Jeremiah Wright is quite a character. If it weren't for his paranoid and factually bankrupt blabberings being sopped up by impressionable minds mesmerized by Wright's animated enthusiasm, I'd find him very entertaining. I think he may have been moon walking at one point.

But with these rants, Jeremiah Wright is doing great harm. He is spreading anger, paranoia and despair, villifing America and Caucasions (and others) as the cause of all that is imperfect in this world. done by design as part of a vast conspiracy against "people of color". If someone you know is on drugs or in jail, it's not their fault. They are but victims of the conspiracy. The cards are stacked against them, courtsey of the enemy - America.

I'm sure Rev Wright can be quite charming when he wants to be but he has issues.

So the point is, how does this reflect on Senator Obama, if at all?

No one should be held accountable for the actions of others but we are judged by the company we keep, and for good reason.

This one could be a problem for the Obama camp.

Michelle Obama raised some eyebrows when she confessed not once, but twice in the same day that she was proud of her country for the first time in her adult life. That means that in the past 23 years, since 1985 when she turned 21, NOTHING has happend that made her feel proud of America. Wow!

Now Mrs. Obama is no dummy. She's a product of Princton University and Harvard Law School and is very sucessful in her field. None of that however, can give you the chops to survive in the high profile world that she's now in.

At first, I thought her comment was just a poor choice of words. An innocent event, not worthy of too much concern. That is until Jeremiah Wright entered the picture. Now I'm not so sure.

A t Senator Tom Harkin's Steak Fry event on September 16 in Indianola, Iowa, during the playing of the National Anthem Bill Richardson and Hillary Clinton were saluting while Barack Obama just stood there with his hands clasped.

Since then other pics and videos have surfaced showing the candidate saluting the flag at other events. Critics say it's a statement of disrespect while defenders say it was just an oversight.

I think it's space travel. He appears to be oblivious to the moment, just standing there as if he were on some far away planet amongst aliens, unaware of their language and customs and not knowing what to do. Then again, perhaps he's just deep in thought, having cut ties with the physical world and leaving his body behind on auto pilot.

As to those who question if a salute was in order.

According to US Flag.org, the proper etiquette is as follows:

The Salute
To salute, all persons come to attention. Those in uniform give the appropriate formal salute. Citizens not in uniform salute by placing their right hand over the heart and men with head cover should remove it and hold it to left shoulder, hand over the heart. Members of organizations in formation salute upon command of the person in charge.

The Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem
The pledge of allegiance should be rendered by standing at attention, facing the flag, and saluting.
When the national anthem is played or sung, citizens should stand at attention and salute at the first note and hold the salute through the last note. The salute is directed to the flag, if displayed, otherwise to the music.

Obama has been pro-active in bringing attention to the fact that he does not wear an American flag lapel pin. When asked by a reporter why, Obama had this to say.

"You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin. Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest. Instead I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism."

Well, OK, sure. If that's the way you feel I guess you can do whatever you want but I think making this an issue at this time, though meant to make him look deep, may also make him look less presidential. Imagine a teammate, who wants the job as coach, refusing to wear the team colors at a public event because he disagrees with current strategy.

"It just shows you he's not ready for the big time," Laura Ingrams

"Why do we wear pins? Because our country is under attack!" Sean Hannity

This one is interesting. A campaign worker in Houston, Texas put up a Cuban flag in her office. On it was a picture of Che Cuevara. Now, people usually think of Che in one of three ways.
1) that cool dude with the beret
2) a hero to leftist and socialist types
3) hard core marxist and homicidal maniac

Obama campaign worker who put this up was Cuban no less. Does she have a clue? She probably thinks it's Cat Stevens.

Who was Che Guevara?

From the Left - Outside The Beltway

From the Right - FrontPage Mag

This one may not have much merit but we're still checking.



Washington Post

Wikipedia