The Community Obama Organized

Of course, The Messiah and his charming wife wouldn't dare live there. After all, how would that affect their children?

The media won't touch this stuff, naturally, and merely pointing out his shortcomings will leave some being accused of questioning his patriotism.

Actually, the media will probably shy away from his old 'hood out of fear for their safety.

Obama Exploits 9/11

I thought it was off limits for political candidates to mention 9/11?

Well, the guy who keeps reminding us he's patriotic, even though nobody has questioned his patriotism, dares to tread where nobody is allowed to go.

"You also felt pride - pride in the firefighters who rushed up the stairs while workers rushed down; pride in the police who provided comfort, and the neighbors who lent a hand; pride in your citizenship, and the tattered flag that flew at Ground Zero."

"That's why Americans lined up to give blood. That's why we held vigils and flew flags. That's why we rallied behind our president. We were ready to step into the strong current of history, and to answer a new call for our country. But the call never came."

The flourish of rhetoric comes as Obama seeks to call attention to his own patriotism, after controversy over his past refusal to wear a flag pin.

Obama slammed President Bush for failing to call for "shared sacrifice" after the attacks and defining patriotism "as the property of one party, and used as a political wedge to take us into a war that should have never been authorized and never been waged."

Obama failed to mention that on 9/11, his good buddy and political mentor William Ayers fondly reminisced in the New York Times that he had no regrets about being a terrorist.

''Everything was absolutely ideal on the day I bombed the Pentagon,'' he writes. But then comes a disclaimer: ''Even though I didn't actually bomb the Pentagon -- we bombed it, in the sense that Weathermen organized it and claimed it.'' He goes on to provide details about the manufacture of the bomb and how a woman he calls Anna placed the bomb in a restroom. No one was killed or injured, though damage was extensive.

Between 1970 and 1974 the Weathermen took responsibility for 12 bombings, Mr. Ayers writes, and also helped spring Timothy Leary (sentenced on marijuana charges) from jail.

Today, Mr. Ayers and Ms. Dohrn, 59, who is director of the Legal Clinic's Children and Family Justice Center of Northwestern University, seem like typical baby boomers, caring for aging parents, suffering the empty-nest syndrome. Their son, Malik, 21, is at the University of California, San Diego; Zayd, 24, teaches at Boston University. They have also brought up Chesa Boudin, 21, the son of David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin, who are serving prison terms for a 1981 robbery of a Brinks truck in Rockland County, N.Y., that left four people dead. Last month, Ms. Boudin's application for parole was rejected.

So, would Mr. Ayers do it all again, he is asked? ''I don't want to discount the possibility,'' he said.

I guess Ayers didn't line up to give blood that day.

'I Decided I Won't Wear That Pin On My Chest'

That pin, of course, is the American flag.

"The truth is that right after 9/11 I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security.

"I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest," he said in the interview. "Instead, I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testament to my patriotism."

That was last October. So, Messiah, what's changed between then and now?

Probably the exposure of his cadre of anti-American pals (see Wright, Jeremiah and Ayers, William).

So now seemingly every photo op has him surrounded by that same flag he disdained nine months ago and he's busy shedding every anti-American group that's supported him.

Barack Obama yesterday landed a right hook on one of his biggest left-wing supporters yesterday - blasting MoveOn.org for labeling Gen. David Petraeus "General Betray Us."

Obama, in a patriotism speech in Independence, Mo., hit the Web site for taking out an ad in The New York Times last year that targeted Petraeus, then the top US commander in Iraq.

While not naming names, the Democratic presidential candidate - who had been heavily supported by the Web site in his primary race - said, "A general providing his best counsel on how to move forward in Iraq was accused of betrayal.

"We can no longer afford these sorts of divisions."

But when it came time to condemn MoveOn last fall, Mr. Flag was nowhere to be found.

"Throughout my life, I have always taken my deep and abiding love for this country as a given," said Obama, sporting a shiny flag pin on his lapel.

One recent poll found only 61 percent of Americans believe Obama loves his country.

I'm surprised it's that high.

Meanwhile, Flagman is really going to test his nutroots base by announcing he'll be expanding President Bush's faith-based programs. I'm sure the kids will take it well. This will become what, his third or fourth Sister Souljah moment?

David Kuo, a conservative Christian who was deputy director of Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives until 2003 and later became a critic of Bush's commitment to the cause, said Obama's position has the potential to be a major "Sister Souljah moment" for his campaign.

This is a reference to Bill Clinton's accusation in his 1992 presidential campaign that the hip hop artist incited violence against whites. Because Clinton said this before a black audience, it fed into an image of him as a bold politician who was willing to take risks and refused to pander.

I thought this was his Sister Souljah moment? No wait, was this it?

Geez, at the rate this guy keeps moving right, by November he'll make Ronald Reagan look like a squishy liberal.

Meanwhile, another flip-flop. Must have gotten some fresh focus group results.

Nothing like having solid core beliefs.