The problem for most progressives I know is that means not just ends matter and just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

The folks I know (many who happen to have served in the military)  support the right but not the act.  And Democrats have consistently defended the 1st amendment and fought to protect free speech -- including the right to trample the flag -- but that doesn't mean they like it when someone does it.  That visual alone will be played and replayed throughout the Fall and I still haven't seen anything from the Obama campaign to counteract the image or the impression that he's anything other than a detached observer.

By Joe Stephens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 22, 2008; A01

A few years ago, executives at the prestigious University of Chicago Medical Center were concerned that an increasing number of patients were arriving at their emergency room with what the executives considered to be non-urgent complaints. The visits were costly to the hospital, and many of the patients, coming from the surrounding South Side neighborhood, were poor and uninsured.

Michelle Obama, an executive at the medical center, launched an innovative program to steer the patients to existing neighborhood clinics to deal with their health needs.

That effort, in time, inspired a broader program the hospital now calls its Urban Health Initiative. To ensure community support, Michelle Obama and others in late 2006 recommended that the hospital hire the firm of David Axelrod, who a few months later became the chief strategist for Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

Axelrod's firm recommended an aggressive promotional effort modeled on a political campaign -- appoint a campaign manager, conduct focus groups, target messages to specific constituencies, then recruit religious leaders and other third-party "validators." They, in turn, would write and submit opinion pieces to Chicago publications.

1. The extent to which Ayres and Obama collaborated in their efforts during Chicago's "School Wars", and the extent to which Obama funnelled funds to "questionable" projects as part of that effort.

2. The question of whether Obama has tried to cover up what is suspected by many as a close working relationship with Ayres at the beginning of Obama's political career.

Obama is clearly trying to minimize his relationship with Ayres here in a deceptive manner.  Ayres isn't just '...a guy who lives in my neighborhood', he's a major player in education politics in Chicago.  (Nor is Ayres an English Professor -- he's an Education Professor, something that Obama should know, and probably does know, but just got wrong in the midst of the debate.)  

And while Obama may not have received the "official" endorsement from Ayres this year, his very first fundraiser was held in the Ayres/Dohrn home, and Ayres certainly supported Obama during Obama's State Senate career.

Ultimately, this all comes down to the question "Who is/was Barack Obama."  The Ayres relationship has no good answer -- was Obama someone who shared Ayres still radical perspectives, or someone who opportunistically used his Ayres connections (the entire Ayres family is huge in Chicago political and philanthropic circles) to advance his political career?

The whole "library held archive" thing stinks to high heaven, because a great deal of work was done cataloguing the Annenberg Challenge Archives, and it would be extremely unusual for the Library to have provided the staff and resources needed to do the work without an agreement of some kind regarding the use of the collection.  The cataloguing of the files makes it clear that certain files were not to be made available to the public, and other files were available only with "consent", and until now there has been no question of the archives being part of the University's collection.  

Doesn't make the point any less valid.  

I have no idea how deep or long his association with Ayers is.  Nor do I care.  

I think the enormous cost of college has put a stink in many ways through the whole kit and kaboodle.  So many can't afford to go; so many have so much pressure while in college that it isn't about learning, but putting up grades; and the teaching has become more timid because logically enough, students and parents treat college education as a product they purchased.  If the student is not doing well, surely it is not the student's fault...I saw all these problems firsthand when I was still in college two years ago.  The environment reeks of entitlement, although they do their best to make it difficult for you to understand the disadvantages of entitlement.

It's going to come down to this: Which is worse? Not knowing how many houses you own or the one you have you couldn't afford so you got a convicted felon to help you buy it? I think if you are objective, the latter is going to be way worse. The "McCain is senile" thing from the Obama campaign really hasn't worked so far so I don't expect it to all of a sudden work. And if it is really "investment property" then Obama's attack has even less effect.