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October 7, 2008
'More than hypocrisy'
My colleague at Pajamas Media Jennifer Rubin also writes at Commentary's excellent blog Contentions.
She and her associates are frequently quoted here at American Thinker beecause we believe they are among the smartest, most lucid writers out there.
In this piece on who Obama really is, Ms. Rubin lays out what we know of Obama and comes to the conclusion that what he is about is "more than just hypocrisy:"
[T]his is true of Obama's entire circle of comrades and associates, of course. He didn't know who they were, or wasn't all that close to them, or never happened to be there when their life-long habit of excoriating evil America was demonstrated. It is all of a piece.
But more than hypocrisy is at work here. It is not just far Left, American-hating radicals he now disowns. You get the sense that he believes everyone can be played. Rashid Khalidi can believe that Obama finds no one suffers more than the Palestinians. Jews can buy that he was moved by the Holocaust from a summer camp experience. Voters in his Congressional race in 1990 can be told that there is no difference ideologically between him and 100% ADA-rated Bobby Rush, but the rest of the state in 2004 (and eventually the country) can buy that he's a post-partisan reformer. Terrorists come to believe he shares their scorn for America, but Iowa voters hear him talk about his appreciation that only in America could his story have happened. Primary voters in Ohio are coddled with protectionist promises - and then privately scorned while he is talking to San Fransciso liberal donors.
There is no end to it - everyone gets the version of Obama that perfectly fits his own world view. It is not hypocrisy. It's fraud. Whatever he told or shared with Ayers, Dohrn, Wright, or Pfleger counts for no more that what he told or shared with other now inconvenient groups and individuals. He's sold the same piece of political real estate to multiple buyers for multiple, conflicting uses.
When John McCain asks "Who is Barack Obama" perhaps he should quote Jennifer Rubin. She knows.