.

As time moves horizontially there is certain rate of occurence in the pop gentic mutations as an adaptation to environment. In X however, the RATE is three or more the standard mutation adaptation MORPHOLOGY rate as time moves without sexual reproduction in the standard pop not as the 3% of the native group, x. The drift blinds the rate. The Atlantic species are larger. Time may have been the deselection cooefficeint for normal sized pops as opposed to the 3%, x.

X is the new race as genetic mutation morphology, based on genetic exclusion and deletion, to the risk ratio coeffeceincy fitness as the mutation of genetic material. Three times or more the rate of the general pop in absense of unselective pops like the non 3% native non x groups.

So, it's okay non reproduction is not an option for that 3% higher level heirarchy dilution as per revoltions of ecoli cells in non model systems in morghology of genetic material focusing on non time related mutations as not for organic purposes and abnormal time. And it's okay you tortured that guy to death.

[RichatUF]

I forget who it was that was digging up stuff on Rice but I found a factoid that escaped me. Looks like Susan Rice was also the one who pushed to reject the Sudanese offers to bag bin Laden. Good call, she will make an excellent National Security Advisor.

Found it looking up some stuff on McPeak-he was a member of this "ad hoc" group for the 2004 election, Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change.

[glasater]

Rich--

After reading Barnett's piece on Fallon (thanks to narcisco) I became concerned that we would have one more military type knocking the President.
Thanks for that link to signonsandiego.

[Tom Maguire]

If I were a Barack apologist I would float the notion that Barack's church is part of his ongoing attempt to find his own authenticity as a black man. Put another way, he does not believe this nonsense, but thinks he needs a deeper understanding of those who do, the better to bridge racial divides, etc.

I don't think that answers 20+ years and 20+ thousand dollars, and I really can't imagine how he might justify bringing his kids to listen to that, and it doesn't explain why, over twenty years, he has not moved his minister towards a more reasonable position (or moved himself towards a more reasonable minister). But it is not awful spin.

I still like my question - when does the reconciliation begin? Barack's wife is angry, his minister is foaming, yet we are supposed to elect Barack as Mr. Sunshine and Unity. Why aren't the people closest to him sunny and united?

[clarice]

Tom, I'm blogging that.It's an excellent point.

[Porchlight]

If I were a Barack apologist I would float the notion that Barack's church is part of his ongoing attempt to find his own authenticity as a black man.

I have a co-worker who is a militant atheist and Obama supporter, and that was exactly her take when we talked about Wright a few weeks ago - "Obama is trying to better understand his identity as a black American." Or some such.

So, this spin would likely work with the Obama true believers. But I don't know how much it'll help with someone who isn't already in the tank.

[Vince in AZ]

I am not a supporter of Obama. Just an innocent bystander who hadn't made up my mind yet until this story broke. Clears the air in regards to the no pride statement from Michelle O.
If he did not take his children to hear this man I would say no biggy to his attendance. I personally would have sat through only one sermon like I have seen from Wright's DVD and would never let my rear end hit a pew in his church again.
If this gets to the US population without candy coating as some networks are doing he can write of any chance of going all the way.

[clarice]

Well, just like the Swift Boats, these things have a way of breaking thu, VInce. I agree, it's a major problem.

[Vince in AZ]

bubarooni

Coincidentally, Michelle got a raise shortly after Obama pushed thru a $1M pork bill for the hospital she works for.

Source is www.americanthinker.com

[clarice]

Via Insty link:

Another good point, from Mark Hemingway:

How many times has Obama used "judgment" as a cudgel against his opponents this campaign? Well, choosing someone to offer your family spiritual guidance that isn't an anti-semite coddling, America-hating, race-baiting crazypants would appear to be a far easier decision than deciding whether to go to war. I anxiously await to see how Obama explains this aspect of his celebrated decision-making ability.
Don't we all.

http://www.transterrestrial.com/archives/2008/03/having_it_both.html>good point

[Vince in AZ]

I am betting on reason number 4 because of the fact that he has included his children with the church.
I would not go to this spew with my kids if I did not believe in it.
He probably feels that the alliance helps with the black vote as well.

