Wretch – “The ‘self-portrait’ is how Obama wishes to be seen.” Yup. Still indefensible for you to keep sponsoring doubts about the guy’s core w/o having read his own case statement..

Consider this – when you do your own auto-biographical posts, you generally offer up a pretty romantic “I” – It’s how you want your readers to see you and it tells us quite a bit about your political bent. Most of the time your persona is that of the solitary – the soulful hard man on the margins who dares to come into the nearness of distance. (Your way-of-being-in-print probably shares quite a bit with other “post-colonial” writers, though I doubt you’d want to see your literary self in such a context.) Solidarity isn’t your thing – as I’m sure you’d allow. Don’t recall you posting about any version of (what Rastas call) “social living” (cept from outside looking in). I’m reminded of your knee-jerk response to the idealism of that priest-doctor (I invoked a few months back) who has devoted his life to saving Haitian children. Knowing nada about him, you immediately equated him with a “bwana.” Fr. Frechette (in your mind) couldn’t be a hero of our time. Had to be another liberal weeny-ninny. As it happens, you (and other Clubbers) can make amends now. Try the website of Our Little Brothers and Sisters and read Frechette’s latest communication about conditions in Gonaives – you might even want to donate….http://www.nph.org/

Obama’s “Dreams” tells me that he would NEVER have made the mistake you made when it came to Fr. Frechette. It also tells me that he was well aware that good intentions are not nearly enough. And that human solidarity is HARD to sustain. But he’s keeping the faith.