Philo over at The View (from Alexandria) makes note of a stab at the case, the whole case, against Obama by Guy Benson, Mary Katherine Ham and Ed Morrisey over at Hot Air. It's an interesting list, and reasonable. To me, though, voters in the great middle, the folks who don't have opinions about policy and culture that are strong or well-informed, tend to "go with their gut" and don't do the comprehensive analysis. To help them with that, the MSM has done yeoman's work in streamlining this decision-making process, already rudimentary by my standards. As I commented on Philo's post, I opined that part of the case against Obama is what we don't know about him, and I wrote a brief and incomplete list of major gaps.
Barack campaigning for murderous Odinga, 2006
Jennifer Rubin, who is my much more intelligent alter-ego over at Commentary catches Michael Malone lambasting the MSM on ABC.com. She then adds her list of "unknowns," truly comprehensive, but for one omission: what about Barack Obama's connection to Raila Odinga, the hardcore Marxist Prime Minister whose supporters went on a homicidal rampage following the post-Christmas elections in 2007? The violence displaced a half million people, destroyed villages, and on New Year's Day, a Christian church was burned down with its parishioners in it, an attack carried out by Muslim allies of Odinga. The post-election upheaval lasted for several weeks, and things still aren't back to normal, especially for those whose homes have been destroyed. Nevertheless, Raila managed to make time in his busy schedule of mayhem and destruction, to take two phone calls from Barack Obama, his cousin, the day before the New Hampshire Primary on January 8, 2008.
In August, 2006, Barack spent a six-day visit in Kenya, a visit coordinated by one of his advisors that coincided with the Orange Democratic Movement's campaign planning session. Mr Odinga was their candidate for president, and not favored until Barack, then a state senator running for the Senate, promoted him. Today, Obama tee shirts are commonplace in Nairobi, attesting to the influence that endorsement had.
Although Raila Odinga was implicated in a bloody coup attempt in 1982, and spent six years in prison, he confessed to a leadership role in his 2006 biography. Statutes of limitations prevented further prosecutions.
He is prime minister today as a part of a deal to quell the violence after the 2007 election, which he lost. He refused to meet with President Kibaki and other opposition leaders in early January, and held out for the prime minister position, blackmailing the country to get into office. Over 1500 people died in the violence.
So, why no questions about this, even from the excellent folks at Commentary, The Corner, and elsewhere off the journalistic beaten path? I don't know, but this commentary was published in the Washington Times, not a fly-by-night yellow sheet. Some important points:
- Raila Odinga is a Marxist He graduated from East Germany's Magdeburg University in 1970 on a scholarship provided by the East German government. He named his oldest son after Fidel Castro. Is there anyone in politics who has left such a wide trail of Marxist breadcrumbs on their way to political office as Barack Obama? At least three of these associates (Ayers, Dohrn, and Odinga) view violence as an option for those disappointed at the ballot box.
- He has close ties with Barack. Not only will he tell you, so will every person in Kenya. They saw them together, at rallies, at meetings, at press conferences. And Barack and his advisors have met with him several times.
- Raila Odinga signed a shocking Memorandum of Understanding (pdf) with Muslim leadership in Kenya, in which he would allow them autonomous areas, allow them to impose Shaaria law, allow them to oversee the practice of other religions, allow them to shut down grocery stores and businesses that sell haaram products, among many other things. In return, they offered their support, not only at the ballot box but in the streets, with machetes and torches. And we remember that East Africa is an important locus of Islamist activity, so the development of self-governing areas that are already showing a propensity for violence toward America, has a direct impact on our security.
And aren't we all tired of saying, "Gee, if Barack were a Republican, the media would be all over this." No: if Barack were Hillary or any other Democrat, they would be all over this. We would have found out about it LAST YEAR.
P.S. What if all of this had come to the fore during the primaries? On a scale similar to the Rev. Wright story? Would Barack have said, "He's just a guy in my family's neighborhood back in Kenya", à la Ayers? Or just a guy he used to shoot hoops with, like Alexi Giannoulias? Or maybe he isn't the man Barack thought he knew, some guy who committed reprehensible acts 10 MONTHS ago...