More Bad News For Obama

Even his own campaign's national security advisor thinks his homeland security stance is insane:

In a new interview with National Journal magazine, an intelligence adviser to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign broke with his candidate’s position opposing retroactive legal protection for telecommunications companies being sued for cooperating with a dubious U.S. government domestic surveillance program.

“I do believe strongly that [telecoms] should be granted that immunity,” former CIA official John Brennan told National Journal reporter Shane Harris in the interview. “They were told to [cooperate] by the appropriate authorities that were operating in a legal context.”

That wasn’t just a personal opinion, Brennan made clear to Harris. “My advice, to whoever is coming in [to the White House], is they need to spend some time learning, understanding what’s out there, identifying those key issues,” including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, he said — the law at the heart of the immunity debate.

“They need to make sure they do their homework, and it’s not just going to be knee-jerk responses,” Brennan said of the presidential hopefuls.

As a lowly staff blogger at Hot Air brings out, Mr. Brennan isn't just another intel ham & egger - or, in other words, as ignorant about this topic as his boss:

He headed the National Counterterrorism Center, which coordinated efforts between the CIA, FBI, and other law-enforcement and intel agencies. He understands how to conduct counterintelligence and the resources needed for its success.

Evidently a great deal more than Senator Obama does.  Which leaves the question of how long it will be before Mr. Brennan becomes a former national security advisor to the "bring back President Hussein" campaign.  If B.O. cannot maintain harmony and placidity (and conformity) even within his own shop, how is he going to wave that dime store magic wand and hypnotize the whole country into imbibing the Kumbaya Kool-Aid and bipartisanly circle-jerking each other until we all keel over?

Did I say "dime store"?  Sorry, I should have said "diamond-encrusted," thanks to this particular pol's "best friend":

During his twelve years in politics, Senator Barack Obama has received nearly three times more campaign cash from indicted businessman Tony Rezko and his associates than he has publicly acknowledged, the Chicago Sun-Times has found.

Obama has collected at least $168,308 from Rezko and his circle. Obama also has taken in an unknown amount of money from people who attended fund-raising events hosted by Rezko since the mid-1990s.

But seven months ago, Obama told the Sun-Times his “best estimate” was that Rezko raised “between $50,000 and $60,000″ during Obama’s political career.

Obama, who wants to be the nation’s next president, has been purging some of those donations — giving charities more than $30,000 he got from Rezko and three of his business partners referenced in Rezko’s federal indictments. All three attended a lavish fund-raiser Rezko hosted for Obama four years ago.

Obama, however, has kept $6,850 from others who also are referenced in Rezko’s indictments. Obama also has hung on to contributions from doctors whom Rezko helped appoint to a state-government panel involved in some of Rezko’s alleged fraud schemes.

Remember the name "Jack Abramoff"?  Democrats made a lot of hay off of that crook at GOP expense during the 2006 election cycle.  Give me one good reason why Tony Rezko shouldn't be the (so to speak) tit for the Abramoff tat.

Oh, sure, Rezko may not have as many Donk pols on the string (that we know of so far), but by the same token Obama is "involved" with quite a few of Rezko's unsavory pals as well:

One of Rezko’s associates turns out to be Ali D. Ata, who worked in Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s administration. Ata now faces fraud charges for writing a letter on state letterhead on behalf of Rezko that lied well enough to get millions of dollars in loans. Rezko brought Ata into Obama’s camp as a contributor.

There is also Joseph Aramanda. He faces no charges in the Rezko scandals, but Aramanda allegedly played a role in a scheme Rezko used to exploit the Illinois state teachers fund. Aramanda also had a son who worked on Obama’s staff, and he also contributed to Obama’s campaign.

It raises so many questions, and so many more questions than if the Dems' Great Black Hope hadn't tried to put himself over as this squeaky-clean, pure-as-the-wind-driven-snow, more-than-quasi-messiahnic figure who would "do away with the 'old' politics" and "bring the country together".  Shinola, no wonder he wanted to "do away with the old politics"; part of the "old" brand of politics is public accountability, and look at what he had to hide.

How does a man who is (like all up & coming liberals) pronounced "brilliant" by his fellow jackasses manage to remain unaware of the shady dealings of somebody he considers a close friend, supporter, and even confidante?  Or, conversely, how does a man who holds himself out as being an idealist, reformer, and unifier let himself get mixed up with a crook, fixer, and swindler like Tony Rezko?

Barack Obama has short-sheeted his bed on this one.  Whether he thought the Rezko connection would never rise up to bite him in the ass, or that the media's rapturous enfatuation would provide him PR insulation, he's now left with the choice of looking like either a total boob or a complete hypocrite.  And trying to sneak past it by pumping his interviews and campaign appearances full of more of the same rhetorical flatulence that elevated his candidacy to frontrunner status not so very long ago isn't going to cut it now.

It's probably premature to say that the wheels are coming off the Hussein Express.  But his image is a lot more like Hillary Clinton's today than it was even a week ago.  And if electing B.O. wouldn't be all that dissimilar from electing the Empress, well, why go for an imitation Clinton when the genuine article is still available?

You can bet that'll be part of the pitch from the Clinton Machine to undecided superdelegates between now and Denver.