A Truly Vicious Hit Piece

This is one of the more vicious hit pieces on Obama I have seen - a timeline of his "career".  Geez, look at all the empty boxes punctuated by the occasional speech or new book about Obama.  Let's elect him President quickly so he has something to put on his resume and can write another book about himself.

YOU SEE RIGHT THROUGH ME: OK, I 'fess up - seeing Obama as Director of the Developing Communities Project from 1985 to 1988 is not news to me but it graphically illustrates the point I have been making about his initial alliance with Thomas and Bill Ayers in the ABCs coalition back in 1987.  Note the Developing Communities Project as a member of the ABCs coalition coordinated by Bill Ayers.  The goal was public school reform, just as with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, but Ayers did not simply pick Obama's name out of a hat when Obama was made chairman of the Challenge back in 1995 - Ayers had known him for years.

Interestingly, not even the new right wing attack group seems to know this.  Yet.

MORE:  Let's help fill in the blank boxes on Obama's timeline:

During the months of May and June 1988, ABC'S carried out a legislative strategy that one Republican legislator called "the most effective grassroots lobbying campaign I have ever seen.

School would not start for Obama at Harvard until late August or September.  However, per "Dreams From My Father" (p 290) we see that Barack planned to leave his directorship at the Developing Communities Project in May of 1998.  But on p. 289 he tells us that

"The months passed at a breathless pace, with constant reminders of all the things left undone.  We worked with a citywide coalition in support of school reform."

I doubt the ABC's Coalition sprang into being in June 1988 and pulled off such an effective grassroots operation.  Per this detailed history (p. 20) the ABCs Coalition formed in March of 1988.  More background:

A bitter month-long school strike disrupted the opening of school in fall 1987, spurring parent and community groups to demand not only an end to the school strike, but also radical change in how the school system operated. After the strike was settled, Mayor Harold Washington convened an Education Summit that included many CURE supporters, along with business leaders sympathetic to radical decentralization.

The Education Summit spawned the broader Alliance for Better Chicago Schools (known as the ABC’S Coalition) and brought together parent, community, and business leaders around a common reform agenda. The reform movement now comprised Chicago grassroots activists from every racial and ethnic background and virtually every Chicago neighborhood, including both multi-issue community organizations and groups that focused solely on school reform.

Washington died in November 1987; this account says the ABC's Coalition formed in "the middle" of 1988:

Mayor Washington revived the summit process, but died shortly afterward. By the middle of 1988 it became clear to Chicago business that Washington's summit was not going to produce the kind of changes that they felt needed to be made. Three summit subgroups were preparing legislation to be considered in Springfield. Chicago United responded by forming a business/community advocacy coalition called the Alliance for Better Chicago Schools (ABCs Coalition). The goal of this coalition was to draft a consensus school reform bill.

The proposal hammered out at the summit was presented at the end of March 1998 and went nowhere, apparently.  The timing is certainly close enough that an enterprising reporter ought to ask for a clarification from the Obama campaign.  As if.

AYERS IN CHICAGO:  A 1990 Chicago Reader profile of Bill Ayers includes this about his entry into school reform:

Few members of the school reform movement can say for certain when it was that they first met Ayers. It was as though one day they looked and he was there.
That would have been late 1987, in the aftermath of a debilitating 21-day teacher strike that enraged parents and inspired them to demand immediate change.
By then Ayers had moved to Hyde Park and was working at UIC.
"I arrived just as the movement was picking up," says Ayers. "I was immediately intrigued. I started attending different meetings. I couldn't stay away."
Some of his new allies knew nothing about his background; those who did didn't care. He was friendly and personable. He was liked by virtually everyone he met.

...It was at Sabin that he met Lourdes Monteagudo, then the school's principal. On the south side he met Coretta McFerren, leader of a group called the People's Coalition for Educational Reform.
"I love Bill; I truly think of him as my brother," says McFerren. "I don't agree with everything he says. ...
McFerren and others invited Ayers to meetings of the Alliance for Better Chicago Schools, a coalition that includes members of Hispanic, business, black, and civic organizations. He started attending the group's monthly meetings, held over breakfasts of eggs, sausage, rolls, fruit, and coffee in a conference room on the 57th floor of First National Bank's downtown headquarters.
In many ways, Ayers's philosophy was ideal for ABCs. The targets of his criticism--central office bureaucrats and ineffective classroom teachers--were not members of the coalition. For ABCs' members he had almost nothing but praise.
Within a few weeks, the group named Ayers convener, which means he runs their meetings.
"He plays a good role because he listens to what everyone is saying," says Laurie Glenn, a member of the coalition. "That's important with a group like ABCs, which has so many divergent interests and so many members who want to talk."
"If necessary, I'll let everyone talk until they are exhausted," Ayers adds. "The meetings go on a little long, but it doesn't matter so long as people feel they've had their say."

