For months now, newspaper columnists and bloggers have been uncomfortable about one aspect of their favorite : Yes, Obama is sincere, they concede. Deeply, persuasively sincere. But is he tough enough for the big time? Can he be as ruthless as his opponent?
That such questions can still be posed in the face of mounting evidence shows how little pundits really know.
Even her friends are aware that Hillary Clinton will do espouse anything from racism to recounts in order to win.
But she’s not alone.
Once upon an emergency, Barak Obama stated for the world to hear that he could no more disown the Reverend Wright than he could disown the black community—or, for that matter, his white mother.
As that world knows, a fortnight later he ditched the minister who had made a “show of disrespect to me.” And why not? Having married the Obamas and baptized their children, Wright had outlived his usefulness.
And now there’s the matter of one Robert Malley, an advisor to the Obama campaign. Malley’s expertise is the Middle East.
Although his name sounds vaguely Irish, Malley was born in Cairo to a Syrian family. To say that he hates Israel is like saying that the Red Sea is moist. He blamed the Jewish State for the failure of Camp David and served as an apologist for the superdegenerate Yassir Arafat.
He turned out to be, in short, yet another embarrassment for Obama, who insists that he is a defender of Israel and its “special relationship” with the United States.
What to do?
Manifestly, the front-runner took a look at Hillary’s style and emulated it. She cut loose such notables as her campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle (the first Latina to hold such a position) after being blown out in Maine. And Hillary forced out Geraldine Ferraro, the first female to run as vice president, for telling the truth. (Ms. Ferraro actually had the temerity to state, “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”)
Naturally, she had to go.
And, naturally, so did Malley. He was making his boss… uncomfortable.
Does Obama disagree with him on Israel? Did Hillary disagree with Ferraro on Obama?
No one knows. Principle has nothing to do with the subject. It’s all about winning. And, of course, about sincerity. Once you learn to fake that, you can be as tough as anyone in town.
Why can’t a man be more like a woman?
He can. He is.
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