I Once Knew a Guy Who Knew a Woman Who Knew Roy Cohn. Therefore, I Must Be Interrograted on My Views on McCarthyism

Richard Cohen's piece in the Washington Post is about as absurd as the title of this post. He is worried because Barack Obama's pastor once praised Louis Farrakhan. This is exactly the kind of ridiculous hack piece that Obama can expect throughout the campaign. Farrakhan is an anti-Semite; therefore, could Barack Obama be an anti-Semite as well? Though Cohen repeatedly claims that he has no evidence to believe that Obama shares Farrakhan's beliefs, he goes ahead and tars him with the connection.

Plus, he might as well be reviving the ghost of Louis Farrakhan. Is Farrakhan even relevant today? In a February 2006 poll of African-Americans, Farrakhan was named the most important African-American leader by a whopping 4%, placing 5th. This is like claiming Rudy Giuliani has a legitimate shot at the Republican nomination. What Cohen is doing here is using the ever-effective spectre of anti-Semitism to attack Obama. This is just about the most gratuitous thing I have seen in this campaign so far.

And what the heck is Obama supposed to do anyway? Make a public proclamation distancing himself from Farrakhan? How is that possibly going to help him? Does it improve his standing among Jewish voters? It would certainly hurt him with African-Americans. Moreover, it would call more media attention to the irrelevant "connection," if you can even call it that.