He’s Not Saint Obama. Yet.

Published March 4, 2008

By Elliot Sion

A recent poll found that Barack Obama’s lead in Vermont has stretched to 25 points over rival Hillary Clinton, 57% to 33%. I can’t say I’m surprised. However, I can say that a growing number of Democratic voters are more than a little bit nervous about the junior Senator from Illinois (you never hear about any of them because, frankly, you never hear about anything other than Obama anymore).

In the last eleven months, both Clinton and McCain have shown far more prudence in the selection of advisors and campaign supporters than Obama (though McCain’s recent decision to have conservative talk-show host William Cunningham introduce him at a rally was very ill advised). Until pressed by Clinton at their most recent debate in Cleveland, Obama had not rejected the endorsement of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a well known anti-semite, homophobe and racist. Farrakhan was censured unanimously by the U.S. Senate for a speech in 1984 in which he claimed that “Hitler was a very great man”. Yet it took prodding on the part of his political opponent to get Barack Obama to do the right thing and distance himself from Farrakhan.

While Louis Farrakhan’s endorsement does not necessarily reflect Obama’s views, Obama’s Gospel tour earlier in the primary season arguably did, as it included singer Donnie McClurkin, a well known anti-Gay preacher. While McClurkin harangued Gays and Lesbians during one of the concerts, Obama was conspicuously silent. Even after the event, Obama said very little to denounce or reject McClurkin. And unlike Farrakhan, whose support Obama appropriately rejected (better late than never), McClurkin is still a major spokesman for the campaign, especially among heavily religious black voters in the Deep South

Most alarming, however, is that one of Obama’s foreign policy advisers is Robert Malley, the son of Simon Malley, a champion of Yasser Arafat and the non-aligned movement. Robert Malley has been criticized by both the right and the left for his views on the failed 2000 Camp David peace talks between Israel and Palestine.

Unlike President Clinton and Dennis Ross (who worked for both Republican and Democratic administrations), who attributed the failure at Camp David to Yasser Arafat’s unwillingness to compromise, Malley holds Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (and Clinton by association) responsible for the breakdown. He has also been an outspoken proponent of holding direct talks with Hamas and Hezbollah, organizations whose charters call for the total destruction of the State of Israel.

Obama has criticized Hillary Clinton for her poor judgment in voting to authorize the war in Iraq. Do his choices, here and elsewhere, reflect a serious lack of judgment or, worse, the true colors of his politics? If the former, maybe we should all rethink whether he is as principled as he claims to be. However, if the latter, then perhaps we have been hoodwinked into supporting a man whose message of “change” may hide some objectionable views. Either way, we should all be a little more cautious in our support of a man who many have turned into the Messiah.

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