Changing the Subject to the Keating 5

Now that the McCain campaign is going to use Ayers as their main attach for the week the Obama campaign is coming at McCain hard with the Keating 5. The point that they are making is that McCain went to bat for failing banks in the past and today we'll see more of the same so McCain cannot be trusted.

The substance of this attach is weak. McCain was involved in some meetings with federal regulators but did nothing corrupt. The public records shows he made a bad decision and showed poor judgement but was cleared of any wrongdoing. And the bottom line is that his actions did not cause the S&L's to fail.

The tactic may work because both were bank scandles and the current one is not over yet. Not with world markets tanking this morning. But the Obama campaign's quick change of subject deserves more scrutany. The Ayres connection should be examined a little more closely. While the campaign is accurate in saying that Ayers is not part of the campaign and he and Obama are not close. But they served on a board together and spent a large sum of money on education. The results did not better education in Chicago and is a microcosim for what is wrong in education today - too much nonsense and not enough of the 3-R's. So, the Obama campaign fights hardest to prevent people from finding out what happened during this phase of the man's life. They send e-mails to supporters asking that phone lines be flooded when critics are on talk radio shows. And now they're putting out an 18 minute video on the Keating 5.

If Obama is a new kind of politician he's not showing it. And if he's as successful as he wants us to believe he needs to speak about this time in his life rather than hide from it. Otherwise, how can we trust?