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Abunimah says that as late as 2004, during his tough primary race, Obama praised him for his activism, and apologized, "Hey, I'm sorry I haven't said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race. I'm hoping when things calm down I can be more up front."
The Obama campaign has disputed Abunimah's account, and there is no audio to back him up. But Abunimah has released a photo of Obama breaking bread with Edward Said, one of the leading anti-Israel intellectuals of the 20th century, at a 1998 Arab community event in Chicago.
Furthermore, Obama has ties with Rashid Khalidi, who currently serves as the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. Khalidi, who once served as a flak for Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, is an active proponent of the view that U.S. policy is too biased in favor of Israel.
Last month, the Los Angeles Times reported that Obama spoke at a going away party
in honor of Khalidi in Chicago in 2003:
His many talks with the Khalidis, Obama said, had been "consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases... It's for that reason that I'm hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation -- a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid's dinner table," but around "this entire world."
WITH THIS PAST as prologue, many of the statements (or omissions) Obama has made on the campaign trail raise questions about his true stance on Israel.
When Obama said, "nobody's suffering more than the Palestinian people," did he really mean as he later clarified, that nobody was suffering more from the failure of the Palestinian leadership? Or was he trying to start a "conversation" about whether the U.S. is too focused on Israeli suffering, and not enough on the suffering of the Palestinians?
When he was asked by Brian Williams in a debate last year to name the top three allies of the United States, why did he filibuster the question without naming Israel?
When he said in February, "I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel, then you're anti-Israel, and that can't be the measure of our friendship with Israel," what did he mean by "pro-Likud"?
There is an active strain within the liberal foreign policy community that believes that since Hamas was democratically elected and controls Gaza, any peace process would have to include talks with their leaders. When Carter met with Hamas last month, Obama was slow to criticize the former president. "I'm not going to comment on former President Carter," Obama said at first. "He is a private citizen, and you know, it's not my place to discuss who or -- who he shouldn't meet with." (Obama, interestingly, didn't employ the private citizen dodge when he called on NBC to fire Don Imus last year in the wake of the controversy over the radio show host's racially insensitive remarks.)
While Obama did eventually criticize Carter's trip, it was only after much prodding, and he still didn't consider the question important enough to disrupt his waffle-eating experience.
On a number of other issues, there has been a pattern of Obama saying one thing on the campaign trail that was undercut by his advisers. We saw that when his economic adviser assured the Canadians that Obama wasn't really serious about the anti-NAFTA rhetoric he was spewing in Ohio.
We saw that when former adviser Samantha Power, speaking of Obama's plans to withdraw troops out of Iraq, said Obama wouldn't "rely on some plan that he's crafted as a presidential candidate." And now we have Obama's public opposition to Hamas undercut by the fact that an adviser is meeting with them.
SO IS IT REALLY a stretch to wonder whether Obama would eventually support talks with the terrorist group, despite his public pronouncements to the contrary?
This is not a theoretical matter. Ahmed Yousef, the same Hamas adviser who said that the terrorist group supports Obama, wrote a Washington Post op-ed last June arguing for engagement with Hamas.
The group is obviously embarking on a strategy, similar to the one Arafat pursued during the Oslo peace process, of making public overtures of peace abroad, duping naive Western leaders into granting them legitimacy and the financial aid that comes along with it, while continuing to support terrorism at home. Clearly, Hamas views Obama as an easy mark.
Cybercorrespondent| 10.28.08 @ 8:24PM
Questioning the American Bolshevik views
1. Is wealth redistribution taking money from stockholders and redistributing it to those who don’t pay taxes?
2. Is it more important to make sure that illegal votes are not disenfranchised or making sure that groups like ACORN do not nullify honest votes.
3. Would premature U.S. withdrawal from Iraq grand jihadists a victory and make all of our accomplishments, money spent and lives lost a big waist?
4. Can this country afford to grant socialist Democrats total control of the government and allow them to sacrifice our safety by cutting the military budget by 25%?
Now comes the big question. How do we stop socialism from ruining our lives?
