The blogosphere began buzzing yesterday afternoon because of a Cuban flag superimposed with a picture of Che Guevara that was flown in an volunteer, unofficial office for Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama in Houston, Texas, captured by a local Fox News affiliate.
Allahpundit likened it yesterday to be the equivalent of flying a Timothy McVeigh flag in a John McCain office, and noted that if that had occurred, media outlets would have more than likely made more of an issue of it than they have in this instance.
I don't however, share the condemnation heard yesterday of the Obama campaign itself over this particular story from some of my friends on the right. I think James Joyner's take on the issue is even-handed, in that:
...Che is a terrorist who shouldn't be honored by decent people. Che worship (or, alternatively, the wearing of Che t-shirts as a statement without the slightest clue of who he was) seems to be a phase that certain left-leaning activists go through in their youth; it generally passes. Driscoll's characterization of it as "juvenilia" is spot on.
For reasons I'll certainly never understand, a contingent on the fringe left does and has long had a special affinity for this particular terrorist, but that in and of itself should not reflect upon Obama, unless he also shares those views or had advance knowledge of such a flag being placed in this volunteer-established office (which I strongly doubt).
What the flag may come far closer to representing is the historical cluelessness of some potential voters, and the sad flocking to cults of personality by those who feel politically marginalized, as noted by the U.K.based satire site Anorak News which said dryly:
"...The stakes could not be higher in the battle between Ron Paul and Barack Obama for the hearts and minds of America's young people, as this picture shows."
But it isn't just the young and uninformed who flock to such cults of personality, as we've all seen our fair share of Paulites and Obama supporters of every age and education level.
There are many people who feel politically lost who will flock to those voices that offer seemingly easy "change," whether that voice offers workable solutions or empty platitudes.
Considering that this story is largely confined to the blogosphere at this moment, there is probably very little desire in the official Barack Obama campaign to issue a statement against the displaying of this terrorist-hyping flag in a volunteer office. Though it would be a nice gesture, such a refutation may make this into a larger story than it would otherwise be.
Cuban-Americans, however, may find this political calculation to be less than satisfactory.
It is rather sad that the Obama campaign is in a position where it had to decide whether denouncing a terrorist is a smart move, but when a candidate runs on a platform offering so little substance or experience, being quiet and vague is perhaps precisely what they are counting on.
Cross-posted at Confederate Yankee.
—Bob Owens is an investigative blogger who writes at Confederate Yankee.
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OBH is offering Chenge.
February 12, 2008 - 13:36 ET by jm1656OBH is offering Chenge.
DNC = KKK?
February 12, 2008 - 13:53 ET by ArchConservativeIs it a surprise the (d)ems support terrorists? Not really. Look at everything that they are doing against our troops here (Mayor of Toledo, Pelosi, Berkeley, Reid....) and abroad (trying to end the war before it's won).
This is the same party that allows a certified, dyed-in-the-wool, Grand Kleagle (sp?) of the Klu Klux Klan to be a senior and honored member. It's just one more thing that makes us bang our head against the walls. And they think that we are racists?
You support the troops by supporting the mission! If you don't support the mission, have the guts to say you don't support the troops.
Then what was the busting?
February 12, 2008 - 13:57 ET by Lame CherryMr. Owens if this was already busted yesterday as you noted and you do not agree with the pundits who broke it in what they are saying then why are you posting it. That would be a rhetorical question.
Personally, it is more than distasteful for any American campaign office to have up pictures of revolutionaries as they are foreigners. If one can not understand that nor comprehend that America has a vast supply of revolutionaries who were brown skinned and actually did something for this nation, (I would note the Alamo had brown skinned Americans there), then that relates directly to the 3rd world dogma this particular campaign office is espousing.
Senator Obama can not be held responsible for this local office no more than he can for the kooks on Kos, but if Che is the type of grubby social retard one likes then Barak Obama has a major problem with his own people he is depending upon.
This will be a distinct problem if he is elected as much as Nancy Pelosi soon found out as much as Bill Clinton in don't ask don't tell as political paybacks that bleed a nation.
Obama's course is one which is political. Ernesto Guevara though is a marxist terrorist equal to Castro in tearing down elected governments and cuddling up with Bolsheviks in using force.
That is the Muslim Brotherhood of Keith Ellison of Congress.
That all starts begging questions and requires to be busted, because America does not need a Chavez as I have warned could come from this election. Senator Obama needs to be asked about this exactly in Muslim Brotherhood and Ernie Guevara exactness THAT IS OBAMA ONLY DEALING WITH POLITICAL MEANS TO GAIN POWER AND WILL HE RESORT TO MILITARY FORCE TO RETAIN POWER.
