This was Sen. Obama's response when asked about a letter he'd sent out on behalf of his good friend Tony Rezko back in 1998.  He blamed it on his staff and said it was a routine form letter that went out over his name when he was a State Senator.  

This seems to be a pattern with him.  Given that we probably won't ever see his papers from his time in the IL Senate we don't have much to go on regarding his past work experience, so we'll have to look at how Sen. Obama runs his campaign to gain insight as to how he'll staff up his administration and fill his Cabinet should he make it to the Oval Office.  Unfortunately, given what we've seen over the past 15 months I'm not encouraged.  We've seen him make one excuse after another for missteps and mistakes in his campaign.  From that D-Punjab memo last summer, to his tour with a "cured" ex-gay gospel singer that his staff failed to vet, to those questionnaires that he claimed were filled out by staff yet were found to contain his very own handwriting... Well, he's spent a fair bit of time placing the blame on his staff or saying it's their fault for failing to keep tabs on what's been happening under his watch.

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Picture this story a week before election day in November.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/wo rld/us_and_americas/us_elections/article 3897414.ece

May 10, 2008

One of Barack Obama's Middle East policy advisers disclosed yesterday that he had held meetings with the militant Palestinian group Hamas - prompting the likely Democratic nominee to sever all links with him.

Robert Malley told The Times that he had been in regular contact with Hamas, which controls Gaza and is listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organisation. Such talks, he stressed, were related to his work for a conflict resolution think-tank and had no connection with his position on Mr Obama's Middle East advisory council.

"I've never hidden the fact that in my job with the International Crisis Group I meet all kinds of people," he added.

Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Mr Obama, responded swiftly: "Rob Malley has, like hundreds of other experts, provided informal advice to the campaign in the past. He has no formal role in the campaign and he will not play any role in the future." The rapid departure of Mr Malley followed 48 hours of heated clashes between John McCain, the Republican nominee-elect, and Mr Obama over Middle East policy.

Mr Obama, who has been trying to assuage suspicion towards him among the influential Jewish and pro-Israel lobby, spoke at a Washington reception marking the 60th anniversary of Israeli independence on Thursday when he promised that his commitment to the country's security would be "unshakeable". However, Mr McCain has high-lighted the Democrat's pledge to negotiate directly with nations such as Iran - whose leaders talk of wiping Israel off the map - and a statement from Hamas saying that it hoped that Mr Obama would win the presidency.

This was denounced as an offensive smear by Mr Obama, who repeated earlier statements saying that Hamas was "a terrorist organisation [and] we should not negotiate with them unless they recognise Israel, renounce violence".

He went on to suggest that Mr McCain's attack showed that he was "losing his bearings". This remark triggered a furious reaction from Mark Salter, the Republican's senior adviser, who said that Mr Obama was "intentionally raising John McCain's age as an issue" - a claim the Democrat vehemently denied. The intensity of this dispute reflects both Mr Obama's desire to move beyond his battle with Hillary Clinton and how Republicans are already beginning to train their sights on him.

The Republican National Committee has amassed a 1,000-page dossier on Mr Obama, with researchers spending weeks in Chicago seeking fresh material. He is already being criticised for his links with Rashid Khalidi, a Columbia University professor who has branded Israel an "apartheid system in creation".

Mr Malley, a respected commentator on Middle Eastern issues and part of President Clinton's negotiating team at the Camp David talks, has come under attack in recent months from right-wing bloggers. Yesterday, asked if Obama campaign was aware of his contact with Hamas, he said: "They know who I am but I don't think they vet everyone in a group of informal advisers."

Randy Scheunemann, Mr McCain's foreign policy chief, suggested that Mr Malley was part of an emerging pattern in which other advisers had been repudiated after throwing confusion over policies on trade and Iraq. "Perhaps because of his inexperience Senator Obama surrounds himself with advisers that contradict his stated policies," he said.

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It seems that the Obama campaign and the mayor of Gary, IN are doing all they can to steal this election from the hands of democracy.  That's my impression.

Obama has always seemed the more willing to play dirty to win at all costs.  We've seen that in the way he's unfairly attacked Hillary and Bill and we've seen that in his campaign's tactics in Texas and other states.  It is really revealing about his character.

With that behind us, it still shocks me that they would go as far as to fix an election a la Mugabe.  When you watch reports of election fixing in Zimbabwe, you feel sorry for people who are subjected to that horrible dictator's rule.  However, when you see the Obama campaign conspiring to steal the election, it makes it all too real.  We are experiencing what a corrupt system feels like.  If Obama comes out ahead in Indiana, I can't help but feel that Obama stole that election.

