Four years ago during the Bush- Kerry 2004 Presidential campaign my younger brother told me that I needed to forget the past. In his words what had happened thirty odd years ago was not important now in this race for the President of our country. It did not matter to him that John Kerry had lied to a Congressional hearing about the conduct of our military in Vietnam. To him it was now irrelevant that Kerry had exaggerated his combat service and had demonstrated against our government while supporting our enemy, an enemy that I had fought in Vietnam. As he stated, “All politicians lie.” I argued that Kerry had’t just lied but in fact, during a time of war, he had committed treason. “Whatever,” he said, “That was then and this is now, you need to forget about that, let it go.” Bush was not going to get his vote.

To be honest if the Democrats had run almost anyone else but Kerry against Bush in that election Bush probably would not have gotten my vote either. Coming from a blue collar Mid-western family, in the past I had mainly voted Democratic, just like my father. But the Democratic Party is no longer the one my father or I knew and if he were alive today he would be the first to tell that to my brother.

I don’t know why the Democrats chose to run Kerry in 2004? It certainly didn’t work out for them. Maybe they thought that because he was a ‘decorated’ Vietnam Veteran that he would get the Veteran vote? The real Heroes, his fellow Swift Boat Veterans, made sure that did not happen. It is outlandish how today these Swift Boat Veterans are considered by some as villains when all they did was tell the truth. The Dems now call it “Swift boating’ when anyone says anything harmful about one of their candidates, even when what is said is true. Perhaps the Dems, like my brother, figured we Veterans should, and would, just forget about the past. Instead of just hoping that people will forget the past, what the Democrats should rely on is that they choose a candidate with a strong moral character. A candidate who has proven by their actions and words how they love our country, instead of the men the Democrats have chosen in these last two Presidential elections.

Kerry’s inflated accounts of his heroics in Vietnam were not the reason that I could not vote for him to be our President. Others have misled us about their wartime experiences. Besides his liberal politics, what bothered me was that while Kerry was still declaring he was a war hero he had pulled strings to get an early release from his tour of duty in Vietnam after just four months in country, thus making someone else take his place in combat. He also got out of fulfilling his full commitment to his enlistment contract, again making someone else complete his duty tour. That does not fit my definition of some one with character. But what really turned me against Kerry was his conduct in the anti-war (read anti-American) protests and the liberal radicals that he chose to associate with. Kerry has remained unrepentant for his dishonorable conduct upon his homecoming and for the lies he told before Congress about our military. Kerry’s anti-American beliefs and disreputable, traitorous conduct in the past showed me that he lacked good judgment and the moral character to lead our nation. Still after all of this time I remain surprised and saddened that an obvious traitor such as Kerry was able to come so close to being our President.

But here we are four years later and in Barack Hussein Obama the Democratic Party has once again given us a man who has in his past repeatedly shown this same lack of good judgment and honorable character to lead our Nation. In his past Obama has independently continually chosen the most socially undesirable directory of friends and allies imaginable. In our country’s history if any other Presidential candidate had been associated with even one or two of these anti-American, racist and criminal personalities their chances of becoming our President would have been zero. It is a sad statement about our nation’s collective character that despite all of these anti-American associations, Obama is still most likely going to be in The White House come January. Because of these past associations if Obama were a Republican the biased, liberal mainstream media would tear him apart. Yet today Obama now stands on the brink of becoming our next President.

With a double digit margin Obama is ahead in all the polls by what seems to be an insurmountable lead over a true man of undeniable honorable character, John McCain. Why? Has our nation become so ethically bankrupt that we no longer care about the moral character of our leaders? Are our leaders no longer required to love our country or to show good judgment in what they do and with whom they have aligned themselves? Have we all become so complacent that we now just choose to ignore all of the red flags from Obama’s past that have been popping up since the day he first announced his candidacy? Are we all so simple minded and self-absorbed that as long as Obama can give a good speech, promise tax cuts, national health care, make his false promises of change, and is simply not from the same political party that now holds office, that we are willing to place the future of our children, our country, in the hands of this man who has repeatedly shown us that he lacks the good judgment and moral character needed to be a responsible, America first, President?

Barack Obama’s choices in his personal life have been misguided, poorly thought out and, well, continually wrong. That is unless he purposely means to undermine our society and our nation like the friends and associates he has chosen to hang with.