We got a taste of the Clinton's thug power and in that America must make Barak Obama define exactly what he means as he has not addressed this issue and if he does not agree to disavow and inform his backers that he is not going to take America down the road of 3rd world marches of millions in the streets burning American flags or mob populism like Chavez gutting American industry.
Hillary would and has resorted to such things and will implement the Chavez giving away health care to buy votes. This is why Senator Obama must address this as he was before not so much in favor of Bush money give aways........and his revolutionary supporters have to have this explained to him as he nor America needs a bunch of crazy SLA or MS 13 thugs prowling around looking to become a Sadr political power in America.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
Change is what your
February 12, 2008 - 13:57 ET by mattmChange is what your take-home pay will be after the Dems and RINOs turn the U.S. into Cuba-North.
obama's substance
February 12, 2008 - 13:58 ET by blogonatorObama has provided some substance: universal healthcare, nationalized internet access for everyone, etc. Thank God for Obama! He will make sure the government gives me free stuff and controls my life for me. I won't even have to lift a finger, except to vote and pay my taxes! Hooray!
You will not do either.
February 12, 2008 - 16:03 ET by ff_emt1If Obama is elected, you will not have to vote OR pay taxes. The military, the ones he does not want overseas, can come home and keep him in power here, and with direct deposit, your paycheck can go directly to Washington. See, he wants to get rid of the IRS too. All we have to do is set back and wait for directions and the free stuff.
A Democrat is someone who wants to put YOUR money where HIS mouth is.
If someone at the Jackson
February 12, 2008 - 14:04 ET by danboIf someone at the Jackson Mississippi office for McCain or any other republican, had state flag bumper sticker, we'd be hearing about it. And hearing a demand for an appology from the candidate himself.
But the Cuban flag? Che? No problem.
Thanks for pointing out the dishonesty of the media.
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
EXACTLY!!!!!!!!! once
February 12, 2008 - 14:33 ET by futbolisgreat1EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!
once again, Republicans and Conservatives need to fight fire with fire.
Democrats, Liberals demanded an apology from VP Cheney for visiting a home which had a small Confederate flag on a garage window. The media went crazy and so did the Liberals.
With stuff like this, it is not lowering ourselves to demand the same apology from Obama that he and other Liberals demanded from Cheney.
Whose side are you on?
February 12, 2008 - 14:16 ET by RackieOh mama for Obama
2 different offices in houston
February 12, 2008 - 14:19 ET by connorinPlease Note...
The flag was shown in two separate Obama offices in the Houston TX area.
I can't disagree more with
February 12, 2008 - 14:31 ET by futbolisgreat1I can't disagree more with the author of this piece because it is impossible!
1) Che Guevarra was a terrorist, his whole purpose in life was to destroy the United States of America, Capitalism and anyone who got on his way.
2) Have you read any of his papers, letters, etc? the man was as bad or worst than Usama Bin Laden!
3) Obama does need to apologize for this, why? Does he not want to be President of the United States? As far as I know, haven't Liberals been telling us that the buck stops with President Bush? That he should know everything and anything that is going on in his administration and he doesn't know he is imcopetant? So, why be any different with Obama? This is his campaign workers, they represent him, thus it falls on him to come out and apologize.
He wants to be President, he needs to prove it beyond the pretty speeches, the empty promises and his whole ridiculous populist message.
4) Wasn't the media, the Liberal blogs, etc going crazy just a few weeks/month back because VP Cheney visited a home which had a tiney Confederate flag on its garage window? Did they not demand an apology from VP Cheney?
Until we Republicans and Conservatives learn to fight fire with fire, the Democratic party will always have a better marketing, PR, media campaign.
Barack Obama needs to take responsability for his campaign actions, apologize and demand that that flag be taken down immediately. And those campaign workers/volunteers need to go.
Ignorance and stupidty are not accepted as defensed in a court of law.
Wasn't the media, the
February 12, 2008 - 15:10 ET by motherbeltWasn't the media, the Liberal blogs, etc going crazy just a few
weeks/month back because VP Cheney visited a home which had a tiney
Confederate flag on its garage window? Did they not demand an apology
from VP Cheney?
Oh, yeah, the Cheney Flag Flap
and Cheny was just hunting there!
[Al] Sharpton demanded Cheney distance himself from the exclusive club where the Stars and Bars was flown, and said he might hold a prayer vigil there.
"This is an outrage - he ought to leave immediately," Sharpton told The News. "He ought to apologize to the American people for being there in the first place."
Has anyone demanded that Obama remove the flag? Has anyone asked him to explain it and distance himself from it?
I hope he's not allowed to get away with "it's not an official campaign office.....not my decision, yada yada yada.....but something tells me he will be....
mb... Has anyone demanded
February 12, 2008 - 15:12 ET by bigtimermb...
