Sunday, June 1, 2008

Blinded By the Light

The news that Barack Obama has left the Trinity United Church of Christ after twenty years confirms once again that Obama is nothing more than your standard politician, ready to do whatever is necessary in order to get elected. Years ago, when he first arrived in Chicago, he made the decision to join this radical church because it gave him legitimacy within the city's Democratic Party political machine. He took a job as a community organizer, whatever that is, so as to further enhance his bona fides within this group. He befriended Tony Rezko, who was a player in these circles. At the start of his first campaign for elective office he was introduced to the people who mattered by Bill Ayers, a former terrorist turned university professor, a man apparently respected among this crew. Every move Obama made was perfectly reasonable for a man who, according to Fred Siegal's National Review article (not available online) a few weeks ago, had his eye on becoming mayor of Chicago. Then came his 2004 convention speech that made him a star and all of a sudden he was presidential timber; mayor of Chicago was now small-potatoes. Unfortunately for Obama, the decisions he made when dabbling in local Chicago politics don't play well in Peoria. If you're running for president they can be downright disastrous.

So Obama, on a number of issues, is caught between a rock and a hard place, trying to remain loyal to those who supported him on the way up while at the same time trying to seem palatable to the general population which he hopes will elect him. He's trying to find a middle ground, as typical politicians always do. But the church issue, which threatens to destroy his entire campaign, reared its ugly head again this week. Obama, his campaign, and apparently the super delegates planning on voting for him at the convention, know that this can't keep up. Too many more outbursts by lunatic churchmen from the pulpit of the Trinity Church will eventually bring Obama down for good.

But is it too late? Does Obama's decision yesterday to leave the church actually do more harm than good? Captain Ed thinks so and I would tend to agree. While Obama has somewhat insulated himself from any further claptrap emanating out of Trinity, he's also waited too long to make his move out of there. At this point, everyone knows that the preaching of Reverend Wright, Otis Moss, and now Michael Pfleger is standard fare at Trinity. Week in and week out, nonsense such as their's can be heard from the Trinity pulpit. It's what the people come for. Take a look at the congregation's reaction to any of these guys. The more outrageous the message the more enthusiastic the reaction from the pews. Are we to believe Barack Obama sat there silent for twenty years while everyone around him was yelling "Amen!"?

Again, this decision by Obama reveals once again that he is nothing more than your standard politician. His supporters who claim he's different, that he's the man who can bring about change in this country, are fooling themselves. They've let their fervor for Obama blind them. They fail to see that he is a politician, through and through, making deals, cutting corners, and shading the truth whenever necessary in order to be elected. They further fail to recognize that his policy proscriptions rely on nothing more than standard left-wing 1970's strategies - big-government, economy-killing strategies that are proven failures. There's nothing new there. They also don't see that Obama is astonishingly naive when it comes to foreign policy, indicated nowhere so much in his continued insistence that he would meet with the likes of Ahmadinejad. As Charles Krauthammer says, "What started as a gaffe became policy. By now, it has become doctrine. Yet it remains today what it was on the day he blurted it out: an absurdity." Read the whole thing, if you've yet to be blinded by the Obama light. If you have been, it's probably of no use - no amount of evidence of Obama's unfitness for the presidency will sway you at this point.

1 comment:

Richard Zimmermann said...

While I rarely enter into the arena of blogging, I found your site while doing some checking on Rick Atkinson's THE DAY OF BATTLE. You had commented on this great book back in February.

I agree wholeheartedly with all your posts, and think you write very well.

Richard Z
Arlington, VA