Can anyone muster a date out of that?  Let's say that Bil Ayers may well have been chairing meetings by April or May of 1988, leaving plenty of time for him to have met Barack.

Comments

[clarice]

That IS vicious, TM.

I think you're right about how far back his alliance with Ayres goes, but I am a bit reluctant to go there because unlike the CAC project, the details of their work together then is still vague and because the point that he lied about his relationship with Ayres is obvious even if their actual working relationship only goes to early 1995, doesn't it?

[motionview]

The Annenburg records are open, Pete Yost almost reports again:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jzhxdkuecq3l3HWnAFXwQfQrQyLgD92NKSVG0

I just love "credit for bombings that included non-fatal blasts at the Pentagon and US capitol" . An instant classic!

[bad]

My apologies if you've already seen this:

After Alinsky: Community Organizing in Illinois
(c) 1990 Illinois Issues, University of Illinois at Springfield
ISBN: 0-9620873-3-5
Chapter 4 (pp. 35-40) of After Alinsky

by Barack Obama

LUN

[Americaneocon]

Gotta love that timeline!

[Ann]

I just received my NRO magazine and Stanley Kurtz is a must read but what I found interesting is what Acorn stands for:

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

Hello, Now I know what Community Organizer means!!

[clarice]

I haven't seen that, bad.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Thank God you started another thread. 450 was getting a little hard to load.

[Ann]

CNN is reporting Obama Binden is number two. Gotta love that.

[Publius]

Earlier today I stumbled across an article written by BHO that first appeared in the August/September 1988 Illinois Issues, published by University of Illinois at Springfield. The article is titled "Why Organize? Problems and Promise in the Inner City". Apparently it was added as a chapter in the book: After Alinsky: Community Organizing in Illinois .

In the article you can see why he chose to set up his community organizing shop in Chicago, and his motivation for attending Trinity Church. You have to read into it, but it could be said that it is a hint of his road map to the big house.

LUN

[bad]

The article previously linked written by Obama on Community Organizing was originally written in 1988, just republished in 1990.

Guess we need to chase down that book, "AFTER ALINSKY". I wonder who else wrote chapters in it?

[Publius]

bad,

Sorry for doubling up. I was just too slow getting off the keyboard.

[Soylent Red]

Well the Biden pick is going to be less than invigorating for the Obamessiah Cultists.

They got up around noon for this?

[JM Hanes]

bad:

Well, there are timeline blanks available in 1987 and 1990 which could use some padding.

[Publius]

bad,

After first trying Amazon with no success, I googled the 'After Alinsky' book. It lead me back to Amazon where I found 4 copies available. The price for the 4 copies, all in paperback, ranged from $90 to $181. In college I paid $0.50 for 'The Communist Manifesto', but that is as high as my budget goes for progressive literature.

[Ann]

Biden wanted to break up Iraq into three countries. What a choice. Way to go Obama, your first decision stinks!!!

[bad]

Publius

Time to shake down all of our leftist friends...

[Karl]

The 1990 article/chapter was discussed and linked by Stanley Kurtz back in June.

[bad]

Here'a a little more for the timeline from wiki:

..during the period Barack Obama worked as a community organizer with the Developing Communities Project on the far South Side of Chicago (1985-1988), he was also a consultant and trainer for the Gamaliel Foundation.

LUN

[JM Hanes]

Thanks for the link, Karl. Kurtz read the book so we don't have to!

[Publius]

bad,

Those kind of prices look reasonable if you are paying with CAC grant money.

[JM Hanes]

This could be more fun than bingo, which it resembles, couldn't it?

[bad]

The 1990 article/chapter was discussed and linked by Stanley Kurtz back in June.

Dang, always a day late and a dollar short!! Kurtz is amazing. Does he have a bodyguard?

[SWarren]

Obama's crashing and I don't think Biden is going to do a dang thing for him.

The good news:
I've been watching Rasmussen's Electoral College Vote.

For quite some time Obama had been holding steady with a 210–165 advantage.(45 EVs).

Friday there was suddenly a big shift in the likely's to McCain.

The gap has narrowed to only 10 EVs.

Obama leading in states with 193 Electoral College votes and McCain leading in states with 183 Electoral College votes.

There's still the 'too close to call' votes, but the momentum is with Mac.

