He is NOT one of them, and he does NOT want them as his friends...

I was reading the latest issue of The Week (July 4-11, 2008) a couple of days ago, when I stumbled upon this little snippet, written by its editor-in-chief, William Falk:

In addition to rejecting public campaign financing in favor of private donations, Obama has developed a ruthlessly pragmatic aversion to American Muslims. At a rally last week in Detroit, aides shooed two head-scarfed Muslim women out of their seats, lest viewers see them in the same TV picture as the candidate. Obama’s campaign, The New York Times reports this week, is turning down all invitations to speak to Arab-American groups, and recently asked the first congressman to be sworn in on a Koran, Rep. Keith Ellison of Michigan, to cancel a planned speech on Obama’s behalf. Too many voters, you see, already suspect that Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim fifth columnist.

I find this behavior unquestionably disgusting. Of course, all politicians are brazen opportunists and shameless turncoats (for good balance, William Falk mentions McCain’s reversal “on the Bush tax cuts, overturning Roe v. Wade, off-shore oil drilling, and immigration.) My take on Obama is that his sheer ambition will lead him and his campaign staff to take an increasing number of ruthless actions like this one against his American Muslim, and other undesirable supporters. He’s already distanced himself from Wesley Clark’s pronouncement about McCain’s past as a Vietnam War POW as not necessarily qualifying him for being Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. armed forces (I may be the only one here to feel this way, but I did not read this statement as demeaning of McCain’s war time bravery, sacrifices, and suffering as a POW.) This is not smart behavior on Obama’s part, and, frankly, I find it rather alienating – I occasionally fantasize about staying away from the voting booth on November 4th; of course, I will not do this, and will cast my vote for Barack Obama, but with a tinge of a sour taste in my mouth, and I will do it only out of my intense dislike for John McCain (so, yeah, my vote will not be one, really, for Barack Obama, but one against John McCain.)

Oh, and since I am on the topic of Obama, here is what I posted, back on July 28, 2004, about his speech at the Democratic Convention (on July 27th, 2004), where he definitely made a big impression:

The highlight of the night, I believe, was Barack Obama's speech, and he was the toast of the Convention last night, and of the American press this morning. Oh, lord, does this guy have charisma, and what a great speaker he is! His rhetoric was actually rather conservative -- as he invoked the great American dream that made it possible for him -- the son of a Kenyan student and of a working class woman -- to address the Democratic Convention last night. Obama talked about the assurance that, as Americans, we have "that we can tuck in our children at night and know they are fed and clothed and safe from harm. That we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door. That we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe or hiring somebody’s son. That we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes will be counted" -- adding, with a tinge of sarcasm, "or at least, most of the time." The reality is, of course, that, in the Bush era, those assumptions are no longer true. Bush has broken our trust in government (again, look at Clinton's, Carter's, and Kennedy's speeches -- they all addressed the same point.) Obama made sure to emphasize that the American poor does not want a handout, but an opportunity, and that we need to "eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white." He also insisted on the fact that the country we live in is NOT divided, but that it is, and should be forever remembered as "the UNITED States of America." Our choice, he concluded, is between "a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope," and we have to dare and embrace hope.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY TO ALL OF MY AMERICAN READERS!