Change at What Price?

"My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it."

-- Barack Obama

Oops. The balloon is leaking. The fairy-tale that "Ground Hog" Slick Willie warned us about in February is unravelling. Yes, Dorothy, we are definitely not in Kansas anymore.

Call it whatever you want but the "Change We Can Believe In" message is not the message of "Hope" we were led to believe. No Pollyanna this message of Hope is really a message of Hate. Of Anger. Of Racial discord. Of Anti-Americanism.

It may have taken a bit longer than some predicted, but the Barack Obama facade has finally been revealed. Oh, we're not talking about holding a man accountable for statements of his pastor. And, we're not saying a man should be convicted of "guilt by association" as some have defended the Illinois Senator. And, we're really not saying we should not take Mr. Obama at his word. We're just saying...if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and sounds like a duck. Well?

The recent revelations by Fox News and ABC News of racial rhetoric in sermons made by Barack Obama's pastor and spiritual advisor Reverend Jeremiah Wright have put the Democratic Presidential contenders' Presidential hopes in doubt. Serious doubt. This is not a partisan attack on a marginal political issue. This issue strikes at the very heart of Barack Obama's DNA. By his own admission, a man he calls "Uncle," the man he holds in great respect, the man who is a close friend of Reverend Louis Farrakhan, the man who married him and his "I have never been proud to be an American" wife Michelle, the man who baptised his children, the man who served on his African-American Spiritual Advisory committee, the man whose sermon "The Audacity of Hope" so moved Mr. Obama that it became the centerpiece of his campaign and the title of his own autobiography, the man who has preached at the church he has been a member and attended for 20 years has been outed. Outed big-time. We're talking Eliot Spitzer-Client #9-like:"Yes, I did have sex with that woman. Five large ones, too!", outed.

Oh, I know not everyone thinks it is a big deal. The Keith Olbermann faction of BMSNBC" (Barack-MSNBC) has been deflecting the story the past 48-hours. However, as hard as the liberal media tries to spin it, this ship has sailed. You can just look at the individuals who have taken to the airwaves to defend Obama. The Reverend Al Sharpton quickly spun the story to talk about "degrees of standards" we will measure all politicians. He made quick comparisons to men of the cloth who have endorsed Republican Presidential candidate John McCain. Sorry, Mr. Sharpton. You can't save this sinking ship with your off-kilter rhetoric any faster than you can say Tawana Brawley. Your candidate has already seen to that with his own rhetoric on national television last night.

Even an African-American syndicated radio host, Larry Elder, finds Mr. Obama's story hard to believe.“How can Barack Obama dis-invite him … and now claim he had no idea that Jeremiah Wright made all these incendiary comments? It doesn’t work,” Elder told FOX News.

You see, it really does not matter that Reverend Wright said America deserved the 9-11 attacks as retribution for dropping the Atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No, it really does not matter that Reverend Wright said that the United States government was responsible for HIV and was run by rich, white men whose purpose was to keep the black man down. And, as absurd as it sounds, it really does not matter that Reverend Wright said "God Bless America" should be replaced with "God Damn America." (He said all those things from the pulpit of the Trinity United Church of Christ that Barack Obama has been a member the past 20 years.)

You see what really matters is what Mr. Obama said last night on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC during his quick appearances to deflect the uproar. He defended his pastor. I know, he denounced his comments but he defended his spiritual advisor and his "Uncle." He even went as far as to say on national television that you had to understand where Reverend Wright was coming from. He was a Vietnam veteran who was still fighting the war of the 1960's and while he found his comments "appalling" that he was not aware of the hateful rhetoric Reverend Wright has been espousing.

Seriously. He said he had not been in church when these inflammatory comments were made. Incredulously he said that if he had heard them, he would have quit the church. Would have removed him from his campaign long before last night had he "known" about these comments. Ok, we can take Mr. Obama at his word on this one. But don't you think in this 24/7, blogging news cycle that somewhere, someone has a microphone from one of those sermons? A recording with a date. Perhaps that date can be tied back to Mr. Obama's presence in the church? Maybe.

But it really does not matter whether Mr. Obama's fall-on-his sword denial comes back to bite him. The toothpaste is already out of the tube. The helium is out of the balloon. The train has left the station. The curtain has been revealed on the Wizard of Oz. The emperor has no clothes.

Yes, Mr. Obama. Words do matter. Yours and your pastors' have just sunk your campaign faster than you can say "Turn Out the Lights. The Party's Over."