Can it be true that Obama's old mentor, the venerable Mr Wright, yesterday accused 'them Jews' of keeping him from his star pupil? Guess so, since he's apologizing for it today - meant to say Zionists, the noun of choice for the more nuanced Jew haters.
Forget about how, after the Magic Muslim speech, Israel is entirely justified in being concerned about Obama's foreign policy compromising their security and now his former mentor, spiritual leader, confidante, political organiser is revealed to be a classic Black Nationalist Jew hater - forget how that may complicate things - tell me how the hell is it that Obama skated away unscathed by his connection to this nut ball in both primary and general elections last year? Yes, McCain, with now infamous stupidity, refused to broach the subject in his campaign - but I forgive him that, I can see how he thought it was the honourable thing to do [although I believe that what started out as honourable soon came to be seen by him as the mistake that it was]. No, I'm more concerned about the press and why that institution couldn't or, possibly more disturbingly, wouldn't pursue the issue?
As I've said before one could draw logical conclusions when taken as a whole Obama's connection and subsequent convenient rejection of Wright and his political ideology as revealed in actions and words, conclusions which spoke to the kind of man he was and the quality of leader he may be - in other words, completely legitimate premises for commentary - and yet the press practically as a whole decided 'no, we can't go there' - why?
Don't wanna go on about the obvious problem of democracy being pretty much a charade without an independent press both in possession of the necessary analytical skills and able to operate outside the influences of the powers that be and the slavish ignorance of the electorate, don't wanna go on about how a rational, somewhat honest argument over relevant issues is not possible without such an institution, but... it's quite clear the press, whether as a conscious decision or not, wanted Obama to win so - what does that say about us?
Understand, I'm pretty much with Churchill in saying that democracy sucks but hell, it's better than the alternatives - still, there's a big difference between participating, engaging with the show while knowing that to be true and playing along while remaining blissfully ignorant of the inherent problems, no?