Stealing Indiana does not validate his candidacy or nomination.  If nothing else, it pushes me away from him.

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As some of you may know, I run a political blog here in Georgia called "Georgia Politics Unfiltered".  Prior to my state's February 5th primary, Sen. Clinton's presidential campaign reached out to me and my site by including me on their press list and providing me with press credentials whenever a big campaign event was held in my neck of the woods (To be fair, the Obama campaign did the same).  Even after Georgia voted, I've still received press releases from the Clinton campaign detailing her and her husband's schedule, previewing t.v. and radios ads that were about to run, and also have sat in on quite a few campaign conference calls.  

Late last week, I received a press release from the Hillary Clinton campaign which included an open letter from Maya Angelou, a legendary and lauded American poet.  In that open letter, which I posted here and on DailyKos, Dr. Angelou outlined her reasons for supporting Sen. Clinton for President.  In words that could only be described as 100% positive, Angelou wrote, "Hillary does not waver in standing up for those who need a champion.  She has endured great scrutiny, and still she dares greatly.  Hillary Clinton will not give up on you, and all she asks is that you do not give up on her.  She is a long-distance runner.  I am honored to say I am with her for the long run."

Now with such inspiring and uplifting words like that from such an inspiring and uplifting person such as Dr. Angelou, you'd think that it would be hard for anyone (even those troglodytes at DailyKos) to find something nasty to say about a living legend re-stating her reasons for supporting Sen. Clinton's presidential campaign.

Unfortunately, many over there have allowed their hate to blind them of even the smallest hint of positivity from their political opponents.  Unfortunately, the hate flowed freely from their fingertips onto their computer screens.

First, they called her old and senile:

Isn't Maya .... ...like 150 years old?  Maybe she should be stumping for her peer, McCain.

by JCarter on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 01:58:37 PM PDT

Maya Angelou...

...Is old and infirm.

She probably doesn't have a clue what lies Mrs. Nixon has told, no clue how she has harmed Black people in this election.

At least I hope she has no clue.

by Craig Hickman on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 01:34:48 PM PDT

i for one don't think this has any influence (besides maybe helping HRC's supporters think that they have a chance).  she's 80 years old, which automatically makes me wonder if her powers of judgment have already passed.

by distraught on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 01:57:34 PM PDT

Then they said Maya Angelou wasn't an informed voter:

Angelou is certainly intelligent to know...

...not to endorse without sufficient information.  If she hasn't been watching these campaigns closely, she should say so and then add her lack of attention makes her endorsement negligible.

by planetclaire4 on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 04:46:52 PM PDT

And finally, they attacked her work on behalf of Civil Rights by calling her a "radical poet":

Just what is Hillary's relationship with this...

...radical poet???

Friends with MALCOLM X??????

This raises serious, serious  questions about Hillary's fitness to lead this country.

by Dartagnan on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 01:31:53 PM PDT

How can anyone attack Dr. Angelou's work with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and her work with Malcolm X in building build the Organization of African American Unity?  [Source:  Maya Angelou from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

Sadly, this is what many have come to expect from that bastion of progressive idealism known as DailyKos.

As I wrote way back on February 18th, "The caustic rhetoric that I see from many Obama supporters both here on MyDD and over at Daily Kos is reminiscent of the 'don't you dare say anything against President Bush' rhetoric spewed forth by the Republicans right after September 11th." [Source:  2/18/2008 MyDD diary "Note To Obamanics: Cut This Crap Out!"]  The unfortunate reality now is that not only are they attacking anyone who has to say anything that can be perceived as negative against their candidate, they are also attacking anyone who has something positive to say about their opponent.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is the Obama supporters need to tone down the rhetoric.  Support your candidate, but don't belittle the supporters of other candidates.  

Show a little respect.

Show a little class.

And show a little tact.  Your behavior in February was freaking a lot of people out and your behavior in April is still freaking people out.  

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Sen Obama should drop out of the race. Having just seen the new attack ad that the GOP is showing in NC -- condemning the state's Democratic leadership for backing Obama, replete with Rev Wright cursing America -- it is clear that Senator Obama is detrimental to the Democratic brand nationwide. As Jerome Armstrong wrote nearly one month ago, "That's fall-out from Wright, not against just Obama, but also Clinton, and most likely against the Democratic Party in general. It's branding of Democrats Obama, and Clinton, as anti-American."

Obama earned his lead early on, prior to being vetted. After he lost Texas and Ohio, the Wright videos appeared, shocking the nation. Slowly, information about his relationship to Rezko, and his affiliation with William Ayers have also entered the mainstream.

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