Not so Subtle

One of the more deplorable things about politics is that most people never change their minds on a subject; once they have made their decision about an issue, it will stand in ther mind no matter what evidence is presented against it. They make fantastic mental leaps in order to assimilate the evidence into whatever idea they already have. I hope that I never become like that.

Today I came across an article from last year that has shifted my opinion on the Israeli question.

http://web.israelinsider.com/views/10767.htm

If you don’t care to read the whole thing, in essence, it states that Nazi propaganda was very widespread throughout the Arab world during the 30’s, and that it has helped shape many of the anti-Semitic views throughout the Muslim world, to this day. I was unaware that Hitler’s words were able to reach such an audience.

Now, this doesn’t mean that I’m ready to sign on and say that we need to bomb Iran in order to save Israel from certain destruction. A great deal of the hatred that Muslims have for Israel come from Israel’s own policies in dealing with the Palestinians, and much of the same could be said for America’s foreign policies. I do not believe that we are in the Middle East to protect Israel, or to bring democracy to the masses: this war is, was, and always will be about oil. But reading the impact that the Nazi message had on many of the people: “God in heaven, Hitler on Earth,” is disturbing enough for me to think that maybe Mr. Bush isn’t entirely wrong when he compares these regimes to Germany in the 30’s.

Scaling back America’s empire abroad would go a long way to improving our image around the world and would slow the growth of terrorist ideologies, but we should never at any point negotiate with any party or nation that has taken Hitler’s words to heart.

The Obamas may have doomed their chances of living in the White House a long time ago.

Today comes a report that Republican strategists have scoured through decades of sermons by Jeremiah Wright, all tape-recorded, and have found something big. The video will likely not be made available until the fall, but apparently it contains footage of Michelle Obama making racist remarks. The only term that they use in quotations is “whitey.”

I don’t want to speculate too much because I haven’t seen the video- though I guarantee it will be leaked before, or soon after the Democratic Convention- I think this has the potential to be more damaging for Obama than any of his other previous problems.

1. Tony Rezko, the Chicago slumlord was the first bump in the road for Obama, which has gone largely ignored by the national media.

2. Jeremiah Wright has been, thus far, the biggest obstacle to Obama’s campaign, and he will continue to be so, even if this video never came up.

3. Cling-gate: the speech in which Obama claimed people in small towns in Pennsylvannia were clinging to religion and guns has heavily damaged his credibility with working class voters, who already weren’t too fond of him.

4. A racist rant by his by-and-large respected wife could be a death knell for the Obama campaign. All of his ability to “transcend race” will go out the window, and we could be in for a very dirty, race-driven general election.

If the video causes a major stir (which it almost certainly will) then a large number of people who have supported Hillary Clinton may side with John Mccain, and earn him a landslide victory in November.

It’s very sad that the Democratic party can’t come up with a candidate to win in 2008, which will be the best opportunity they will EVER have of regaining the White House.