[Vince in AZ]

Below is a good article on the issue of Obama's judgement.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/03/senator_obamas_foreign_policy.html

[Jeanne in VA]

Excellent comments/analysis by everyone here. The deeper we dig, the more the light shines on the truth about Barack Obama.

[SG]

Funny country we live in...
WAKE UP!
Not one person has mentioned the fact that this preacher and much of his congregation has experienced a different America than many of us have. DRAMATICALLY different, like how most Jews in Germany view Germany.......... versus other Germans.
Were your forefathers slaves on this very soil? Did your forefathers deal with a frighteningly unfair system backed by our government? Were your people routinely lynched by mobs here? How do you tell the community in L.A., where Ollie North distributed drugs with the help of the CIA, that America is a wonderful, just, place? However ugly, much of what this man said is true. DEAL WITH IT!
1)The US is mostly run by wealthy white Americans. (I am one) (how many rich white males have been president?)
2)Hillary Clinton has most likely never been called a nigger.
3) US foreign policy is SURELY to blame for the hatred people feel for us abroad. How can you separate this from terrorism.
4) I don't buy into his views about the origin of Aids...... but he lived through the Tuskeege Experiment era. Explain to this man why his theory is implausible.

Barack Obama has not distanced himself from his "crazy uncle" minister because he (however angry)....... has a point!
A point that people who don't filter what they remember of history surely get. Barack Obama is the best possible product of this American environment. He knows of these injustices and chooses to move forward for a better America in spite of them.
This is a better choice for guilty whites, angry blacks and all other Americans.

[glasater]

Who you calling "guilty whites" SG. I and a bunch of people like me have done nothing to deserve that phrase.

Once you and the folks who think like you develope some manners and morality--don't preach to me.

And what is most offensive of all your comments is just spewing "out there" that Oliver North distributed drugs with the help of the CIA.
Where is the proof of this event/s?

[kim]

Shorter SG, America is Bad; it should be Good.

Look, compared to most anywhere else, America is the shining city on the hill. Get over yourself, SG.
===========================

[GMax]

Hey SG

Get any of the barf on you?

[clarice]

I certainly do not suppose that decades after the Holocaust Germans are trying to poison me with AIDS ,,,SG.

In any event, (a) Wright's been scrubbed from Obama's website, a sure sign this is damaging.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/03/pastor_wright_goes_down_the_ob.html> Gone but not forgotten

(b) How to tell when Obama's jiving--He tilts his head right.
http://perfunction.typepad.com/perfunction/2008/03/obamas-tell.html

[GMax]

Shorter SG below courtesy of another ABC story:

"I'm nauseaus! I want it to be over. I want him to have the nomination, and I want him to be the president of the United States," said Obama supporter Deborah Koppelman.

[kim]

James Lewis had another nice article two days ago about the race/gender chickens coming home to roost. People like Deborah Koppelman are nauseated by the black heart, strike that, the evil heart of the Democratic Party. I'd want it to end, too.
=======================

[SG]

Glasater,
I am not calling anyone guilty or angry per se. Just including both groups with the rest of us that I believe we would benefit from Obamas Presidency.

Gmax,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Study_of_Untreated_Syphilis_in_the_Negro_Male
Google it yourself. I wonder why you don't know about this or understand why the subjects of it may be less than trusting of America.

Glasater,
OK, here ya' go. Info about Ollie on Wiki. Choose any source you like except Ollies site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North
Read the section about drugs. Don't you remember Iran-Contra? This was part of it and is a matter of public record.
Read a book called "Dark Alliance" by Gary Webb.
These are not conspiracy theories. Most of what I refer to is a matter of public record.

Go to Showtime "In Demand" if you have it. Watch the documentary on Americas war on drugs.
I don't want to start a war, I hope to enlighten.....
Look it all up