The Illegiterati

I’ll get back to folk music soon, but I want to comment on a trend I’m seeing in the sleazier attacks on Obama. I was watching CNN today, listening to whoever was on argue about whether Obama agreed with his crazy pastor or not. The answer to that question should not be hard to figure out. Just ask, “What does Obama say?” He says that he does not, in fact, agree with his crazy pastor. Then, to be extra sure, you might ask, “Has Obama agreed with his crazy pastor in the past?” Turns out that, no, he has never publicly accused the government of creating AIDS to oppress black people. So what, exactly, is the question here?

It occurred to me that the Rev. Wright pseudo-scandal is very similar to the Obama-went-to-a-madrassa-and-is-therefore-a-secret-muslim pseudo-scandal. Both seem dumb enough to dismiss easily, but both have stuck around for a surprisingly long time. And they both ask the same question – “What’s Obama hiding?” Usually, most political candidates aren’t accused of being double-agents, but I won’t be surprised if we see this question pop up again in another form soon.