Warner Todd Huston
Folks under Obama's bus hauled back in
By Warner Todd Huston
During the campaign, Barack Obama had a singular reaction to nearly every one of his associates, sponsors, advisers and friends that were challenged by his opponents. That was to throw them under his bus, run them over, and drive like a bat outta hell to get away from them. But, now some of them are being hauled back into the bus despite the troubles during the campaign. It seems odd that the media are not remarking on the fact that supposedly discredited advisers and associates are suddenly OK again with team Obama. We are left wondering if Obama really did find these associates unsavory enough from which to disassociate? Or, as it now seems more likely, was he just cynically dumping on them during the campaign so that he could save votes and to appear as if he cared what people thought of his untoward associations?
The most famous of those Obama distanced himself from was the very wrong Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr., he of the fiery "God damn" America sermons. Obama spent more than a decade calling Wright a "member of the family" and saying that the wild-eyed hater was his "spiritual advisor." Obama mentioned him in numerous speeches and even attended book signings with the man. Wright was also such a "friend of the family" that he was close to Obama's children, like a long lost uncle. When the news first began to come out about how radical Wright was, Obama initially addressed the situation by saying he could never distance himself from the Rev. As the truth of Wright's hatred for whites and Jews became too obvious to deny, Obama suddenly discovered that Wright was a man he "never knew." Result: Obama distanced himself from Wright, throwing him under the bus.
The next most famous traffic altercation was with 60's domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. Obama worked closely with Ayers on various education initiatives in Chicago while Obama was an up-and-coming Chicago politician. Ayers even held in his own home one of Obama's earliest fundraisers as he began his run for the Senate. As Ayers became an embarrassing yet central character from Obama's past, though, team Obama began to claim that the candidate hardly knew the Marxist-murderer, Ayers. So, Ayers became another close associate thrown under the Obama campaign bus.
These two weren't the only ones that Obama instantly realized that he was "disappointed" in. There was also Reverend Otis Moss, III, Father Michael Pfleger, Jim Johnson, and Robert Malley, among others.
But now that the election is over, things are amazingly different for Obama and those folks he so sternly cast aside during the campaign. Apparently, Obama has a renewed respect for those that he roundly denounced only months ago.
Since the election, for instance, terrorist William Ayers has since come out and confirmed that he and Obama were closer than Obama claimed during the campaign — and Obama has not contradicted that statement. Back in the bus for Ayers.
Additionally, Robert Malley has been given a new life with Obama after having been chucked under the bus for campaign appearances. Malley came under fire during the campaign when it was discovered he was an Obama foreign policy adviser. The reason that Malley was looked upon askance was because of his past stated support and close relationships with the terror group Hamas. Malley "voluntarily" quit the Obama campaign when his ties to Hamas became an issue. Back then he was under the bus. However, just after the election, Malley seems to have been sent to the Middle East by Barack Obama as his envoy to Syria and Egypt. So, Malley was hauled back into the bus.
There is also dumped adviser Samantha Power, like Malley a foreign policy "expert," the latest associate that has been hauled back into the bus after having had Obama formally distance himself from her during the campaign.
In March of '08, Samantha Power "voluntarily" quit the Obama campaign over an off-the-cuff remark she made to a British journalist. She called Hillary Clinton a "monster" over how she was carrying on her campaign in comparison to the purportedly clean way her candidate was operating his. The comment gave the supposedly clean Obama campaign a black eye of sorts. (Video of Power's "resignation")
So, off she went after embarrassing the candidate. After the imbroglio flashed hot in the news, team Obama claimed that Power was not really an "official" adviser since she wasn't a paid one.
Ridiculously, Power's past advocacy of cutting off American associations with Israel and giving millions of dollars to help the Palestinians and Hamas build a powerful and effective military wasn't enough to keep her off his foreign policy team, but calling Hillary a "monster" was.
But that was then. NOW she is back on Obama's team as if nothing ever happened.
As the Associated Press reports:
From these early Obama appointments of advisers that have clear anti-Israeli policy ideas, we can see a certain pattern of the path Obama's Middle Eastern policies might take. And it isn't a good one where it concerns Israeli security, either.
Then we add in the clear preference that Obama has shown Pakistan, another country that harbors extremist Muslim terrorists, and we have reason to fear for America's relationship with both Israel and India — two countries that are fast friends with anti-Islamofascist sentiment and free-trading policies.
But, there is one other thing that all this shows. It shows that Barack Obama must not have meant a word he said when throwing associates and advisers under the bus during the campaign. It shows that he was only cynically distancing himself from any advisers and associates that caused him trouble on the campaign trail. But, obviously Obama was not distancing himself at all. Merely making it seem like he was doing so in order to get votes.
Yes, I am saying he lied.
This is just as alarming. It makes his word impossible to believe.
