What would an Obama administration look like? We can’t really know for sure but if one can judge another by the company he keeps we may actually have some insight into possible candidates.
The last few days for Senator Barack Obama must have been grueling ones; among the worst days of his campaign. In fact I no longer think his nomination as the Democratic candidate for president is all that assured. I still think he has an edge, but he hasn’t nailed it yet. Far from it. And that is a good thing. Because I do think that one can judge another by the company he keeps.
So who are his friends? Let us start with the most obvious, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr. No need to rehash the obvious. By now all but the most isloated know what he believes about the US and Israel.
While Senator Obama repeatedly disavows Rev. Wright’s comments, he has yet to completely cut himself off from him. Considering that he has a 20 year relationship with Wright as his pastor it would be hard for him to do that convincingly. Such relationships can’t be dismissed with a wave of the hand. They cannot disappear overnight.
No matter how much Senator Obama denies any knowledge of his pastor's controversial statements it stretches credulity to say he was not aware of his reprehensible views on the United States and Israel.
Nor has Senator Obama satisfied questions about his support of Israel, though he has tried mightily to do so in lengthy meetings with Jewish leaders and the Jewish media. In answer to questions about that support he always qualifies it with “but we have to listen to the other side too.’ As if what is holding up peace in the Middle East is due to US unwillingness to listen to Hamas.
If your taste runs to the likes of Reverend Wright, then you may well approve of his other freind, William Ayers. Who is that? Here is a quote from the Washington Post:
The former Weatherman, William Ayers, now holds the position of distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Although never convicted of any crime, he told the New York Times in September 2001, "I don't regret setting bombs...I feel we didn't do enough."
The Weatherman for those too young to remember was a domestic terrorist group of the 1970s:
The Weathermen, as they were known colloquially, conducted a series of bombings against the US government throughout the early 1970s, bombing several federal buildings.
Senator Obama has not disavowed his association with Mr. Ayers or his wife and former Weatherman associate, Bernadine Dohrn. Who is that?
Dohrn is a principal signatory on the group's "Declaration of a State of War" (1970) which formally declared war on the U.S. Government, and completed the group's transformation from political advocacy to armed resistance.
And who is one of his key advisers on Foreign policy, a man who endorses the Obama campaign, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was Ex-President Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy advisor. For those too young to remember Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy triumphs – think Iran. His Presidency is pretty much responsible for what we have there today. Brzezinski is one of Israel’s harshest critics whose views closely resemble those of Jimmy Carter’s today! The same person Jimmy Carter who just met with Hamas and hugged their leadership… the same Jimmy Carter who blames Israel for everything.
So there you have it. These are Senator Obama’s friends. He can say he disagrees with them all day long. But with friends like these…
For those who still support this man, I cannot imagine why. Even if the economy is foremost on everyone’s mind and his ideas on how to improve the economy are good ones - the most important aspect of any Presidency is foreign policy. That is what determines whether we can continue to live in peace and freedom - protecting us from our enemies.
If his advisers and public statements on these issue mean anything, an Obama Presidency will be a disaster for both the US and Israel. He seeks to talk to our enemies in spite of members of his own party disapproving. What point would there be in doing that other than giving them legitimacy? He thus opens the door to appeasement. Can anyone spell Neville Chamberlain?
So with all this in mind here is what an Obama administration might look like:
Vice President: Russ Feingold
National Security Advisor: Wesley Clark
Attorney General: Lawrence Tribe
Homeland Security: Harry Reid
Secreatry of State: Zbigniew Brzezinski
Defense: Chuck Hagel
Labor: Jesse Jackson, Jr.
Housing and Urban Development: Jeremiah Wright, Jr.
Education: William Ayers
Interior: Al Gore
Health and Human Services: Howard Dean
