OBAMA ABOMINATES FREE SPEECH

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Barack Hussein Obama took his degree from Harvard Law School in constitutional law. One would expect him therefore to be a strong advocate of free speech, one of the primary articles of the Bill of Rights,

and one which is absolutely necessary in a democracy. One has only to look at repressive governments in China, North Korea and Russia to see how difficult it is to establish/maintain a democratic society in the face of censorship. All the more shocking then that Barack Hussein Obama and his campaign staff are putting tremendous pressure on WGN, the flagship broadcast station owned by the Chicago Tribune, to prevent it from airing an interview with someone who has written a responsible book about Obama.

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World's Greatest Naysayer

The Obama campaign has developed a habit of hazing WGN, the Illinois radio station owned by the Chicago Tribune.

Its offense is apparently committing free speech, since it has offered a platform for critics of Barack Obama.

An "Obama Action Wire" was emailed by the Obama campaign to key supporters yesterday urging them to protest WGN's decision to interview David Freddoso, a National Review writer who has written "The Case Against Barack Obama," a best seller.

"David Freddoso has made a career off dishonest, extreme hate mongering," the message said. "And WGN apparently thinks this card-carrying member of the right-wing smear machine needs a bigger platform for his lies and smears about Barack Obama -- on the public airwaves," the Obama email read.

Mr. Freddoso's book is a sober look at Mr. Obama's career and positions.
Team Obama supporters responded to the appeal and flooded the station's phone lines and email boxes last night.

The same thing happened just prior to an August 27 interview with Stanley Kurtz, a professor who succeeded in opening up access to University of Illinois files detailing Mr. Obama's ties to unrepentant 1960s terrorist William Ayers. In both interviews, the Obama campaign was offered an opportunity to send a representative to the program but did not respond.

Mr. Obama professes to want to transcend the "old politics" of bitterness and division, but when it comes to free speech, his campaign seems to fall back on the rabble-rousing traditions of his old "community organizing" days.

-- John Fund

[The Wall Street Journal's Political Diary Online]