Those who oppose Democrat Presidential Barack Obama often express their doubts about him as a simple question: “Who is he?” But it is more than just a question. It is a worry, and for many good reasons.

One reason is the University of Illinois’ refusing to release records of Mr. Obama’s affiliation with a non-profit outfit under the command of former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers. The Weather Underground, you may recall, was that group of fine young Americans skipping thither and yon tossing bombs and killing cops during that infantile conniption known as “the ’60s.”

What should concern everyone about Mr. Obama isn’t just Mr. Ayers, although this unpunished formerly hirsute bomb-thrower is bad enough. It is Mr. Obama’s lifelong, abiding infatuation with radical leftists and at least one outright communist. Throughout his career, Mr. Obama hasn’t just bumped into these characters by accident. He sought their friendship. He sought their advice. And he sought their help.

Aside from Mr. Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn, another unrepentant America-hating leftist, we have that inestimable guru of black liberation theology, Jeremiah Wright. Mr. Obama’s connection to this vile character is a serious concern, just as a direct connection between John McCain and a Christian Identity minister would be a serious concern.

When the media revealed Mr. Wright’s “god damn America” speech, Mr. Obama did nothing. Not until Mr. Wright became an obvious political liability did Mr. Obama jettison the crazed lunatic. Aside from that, we have Mr. Obama’s tortured explanations that he doesn’t believe “black liberation theology,” that he never heard Mr. Wright’s incendiary anti-American and anti-white sermons, and that the man who made racially inflammatory speeches was a different man from the one Mr. Obama knew. Those dogs just won’t hunt.

Mr. Obama sat in Mr. Wright’s pews for 20 years. Mr. Wright officiated at Mr. Obama’s wedding. He baptized Mr. Obama’s children. Truth is, Mr. Obama knew exactly what Mr. Wright believed, and he attended the church despite it. Indeed, he may have attended the church because of it. So much for Mr. Obama’s minister.

Another of the influences in Mr. Obama’s formation, we now know, was a fellow named Frank Marshall Davis, whom Mr. Obama describes in his flimsy autobiography, “Dreams Of My Father,” as a veritable Grandpa Walton “with his books and whiskey breath and the hint of hard-earned knowledge behind the hooded eyes.” Mr. Davis, the ever accurate and enlightening Associated Press reported, was a “left-leaning poet” to whom Mr. Obama turned as a mentor when the presidential candidate grew up in Hawaii.

The simple truth belies the benign caricature of Davis as an old geezer who took a snort while dispensing the wisdom of the ages. Mr. Davis wasn’t just “left-leaning.” He was card-carrying Red, a member of the Communist Party USA, the most slavishly pro-Soviet communist party on the planet. Indeed, the “left-leaning” Davis was a communist at a time when Josef Stalin and his apostles of death were murdering millions. Space here does not permit a full recitation of Mr. Davis’ career. Suffice it say that Mr. Obama didn’t have much problem with Mr. Davis, who advocated the violent overthrow of the country Mr. Obama now seeks to lead.

Now, if Sen. John McCain had repeatedly affiliated himself with cosmically radical lunatics, you can bet the media would cover the story. But leaving aside that truth and the question of why the AP covered up Mr. Davis’ communist affiliation, one must question the ideology of a man who is bosom pals with terrorists, race hustlers and communists. He hung out with Mr. Ayers and Ms. Dohrn for years. He attended Mr. Wright’s church for two decades. And his mentor was an apologist for Stalin.

Who is Barack Obama? The answer is no mystery.