Obama's Aunt Z

So Aunt Z is an illegal. Surprise, surprise. And she lives in publicly-funded housing. Surprise again. And she illegally donated money to his campaign. Yawn.

Let's face it, both candidates successfully buried the illegal immigration issue this year. Like whack-a-mole, whenever it came up it quickly beaten back into its hole. Fittingly, the Aunt Z story popped with only 3 days left before election--not enough time for an adequate public debate on a complex issue.

Should Obama speak on this? Yes. Should McCain? Yes. If the Reverend Wright issue required a national dialogue on race certainly this qualifies. It will get nothing. It's simply too late and nobody has any answers that don't involve following money trails and entrenched political quid pro quos.

Oh, there are some rule of law zealots who'll be watching to see if Obama returns the money--he says he will--but his cartoonish supporters will no doubt brand these dissenters as racist-xenophobes.

Meanwhile the facts are laid bare--Obama is clearly tied to an illegal campaign contribution from a non-US citizen living off American taxpayers. Such a thing should immediately trigger a widespread investigation of his campaign donor list or in the least, a general debate on selfishness and redistribution.

But it won't be pushed by McCain, who stands to gain nothing from opening the immigration can of worms this close to election. He knows his tepid supporters have long since given it up for dead and Palin can't go against her running mate without being called a rogue. So Obama will skate again.

Ironically, Politico today released a list of Obama cabinet rumors and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano was listed under a possible Attorney General slot. Last minute poo thrown in McCain or a serious rumor? Not sure, but based on her past support of granting drivers licenses to illegals it might signal some good news for Aunt Z. After all, Gov Janet would be in charge of enforcing federal law, so just hang in there Auntie. Change is comin'.

MORE 11/01/08

The donation was returned, but will Aunt Z? Here's the Obama camp:

Aides said Obama had not been in touch with his late father's sister, Zeituni Onyango, 56, for at least four years, and questioned reporting about her residency status so close to Tuesday's election against Republican John McCain.

Last contact four years ago, eh? That just happens to be around the same time her asylum petition was turned down and she was ordered deported. Meaning he's trying to establish he didn't know she hadn't left as requested. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't but the timing has become the story now, not the actual story.

MORE 11/01/08

Came across this picture from 2004, suddenly realizing that Cheney is ALSO related to Obama. Maybe McCain could have taken that somewhere had Darth not endorsed him today. Notice though that Dick seems to be presiding over matters. Running the show. Ahem.