[SWarren]

NBC: Biden accepts VP

[JM Hanes]

LOL. Lester Holt just cut in on late night Olympic coverage. The Olympic host cut in on Holt, then stumbled half way through a couple of different sentences before saying "We'll be back in a moment." My only question is when and if the cell people got their text messages. Holt is back, so I'll be back in a moment.

[bad]

Kurtz read the book so we don't have to!

Should we ask to borrow his copy?

[JM Hanes]

Whoo hoo. Looks like Camp Obama "short circuited" the text messaging scheduled for Saturday morning when sources inside the campaign confirmed the Biden pick, per Lester Holt coming to you from....Bejing.

[JM Hanes]

bad:

It's certainly conceivable that he might find it an encouraging sign.

[bad]

THE GAMALIEL FOUNDATION’S
FAITH AND DEMOCRACY PLATFORM

LUN

[Sara]

Biden was dissing the far left of his party not too long ago and now Obama disses the kiddie korps by breaking his promise that they would get the news first. Does not bode well.

[JM Hanes]

What kind of genius rolls out his VP at 1:00 AM on a weekend?

[bad]

One who is hoping it slips by, unnoticed..

[JM Hanes]

And have they just kissed all that prospective money from the cell phone list goodbye?

[Sara]

Looks like CY is thinking the same way.

And While Democrats Still Wait For A Special Sign from the Obamamessiah...

[JM Hanes]

Sara:

Unless the cell people were partying too hard to notice, Team Obama's best bet may be selling the list to the highest bidder.

[Sara]

Suitably Flip:

Longtime readers will recallthat Barack Obama'snewly tapped running mate Joe Bidenwas fugitive bundler Norman Hsu's5th most richly lavished Senator, behind Clinton, Obama, Harkin, and Kennedy.

Over a 15 month period from 2005-2006, the veep hopeful accepted at least $39,100 from Hsu's suspected straw donors.

[Sara]

McCain Campaign response:

“There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden. Biden has denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing – that Barack Obama is not ready to be president,” McCain spokesman Ben Porritt said in a statement.

[JM Hanes]

Joe Biden as Spiro Agnew? Think about it.

[JM Hanes]

Sara:

Got a 404 page with your link to Suitably Flip -- perhaps he's reworking that post -- but I had a good laugh over this:
Were Mondale and Dukakis Otherwise Engaged?

So Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, and John Kerry have all been added to the Democratic Convention speaker roster. That's a reasonably impressive booking - fully 60% of the party's Presidential losers from the last 30 years.

The equivalent Republican field is limited to Bush 41 and Bob Dole, but so far as I know, the RNC hasn't managed to book either one for their convention.

[Bel Aire]

Hopey change. As in I hope that folks that signed up for that 'first to know' text message gave nothing more than change. And they still overpaid.

[Sara]

Oh my goodness, you have to read this AP article:

The candidate of change went with the status quo.

A senior Obama adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his boss has expressed impatience with what he calls a "reverence" inside his campaign for his message of change and new politics. In other words, Obama is willing — even eager — to risk what got him this far if it gets him to the White House.

That's just the tail end. He is going to throw his whole hopey/changey message under the bus. Good grief.

[bgates]

Imagine the equivalent of that timeline for Biden.
1942 born (he's a pre-Boomer, same generation as McCain)
1965-68 Law School (graduating 76th of 85)
1972-present Senate

[anduril]

The New Republic piece on Biden starts out like this:

It's a bright early October morning on Capitol Hill. Joe Biden is bounding up the steps of the Russell Senate Office Building, wearing his trademark grin. As he makes for the door, he is met by a group of airline pilots and flight attendants looking vaguely heroic in their navy-blue uniforms and wing-shaped pins. A blandly handsome man in a pilot's cap steps forward and asks Biden to help pass emergency benefits for laid-off airline workers. Biden nods as the men and women cluster around him with fawning smiles. Then he speaks. "I hope you will support my work on Amtrak as much as I have supported you," he begins. (Biden rides Amtrak to work every day and is obsessed with the railroad.) "If not, I will screw you badly." A dozen faces fall in unison as Biden lectures on. "You've not been good to me. You're also damn selfish. You better listen to me..." It goes on like this for a couple of minutes. Strangely, Biden keeps grinning--even fraternally slapping the stunned man's shoulder a couple of times. When we finally head into the building, Biden's communications director, Norm Kurz, turns to me. "What you just witnessed is classic Senator Biden." Meet the current chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the Democratic Party's de facto spokesman on the war against terrorism. No other Democrat has been as visible in the weeks since September 11, and Biden, who began promoting himself almost immediately after the attacks, is likely to speak, for the foreseeable future, for a party lacking in foreign policy experts. That's good news for a man who is thinking seriously about running for president in 2004. But is it good for the Democratic Party? Biden is tough and he's an internationalist. Unfortunately he's also legendary for speaking impulsively and leaving others to clean up the mess. "He lacks the filter," says one Democratic strategist. Or as a senior Senate foreign policy aide put it: "Biden is an unguided missile." Not exactly the persona you want out front when the country is at war.