When Reverend Wright, Obama’s Mentor and religious leader for twenty years, said “Goddamn America!” just who does Obama’s supporters think Wright was talking about, some other America? Wright meant our America. America is not a collection of rocks, trees and lakes; America is its people, of all races, religions, political parties and tax brackets. When Wright said, “Goddamn America!” he meant you and me, our sons and daughters, our fathers and mothers. He meant our neighbors be they Republicans, Democrats, Independents, liberals or conservatives. Wright meant Goddamn us all. So where is the outrage? Have we all become so self depreciating that we can no longer stand up to defend ourselves against such vile and villainous attacks on ourselves and our country? Have we all now become so cowardly and submissive that we dare not protest such insults and thus must slink away to pretend that these depraved attacks are really of no consequence or meaning?

Obama wants us to believe that for twenty years he never heard his Mentor say such things. Why are so many of us foolish enough to believe such nonsense? When America was finally made aware of Wright’s lunatic ravings, Obama would not condemn Wright for saying this. Instead Obama denied he ever heard it and then likened Wright to a misfit uncle before finally bowing to political necessity and separating himself from Wright, at least for the time being. But in reality if not for these videos Obama would still be sitting in Wright’s church listening to his racist, anti-American rants.

For twenty years our seemingly next President sat silent and thus agreed with and condoned Wright’s hate filled philosophies against us all. Instead of showing the courage that comes with a strong moral character by protesting against Wright’s words and by separating himself from this hateful, un-American theology, Obama embraced his Mentor. Obama welcomed Wright into his home. He drew Wright closer into his personal life by asking him to perform his marriage ceremony and to baptize his two children. This alone should make all Americans, of all races, of all political philosophies angry enough to say “No! Absolutely not! Obama does not deserve to be our next President!”

Meanwhile, the Democrats are so hungry for the power and prestige of The White House that they are willing to elevate a man who sat quiet for twenty years listening to such hateful attacks on the very country that they so roundly profess to love. The past is prologue, when Obama is elected rest assured that his Mentor, Reverend Wright will be returned to fold.

Obama’s choice to attend Wright’s church, out of all the thousands of churches in Chicago, was just one of the many times in Obama’s adult life that he has shown poor judgment. Obama’s decision to sit still and listen for twenty years to the racist, hate filled, anti-American rants of his Pastor states volumes about Obama’s character and courage. Yet if this had been the only incident where Obama had shown such a lack of character and courage it may well have been forgiven, we all make mistakes. But unfortunately Obama’s choice of his church is just one instance in a long list of anti-American associations, which Obama has made in his short career.

Two years ago hardly anyone not living in Illinois, or outside of the Democratic elite, knew who Barack Hussein Obama was. After almost two years of campaigning much has been brought to light about this man who now seeks our highest office. There is an old saying which states that you can tell a lot about a person by the company he keeps. Here is a brief list of just a few of Obama’s friends and associates:

1)     Frank Marshall Davis:

“Obama’s Communist Mentor”                                            
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-communist-mentor/

Referred to as just Frank in Obama’s book, “Dreams From My Father.” Davis was a hardcore Marxist who belonged to the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) who during an eight year period in Hawaii became a close friend, advisor and mentor to young Barack Obama. The CPUSA was funded by the Soviet Union.

2)     Khalid al Mansour a.k.a. Don Warden:

“Are Khalid al Mansour and Obama Friends?”
http://townhall.com/blog/g/c2df500d-0189-47d8-a454-54de9f6584c3

“Obama Had Close Ties to Top Saudi Adviser at Early Age” http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/obama_sutton_saudi/2008/09/03/127490.html

An advisor to a Saudi millionaire Khalid al Mansour was also a mentor to the founders of the Black Panthers. He approached New York civil rights activist Perry Sutton to write a letter of support for admissions to Harvard for Barack Obama. Obama and Khalid al Mansour were friends and Monsour was a fundraiser for Obama. Mansour has many videos on the Internet explaining his anti-White and anti-Semitic views.

3)     Illinois Senator and Reverend James Meeks:

“James Meeks: Obama’s Other Bigoted Spiritual Leader” http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/james_meeks_obamas_other_bigoted_spiritual_leader_with_a_special_appearance/

Another racist pastor and friend who helped Obama get elected to the Illinois legislature. Meeks and Obama both received campaign contributions from Tony Rezko.

