Posted by
Randy Starner on Sunday, October 05, 2008 12:35:36 PM
The patrons of Barack Obama's rise to power include Tony Rezco, Jeremiah Wright, and Bill Ayers. Senator Obama is the 2nd leading recipient of campaign contributions from failed Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Corrupt executives from Mae and Mac, Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson, have served as prominent economic advisors to Obama in his campaign. I'd be willing to listen to any evidence that any element of the 3 previous statements are untrue. I have only heard that they don't matter. A man I admire once said, "Never ascribe to conspiracy that which can adequately be ascribed to ignorance". Perhaps we shouldn't ascribe to character, that which can be ascribed to judgment. These revelations have been fully explored by the "mainstream media" and we have been assured they don't matter. I say, says who and why not?
We've been down this path before. We knew that Clinton had weak character in his personal marital fidelity. We knew that his financial dealings were questionable. We were told that it didn't matter. A plurality of Americans agreed, and he was elected twice (though never with a majority of votes). I suspect that people in McCain's campaign are reminding themselves of the historical irrelevance of character.
Character does matter. It matters to conservatives. Note that I use the word conservative and not Republican. Our opponents know that it matters to us. They effectively used it to out Jack Ryan in Obama's Senate race. Personal failures have not destroyed a Democrat politician since 1984 )Gary Hart quit the Presidential race in 1984 due to his philandering). This was before Democrats learned that it didn't matter. Think of Barney Frank and the male prostitution ring. Mark Foley's transgressions were quite similar to Bill Clinton's. The major difference was that Foley was homosexual (since it turned out that the relationship was with a person of consenting age). When Governor Palin saw corruption (character deficiencies) in her party leadership in Alaska, she did not blindly follow. She challenged them and won. There are 2 issues where John McCain shares broad conservative support. They are commitment to victory in Iraq and commitment to reform in government.
At this point, it appears that many Republicans and Independents are likely to join with the left to support Obama out of disdain for Bush. Obama cannot be elected without their support. I am deeply saddened that a plurality of Americans accept my first paragraph as fact, yet see these issues as irrelevant. 51% of Americans are likely to say that Jeremiah Wright's screeds didn't influence Barack Obama. 51% of Americans are likely to say that Tony Rezko's corruption really didn't impact Barack Obama's rise to power. 51% of Americans are likely to say that Bill Ayers' blessing of Obama's fledgling political career is meaningless. We must be arguing a moral framework where no moral framework exists.