The Weathermen

I just watched a documentary on The Weather Underground. Bill Ayers is one of the more reprehensible members of the group. Other members express regret about their use of violence but Ayers famously said (on 9/11) he thought they didn't do enough. It is quite pathetic that he played the role of a revolutionary for a decade and then when he had enough he was able to return to polite society and live a respectable life thanks to his rich influential father. However, as an attack on Barack Obama, I don't see the Ayers connection as very impressive. Obama claims that he didn't know about Ayer's past when he first met him, which could be true. I don't think I would have recognized the name until there was publicity about his comments on September 11, 2001. Even more than the attacks regarding Reverend Wright, these criticisms really are guilt by association. At least with Wright, one could point to the fact that Obama did join his church and sat in the pews for twenty years. There is no evidence that Obama ever did anything to show sympathy with the aims or methods of the Weather Underground.