The Keating 5

In a move that's being called "political jujitsu", the Obama campaign is hitting back hard- before being fully punched themselves. The McCain campaign's strategy is now to go increasingly negative, putting Barack Obama's character into question by exacerbating Obama's association with the infamous David Ayers, Tony Rezko, and Obama's former fiery pastor Jeremiah Wright. Because well, all else has obviously failed.

What is interesting is that all of these so-called unacceptable associations of Obama have been deeply scrutinized by the press and the public- vis-a-vis, the long, drawn out, patience-trying Democratic Primary. Yes, we know that The Weather Underground committed some terrible acts (some of which included pipe bombings) in the early 70's when Barack was around 8 years old. And yes we know that Tony Rezko has been accused of inappropriate campaign financing and generally being a "slum lord" of low-income Chicago neighborhood housing projects.

And we also have already been told about (and have seen and heard- over, and over, and over again) Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church. The people of America saw these guilt-by-association charges (almost exclusively by the Hillary Clinton campaign), and a majority of them saw that, really, this was merely unflattering coincidence, and Obama had done nothing wrong by simply coming into contact with and knowing these figures.

But... in the interest of non-partisanship and full access to information (however dubious), here's a quick reminder:

1). First Obama met Bill Ayres when he was recommended by another community leader in Chicago to sit on the board of a city committee to improve education (and again later on a committee fight poverty in Chicago). Obama and Ayers (now a Professor of Education at UIC) live in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. I sure hope I am not considered equally as culpable for past events as some people who have lived in my neighborhoods or whom I have worked with or gone to school with.

2). Barack met Tony Rezko during his time in Chicago politics as Rezko was a big name in the inner circles back then (esp. Democratic political inner circles). The hoopla of the GOP-attacks is that Tony Rezko is currently under indictment for improper campaign financing. This is something Obama had nothing to do with. Then there is the case of Obama seemingly getting a favor by purchasing (jointly) a piece of land in Chicago with Rezko's wife, making the land Obama purchased slightly cheaper than he would have paid had he not included the piece that Rezko's wife paid for. Obama himself has asserted that while he did nothing illegal, it was a "bone-headed" move. Again, Barack Obama did nothing wrong simply by knowing Rezko- after finding out that (the now-indicted) Rezko had made campaign donations to his presidential bid, all of the funds were donated to charity.

3). Lastly, we have the lovely accused un-patriotic (despite the fact he was a Marine), racist (despite the fact that Trinity United has many white members and Rev. Wright is constantly working with white Catholic and Protestant churches across Chicago), and all-around crazy pastor that Obama sat and watched attentively for 20 years. The problem with this charge is that Obama was not in attendence for most, if not all of the so-called "inflammatory sermons". Which brings us to the next point- the (then) Hillary, and (now) GOP-created ads show only snippets of those sermons. If you see any of the entire sermons (or at least more than the sound bite- to get real "context") and actually listen to what is being said, you'll see that Rev. Wright is not being racist or unsympathetic or unpatriotic at all- he is simply try to make a much larger point, which is actually, much more Christian sounding than you'd think after hearing those cheap sound bites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOdlnzkeoyQ

Heck, if I am responsible for everything my priest (and any I have heard sermon from) has said, I'm in big trouble. I don't agree with everything the "Church" or the "pastor" says, but that doesn't mean I don't get some spiritual nourishment from going to church. I know I am not the only American who feels this way.

The issue of this 2008 election is The Economy. It's no secret that Republicans have long been opponents of federal regulation and oversight, and staunchly believe that "business knows best; let government get out of the way". Well, here's where this mess landed us (the Dow Jones just dropped over 500 and closed below 1000 points for the first time since 2004). If you're old enough you may remember a scandal back in the 80's and early 90's called "The Savings & Loans crisis". At the forefront of that crisis was an influential group of Senators who accepted bribes from an investment banker named Charles Keating in exchange for "political services" aimed at decreasing federal banking regulation which eventually allowed making the buying and selling of (and keeping on the books) ultra-risky and junk investments completely acceptable- nation wide. What this illusion of wealth did, was create exactly the same kind of perfect storm of accounting scandal on a grand scale that we are seeing right now in the current economic crisis. Without strict regulation and governmental oversight, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of our past- like we just did.

And this isn't character assassination, or "guilt by association", nor is it partisan. In fact, 4 of the Keating 5 senators were Democrats- only McCain was a Republican. I guess its no wonder why Newt Gingrich, Anne Coulter, and other extreme right-wing conservatives are embarrassed by his nomination as their candidate, especially now (although they feign to argue that, "W-w-well, that Obama guy is worse! He's a terrorist, y'know!!"). And so, I guess this is why John McCain freaks out every time someone mentions the national economy. He remembers his own, "guilt by involvement":