Obama nation: Grilled but not cooked

Better late than never.

At the Democratic debate Wednesday night, moderators Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, with the enthusiastic support of Hillary Clinton, put the Obamessiah on the spot about some of his questionable associations and attitudes.

Not only did Obama face some well-deserved pressure on his recent snobbish comments that people in small towns “cling” to religion, guns and anti-illegal-alien sentiment because they are bitter, but he faced questioning about some of the disreputable types who’ve attached themselves to his campaign.

Although the subject of businessman Tony Rezko — who is facing charges of wire fraud, bribery, money laundering and attempted extortion — didn’t come up, Obama got slapped around for his longtime association with his racist pastor Jeremiah Wright.

The moderators also brought up Obama’s connection to Weather Underground founder and unrepentant terrorist William Ayers. Obama attempted to turn the tables by pointing out that President Clinton had pardoned some members of the Weather Underground during his administration. Then he side-stepped any responsibility for hanging around with Ayers, saying he shouldn’t be blamed for “somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old.”

That might have made sense except that Obama continually chooses to be associated with people like Ayers, who right after 9/11 expressed his lack of regret over the Weather Underground bombings, saying he wished members had “done more.” Obama has served on political panels with Ayers, is “certainly friendly” with Ayers according to his own campaign spokesman, and at the beginning of his political career visited Ayers’ home to solicit his support.

Obama seems to draw anti-American types like you-know-what draws flies. A more recent revelation is that one of Obama’s campaign “bundlers” (fundraising boss) is Jodie Evans, co-founder of the radical group Code Pink, which has lately been in the news for causing trouble for the Marines in Berkeley.  Evans is also a bigwig with the Rainforest Action Network, which includes the group Earth Liberation Front, described by the FBI as this country’s No. 1 terrorist organization. She’s also a vocal supporter of dictator Hugo Chavez.

All these associations of Obama’s are not just flukes. Taken together, they form a clear pattern — a very distressing one. Most of Obama’s supporters are such reflexive opponents of conservatism that they will accept any excuse he gives for his poor judgment and questionable behavior. However, it’s a good sign that finally some members of the media are beginning to ask the right questions.