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November 1, 2008
Barack Obama - a figment of your imagination and Axelrod's creativity
Topics: Political News and commentariesSteve Wampler, commenting in the Tracy Press, offers an excellent compilation of the ties between Sen. Barack Obama and William Ayers (via FR); the piece should serve as a last minute reality check for all - before heading off to the voting booth:
Sen. Barack Obama and his chief image maker, David Axelrod, like to portray the Democratic presidential candidate as a reformer, as a uniter, and as someone above the political fray.
It's a wonderful image that has been crafted with the aid of hundreds of millions of dollars and a docile, adoring American media, but it bears little resemblance to reality.
Obama is a product of the political system of one of America's most corrupt cities. He is a Chicago machine politician - and he has acted like one from his very first race for the Illinois State Senate in 1996 to now.
In that race, Obama hired a fellow Harvard Law School alumnus and challenged the legitimacy of signatures on petitions until he managed to get all four of his Democratic primary rivals removed from the ballot. The man who talks about giving a voice to the voiceless didn't level the playing field, he cleared it.
Throughout his years as a state senator and later as a U.S. senator from Illinois, Obama has always chosen to back a corrupt status quo and never endorsed reform candidates. In 2007, as Chicago City Hall reeled from two major corruption scandals, Obama supported Mayor Richard Daley.
In keeping with Chicago politics, felon and slumlord Tony Rezko was Obama's "political godfather" and without Rezko's money, Obama never would have made it to the Illinois senate or U.S. Senate, according to Chicago reporter Evelyn Pringle.
Obama, who has had a 17-year association with Rezko and at times spoke daily with him, likes to be seen as someone who stands up for the people. At times, however, Obama stood up for Rezko instead of his own constituents.
While Rezko apparently committed fraud or stole money meant to provide quality low-income housing, poor people who lived in Obama's district lived in broken down Rezko-owned units without heat during the winter and were plagued by drug dealers and squatters. Obama wrote letters to get more money for Rezko but never condemned Rezko's practices or called for a probe.
But it is in his repeatedly dishonest statements to the American public about his associations with unsavory people like Rezko, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and domestic terrorist William Ayers that Obama shows he will do or say anything to gain the presidency.
Obama has claimed that Ayers "is a guy who lives in my neighborhood" and "he's not somebody who I exchanged ideas from (sic) on a regular basis." The first comment may have an element of truth, but these Obama statements are blatant and deliberate lies.
Ayers and Obama have had at least a 10-year relationship and possibly much longer. Ayers and his wife, fellow terrorist and Weather Underground co-founder Bernardine Dohrn, hosted a political fundraiser for Obama in their home. And, Ayers and Obama worked together on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC); they helped draft the group's by-laws; they attended seven CAC top-level oversight meetings; they were co-panelists at a 1997 juvenile-justice colloquium organized by Michelle Obama; Obama praised a 1997 book written by Ayers; they met a dozen times as board members of the Woods Fund; they were co-panelists at a 2002 University of Illinois-Chicago seminar; they exchanged e-mails and phone calls as recently as 2005; and Ayers has made one political donation in his entire life - to Obama.
A long-time associate of Obama, Ayers participated in 30 bombings, including New York Police Department headquarters, the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon.
Claims by Obama supporters that Ayers has repented or turned over a new leaf are totally without merit. Ironically, on Sept. 11, 2001, the same day that nearly 3,000 Americans died at the hands of Islamic terrorists, Ayers was quoted in the New York Times as saying: "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough."
Ayers' fellow Weathermen terrorists not only killed policemen in New York, but in 1970 Ayers' group amassed 60 sticks of dynamite, an anti-tank shell and a nail-filled bomb. They planned to explode the bomb during a non-commissioned officers' dance at New Jersey's Fort Dix Army Base, maiming and likely killing soldiers, their wives and dates. As Ayers has said, the bomb would have ripped "through windows and walls and, yes, people, too."
Any person who wants to be America's commander-in-chief should not be an associate or friend of people and groups who have tried to kill our military personnel and killed police officers.
A Tracy native, Steve Wampler holds a master's degree in political science from the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. He works as a public information officer.Posted by Richard at November 1, 2008 9:14 AM
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