The Bleat

James Lileks on Barack Obama and William Ayers:

Here are the curious facts of modern politics:

1. Ayers was dedicated to killing American soldiers to ensure that Vietnam was ruled by Communists.

2. Ayers is unrepentant, and proudly posed for a photo standing on an American flag.

3. This is irrelevant. It is irrelevant to then, because the cause was just, if the execution was irrationally exuberant; it is irrelevant to today, because Ayers is now an educator, and a respected member of the intelligentsia.

4. This says nothing about education or the intellegentsia, except to attest to their broad-mindedness.

5. There is nothing wrong with Ayers, but nevertheless his associations with Sen. Obama – the fund-raising at his house, the Woods Foundation, the Annenberg Challenge, the book blurb – are circumstantial, tenuous, and meaningless, because
A) Obama was 8 when the crimes occurred, and thus unable to give the full-throated condemnation he later felt, but managed to suppress while coming up the ranks of Chicago politics;
B) one could not avoid Ayers in Chicago, which is a very small city;
C) if Obama did feel deep distaste, there was never really a good time to bring it up, and
D) many other respectable people had no problem associating with the fellow, and
E) Ayers is not advising him now, any more than, say, Louis Farrakhan is.
The last point is important, because it means we should trust Obama’s judgment. He’s the kind of fellow who turns out not to seek Ayers’ advice when running for national office. And that's enough.

Now. You have to ask yourself how the media would cover a long-standing association between John McCain and a fellow who, in the hurly-burly-mixed-up-folderol of the Civil Rights Era, went a little too far and burned some Black churches, or led a group devoted to blowing up abortion clinics. Mind you, he was never convicted – technicalities, which was ironic, because Conservatives hate those – but he went on to serve on school boards and charity foundations that advocated for States’ Rights, an issue dear to conservative hearts. Imagine the deets are the same – cozy fundraisers, serving on the same boards, McCain’s name on Bomber Bob’s memoir. Add to that some other parallels – say, McCain attended a church that praised a fellow who believed black people were descended from the devil, and believed Jesus was an Aryan.

John McCain wouldn’t be the nominee, and if by some chance that happened, this association would be draped around his neck every day.