Cowboy Confessional

Do you have kids?

If you do or ever did, you have evaluated, monitored, and perhaps even banished some of their acquaintances. As parents we know that the company one keeps not only molds the person, but they reflect the type of person one is.

Which brings us to Barack Obama.

With accelerating frequency this presidential wannabe is in the company of the seemingly disreputable and foul minded. If these were casual acquaintances I could dismiss them as the jetsom of normal social interaction. We all meet dishonorable types in our lives, and Gawd knows I may have tossed back a whiskey or two with some myself. When such associations are peripheral, the stench of their presence quickly dissipates and we are not dragged into their soulless and intellectually corrupt realms.

Obama’s unsavory associations are not incidental. They are deep — the types of associations that guide his daily direction and shape his every action. Obama carries their stench.

Freshly exposed are the maniacal rantings of Obama’s pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Obama’s association with Wright is neither recent, peripheral, or easily dismissed. Obama and his clan have been attending Wright’s Trinity United Church for over 20 years — so long that he had his marriage performed there, his children baptised there, and like any good parishioner, donated money to the now blasphamized house.

The title of Obama’s book came from a Wright sermon for Christ’s sake.
A man cannot attend church for any period of time and not hear the words of the house preacher. Unless Obama is lying (hmmm, a lying politician … there is a novel concept) he obviously sat in on several of Wright’s incendiary sermons. Wright has proclaimed from his pulpit:

* The U.S. government invented the HIV virus in order to conduct genocide

* The same government is wholly responsible for the terrorist attacks of 9/11

* “‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America!”

There are more, but that last one — and Wright’s general American bashing mentality (if I may misuse the word ‘mentality’) seems to have rubbed off on Obama’s wife if not Obama himself. Overnight denouncements by Obama have him claiming that Wright’s preachings “are not ones that reflect my values or my ideals or [my wife] Michelle’s.”

“For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country,” was Michelle’s recent commentary, which eerily echoes Wright’s sentiments.

This is more than guilt by association — it is guilt by affinity. Given that Wright was a member of Obama’s African American Religious Leadership Committee, any claim of ignorance of Wright’s beliefs are unbelievable.

Then there is the Rezko mater. Antoin “Tony” Rezko is a Chicago businessman and bag-man for the local Democrat machine. His job was moving money from pocket to pocket in order to get select politicians elected, and in the process put down payments on future favors.

Including Obama’s.

Obama was an active participant with Rezko, from writing letters on state government stationary to arm-twist local governments in giving Rezko what he wanted, to entering into suspect real estate deals with Rezko.

Let us say that Rezko was not a casual acquaintance.

Now Rezko is facing charges of extortion, arranging kickbacks, and generally raiding the coffers of government and political donors alike.

We could ascribe Obama’s association with Rezko as part of the normal (and hence corrupt) Chicago Democrat machine, but Obama himself has made disassociation impossible. Obama created his own brand for his presidential bid. Obama held himself above the pack, pretending to be the mulatto messiah — possessing saintly cleanliness.

But his artificial vestments have been soiled by a maniac preacher, an America loathing spouse, and a criminal cohort.

Each of these relationships are long standing. Obama would have to be blind and stupid to have not seen or heard the echoes of the beliefs and actions of each of these people. Obama knew all of this and simply hoped the toxic associations would not be revealed.

That was a lousy bet, son. You are judged by the company you keep, and you run with a seriously shady set. You will not be able to explain it away, and it will be your doom.

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