Candace de Russy's "Radical Mind"

My good friend Candace de Russy's article "Radical Mind" appears in the current issue of National Review. (A longer version of the article is available at Family Security Matters.) Dr. de Russy argues, convincingly, that although 63 percent of Americans believe that Barack Obama shares traditional American views, there are serious lacunae in his resume, questions about his upbringing and gaps in what we know about his associations with radicals ranging from the far left to Islamo-Terrorism. For instance, de Russy observes that at Occidental College in Los Angeles he strived "not to be 'mistaken for a sellout," and then continued to fixate on identity politics and radicalism while at Columbia.

Upon moving to Chicago after graduation:

"Obama elected to become a left-wing community organizer in Chicago. He was hired for the job, NRO’s David Freddoso stresses, by persons who had trained under academic-turned-radical-socialist and self-described agitator Saul Alinsky."

At Harvard Law, "He became adept at not giving away his true positions, 'giving warring classmates the impression that he agreed with all of them at once.'" The question that needs to be asked concerns the degree to which Senator Obama has cloaked his actual views over time. One indicator, notes de Russy, is that Obama has longstanding friendships with Rashid Khalidi, "a backer of the Palestine Liberation Organization while it was designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department" and William Ayers and:

"While Obama and Ayers served on the Woods Fund board, the trust made substantial grants to the Arab American Action Network, founded by Khalidi. The organization reports that it conducted an oral history project on “an-Nakba,” or the “catastrophe” of Israel’s founding."

As well:

"...just as Obama did not in the past hesitate to support the work of Khalidi, so did he not hesitate in his campaign to hire Mazen Asbahi as his Muslim-Outreach Adviser. Asbahi recently resigned in the wake of publicity linking him to legacy groups of the worldwide Muslim Brotherhood."

Other of Mr. Obama's radical advisors have included Charles Ogletree, Robert Malley, and Cornel West.

Quite a crew to have running the country.