One of the most bizarre things to happen during the primary campaign was the prominence of Che Guevera flags in Barack Obama campaign offices, most notably in Houston. True, images of Guevera appear on tee shirts on college campuses across the country, but it’s a safe bet those students have no idea who Guevera was, or what he stood for. They just think it’s a cool, ubiquitous, collegiate tee shirt, bought from the same purveyors of the same stuff on all campuses, like all the Gustav Klimt and “Scream” posters that decorate dorm rooms ad nauseum, no matter what school you are at.
One of the best mysteries of the primary season was not the fact these Guevera flags were displayed prominently in Obama campaign offices, but:
(1) Why the media didn’t make the flags a big story, considering who Guevera was and what he represents (and, by extension, what an embrace of Guevera means for a man who is trying to takeover the United States government by securing the presidency).
(2) Why the Obama campaign became so tight-lipped about the flag, and abruptly cut off all discussion of its prominence in those Texas field offices.
Journalists, as they have done since 9/11, dropped the story the moment they received any pushback from those not wishing to press the matter. We understand this, sort of, when it comes to the Bush Administration, because it IS the government, and has its tentacles everywhere. But the Obama campaign? How is it the Obama campaign exerts enough influence to close down discussion of a valid story — namely, what on Earth Che Guevera flags are doing being prominently displayed in Obama campaign offices?
A picture of George Washington = understandable. A portrait of Martin Luther King, JR = appropriate in any Democrats’ office. A likeness of Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Susan B. Anthony, or Jane Addams = hooray for feminism!
But, Che Guevera? Somethings just not right about that…and there was much more to this story than the media ever reported on.
Well, today we came across an interesting blog over at NewsBusters that sheds some light on all this:
Maria Isabel, Obama campaign volunteer, was told, specifically by Barack Obama himself, not to talk about the Che Guevera flag.
They advised her that she could continue to speak on behalf of the campaign but was “prohibited” from talking about the flag because “what happens, what happens is that is that there are a lot of groups that, well, some people like Che Guevara and other people don’t like Che Guevara and that if I appear on television talking about the flag it would cause a lot of distractions.” When asked who told her that, she answers flatly, “Barack Obama.”
The link to the story has a radio interview with Maria Isabel where she comes out and says this. Barack Obama told her not to talk about the Che Guevera flag.
The mystery here, now, is: how is it not news for a presidential candidate to not only allow his field offices to prominently display Che Guevera flags, thus representing himself with Guevera, but to also tell his campaign staff not to talk about said flags, because he deliberately chose to send mixed messages on the issue.
