Tonight Obama will be debating in a "town hall" format in front of 100 undecided voters, representing the only group still worth being concerned about. Undecided voters, I recently read somewhere, favor conciliation over confrontation. Obama can use his relationship with William Ayers to win points with independents and simultaneously crush McCain's last "argument."
A quick and dirty version follows:
To be modified for use in response to a McCain accusation, audience member question, or on it's own:
Senator McCain and his surrogates have recently brought up my relationship with William Ayers, a former 60's radical whose actions, which occurred a time when I was a small boy, I have called "despicable." But I do not deny, nor do I apologize for my association with Mr. Ayers. You see, Bill Ayers long ago gave up terrorism and became a decent citizen and a respected expert on education. Since I shared this interest in education with him, we met while serving on a commission dedicated to improving educational opportunities for Chicago-area children. We worked together on this project. He supported my early political efforts. We also occasionally saw each other socially, since he lived near Michelle and me in Chicago. The last I saw him was a couple of years ago, when we met on the street near out homes.
So, Bill Ayers did some really bad things a long time ago, and has done some pretty good things in the years since then. I didn't know about the bad things when I met him, and when I found out them, I condemned those actions. But I did not condemn Bill Ayers. Partly because I wanted to keep working with him to build better schools for our kids. And also, because I believe in reconciliation.
Now, anyone who knows me,and knows my record, knows how strongly I am against terrorism. One reason I opposed invading Iraq was my well-grounded fear that such an invasion would give relief to terrorists in Afghanistan, from where bin Laden and his pals launched their attack on 9/11. John McCain felt otherwise at the time, but this fear of mine has been shown to be all too true. I also favored attacking terrorists in Pakistan on our own if the Pakistani government failed to do so adeuquately. Senator McCain went after me for thistoo, although not so much now that President Bush is now attacking them in Pakistan, as I suggested. So let there be no question about my attitudes toward terrorists or terrorism.
But I also believe in reconciliation, once terrorism, or other kinds of violence, has abated. We might wish that all terrorists could be killed or imprisoned, but the world does not always work that way. Sometimes you have trade perfect justice for imperfect peace. That is what has happened in Northern Ireland, where former terrorists, on all sides, have laid down their bombs and guns, and learned to work and govern together. That is what has happened in South Africa, where those who committed terrible crimes on one-another have done the same.
And that is what happened between the U.S. and Communist Vietnam, where all sides committed acts of terrorism, in addition to devastating bombing, poisonous defoliation, and other and horrific acts. Senator McCain, who suffered greatly and heroically at the hands of his captors, was one of those fought hardest for this reconciliation. And he was correct to do so.
So I have kind of a hard time understanding why I should be condemned by the McCain campaign for choosing the path of reconciliation with someone who also committed awful acts, many years ago, but has since led a constructive life. To me, it makes sense to practice reconciliation. In fact, it is necessary to do so it this imperfect world. As President, I will continue to battle terrorism with every power at my disposal, but I will also seek peace and reconciliation with our former enemies when this becomes feasible in the interests of the United States of America.
And finally, since becoming an active Christian, I have been taught that reconciliation with, and forgiveness of, one's enemies is something I must practice in my life. Perhaps Senator McCain and Governor Palin do not agree that this. If so, they might wish to explain to Christians, and others, why it is wrong for me to practice reconciliation with Bill Ayers, and others who have harmed us. I can't believe that our Lord would agree.
(I have to go to Doctor's appt.now will publish now, warts and all. My 1st diary in a long time Hope this is not too bad. Thanks for reading. )