Has anyone demanded that Obama remove the flag? Has anyone asked him to explain it and distance himself from it?
I have been waiting patiently...we all know what would of happened 24/7 if this were someone with an 'R' behind their name running for any office let alone the Pres.
Not holding my breath either...
Well, to be fair to Obama
February 12, 2008 - 15:32 ET by sarcasmoIt's not his property to remove. A nutty supporter of Obama did this. Some of us have experience with supporters nutty-enough to get 100% of the attention of the news media, and (as I'm sure Cheney's fans would prefer in the case of the flag-flap referenced above) all would prefer it if candidates themselves occasionally made the news, too.
JMR
PS I think the most-telling part of the whole story is the side-note that Barak Obama apparently has not one but two Houston HQs. That's a sign of big money, and while I can't say I've checked, I doubt any other Presidential candidate is doing that...
If this is winning, I think I'd rather lose...
If it's his campaign
February 12, 2008 - 16:13 ET by motherbeltI wasn't Cheney's flag either, but Sharpton insisted he should have left the premises immediately upon knowing it was there.
If it's Obama's campaign headquarters, even unofficial, he is "connected" to it. Comeon, sarc, you know darn well that if it werea Republican office anywhere, there would be hell to pay, whether or not it was his flag, his office, or anything else.
Re the two offices, didn't it say this one was an "unofficial" volunteer office? That means his campaign might not be paying for it. But even at that, if there were even that tenuous connection to a Republican, Sharpton would be down there parading outside.
Well, maybe not; liberals don't seem to have a problem with Che.
Half these idiots don't even know who Che Guevara was...all they know is that he was "cool" because he was a long-haired hippie "revolutionary"....He stuck it to the MAN.......
Oh, I've SEEN the hell-to-pay part, believe me...
February 12, 2008 - 16:31 ET by sarcasmoAnd I basically agree about the left's weird obsession with Che', perhaps matched on the right only by the periodic/pathetic attempts to revive Tricky Dick, despite his huge-government tendencies....
If I were Obama, I'd do/say nothing publicly and privately have an aide ask them to take it down & back to whatever-teenager's bedroom wall it came from. What else can he do?
Ultimately, this terrorist's current teenybopper popularity is in part a result of making him a martyr by killing him extrajudicially instead of doing the boring thing & putting him in front of lawyers/courts with evidence, etc. If that's why the left now has an excuse to revere Che', then this weird psychological phenomenon might qualify as yet another example of "blowback." ;)
JMR
If this is winning, I think I'd rather lose...
Well, that probably would
February 12, 2008 - 16:38 ET by motherbeltWell, that probably would have been OK, but in typical Liberal fashion, he pretty much said "Not mine, has nothing to do with me."
Roger the Shrubber posted the link.
So you're saying Obama
February 13, 2008 - 16:02 ET by JasonCSo you're saying Obama should apologize for the Che flag.
But Cheney didn't need to apologize for the confederate flag?
I mean I don't think either one needed to apologize. But the argument here seems to be that Obama should indeed acknowledge and ameliorate his flag-flap; but Cheney, a sitting vice president, didn't need to. Just trying to understand this obviously-not-at-all-partisan-or-double-standardish position...
"He was, and is yet, most likely, the wearisomest, self-righteous
pharisee that ever ransacked a Bible to rake the promises to himself
and fling the curses on his neighbors." -Emily Bronte
I think you are pulling a
February 13, 2008 - 17:55 ET by Roger the ShrubberI think you are pulling a Stretch Armstrong comparing the two. Should the Vice-President's limo swerve off the road to avoid a pick-up with a Confederate Flag license plate on it, and then apologize to being on the same road as that evil flag? You are being silly.
Obama has control of HIS campaign offices. Cheney does not have exclusive control every environment he is in (but I think Karl Rove is working on a machine to remedy that).
Sure, this is partisan. But the Hopeful Changer keeps looking like a rookie when he does stupid stuff like this. Symbolism is muy importante when it comes to the president. Overt displays of Communism/Socialism does not fly well in the USA. At least beetween the coasts.
But he didn't do it, did
February 13, 2008 - 17:57 ET by balboaBut he didn't do it, did he? When you say he has control over his campaign offices, exactly how much time does he spend monitoring the wall decorations of those offices?
Yes, that office represents him, and therefore really shouldn't have the flag up. But to hold Obama accountable?
I would imagine there are
February 14, 2008 - 11:10 ET by Roger the ShrubberI would imagine there are some sort of guidelines that should be followed when campaign offices are opened. I would assume posters of naked chicks or dead babies might be considered distasteful.
Like I posted yesterday, The Hopeful Changer is making quite a few rookie mistakes
Rookie mistakes are magnified, and the negative results magnified when you are the president. Like it or not, this makes Obama look "un-American", Bal.
