Obama and Ayers. Does it matter?

I think, like most Americans, I had never heard of Bill Ayers before it was reported that Ayers had introduced Obama into Chicago Politics with a "coffee" at his home. Since then. many of us have read about Ayer's domestic terrorist group, The Weather Underground of the 1970s.

When we read that no one was killed except three of the weather Underground members themselves in a botched bombing, we tend to shrug off the enormity of evil that these people attempted. Obama wasn't the only one who was a child at the time of Bill Ayer's terrorism. So was this man. After reading his experience I finally get a full picture of the horror Bill Ayer's and his wife was capable of.

Early on the morning of February 21, as my family slept, three gasoline-filled firebombs exploded at our home on the northern tip of Manhattan, two at the front door and the third tucked neatly under the gas tank of the family car. (Today, of course, we’d call that a car bomb.) A neighbor heard the first two blasts and, with the remains of a snowman I had built a few days earlier, managed to douse the flames beneath the car. That was an act whose courage I fully appreciated only as an adult, an act that doubtless saved multiple lives that night.

Conveniently and suddenly Obama says he didn't know about Ayer's violent path when Ayer's threw him a party at his home in 1995 and as Obama served on several boards with him and he lived 1/2 mile from his own home.

Now, someone like myself might not have heard of Ayers, but I'm thinking that all those in that Harvard educated elitist neighborhood not only knew every detail of The Weather Underground, but obviously admired the man who was such a big part of it. Hyde Park is a close community of liberals after all. Bill Ayer's wife Bernadine Dorn, another Weather Underground member is a co-orker with Michelle Obama at the Chicago law firm where Obama and Michelle met. Obama worked with Ayers at the Woods Fund for years and didn't know about his terrorist past? Please.

The Obama campaign says this is just a "distraction" and that Obama has condemned the actions of Ayer's. But condemning the actions now, for the purpose of running for President doesn't mean much to me. If he had condemned Ayers say.......while he was running for the state legislature, then I might believe him. If Obama had said he didn't know of Ayer's violent past over a year ago when it was first brought up to him, then I might believe him. If Obama would stop calling every question about his associations "a smear" and just be honest, I might have more respect for him.

We can never know the intimate conversations (if there were any) of Obama and Ayers as they worked together on different boards in Chicago and were neighbors. I'm glad for one thing though. I am glad that America is learning about Bill Ayers and his wife. This man committed despicable acts and says he would do the same thing all over again if he had the chance ("I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough"), is a full professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. That, in and of itself, sickens me. This man would be in prison today except for legal technicalities. If you read the link above then you can see that except for the quick actions of a neighbor, a child and a family almost died because of Bill Ayers. Three people did die later.

Maybe this isn't important. Maybe Obama doesn't deserve to be questioned about this. Maybe people don't really care. But at least America is forced to look at those in our own country who hate this country. And don't tell me that Ayer's doesn't hate this country. When you proudly have a picture of yourself stomping on the American flag, you hate this country.


Now Obama brings up the Keating Five. And that is fine too. We need to know about who are about to elect as President during this troubled times. There is nothing wrong with bringing up the past as long as we stay truthful. We are known, after all, by the company we keep.