Shoot the hostage

By: Dan Fitzpatrick

Posted: 7/2/08

If political campaigns were modeled on movies, Barack Obama's campaign would definitely be based on the movie "Speed."
In the movie, Jeff Daniels tells Keanu Reeves that if he finds himself in a situation where someone is holding a hostage, Reeves should eliminate the criminal's bargaining chip by shooting the hostage.
When Daniels is taken hostage toward the beginning of the movie, Reeves dutifully shoots him in the leg, confusing the bad guy.
It might seem counterintuitive to attack the ones close to you to confuse your opponent, but Obama has learned it and given it his own spin. He's shown his willingness to throw anyone and anything under the bus, whether it's family, close friends or even his own statements.
Back when the Rev. Jeremiah Wright scandal erupted in March, Obama loudly proclaimed he could, "no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother."
Shoot the hostage. Obama's grandmother had once mentioned her fear of a panhandler who had been very aggressive in asking her for money and also happened to be black.
Sure, it's perfectly reasonable to be wary of aggressive people on the street, and sure, his grandmother was (by his own admission) "a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world" -but none of that mattered, because Obama had a crisis to avert.
So under the bus went Granny, like the poor old lady trying to get off the bus in "Speed."
But it was only a couple of months later that Wright finally lost his ticket to ride. After several public speeches supporting the screeds that had originally put him in hot water, Wright exploded the idea that he had been taken out of context. He also, perhaps too honestly, said that Obama was trying to run from him because it was what he had to do to get elected.
Obama finally gave up on Wright and tossed him and the United Church of Christ under the bus. And since Obama could not disown Wright any more than the black community, I guess the black community went under the bus too.
Ba-bump. Ba-bump.
After Wright came a barrage of Obama associates who didn't seem to know their place.
Tony Rezko, the recently convicted fat cat who has helped raise money for Obama since his Chicago days? Hope you like the taste of pavement, buddy.
Rev. Michael Pfleger, the Hillary-bashing, race-baiting priest and friend of Wright? Adios.
Jim Johnson, one of the guys in charge of vetting Obama's vice president choices (who also happens to be one of those mortgage-exploiting CEOs Obama likened to viruses)? Don't worry, I'm sure you can get the tire tracks off that suit somehow.
But it's not just people Obama keeps cutting out. It was October when he made his principled stand against the dangerous jingoism of flag lapel pins, but because the controversy over his refusal to wear one never totally faded away - and because, as Obama told Time in May, "People have been handing me flag pins" - he has gone back to wearing a flag pin on his suits. You see, not even Obama's own statements are safe from the chopping block.
Last fall, Obama stated that if his Republican rival opted for public campaign financing, he would do it as well. But now Obama has changed his tune because he can get much more money for his campaign if he sticks to private financing. There's certainly nothing wrong with private financing, but I thought it was usually seen as a bad thing for politicians to give up their principles to make an extra buck.
In the same way, Obama stopped criticizing the "special interests" after the big money started showing interest in him. The Washington Post noted that Obama "now refers respectfully to unions as the representatives of 'working people' and says he is 'thrilled' by their support."
Obama, in 2004, called to end the United States' embargo of Cuba; in Miami last August, he supported the embargo. Decriminalization of marijuana, the success of the surge in Iraq, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act courts, support for North American Free Trade Agreement, Israel, businesses that hire illegal immigrants, the D.C. gun ban - Obama has changed his position on each issue, every time out of political expediency.
It would be one thing if these flip-flops were a result of Obama's personal convictions evolving as grappled with issues; it's quite another thing to shamelessly lie about previous positions because they're unpopular at the moment.
So when the GOP was using his friend and pastor as leverage, Obama decided to shoot the hostage.
Wright is irreversibly damaged, but still alive; what's important to Obama is that he undercuts his opponents' advantage.
Obama's campaign has become just like the runaway bus in the movie. Now that it's picked up enough speed, there's no slowing it down without risking the whole thing blowing up. Even if it takes shooting the hostages or throwing them under the bus, Obama knows that his best hope for winning the election lies in keeping his campaign's momentum through November.
Those close to Obama are going to have to be careful - it's only a matter of time before another questionable association becomes another speed bump on the road to the White House.