Irenic Obama or Cantankerous Clintons? Tough Call

My heart wants to believe that Obama could be a unifying candidate for Americans. But my head tells me he'll be Willie-Hortoned and Swift-Boated to death by a very shrewd Republican attack crew.

Seeing a comment on a conservative blog yesterday, by a man who "strongly suspects that Obama is a closet muzzie" (Muslim, for the PC crowd), it reminded me of the inevitable insinuations that will arise about how Obama is a second-generation terrorist - in spite of his active Christian faith. GOP officials will "officially" condemn the insinuations and the ad campaigns and claim that they are the work of the fringe, but the damage will be done. Bubba may vote for a black man, but not for a Black Muslim.

During my own phase as an evangelical, I was named president of a young adult group at Hollywood Presbyterian. My predecessor came up to me, chuckled, and said, "I can tell you this now, but when you first stared coming to this group, someone told me, 'Keep an eye on Rob -- he might be one of those Muslim infiltrators.' I chuckled, then began to speculate which hard-right-wing member of the group had said that.

On the other hand, if the Clintons manage to co-win the nomination and go up against that ruthless Republican attack machine, they'd lose, but they'd at least give better than they got. Those kinds of hijinks alone would make it a fun summer.