Same old Obama

So Hamas' chief political adviser, Ahmed Yousef (who describes Jimmy Carter as a "noble man" and an "excellent" President), said recently, "we like Obama and hope that he will win the election". In fairness to Obama, he can't help that, nor would he ever want it, but that doesn't change the fact that he has Hamas' endorsement for the presidency, which is something that I have as much chance of getting as John McCain does.

Now why on earth would a group like Hamas weigh in on a presidential race in the first place? Perhaps it's about the perception of weakness, or maybe the presence of opportunity (and, of course, by that i mean, America's likelihood of capitulation), or maybe that they see something Carter-esque in Obama. Regardless, i very much doubt that Hamas' motivations for 'selecting' a candidate are based upon the same goals as your average American.

Unfortunately for Obama, when you start adding this sort of thing together with his 'carrots for Iran' plan, all of a sudden he has a political problem to the tune of 27 electoral votes. And even if it weren't a Florida problem, it's also about how Obama is perceived by America's enemies. So of course McCain was going to talk about it.  What he said on The Daily Show (as quoted on My Way News) was that statements of support from Hamas were, "indicative of how some of our enemies view America. And I guarantee you, they're not going to endorse me."

I don't see a problem with that. He didn't blame Obama for seeking Hamas' endorsement, nor did he suggest Obama would ever want it in the first place.  But in typical Obama fashion, his comments are met with with a stupefying disbelief that someone, somewhere, somehow had the boorish audacity to, that's right, criticise him.

"This is offensive, and I think it's disappointing, because John McCain always says, 'Well, I'm not going to run that kind of politics,'" Obama said. "And then to engage in that kind of smear, I think, is unfortunate, particularly since my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his."

The Illinois senator added: "For him to toss out comments like that, I think, is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination. We don't need name-calling in this debate."

In the last paragraph here, Obama says that it, "is an example of him losing his bearings...We don't need name calling." So while Obama has a go at McCain for name-calling (which he didn't do), he does so immediately after having a dig at his age. Real classy. Of course, when McCain calls him on it, his first response is the oh-don't-be-so-stupid, that's-not-what-I-meant line -- I wonder at what point the media and, more importantly, the public, will lose patience with his standard two responses for everything he shouldn't have done: 1) I didn't mean it like that, and 2) It wasn't me, it was an aide, and I fired them.

Not surprisingly, the story starts with Obama getting a Hamas endorsement and ends with a discussion about how McCain, 72, is sensitive about his age and, should he win, will be the oldest person ever sworn in. It may seem on the surface like frustratingly good politicking but it's not, it's agism, nothing more, and somehow that's become acceptable...so long as it's Obama saying it.

*Check out Instapundit for more on this.