Can't Just Let Barack Be Barack

What’s no surprise to any of us are the continuing stray reports coming along about Barack Obama’s highly questionable associations--reports that never attract the slightest attention in the larger media.

For instance, Diana West has just written about how Obama’s campaign was meeting with some Islamic bad guys in “hotly contest Virginia”:

Earlier this month, several news organizations reported that Minha Husaini, the Obama campaign director of Muslim outreach, participated in a non-advertised September meeting in hotly contested Virginia with about 30 Muslim leaders. Among them were Nihad Awad of CAIR and Mahdi Bray of MAS -- both leaders of groups the government has designated as unindicted co-conspirators and Muslim Brotherhood affiliates. Also present was Johari Abdul Malik, the imam of Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque, aka "the 9/11 mosque" because two of the 9/11 hijackers worshipped there. (So did Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, an Al Qaeda member now serving a 30-year sentence for plotting to assassinate President Bush, and also Hamas chieftain and UASR founder Mousa abu Marzook.)

Another person attending the meeting was Mazen Asbahi, the former Obama director of Muslim outreach who quickly resigned in early August after news broke about his ties to unindicted co-conspirators. This was not his first post-resignation campaign-related event. At a luncheon during the Democratic National Convention, Investor's Business Daily reported Asbahi as saying that his resignation was a "strategic decision," and "that he was participating in campaign conference calls on Muslim outreach."

The Obama campaign has pleaded ignorance concerning the September meeting, with campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt telling NBC News producer Jim Popkin that campaign staffers, including Husaini, wouldn't have "attended if they were aware of the complete list of attendees." The campaign had no comment on Asbahi's presence, and, oddly, wouldn't allow reporters speak with Muslim outreach director Husaini.

What are voters to make of this? Did Obama campaign staffers abandon the event on learning who was there? The meeting went on as scheduled. Did the campaign later denounce these controversial, to say the least, groups in media statements? Apparently not. One unidentified meeting participant told Popkin that "some in the Obama group knew ahead of time that top CAIR officials would be in attendance," adding: "There was some hope it wouldn't get out" into the media. (“Look Who's Endorsing O Now”).

There’s been a lot of that, hasn’t there, from the Obama campaign? I mean, a lot of Obama and his folks hoping things won’t get out into the media. Considering the cooperative spirit of the media when it comes to Obama, I’m sure that’s a hope we can believe in.

We mentioned last month how Obama likes to keep his meetings with Muslim leaders on the QT as much as possible. (“Bridge to Muslims, or Bridge Club Meeting?”):

Obama sent a couple of his staffers to Southfield, to meet with Arab Americans “to shore up support from a pivotal community in a key swing state.”

But he didn’t show up himself. Never does. Obama so far hasn’t shown up to meet with a group of Michigan’s Arabs yet in person. Last year, he sent only an adviser to a conference in Dearborn of the Arab American Institute. ("The Arab American Institute's Hezbollah Shish Kebabs").

Then, when Obama addressed 20,000 supporters at Joe Louis this June, he pointedly failed to meet with local Muslims leaders. ("Obama addresses diverse Detroit crowd").

He did meet with Hezbollah-supporter Imam Qazwini of the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, but he did so secretly, miles outside of Dearborn, and well under the radar, which was easy because local media kept radar turned off anyway.

What I take from this is that Obama is running an extremely deceptive campaign. He doesn’t want the American electorate to know who his friends are, who his political cronies are, who his ideological associates are, or what the real kernel of his governing philosophy is going to be.

While on the Republican side of things lots of commentators have been crying out for McCain to let Sarah Palin be Sarah Palin, or even that McCain be McCain, on the other side it’s taking an army of thousands to ensure that, whatever happens, Barack is never caught in the open just being Barack.