-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 9:50 am Subject: Like Father, Like Son: Obama a "Company" Man? "Problems Facing Our Socialism" ? http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/ ? So, how do you think this piece is going to play in the general election? Before you start slobbering and fuming and clobbering your keyboard, let me quickly say: Yes, I know. Yes, I know that the "Barak H. Obama" listed as the author of this 1965 article is not the guy running for president. ? We're talking about his dad. Yes, I know the words "socialism" and "communism" meant something different in the context of Africa in 1965 than they mean today. Yes, I know we cannot fairly use the father as a cudgel against the son. Yes, I know that Obama's somewhat romanticized view of his father (as expressed in his book) is perfectly natural. Yes, I know that Obama is no socialist. (Would that he were a bit more of one!)? Still, we must ask: How is this going to play in the general, in November?? In Kansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Missouri, Ohio, Florida? If you are honest, you will admit that -- for many people in the must-win purple states -- that headline hovering over that byline will come as quite a shock. Better the shock should hit now than in, say, October. A short time out for paranoia: Did the elder Obama ever come to the attention of the CIA? Frankly, I don't see how he could have avoided it. ? Look at the resume: Links to the Kennedys. An interracial marriage to an American woman. A son growing up stateside.? A published endorsement of (a form of) Marxism.? All of these factors would have set off alarm bells in a cold war context, with both the U.S. and the USSR vying for influence in developing African nations. Most important of all: He was the economist for Jomo Kenyatta, leader of Kenya.? Let's hear what former CIA guy Victor Marchetti has to say about that: "The CIA paid the late Jomo Kenyatta, ruler of Kenya, fifty or a hundred thousand dollars a year, which he'd spend on drink and women. Therefore we ended up paying Kenyatta twice as much, telling him: "This is for you and this is for your party." And now we know how young Barry's travels were paid for. By the way: Yes, I know that Marchetti's words were published on a vile site. But he offered his revelations long before Obama the younger entered our view. Marchetti's CIA expose was highly regarded back in the 1970s, before he went off the political deep end. At any rate, he is hardly the only source for the claim that Kenyatta and his party received Agency lucre. (Didn't Agee say something about this? Stockwell...? Damn, I wish I had not lost my library...) Note here: Both Kenyatta and his rival Tom Mboya got CIA pay-offs. Kenyatta was later accused of murdering Mboya. Wonder if the elder Obama could have offered confirmation of those rumors? Would the Agency have allowed the elder Obama to travel to America if they didn't know that he was "all right," despite his published endorsement of Marxism? ? I honestly don't know. I'd wager the rent money, though, that American intelligence kept a close watch on the father of the Savior, and that his file would make for some fascinating reading. Kenyan politics are a fairly new area for me. I have formulated no conclusions -- not even the most tentative of theories. Who knows where research into these areas will lead? But you must admit: This stuff looks interesting. On first glance, I would say that the elder Obama seems like the kind of person the Company might want to recruit -- or terminate. By the way: While writing the foregoing CIA-related paragraphs, I've been dying to use the word "spook." Is that term still permitted?? We're all pretty hypersensitive now. It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms and advice on AOL Money & Finance.
