Anti-American preacher sees Obama as a son

Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the notorious liberation theology preacher at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, gave a rare interview to the Washington Post yesterday. Wright revealed that he and Obama were even closer than most people knew.

"It is unrealistic to think that one person can change the mess that this country has gotten into, but to pick on him is like picking on one of my kids," Wright said. "I have been knowing him for 20 years.

"I have not stopped loving him because of what the press did, and to see him beat up on because of things he is not responsible for is painful."

Wright is the same preacher who screamed "God Damn America!" from the pulpit and said 9/11 was just America's "chickens coming home to roost," among other anti-American statements. The fact that Wright thought of the president as a son makes Obama's denouncements of him during the campaign seem even more dishonest. Obama knew what Wright was up to for 20 years, but only resigned his membership from Trinity under political pressure.

In the Post interview, Wright also repeated the lie that he hasn't had any contact with Obama since the campaign, and said he didn't expect to see Obama until he was "out of the White House." But Wright's name was on the White House guest list that Obama released last year. Not only has Wright been in touch with Obama, the president threw the White House doors open for the noxiously anti-American pastor. Wright's lie echoes another anti-Semitic remark he made to the Daily Press of Newport News last year: "Them Jews aren't going to let [Obama] talk to me. I told my baby daughter, that he'll talk to me in five years when he's a lame duck, or in eight years when he's out of office."

Is Rahm playing CYA on health care?

For weeks, we've been wondering what Rahm Emanuel is up to. The fiery chief of staff has been leaking stories to the Washington Post arguing that he's the only one at the White House who has a clue. According to the articles, if Obama had listened to Emanuel's more moderate advice, he wouldn't be sinking in political quicksand today. In particular, Emanuel emphasized that he wants the administration to quietly abandon health care and start talking about job creation.

Previously, we've wondered if Emanuel is just trying to stave off the radical left, which hates Rahm right now for his pragmatism. Now, we have a different theory. Obama is mounting one last attempt to try to ram through his health care legislation, which the public overwhelmingly despises. He may as well lead congressional Blue Dog Democrats onto a plane and then fly them into the side of a mountain. Moderate Democrats, with their eyes on the election calendar, are starting to buck the president. A single ObamaCare bill needs another majority vote in both the House and the Senate to become law. It almost certainly won't happen.

Rahm, who wants to shift the focus to jobs, no doubt realizes how incredibly stupid this is. When ObamaCare fails again and Republicans clean up this November, Democrats are going to start looking for a scapegoat. Rahm's message? "It sure as hell wasn't my fault. I tried to stop this crazy thing."

It almost makes you pity Emanuel. We've noted before how the president's three other closest advisors -- Robert Gibbs, Valerie Jarrett, and David Axelrod -- all see Obama's election as manifest destiny for radical progressives. Poor Rahm is a realist surrounded by left-wing whackjobs who think Obama is a secular Christ figure. He's also a moderate check on their extreme views, which means we should hope he keeps his job for as long as possible.

Rahm the only thing standing between Obama and total lunacy

Last week, ObamaWatchNews reported on some drama surrounding Rahm Emanuel. After Leslie Gelb wrote a piece calling for Rahm's resignation, a column appeared later in the Washington Post defending Emanuel. Gelb said he believed the report had been written thanks to a leak from Rahm, who wanted to defend himself.

Today the Post ran another pro-Rahm puff piece headlined "Hotheaded Emanuel may be White House voice of reason." The piece confirmed many of our worst fears: Rahm Emanuel is the only levelheaded person at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Sourced by many of Rahm's closest henchmen, the article describes a pragmatic Emanuel surrounded by crazed ideologues. Early on in the administration, for example, Rahm warned the president that trying Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a civilian court would be a disaster. The president instead listened to his attorney general, Eric Holder, who was clamoring for a show trial in New York City. Emanuel also grew discouraged with the president's obsession with health care, wishing that he would shift focus to actually helping create jobs for people.

This is the situation in which America now finds itself: Rahm Emanuel, who once sent a dead fish to a political enemy, is the most sane person in the executive branch of government. What will become of Rahm? He's under attack by leftists to the point that he feels the need to stage newspaper articles defending himself. If he resigns, God only knows what will happen.

More on Rahm

Here's an update on our last post on Rahm Emanuel. Dana Milbank's piece, which defended Emanuel and attacked his critics like Leslie Gelb, got its information from a leak in the administration somewhere. Where else but from Emanuel himself? It looks like the famously combative Rahm is doing a little self defense.

ObamaWatchNews has previously reported that the president's brain trust consists of four people: David Axelrod, Robert Gibbs, Valerie Jarrett, and Emanuel. Interestingly, Milbank attacks all of them, except Rahm, as being "in love with the president" -- information that could have only come from the inside. It almost makes you wonder if Emanuel wrote the whole piece himself.

Emanuel must be very isolated in the administration right now. If he's going so far as to leak inside information to reporters in order to defend himself, resignation seems like the next logical step. Once he goes, there will be nothing standing between the president and his administration's radical leftists.

Rahm Emanuel: The sanest person in the White House?

Can it be so? Dana Milbank wrote a fascinating column in the Washington Post wondering if Emanuel is the only sane person in the west wing.

"Obama's problem is that his other confidants -- particularly Valerie Jarrett and Robert Gibbs, and, to a lesser extent, David Axelrod -- are part of the Cult of Obama. In love with the president, they believe he is a transformational figure who needn't dirty his hands in politics.

The president would have been better off heeding Emanuel's counsel. For example, Emanuel bitterly opposed former White House counsel Greg Craig's effort to close the Guantanamo Bay prison within a year, arguing that it wasn't politically feasible. Obama overruled Emanuel, the deadline wasn't met, and Republicans pounced on the president and the Democrats for trying to bring terrorists to U.S. prisons. Likewise, Emanuel fought fiercely against Attorney General Eric Holder's plan to send Khalid Sheik Mohammed to New York for a trial. Emanuel lost, and the result was another political fiasco.

Obama's greatest mistake was failing to listen to Emanuel on health care. Early on, Emanuel argued for a smaller bill with popular items, such as expanding health coverage for children and young adults, that could win some Republican support. He opposed the public option as a needless distraction."

When Rahm is the only thing standing between Obama and his dreams of a left-wing fantasy land you know we're screwed.