4)     Tony Rezko:

“8 things you need to know about Obama and Rezko” http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/757340,CST-NWS-watchdog24.article

They first met in 1990 then in ’93 Obama was associated to Syrian born Rezko through his job at the Chicago law firm of Davis Miner Barnhill of which Rezko’s companies were among their clients. Rezko’s companies donated money to Obama’s political campaigns and he was a member of Obama’s campaign finance committee holding at least one “lavish” fundraiser at his home for Obama. In June 2005, after Obama became a U.S. Senator, Rezko sold the Obama’s a house for 1.65 million dollars, $300,000.00 under the asking price. To make that deal happen Rezko’s wife had purchased an adjacent empty lot to the Obama home for the full asking price of $625,000.00. Six months later Rezko sold a portion of that lot to Obama for $104,500.00. Rezko was under federal indictment at the time of these transactions and has since been convicted on federal felony charges. He is still awaiting future trials on related federal crimes.

5)     Rashid Khalidi:

“Obama worked with terrorist”
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=57231

Pro- Palestine Liberation Organization Khalidi is a professor at Columbia University and founder of the Arab American Action Network. The AAAN is a group that supports the destruction of Israel. Obama befriended Khalidi and as a director of the Chicago based Woods Foundation, along with domestic terrorist William Ayers, Obama funded to the AAAN a total of $75,000.00 in 2001 and 2002. Khalidi and his wife worked for the PLO, a group that is listed as a terrorist organization. Obama and Khalidi have known each other as early as 1993 when Obama was teaching law at Chicago University and Khalidi often lectured at the university. Khalidi has given a fundraiser for Obama’s campaign and of course supports Obama stating, "…because he is the only candidate who has expressed sympathy for the Palestinian cause."

6)     William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn

“Obama/Ayers Timeline”
http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/obamaayers-timeline/

The best way to explain Obama’s association, and friendship, with Ayers and his wife is to read the article above. The braggart, unremorseful cop-killing Ayers’ only regret for his traitorous actions is that he and his Weathermen were not able to wipe our country off the face of the earth. In any other country than ours Ayers would have been unceremoniously shoved against a wall and shot. Instead, because of some unlawful evidence used against him, he is allowed to spread his poison into our children as a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Despite all of the evidence that Obama and Ayers, and their wives, are close friends, Obama wants us to believe that they hardly know each other. At first Obama told us that Ayers was just some guy in his neighborhood. The other day he stated that when he worked with Ayers he was not aware of his past criminal activities. Apparently we are supposed to believe that in all of those 20 years of this damning relationship, and unlike every other company office in America, none of these organizations in which Obama and Ayers were working together ever gossiped about The Boss’s shady past. To believe that Obama knew nothing about Ayers’ anarchist past is ridiculous. He knew and it did not matter. Think about this, after Obama is elected this scumbag and his wife, who both belonged to a group that tried to blow up the Capital of the United States, will be frequent quests at the White House. If that doesn’t make your Patriotic blood boil you should move to a foreign country.

7)     Marxism:

“Religion is the opium of the masses.” – Karl Marx

“I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.” - Karl Marx

"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them,.. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." – Barack Obama at a San Francisco Fundraiser

“Obama Holds Lead in Pennsylvania, National Polls” – 10-09-08 http://blogs.forbes.com/trailwatch/2008/10/obama-holds-lea.html

Hey Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and the rest of you blanket heads! In case you missed this Marxist, elitist quote by Obama here it is again, and by the way, he was talking about you! What, you don’t own a gun or you have a job, you aren’t bitter or maybe you don’t mind Jose and Juan hanging around illegally so good old Barack wasn’t talking about you right? Well you don’t have to fit his description to a ‘T.’ But this is what he thinks of you. All of you, liberals and conservatives, Democrats, Republicans or otherwise, to Obama you are nothing but The Masses and you are only good for one thing, your vote. His quote is straight out of the Marxist’s bible and it was given at an elitist dinner in California where you would not have been invited even if Hell froze over. It was a joke told to rich fat cats when Obama thought he was speaking with anonymity. So why is Obama leading in all of the polls in your states? If you think he is going to think better of you because you voted for him even after he said this you’re wrong. If anything because you did vote for him after this he will think even less of you, if that is possible. Wake up!

