The Audacity of Earl

I've got nothing but respect and admiration for Earl Ofari Hutchinson as a writer and a person, but his tendency to create GOP bogeymen out of the ordinary stuff of politics is so over the top it begs response.

In his latest post, Earl bemoans that without the "Hillary firewall" -- ie, without Clinton catching the bulk of the GOP and media's flak -- Obama could become the target for all sorts of campaign wickedness. Then Earl trots out what are supposed to be chilling examples of such foul campaigning: Gun-rights groups have criticized Obama''s position on guns! Anti-tax groups won't like his affinity for tax hikes! Pro-life groups will cry foul over his support of denying basic, life-saving medical care to babies who somehow manage to be born alive during failed late-term abortions!

Oh the inhumanity! Do those Republican "swift-boaters" have no shame? They'll go after Obama on the issues!

But the coup de grace comes when Earl forecasts all the "personal dirty stuff" we can expect from the GOP mud-slingers:

They’ll hammer him for his dealings with an indicted Chicago financier, for possible conflict of interests in other financial dealings and legislative votes, and his fuzzy oftentimes contradictory statements and actions on the Iraq war and terrorism. Then there’s the ultimate ploy, the race card. The GOP hit squads will dig, sift and comb through every inch of his personal life and poke through his voting record to find any hint of personal or political muck.

In other words, they will do to Obama exactly what Hillary Clinton has been doing to him these last several months.

The funny thing is, when the Clinton machine was doing it, I never heard Earl complain.