Barry H. Obama: All-American

The Noo Yawk Times (AKA Obama campaign PR department) says Democrats plan a magic trick of David Copperfield proportions at their upcoming convention, transforming their “candidate with a most unusual background” into the All-American boy next door. The plan is For Convention, Obama’s Image Is All-American

Democrats face a number of imperatives at their convention, none trickier than making more voters comfortable with the prospect of putting a candidate with a most unusual background — the son of a black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother, who grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia — and his family in the White House.

… Through four nights there will be testimonials from family members like Mr. Obama’s wife and sister who will tell his “very American story,” … there will be appearances by lesser known “Americans from all walks of life, from across the country” speaking about their support for Mr. Obama. Combined with a film featuring the candidate in all-American scenes by Davis Guggenheim — the director of “An Inconvenient Truth”… aides to Mr. Obama are using the convention to tackle what members of both parties see as his greatest vulnerability with undecided voters: his “otherness.”

If Guggenheim can sell Al Gore’s Chicken-Little, the-sky-is-falling global warming theory, maybe he can sell Barry H. Obama, All-American Boy.

The introduction of a candidate is a task facing every presidential campaign, but one that carries unique challenges for Mr. Obama because of his race and questions about his patriotism, values and faith that Republicans have already vigorously sought to raise and exploit.

So there’s the plan. The fella who wears the now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t flag lapel pin; whose values and voting record are more liberal than anybody else in Congress, including avowed Socialist Bernie Sanders; whose faith record consists of 20 years of listening to the openly racist sermons of the not-very-rev. Jeremiah Wright ranting about “whitey” and “G—D--- America!” All that goes down the memory hole, like Alice’s rabbit. Presenting the new, improved Barry H. Obama, All-American Boy! And if you’ll buy that, I’ve got some oceanfront property in Arizona…