In the Middle East, bombings are a big deal. Because the countries are so much smaller than the U.S., when terrorists attack, they kill someone we know. Everyone has a cousin, a classmate who was killed as a result of some bomb whether it was in the 1970s, 1980s, or more recently. It doesn’t make the pain of the loss any easier. That’s why I’m surprised at the general apathy towards the William Ayers, Barack Obama friendship.
To the NYT’s Gail Collins, Obama’s critics are hysterical over something that occurred so long ago. Collins talks about the Weather Underground as simply an anti-war group, as though they simply put Che posters on their dorm walls. “The McCain folks have been obsessed with William Ayers, a neighbor of Obama’s who is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Back in the 1960s, Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, were leaders of the Weather Underground, an antiwar group whose penchant for violence was exceeded only by its haplessness.”
The problem is they didn’t just talk, they built bombs, attacked the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol, and they killed people. Sure it was a long time ago, but it doesn’t make their bombs any less lethal, or their actions any less appalling. In 2001, Ayers told the New York Times, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough."
And the other problem is, Ayers may not be just a “neighbor,” as Collins chooses to identify him. In the mid-90s, Ayers and Obama worked together on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, doling out millions of dollars to support Ayers’ “social justice” educational ideas. There’s been a lot of speculation about how well Ayers and Obama knew each other then, and how committed Obama may have been to Ayers’ agenda. I don’t know how this story will play out, but calling Ayers a “neighbor” seems to be just more mainstream Obama spin.
In Ayers’s defence, Collins writes that in 1997 this scion of a prominent family was chosen as Chicago’s citizen of the year. Frankly, that doesn’t speak well of Chicago’s choosers.
I can’t help but wonder if Gail Collins would say it’s okay for McCain to have served on boards with an abortion-center bomber like Eric Rudolph. Would she say, Pish Posh! It was so long ago!? The family of the police officer who was killed in San Francisco by a Dohrn attack doesn’t think so.
Collins says we should relax about the Weather Underground’s history. Is that how low the prestigious New York Times columnist is willing to set the bar?
To the NYT’s Gail Collins, Obama’s critics are hysterical over something that occurred so long ago. Collins talks about the Weather Underground as simply an anti-war group, as though they simply put Che posters on their dorm walls. “The McCain folks have been obsessed with William Ayers, a neighbor of Obama’s who is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Back in the 1960s, Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, were leaders of the Weather Underground, an antiwar group whose penchant for violence was exceeded only by its haplessness.”
The problem is they didn’t just talk, they built bombs, attacked the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol, and they killed people. Sure it was a long time ago, but it doesn’t make their bombs any less lethal, or their actions any less appalling. In 2001, Ayers told the New York Times, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough."
And the other problem is, Ayers may not be just a “neighbor,” as Collins chooses to identify him. In the mid-90s, Ayers and Obama worked together on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, doling out millions of dollars to support Ayers’ “social justice” educational ideas. There’s been a lot of speculation about how well Ayers and Obama knew each other then, and how committed Obama may have been to Ayers’ agenda. I don’t know how this story will play out, but calling Ayers a “neighbor” seems to be just more mainstream Obama spin.
In Ayers’s defence, Collins writes that in 1997 this scion of a prominent family was chosen as Chicago’s citizen of the year. Frankly, that doesn’t speak well of Chicago’s choosers.
I can’t help but wonder if Gail Collins would say it’s okay for McCain to have served on boards with an abortion-center bomber like Eric Rudolph. Would she say, Pish Posh! It was so long ago!? The family of the police officer who was killed in San Francisco by a Dohrn attack doesn’t think so.
Collins says we should relax about the Weather Underground’s history. Is that how low the prestigious New York Times columnist is willing to set the bar?
