Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Wow! He is really racking up the coveted endorsements, add The Beard to the list which holds such names as Mahmoud Ahmabigdickwad, Hugo Chavez, and the terror group Hamas.

From Fox:

In a presidential race in which unwanted, damaging endorsements seem far more plentiful than endorsements that actually could help, Barack Obama has had the unfortunate distinction of being a magnet for such well-wishers.

The latest unsought praise for the Democratic front-runner came from Fidel Castro, who wrote in a column for Cuba’s Granma newspaper Monday that Obama is “the most progressive candidate to the U.S. presidency.”

The reaction underscored the problems Obama continues to face as he talks up his desire to hold high-levels discussions with leaders of diplomatically black-listed countries, without preconditions.

His critics argue that the friendlier foreign policies he’s proposing toward countries like Iran and Cuba are in turn inviting kudos from those countries’ leaders or allies.

“That’s really the question we’re posing to the voters: In an era where we’re actively engaged in fighting the global war on terror, why is he receiving these compliments from groups who are against everything we stand for?” said Florida GOP spokeswoman Katie Gordon.

“He’s agreed to meet with Ahmadinejad with no preconditions. He’s also agreed to meet with Castro. … It hits home for a lot of people here.”

Few can argue a hearty thumbs-up from a Castro is good for poll numbers. Even Castro acknowledged this in his column, writing “Were I to defend (Obama), I would do his adversaries an enormous favor.”

But in calling Obama “progressive,” and praising his “great intelligence” and “debating skills” and “work ethic,” Castro gave those adversaries more fodder.

Here’s a rundown of the latest comments from the world stage that have caused or could cause problems for Obama, if he becomes the Democratic nominee:

– In mid-April, Hamas adviser Ahmed Yousef told WorldNetDaily that “We like Mr. Obama, and we hope that he will win the elections.

“I hope Mr. Obama and the Democrats will change the political discourse,” he said. “I do believe [Obama] is like John Kennedy, a great man with a great principle.”

The John McCain campaign had much fun with the published remark.

A spokesman said the apparent Hamas support is a “legitimate issue” for voters to think about, and even referenced the comments in a fundraising letter. The campaign said Hamas was clearly opening up to Obama because of his willingness to meet with Iran.

McCain proudly stated Hamas would never support him and that he would be “Hamas’ worst nightmare.”

The Obama campaign responded that it already had rejected Hamas’ legitimacy. Obama has said he would not negotiate with Hamas unless the group renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel’s right to exist and holds to other agreements.

– On March 25, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told foreign correspondents that relations with Washington, D.C, would worsen if McCain were elected.

“Sometimes one says, ‘worse than Bush is impossible,’ but we don’t know,” Chavez said, according to an article in Reuters. “McCain also seems to be a man of war.”

He did not mention either Obama or Hillary Clinton but seemed to indicate that he pined for the days when a Democrat was in the White House.

“Independently of who wins the elections, we are hopeful and it is within our plans to enter an era of better relations with the U.S. government,” he said. “At the least one would hope for the level of relations we had with ex-President Clinton.”

– Also in March, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Spain’s El Pais newspaper he didn’t believe Obama would be elected, but that he wouldn’t have a problem meeting with him if he were. “For us, there is no difference in who wins,” Ahmadinejad told the newspaper. Tehran-based PressTV reported that Ahmadinejad afterward insisted he “never voiced support for Barack Obama.”

But that didn’t matter in the blogosphere. A headline linking to a posting about the story on Digg.com declared: “Barack Obama Gets Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Coveted Endorsement.”

Obama also has struggled to shake off positive words from the New Black Panther Party and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Those controversies popped and fizzled during the Democratic primary. But Obama is moving ever closer to clinching the Democratic nomination, and several Democratic strategists have said these controversies, like the one over Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright Jr., would be used against him more vigorously in a general election than a primary.

Gordon said her local party would not hesitate to “push that point” with voters if Obama continues to receive “accolades” from Castro.

But Democratic strategist Dan Gerstein, an Obama supporter, said when it comes to unsought compliments from far away, the damage is negligible.

“There’s a very small universe of people that are going to be swayed by whether someone in Cuba said something nice about him,” he said, adding that those voters probably wouldn’t vote for Obama anyway.

Still, Gerstein said the campaign will need to push back hard against attempts to exploit compliments or endorsements that could speak to his broader judgment.

“In a vacuum, the Wright controversy and some of these other things can take a toll if there’s not a competing and truer narrative the Obama campaign puts out,” he said. “I’m confident they will (fight back).”

Democrats also historically don’t discount the ability of foreign factors to sway domestic elections.

Former Democratic nominee John Kerry privately complained after his 2004 loss to President Bush that the Usama bin Laden video that surfaced days before cost him the election.

In the video, bin Laden told Americans “your security is not in the hands of Kerry of Bush or Al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands.”

It revived a security issue that Bush tried to make his strong suit.