Apologize?
February 12, 2008 - 15:25 ET by iveseenitallB.O. apologize? Not a chance. "Liberals" do not apologize. Moreover, this clown wants to CHANGE America. He says it a thousand times a day. He's quite up front about it. He wants to change the America that let him into Harvard, the America in which he has become rich and powerful beyond his expectations, the America that is well on its way to achieving all his hero MLK dreamed of. All Americans should take stock of their lives, apprectiate this nation and everything it has to offer them. Do they really want to change it? They better be careful what they are wishing for. I remember watching t.v. as a little boy. A guy named Castro was preaching to the masses in the same way B.O. is doing today. B.O. is a revolutionary, you betcha!--a Castro-like "leader" who'll take away your freedoms. And just as in the 50's in Cuba, millions of lambs again are going to slaughter. Watch out, America.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"
Viva Leftistas!
February 12, 2008 - 15:28 ET by Santino CorleoneWasn't there a big flap last year when Dick Cheney's country club had a confederate flag hung somewhere? If I'm not mistaken this story was carried by all of the MSM and commented on by many civil rights leaders. In an age where the mere picture of a noose gets people fired and halloween decorations forcibly removed due to the painful, racially charged imagery it conjures, how can a flag of a mass murdering communist slip by as a "no big whoop"?
I'll tell you why...because we have been continuously bombarded with guilt over any blemishes in American history (real or contrived)by our education system, the MSM and Hollywood. Conversely, "freedom fighters" like Guevara, Castro and now Chavez are patronized and glorified.
Obama, ever, the pud,
February 12, 2008 - 15:25 ET by Roger the ShrubberObama, ever, the pud, responds in pud fashion.
And everyone in the media
February 12, 2008 - 16:15 ET by motherbeltAnd everyone in the media said: "Oh, OK."
End of story.
Liberals will never be
February 12, 2008 - 15:38 ET by rbosqueLiberals will never be apologetic about Che. He was a murdering sociopath and an avowed enemy of the U.S. He's a darling of the left.
He
was put in charge of the execution squads in early 1959. He stayed in
charge of the prison where most of the executions took place in Havana.
And in the months he was in charge there, about four months until July
1959, the estimates run from 500 to 1,182 men and boys sent to the
firing squad without due process.
And the left howels about GTMO???
"Hatred as an element of
February 12, 2008 - 15:49 ET by rbosque"Hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the
enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him
into an effective, violent, selective and cold-blooded killing machine. This is
what our soldiers must become ..."
Che
It seems to me....
February 12, 2008 - 15:44 ET by Prester John...that it would be better to just hang on to this story and not raise a fuss about it now. Just keep in reserve if you will for use in the Fall.
By raising it now it only gives Obama's people a heads-up on what can get them in trouble. By September they will have all their offices sanitized of anything that points to their leftist leanings.
This Just In
February 12, 2008 - 15:55 ET by deerjerkydaveThis just in, Joe Klein just called Che Guevara a moderate*. Controversey averted. Whew!
* (j/k) http://newsbusters.o...
The point is....
February 12, 2008 - 16:01 ET by LCT688The point is not weather or not BO had knowledge of the flags, it's that this is the dangerous mindset of the kind of people he would bring into his administration. And an open invitation for the Cuban-American population to go berzerk on his sorry a**.
"A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master and deserves one."
Alexander Hamilton
that's the kind of people who like Obama's ideas
February 12, 2008 - 16:18 ET by szampObama will say that the flag has nothing to do with him but his actions and ideas atract the anti-american crowd. That's the kind of people who will be in power if he wins anything. They will make sure that all our history and the accomplishments that we are proud of are erased from the records.
Well you have to admit.....
February 12, 2008 - 16:36 ET by motherbeltChe did advocate "change"......
Maybe they should be congratulated
February 12, 2008 - 17:37 ET by LCT688Such foolish displays can pretty much guarantee Florida will be out of reach for Obama if he should secure the Demo. nomination.
"A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master and deserves one."
Alexander Hamilton
Symbolism Important to Barack Obama Campaign
February 13, 2008 - 12:27 ET by BobMcCartyWritesFar-left symbolism, such as that evident in the display of Che Guevara propaganda, seems to be important to the Barack Obama campaign. Four months ago, I pointed out another example of it in a post, Photo on Obama Web Site Raises Questions. In that post, I questioned the subliminal message the liberal Democrat hoped to convey by posting on his campaign website a photo of Obama sitting in front of a framed photo of Muhammad Ali standing over a knocked-down opponent in a boxing ring. Oh, the symbolism! -- Bob McCarty Writes™ at BobMcCarty.com