Barack Obama is all about unification.

There's only one problem: the people who comprise his staff are some of the most extreme leftists in the country.

There's his legislative counsel, Ian H. Solomon, who wrote in 2004 that John Kerry lost Florida due to voter fraud, repeating the kook theory that computer voting machines were rigged for Bush. Obama paid him $49,499.94 during the six-month period from April 1, 2007 to September 30, 2007.

There's Jennifer Mason, Obama's Correspondence Coordinator, who, according to columnist Debbie Schlussel, is a member of Louis Farrakhan's dangerous and sickening Nation of Islam. During the same period, she was paid $30,749.95 by the Obama campaign.

Then there's Demond Mullins, Obama's “special assistant.” Between July 9, 2007 and August 24, 2007, Obama paid Mullins $3,066.66. Mullins is a former clothing model who joined the National Guard for its educational benefits and was surprised to learn that National Guard members could be placed in war zones. He served in Baghdad from September 2004 to September 2005.

Mullins is now a radical anti-war pacifist associated with Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). “I thought [the military] showed a blatant disregard for human life. I was just tired of being part of a machine destroying the Earth — and I'm speaking of the military-industrial complex,” he told Commondreams.org. When asked by The New Times Holler! what positives he thought sprang from American presence in Iraq, Mullins answered, “I don't see anything positive about an unjustified and criminal occupation of foreign territory.”

In an interview with NPR, Mullins strayed into John Kerry circa post-Vietnam territory. “I dehumanized people … I don't even know how many raids I did while I was there. But during raids you're throwing them up against the wall, you're tying their hands behind their back, you're dragging them out of the bed. You're dehumanizing them in front of their wives and their kids and, you know, the women are crying and the children are crying and you're just like, whatever.

Put a bag over their head or blindfold, drag them into the Humvee. Certain exhibitions of violence on my part that were probably unnecessary — were definitely unnecessary. But I was really stressed out and on edge at the time and I conducted myself ... like that.”

Mullins is a one-man anti-military band. Aside from dehumanizing innocent Iraqis, Mullins claims that military men spend their time raping military women. “One time a woman was taking a shower late, and guys went and held the door closed so she couldn't get out, while one guy went in to rape her,” Mullins told Salon.com. The original Salon.com story included a quote from Mullins reading, “Rapes were happening every night ... Married men were doing it, everyone.” Salon.com deleted the quote after Mullins stated that he had been misquoted — really, Mullins clarified, married men were only committing adultery and sexual harassment, not rape, on a constant basis.

Why did the Obama campaign pay Mullins — a professional anti-war protestor with a history of anti-military statements — over $3,000 for unspecified services during July-August 2007? What was Mullins' role with the campaign? Calls to the Obama campaign were not returned; neither were calls to IVAW.

All along, Barack Obama has pled ignorance with regard to the people with whom he associates. Former Weathermen Underground terrorist Bill Ayers is just a college professor, according to Obama; Reverend Jeremiah Wright is just a spiritual advisor without political input. These are absurd claims in their own right. But whether or not Obama should be held responsible for the statements of his friends, he should certainly be held responsible for the people he puts on his payroll.

Ben Shapiro, 23, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School. He is the author of the new book "Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House," as well as the national bestseller "Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth." To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

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