by Jack Deal

Created on: April 23, 2008

It was a masterful campaign right through to Texas. Just before Texas Obama admitted they had let up for a few days and could have perhaps won or closed the gap with a stronger finish.

This was to my recollection the first time Obama admitted his campaign had made a mistake. Up to that point it was by most accounts a masterful campaign; in fact, an almost perfect campaign.

But as we know now, that was the calm before the storm.

First came the Michelle Obama comments that she had never been proud to be an American until her husband ran for office. Whew. There's one that will come back before November.

The Swift Boat propaganda masterminds will somehow create an image of her being First Lady and trying to represent the country she is not so proud of. Whew.

Next came the very Rev. Wright or as he is now called the Rev. Wrong. Willie Brown, perhaps one of the most savvy Democrats and former Speaker of the California Assembly and Mayor of San Francisco, nailed it on the head.

Willie said the real pros when they make the decision to go for high office look all around themselves and clean up the rough spots anticipating the vetting process. Obama did not do that thinking he and his message were above all the pettiness. By the way, for those that aren't aware of it, Willie Brown is African American.

Obama's explanation of the Rev. Wright was OK for his supporters but insufficient for his detractors. Does Obama expect everyone to believe he sat in the good Reverend's church for 20 years and simply not hear Wright's anti-American rantings? Of course lots of folks do sleep through church...

But the real problem with the good Reverend is yet to come. The Swift Boat propaganda machine will bring up, as Vice President Dick Cheney said at the recent press convention, the prospect of the Rev. Wrong giving invocations at the White House. Whew. That won't play well in Peoria and a lot of other places.

And then there's the ex- terrorist and "English professor" William Ayres. He and wife Bernadette Dohrn are quite the darling couple and have a loyal following amongst the progressives at the University of Chicago where he is a "Distinguished Professor."

Obama said he was only eight when Ayres and company bombed the United States so what's the big deal? The big deal is just how will that play in Peoria and the odds are it won't play so well either.

It will play about as well as Obama's elitist statement that rednecks cling to their guns and religion because they are bitter about the

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