© Warner Todd Huston
December 2, 2008
During the campaign, Barack Obama had a singular reaction to nearly every one of his associates, sponsors, advisers and friends that were challenged by his opponents. That was to throw them under his bus, run them over, and drive like a bat outta hell to get away from them. But, now some of them are being hauled back into the bus despite the troubles during the campaign. It seems odd that the media are not remarking on the fact that supposedly discredited advisers and associates are suddenly OK again with team Obama. We are left wondering if Obama really did find these associates unsavory enough from which to disassociate? Or, as it now seems more likely, was he just cynically dumping on them during the campaign so that he could save votes and to appear as if he cared what people thought of his untoward associations?
The most famous of those Obama distanced himself from was the very wrong Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr., he of the fiery "God damn" America sermons. Obama spent more than a decade calling Wright a "member of the family" and saying that the wild-eyed hater was his "spiritual advisor." Obama mentioned him in numerous speeches and even attended book signings with the man. Wright was also such a "friend of the family" that he was close to Obama's children, like a long lost uncle. When the news first began to come out about how radical Wright was, Obama initially addressed the situation by saying he could never distance himself from the Rev. As the truth of Wright's hatred for whites and Jews became too obvious to deny, Obama suddenly discovered that Wright was a man he "never knew." Result: Obama distanced himself from Wright, throwing him under the bus.
The next most famous traffic altercation was with 60's domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. Obama worked closely with Ayers on various education initiatives in Chicago while Obama was an up-and-coming Chicago politician. Ayers even held in his own home one of Obama's earliest fundraisers as he began his run for the Senate. As Ayers became an embarrassing yet central character from Obama's past, though, team Obama began to claim that the candidate hardly knew the Marxist-murderer, Ayers. So, Ayers became another close associate thrown under the Obama campaign bus.
These two weren't the only ones that Obama instantly realized that he was "disappointed" in. There was also Reverend Otis Moss, III, Father Michael Pfleger, Jim Johnson, and Robert Malley, among others.
But now that the election is over, things are amazingly different for Obama and those folks he so sternly cast aside during the campaign. Apparently, Obama has a renewed respect for those that he roundly denounced only months ago.
Since the election, for instance, terrorist William Ayers has since come out and confirmed that he and Obama were closer than Obama claimed during the campaign — and Obama has not contradicted that statement. Back in the bus for Ayers.
Additionally, Robert Malley has been given a new life with Obama after having been chucked under the bus for campaign appearances. Malley came under fire during the campaign when it was discovered he was an Obama foreign policy adviser. The reason that Malley was looked upon askance was because of his past stated support and close relationships with the terror group Hamas. Malley "voluntarily" quit the Obama campaign when his ties to Hamas became an issue. Back then he was under the bus. However, just after the election, Malley seems to have been sent to the Middle East by Barack Obama as his envoy to Syria and Egypt. So, Malley was hauled back into the bus.
There is also dumped adviser Samantha Power, like Malley a foreign policy "expert," the latest associate that has been hauled back into the bus after having had Obama formally distance himself from her during the campaign.
In March of '08, Samantha Power "voluntarily" quit the Obama campaign over an off-the-cuff remark she made to a British journalist. She called Hillary Clinton a "monster" over how she was carrying on her campaign in comparison to the purportedly clean way her candidate was operating his. The comment gave the supposedly clean Obama campaign a black eye of sorts. (Video of Power's "resignation")
So, off she went after embarrassing the candidate. After the imbroglio flashed hot in the news, team Obama claimed that Power was not really an "official" adviser since she wasn't a paid one.
Ridiculously, Power's past advocacy of cutting off American associations with Israel and giving millions of dollars to help the Palestinians and Hamas build a powerful and effective military wasn't enough to keep her off his foreign policy team, but calling Hillary a "monster" was.
But that was then. NOW she is back on Obama's team as if nothing ever happened.
As the Associated Press reports:
-
State Department officials said Friday that Samantha Power is among foreign policy experts the president-elect's office selected to help the incoming administration prepare for Clinton's anticipated nomination as secretary of state.
From these early Obama appointments of advisers that have clear anti-Israeli policy ideas, we can see a certain pattern of the path Obama's Middle Eastern policies might take. And it isn't a good one where it concerns Israeli security, either.
Then we add in the clear preference that Obama has shown Pakistan, another country that harbors extremist Muslim terrorists, and we have reason to fear for America's relationship with both Israel and India — two countries that are fast friends with anti-Islamofascist sentiment and free-trading policies.
But, there is one other thing that all this shows. It shows that Barack Obama must not have meant a word he said when throwing associates and advisers under the bus during the campaign. It shows that he was only cynically distancing himself from any advisers and associates that caused him trouble on the campaign trail. But, obviously Obama was not distancing himself at all. Merely making it seem like he was doing so in order to get votes.
Yes, I am saying he lied.
This is just as alarming. It makes his word impossible to believe.
© Warner Todd Huston
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