The media have done only a fair-to-middlin' job of creating the impression that Obama's main personal and political contacts have been people other than Ayers and Dohrne and Rev. Wright and Tony Rezko, but if he has any other pals or close associates, I've never heard of them. Does he have any?
On the other hand, the media has done an excellent job keeping Obama's growing-up mentor and surrogate father Frank Marshall Davis in the closet. Obama may have learned his Alinsky from books, but he grew up at the feet of his red-diaper Mother... and Davis. (As I understand the story, Obama's Kenyan/Moslem father knocked up Obama's single mother, married her in Hawaii to make the kid legit - despite having a wife or wives in Africa - and then hit the road.)
Those are the reasons that I am not convinced it's paranoid to have Manchurian Candidate thoughts about Obama. Maybe it's hysterical and fear-mongering - but who really knows this guy Obama, besides his wife? Who is in a position to deny it? Did a single person who has known him personally witness to his real self, to his character, at the Dem convention? Or anywhere else?
No. Isn't that odd? Most 40+ year-old guys have at least one colleague and friend who has known them and has worked with them over many years, played sports with them, hunted or hiked or rock-climbed or sailed or fished with them, confided in them, gotten half-drunk with them, smoked late-night cigars with them, prayed with them, done projects with them - and who can credibly witness publicly to their character, depth, collegiality, work ethic, hobbies and interests, habits, struggles, intelligence and perceptiveness, personality, and core beliefs.
Who speaks for Obama besides Obama, and a few Hollywood airheads? I realize I know very little about this guy, nor does anybody else. He's a media-made icon. He is a Mystery Man, a blank slate, unless you look carefully for the facts the media never mentions.
Here's an Accuracy in Media piece on Frank Davis, with the AP's efforts to minimize the relevance of the relationship. Davis' reported homosexuality and pornographic avocation may be irrelevant, but his committment to Communism is not.
At any rate, it's not what you would call an American Story.
Tracked: Sep 21, 22:05