The Negative Campaigns: Obama and Ayers

Don’t look now but the Presidential election campaigns have become negative. Both candidates started their campaigns as wanting to be different than previous elections. They weren’t going to stoop to the negative campaign levels….riiiiight. Based on how both men are running their campaigns, I don’t think it has turned out to be any different than previous elections.

The biggest news story outside of the debates and Wall Street has been Obama’s connection with Bill Ayers. I don’t pretend to know that much about Ayers other than what you can read on Wikipedia and in newpapers. My parents weren’t even in high school when he engaged in some terrorists acts that he was never charged for. It is obvious this week that McCain’s camp is doing everything they can to use this story to paint Obama as dangerous. Here is McCain’s latest ad against Obama on the Ayers connection (video embedded):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONfJ7YSXE5w&hl=en&fs=1]

Here are a couple of my questions on this story:

  • Why did McCain wait this long to push this story? Why didn’t Clinton push it?
  • If Ayers is truly a threat and makes Obama a dangerous candidate, how is he still a US citizen not in jail and also working as a professor at a state college?

(These questions aren’t to minimize the importance of the story. They aren’t even to say that I’m not troubled by any connection Obama might have with this man. I know my questions make me sound liberal…I’m just trying to read between the lines of why this is or isn’t a big deal. They are questions not statements.)

Does Obama’s connection with Ayers worry you?