The answer is simple. Don’t vote American Bolsheviks into power and boycott the socialist propaganda media into bankruptcy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjvBEKrGkDI
Cybercorrespondent
cybercorrespondent@gmail.com
Joe| 7.25.09 @ 10:54AM
Isn't anyone paying attention!, Mr Obama is starting to show his true colors as a socialist and a racist! Why are we, the working-tax paying public allowing him to destroy this country. Maybe we should ban together and not pay our taxes - he is supposed to be for the people, ALL people! He is dividing this country, he is using us; the hard working educated Americans as his class to blame for hardship, yet pay for everything. I implore the American people - please change the balance of power in the next election so there is more pressure on the President to work for you. He has forgotten he was elected to WORK for all of us. All he has shown is he likes to be on TV, he likes to come up with multiple plans hoping one works, he likes to spend money, he likes to point fingers at someone to blame and then he likes to pretend he is an average "Joe", sorry Mr. Obama, we don't want a President who wants to sit down over a beer - we want a leader with conviction, integrity and experience - You Mr. President are proving you lack all three. Please, vote against him and change the balance of power in the House and Senate this coming election!
Air Max| 7.27.09 @ 11:07PM
I think this opinion is too negative. In my view, Obama can solve the crisises and he won't let the americans down.
David| 7.29.09 @ 8:24AM
I am not a nutcase or a conspiracy theorist but Obama’s birth certificate is a fake. Keep in mind that documents change over the years and may not contain 100 % of the original info. But there is one thing that will never change and I have not found a site that points this out. The numbers on a B.C. from the time they started using a form rather then hand written start with a state code number usually 3 digits then a 2 digit date code and then the individual document serial number. I have been doing a lot of research on this all the birth certificates I have seen online( have seen 2 from Hawaii) mine my wifes and my childrens all have this type of numbering. Not until the late 90’s did they change the system of numbering. Why is Obama’s 151-1961. Now the big question why would they change his number? They never change!
cybercorrespondent| 8.18.09 @ 5:37PM
Fix healthcare by throwing self-serving politicians out of office
Why did Barack Obama attack pharmaceutical companies before and now he has teamed up with them to promote his health care plan? Why are all the tort lawyers big democratic supporters and multi-millionaires? Obama’s true intentions are so obvious that even the left is starting to express concerns. For example, on August 10, CBS Evening News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson filed a report stating that “the White House agreed not to seek price controls on drugs for seniors on Medicare and would not support importing cheaper drugs from Canada.” According to Attkisson, “The pharmaceutical industry is now so firmly in the President's camp it's developing plans to spend up to $150 billion promoting it with TV ads.”
According to the acting president of Public Citizen and founder and director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, Dr. Sidney Wolfe, “An all sort of off the record deal was reached that is very bad for the American public.” Other experts say that for their cooperation, Obama is allowing pharmaceutical companies to charge $50 for a $2 pill and is assuring them that there will be no changes to the laws that make it near impossible for less expensive generic drugs to reach the American market.
Unless tort lawyers, the pharmaceutical lobby and other special interest groups like the AMA, ADA and the AARP are dealt with to preserves the Constitution and the free market system, while also protecting the medical provider and consumer, no healthcare plan can work. Please view http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe2bpV1QlkE
Cybercorrespondent
http://cybercorrespondent.blogspot.com
cybercorrespondent| 8.23.09 @ 3:38PM
ABC television has banned http://www.newsmaxstore.com/co...../video.htm from airing on its network. Stand up for your freedoms and start boycotting ABC and other state run media into bankruptcy.
cybercorrespondent
cybercorrespondent| 8.27.09 @ 10:28PM
Save yourselves while you still can. This is the most important video you will ever watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
George Soros and the progressive democrats he has in his pocket have a goal to destroy the dollar and to push for a global currency. As a result, George Soros would make billions just as he did from his attempt to destroy the British Pound. To accomplish his goal, George Soros and his team of democrats have chosen a messenger who via teleprompter will spread their message and will not oblige to his constitutional obligation to prove that he is a US citizen. Please view
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe2bpV1QlkE To help George Soros push for global dominance, the democrats have created legislations such as the Stimulus Bill, the Equal Pay Bill, the Global Poverty Bill, the Tobacco Bill, the Climate Change Bill, the upcoming Health Reform Bill, the UN sponsored Bill that will force Americans to pay a global tax and whatever else they have hidden in the bills no one has read. If George Soros and the democrats are allowed to succeed, it will increase the deficit by trillions, make the dollar worthless and cause this country to self-distrust.
Wake up America before it’s too late. Please watch this video
cybercorrespondent
Tiffany Jewelry| 8.30.09 @ 10:19PM
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Gena| 9.1.09 @ 10:49PM
Tiffany Jewelry. You are pitiful. Is this how much you care about our great country? It is being taken over and all you can do is pitch your pathetical business. If Obama has his way, your pathetical business will no longer exist. Who ever reads his post, don’t have anything to do with him.
A concerned citizen