Sirhan Sirhan
Reader comment on item: Obama's Connection to Sirhan Sirhan

Submitted by Zentrist (United States), Nov 18, 2008 at 21:18

At this point, it seems a little late to worry about Obama's "palling around with terrorists." Right now I have the photo in my head, the picture of Bill Clinton standing between Arafat and Rabin, Rabin looking very tentative for all his manifest courage. Bill Clinton, too, was, in a way, "palling around with terrorists." Especially, I gather, Arafat, who had much blood on his hands.

Before I get to the positive, some more negative: What about the recent photo, speaking of presidential photo-happenings--of President Bush literally holding hands with a Saudi leader? Think of what this says to the world. We worry about Barack's connections to Islam and maybe some of its violent-leaning types; but what about Bush's family and its longstanding warm and fuzzy relations with Saudi Arabia's tyrants and terrorists. "They are not terrorists," you might say. Fine. But they give money to people who blow up little babies to make their little "statements."

Furthermore, they have schools, I'm told, in which hatred, pure and simple, is instilled into the minds of their young people. Hatred leads to violent mindsets, and violent frames of mind can lead to suicide bombings. Bombs I'm told are easy to make; they can be made with products bought at the grocery store. It seems by no means impossible that terror could happen right here at home, in the United States. If this is going to happen, there is probably nothing that anyone can do about it. Or not?

I think we should try to do something about it. We've already done something about it: On November Fourth, we sent a New Declaration to the whole world. We will now at least listen to you. No longer are we so stubborn, so incorrigibly ignorant of the perceptions of our fellows. We will at least listen. Mr. Obama is nothing if not a good listener, and I'm very proud he's my president. Churchill, for reasons of his own, also was "chummy" with the likes of Stalin, a student of Lenin. Together, their list of victims went off the charts. "Uncle Joe," Truman affectionately called Stalin. Uncle Joe indeed.

You do what you have to do. Barack did what he felt he had to do. Now, against all odds, he's our prez, yours and mine. As Karl Rove has been suggesting, in so many words, let's give the man a chance to lead. Barack says he is open to suggestions. Send him your suggestions, suggestions for peace in the Middle East, suggestions for homeland security, suggestions for energy independence, suggestions for fiscal sobriety and sanity. Send him your ideas. If they make sense in a pragmatic way, Obama, who wants 8, not just 4 years, might just use them. Here is his address after January 20, 2009: President Barack Obama, The White House, Washington, D.C., 20501.

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