I didn't read the rest. Didn't seem much point.

http://www.tnr.com/columnists/story.html?id=ba9b09bb-ed01-4582-b6ec-444834c9df73&k=93697

[Captain Hate]

Apologies if this has been brought up, but wasn't Biden the source of the "beyond the pay grade" line, although in his case he was applying it to Scott Ritter back before he jumped the shark? What a wordsmith!!

[Semanticleo]

"“There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden."

You think he's harsh on Obama?

Wait until he starts in on Cap'n Ahab.

That'll be vicious..............

Karma. It's wonderful.

[kim]

Poor reference there, Leo; McCain is hardly monomaniacal. However, I'm sure the two have been dueling for decades; if it works, it's an inspired choice. But, I don't think it will. Taking the spotlight off Obama isn't going to help when the ships hit the sand. Obama is as fragile as glass, right now, and if it weren't earthshaking to do it, I think he'd be replaced.
==================================

[bad]

Kim, I like!! Biden as distraction.

Obiden '08

[clarice]

bad, NRO did a piece recently on gamaliel foundation.

[bad]

I'll go look for it. Thanks!!

[clarice]

Here it is with links to more:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzQxYTk4NjhkMTM0ZmI4MDQyNGQ3NjYxNWI4YWYwZDU=>Gamaliel

[kim]

Yeah, bad, two angry old white farts duke it out while The One rises above the fray.
======================================

[anduril]

clarice, the Stanley Kurtz blog opens up the line of thought that there could be significant benefits to an Obama presidency: the patent radicalism of Barry and la Michelle would very possibly blow the Democratic Party sky high in so short a time that there would be no danger of enacting any of their radical schemes.

The countervailing consideration is that in the current international climate there would be an advantage to having a president who agreed with the last person he spoke to (as opposed to one who's ideas are set in stone): there would be a chance that that last person from his circle of advisers might speak sense to him.

[clarice]

I'm not into the make an omelet by breaking eggs group..I'd like to see the Dem party blowup and reform because they take another Dukakis type pasting this time around and then if they stay on this disastrous course we know they need a collective shrink.

A lot of harm can happen in four years with creeps like this at the helm AND with a Congress of the same party.

Speaking of that AT has a blog today on some funny business re DC property between the Pelosis and Seagrams.

[bad]

More Kurtz: Senator Stealth LUN

[anduril]

Pelosi does funny business with property everywhere she goes. She's done plenty of it in SF.

[anduril]

And here's the countervailing argument to the Dem blow-up scheme: can the GOP (or any political party) be trusted with overwhelming power? Look what they did with a middling majority!

[kim]

Right, those sojers surged feet set in stone.
===========================

[jeff]

You seem to be the voice in the wilderness regarding this connection back to 1987. Keep up the good work.

Not that big a deal, but I think you have a couple of typos where you have 2008 instead of 1988...

However, per "Dreams From My Father" (p 290) we see that Barack planned to leave his directorship at the Developing Communities Project in May of 2008.

I doubt the ABC's Coalition sprang into being in June 2008 and pulled off such an effective grassroots operation.

The proposal hammered out at the summit was presented at the end of March 2008 and went nowhere, apparently.

[Greg Q]

Hi Tom

I would email these, but can't find an email address for you:

1: You have a bunch of "2008" that should be "1988" (starting at Barack planned to leave his directorship at the Developing Communities Project in May of 2008).

2: You have a link to TradeSports. No longer works. The political bets are now at InTrade

[sylvia]

"seeing Obama as Director of the Developing Communities Project from 1985 to 1988 "

Well I read some more of TM's old links on ABC. I'm not so sure how strong the case is there. I didn't see specifically what role Ayers had in that ABC coalition yet, other than he was a "coordinator". Did he start it, did he pick the group leaders? Also there was at least 12 groups with multiple subdivisions. So Obama would have been one of 12 group leaders and of more if you include the subdivision. Still, they would have at least known each others names and knew OF each other, for sure. Whether they actually met, hard to prove.

[johnemorissey]

Obama said Ayers was just a guy in the neighborhood."Our kids went to the same schools".Obama s kids are 4 and 9 now.In the eihties and nineties Obama didn t have any kids.Another briliant sophistry and sleight of hand?

[sophy]

I will thank for my friends bringing me in this world. I am not regret to buy Hellgate Palladium .