Heels On

Is telling the truth about Barack and his scummy friends enough to pull the current campaign narrative away from the clutches of the economy? Barely, but I think it is. The challenge remains how to educate Americans about the Obamafia. Right now, the job of educating the public about Bill Ayers et al seems to have been assigned only to Sarah Palin.

Campaigning through Republican strongholds of Gulfcoast Florida today, Palin continued her weekend theme of tying Obama to Ayers, who was a founder of the violent Weather Underground group blamed for several bombings during Vietnam War protests, when Obama was a child. Obama has denounced those activities.

Ideally, the theme of Barack's shady character would be pursued by a third party, not by the McCain campaign. It's hard for a campaign not to come across as shrill and speaking only from self-interest when attacking during the final days. But it's still good to hear discussion about the bad guys who Barack made close bonds with.

And in an interview with conservative New York Times columnist William Kristol published today, the Alaska governor suggested that there should be more discussion about Wright, who was Obama's pastor of 20 years at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Obama has denounced the pastor as well.

But when Kristol pressed Palin about Wright, she replied, "I don't know why that association isn't discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country... To me, that does say something about character. But, you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up."

Which must be done. Jeremiah Wright is the only member of the Obamafia known to the general public, but the hot pursuit at the truth about Barack's dirty past never materialized. While it may be too late now to bring it up with power, McCain can't let November 4 arrive without voters knowing about who Barack is.

And I guess we’ll soon know McCain’s call on whether he wants to bring Wright up — perhaps at his debate with Obama Tuesday night.

I asked at the end of our conversation whether Palin, fresh off her own debate, had any advice for McCain. “I’m going to tell him the same thing he told me. I talked to him just a few minutes before I walked out there on stage. And he just said: ‘Have fun. Be yourself, and have fun.’ And Senator McCain can do the same.” She paused, and I was about to thank her for the interview, but she had one more thing to say. “Only maybe I’d add just a couple more words, and that would be: ‘Take the gloves off.’ ”

Tomorrow night should be very interesting. How does McCain damage Obama without doing as much damage to himself?