8) ACORN:

“Obama, Acorn, Voter Fraud, and Scrubbed Website Posts” http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/obama-acorn-vote-fraud-and-scrubbed-website-posts/#comment-15204

1 VOTER, 72 REGISTRATIONS

'ACORN PAID ME IN CASH & CIGS' http://www.nypost.com/seven/10102008/news/politics/1_voter__72_registrations_132965.htm

All the way back to the Democratic primaries Obama has bragged about his role as a community organizer with ACORN. As he explained that role was an essential part of his experience to become our CIC. He even calculated that it was more important than being a Governor of our 57th state, Alaska! Well at least Obama may think it is our 57th. He has also talked about successfully representing ACORN in a lawsuit. But now that ACORN has been exposed all across our country for soliciting tens of thousands of fraudulent voter registrations Obama is denying he was ever involved with ACORN. “Acorn? Ayers? Wright? Fannie who? Never heard of ‘em!” The Obama campaign is now pulling the articles and videos about Obama’s association with ACORN off the Internet faster than you or I can pull a voting lever. Apparently this ACORN fiasco, which has received over $800,000.00 in donations from the Obama campaign, this year, must have been the Democrats’ Plan B. You know, just in case the polls showing Obama leading Old John were wrong. Mark my words, before the next week is out Obama will be asked about ACORN voter fraud and instead of answering the question he will talk about chads in Florida.

That’s enough, for now. I could go on, as I have not even mentioned Louis Farrakhan, or Reverend Wright’s connection with Black separatist James Cone. Then there is, or was, Fannie Mae CEO/Lehman Brother’s managing director/former Obama adviser, Jim Johnson. How about Obama getting $112,00.00 in donations from dear old Fannie? According to the LA Times that was more than anyone else in Congress! Or maybe we should look into Obama’s foreign adviser Robert Malley? Malley was shown the door yesterday (Friday 10-10-08) for meeting with the terrorist group Hamas. Of course Obama said he had no idea. Lest we forget George Soros and all of the help Obama gets from the media and MoveOn.org.

If elected President Obama has promised to protect our country from our enemies. Fat chance since our next President failed to show even a slight hint of character or courage in his rise to stardom. For twenty years Obama couldn’t even defend us against a loudmouth preacher. Instead he sat in silence. He immersed himself with every kind of radical enemy known to our society. So far, in his brief career he has surrounded himself with domestic, murdering terrorists, racist, anti-American pastors, Black separatists, Muslim extremists, and a convicted Syrian born criminal, voting fraud experts from ACORN, Marxists and the leading, greedy conmen of Fannie Mae. All of this as just a junior, first term Senator. The past is prologue. When he becomes President imagine all the powerful ‘friends’ Obama can gather around him, all wishing to see America fail. With the friends and business associates which Obama has aligned himself in the past he should feel right at home sitting down with Chavez, Putin and Ahmadinejad.

Obama may just be the most dishonest, reckless, dangerous and un-Patriotic person to ever run for President. Well with the exception of Hillary. If he isn't then we must believe that this guy can’t perform simple everyday tasks such as: getting into a university, picking out a church to attend, getting a job or buying a house, without somehow stirring up a controversy and falling in with the most despicable bunch of social misfits imaginable.

In retrospect Kerry may not have been a bad choice four years ago. By now maybe the voters would hate him as much as they hate Bush and McCain would be a shoe-in. After all Obama is getting a lot of votes just from Bush haters. Trouble is even with Kerry’s lack of character and good judgment Obama’s character and bad judgment makes Kerry look like a cross between Audie Murphy and Ronald Reagan. I can only wonder that if in fact it is not enough for Soros and the Democrats to just get some leftist liberal into The White House, but that perhaps they want it all? Perhaps they want to smugly sit back and gloat at our naivety while laughing at our ignorance as well for being duped into voting for Obama. How else can you explain how a man with Obama’s past connections and alliances could get this close to our Presidency? The past is prologue, and this leopard will not change his spots once he is elected.

God Bless America, we’re going to need it.

Semper Fi,
Mike


"Copyright 2008.  Michael E. Tank   All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied, faxed, electronically transmitted, or in any other manner duplicated without express written permission of the author."