If Barack Obama is a reformer, he could be the first one ever to become President of the United States having done almost nothing different in the name of reform. Consider: What has really changed? In a positive way?
He did not change politics in Chicago. By endorsing crooked machine politicians who reward their campaign donors and door-knockers with a government salary. By backing a mayor whose aids and appointees sell city contracts in exchange for campaign contributions. By endorsing an alderman who pulls a gun on her colleagues. By failing to endorse the rare candidate who has a chance to win and change something in Cook County. By covering up the excesses of the Chicago Teachers Union, knowing just how abysmal the city's public education is. By earmarking funds for a radical Catholic priest who ecourages blacks to hate whites.
Obama did not change politics in Springfield. You can't reform a state like Illinois by voting present 130 times to avoid controversial issues. By teaming up with a state Senate Majority Leader whose main concern appears to be placing every member of his family somewhere on the state payroll. By backing for statewide office a financier whose family bank lends money to organized crime. By negotiating to minimize the impact of welfare reform. By writing letters to get state grants for someone who just paid you $112,000. By co-sponsoring nearly any bill that helps Tony Rezko and his friends make money from taxpayers for building uninhabitable slums where rodents roam and sewage backs up in kitchen sinks (Obama said he did not know the condition of the buildings; however, all reside in his senate district and it had been well reported in the media).
Obama has certainly not changed politics in Congress. You can't reform Washington by earmarking a million dollars for your wife's employer after they double her salary (this can be verified on line...I was amazed!!...if I were him I would back off the earmarks thing and lamblasting Sarah Palin...this one could come back to bite him big time). By voting to throw away money on ethanol, farm subsidies, and the Bridge to Nowhere while much of New Orleans was still under water. By reaching across the aisle on ethics reform, only to pull your hand back and bury it in your pocket. By earmarking funds for your campaign contributors. By suddenly deciding its time to leave Iraq when you start running for President.
It's not that Barack Obama is a bad person. It's just that he's like all the rest of them. Not a reformer. Not a Messiah. Just like all the rest of them in Washington. Just like all the other liberals. Well, that is not entirely true. Most liberals in Congress know more about foreign policy and how diplomacy works than Obama. And most of them, nearly ALL of them...believe that babies born alive have a right to medical care.
Obama's radical ties don't make him a radical. His ties to Communists don't make him a Communist. His ties to a terrorist don't make him a terrorist. But his continued relationships throughout his public life show an important influence in his public career. What ideas are so important to Barack Obama that he desperately seeks the approval of Black Commentator and the New Party, but drops the Democratic Leadership Council as it if were a molten porcupine?
These connections do not disqualify Obama from the presidency. But they do raise questions about his judgment. By what criteria does a man choose his friends and end up with the likes of Tony Rezko,Jeremiah Wright, and Bill Ayers? How does he choose his advisors and end up with people who chat with terrorists, advocate reparations for slavery, and praise Hugo Chavez a a champion of democracy?
What sort of nominations does such a man make as President? What kind of diplomacy does he pursue, give that so much of diplomacy consists of reading, understanding, and judging others' intentions and character?
That is why these ties deserve scrutiny. If Barack Obama becomes President, his good judgment, or the lack thereof, will affect the entire country.
--From "The Case Against Barack Obama" |
