The Chicago Annenberg Challenge - The Fog Thickens

Barack Obama and unrepentant Weatherman Bill Ayers worked together on public school reform in Chicago for several years through the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, co-founded by Bill Ayers and originally chaired by Barack Obama.  This aspect of the Ayers/Obama relationship got surprisingly short shrift when Obama was asked about Ayers at the Philadelphia debate and has also been concealed by the Obama website's "Fact Check" and in their recent denunciation of Jerome Corsi's book.

And now the whiff of cover-up grows stronger.  Stanley Kurtz, writing at NRO, details his attempt to gain access to hundreds of Chicago Annenberg Challenge records housed at the Richard J. Daley Library of the  University of Illinois at Chicago.  Although initially assured that the documents were available to the public, Mr. Kurtz has since been given shifting stories the gist of which seems to be that the documents are off limits.  And who is making this determination?  The library won't say, although it is entirely possible that Bill Ayers is the guiding force behind this delay.

So let's see - Obama has been misrepresenting his relationship with Ayers to the press (this misdirection of Ben Smith of The Politico from last February is a comedy classic) and now someone is blocking access to the records detailing the workings of the group founded by Ayers and chaired by Obama.  In another world the press would smell a cover-up.  In this one?  My guess has been that the mainstream press will remain in the tank for Obama rather than risk annoying their remaining readers by appearing to be pawns of the right-wing attack machine.

As an example of the press covering for Obama consider this NY Times reporting on the Obama/Ayers tangle from last May:

Mr. Obama also fit in at Hyde Park’s fringes, among university faculty members like Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, unrepentant members of the radical Weather Underground that bombed the United States Capitol and the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War. Mr. Obama was introduced to the couple in 1995 at a meet-and-greet they held for him at their home, aides said.

Now, along with Mr. Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Mr. Ayers has become a prime exhibit in the effort by Mr. Obama’s presidential rivals to highlight what could be politically radioactive associations. In 2001, Mr. Ayers said he did not regret the Weatherman bombings. Even so, in Hyde Park, he and his wife were viewed favorably for their work in addressing city problems. Mr. Ayers was just “a guy who lives in my neighborhood,” Mr. Obama said recently.

The two men were involved in efforts to reform the city’s education system. They appeared together on academic panels, including one organized by Michelle Obama to discuss the juvenile justice system, an area of mutual concern. Mr. Ayers’s book on the subject won a rave review in The Chicago Tribune by Mr. Obama, who called it “a searing and timely account.”

Now what basis could the Times have for noting that "The two men were involved in efforts to reform the city’s education system"?  It can't be the meet-and-greet fundraiser where they were "introduced" (As if - per The Politico, the fundraiser was in the second half of 1995; Obama was already chair of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which was kicked off in January 1995).  It can't be a panel on the juvenile justice system.  It wouldn't be their overlap on the Woods Fund of Chicago, a general charity.

I think the Times knows more than they are comfortable telling.  As to the nature of their discomfort, well, as noted I think they want to leave their readers in a comfort zone.

WILL THE POLITICO TAKE THIS UP?  From The Politico last April:

Information about the pair's connection has been dribbling out over the past few months. Obama first met Ayers in 1995, during Obama's first state Senate campaign, and the two met with a small group of local liberal activists at Ayers' house. Exact details of the meeting are unkown because Obama and Ayers have declined to discuss it.

Clearly false.  So what are they going to do about it?

LET THE RECORD NOTE:  There was a push for public school reform in Chicago in 1987, before Obama went off to Harvard in the fall of 1988.  The group led by Obama, Developing Communities Project, was part of the ABCs Coalition led by Thomas Ayers (Bill's dad) and coordinated by Bill Ayers himself.  The odds are pretty good that this is when Bill Ayers and Barack Obama first met.  I wonder whether the Times knew that, too.

CREDIT WHERE DUE:  Mr. Kurtz is kind enough to note my digging and ranting on this topic but correctly gives the Gold to Steve Diamond of Global Labor.

THE FOG AT FOX:  Obama was asked about Bill Ayers a few days after the Philadelphia debate in an interview on Fox.  He sorta kinda told something like the truth while continuing the cover-up:

Now, Mr. Ayres [Ayers] is a 60 plus year old individual who lives in my neighborhood, who did something that I deplore 40 years ago when I was six or seven years old. By the time I met him, he was a professor of education at the University of Illinois.

We served on a board together that had Republicans, bankers, lawyers, focused on education, who worked for Mayor Daley. Mayor Daley, the same Mayor Daley probably who when he was a state attorney prosecuted Mr. Ayres’s wife for those activities, I (INAUDIBLE) the point is that to somehow suggest that in any way I endorse his deplorable acts 40 years ago, because I serve on a board with him.

As I noted at the time, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was a private entity which could not reasonably be construed as working for Mayor Daley (lots of detail in Part D of this Diamond post).  The successor group did advise Daley, but Bill Ayers was not on that board (his father and brother were.)  So this presentation sugarcoats the reality, which is that Ayers co-founded a private charitable group ands (very probably) tapped Obama to run it.  More covering up for the press to ignore.

TAX RETURNS:  Courtesy of Appalled we have tax returns for the Chicago Annenberg Challenge for 1998 (link) and 1999 (link).  The real gold would be in finding a controversial disbursement (Maoists For Genocide, anyone?) but nothing leapt off the page at me.  However,  Steve Diamond noted a grant to former Weatherman Michael Klonsky.

Comments

[kim]

What are the limits of FOIA requests in this private affair of public policy? What about tax exemption?
===================================

[bgates]

Mr. Ayres [Ayers] is a 60 plus year old individual who lives in my neighborhood, who did something that I deplore 40 years ago
Run away, rather than continue to strike at the Amerikkkan beast?

[Ranger]

The RNC should hammer Obama about these records the same way the Obama campaign went after Hilary hammer and tong over the Clinton Library stuff. Make Obama pay a political price for his friends covering up for him.

[Appalled]

Kim:

I don't think you are going to have any luck going the tax-exempt route. I don't know if the Anneburg Challenge was a separate 501(c)(3), private foundation, or part of a larger group, but the only thing you could get is a copy of their Form 990. That could give you some organizational documents, information on grants, and achievment of exempt purposes. It will not give you much beyond what is already known about personnel.

[Gabriel]

Mr. Kurtz may not be able to access the documents, but would an Illinois tax payer? What about a current UIC student? How about a resident of Cook County? What about the candidate himself?

[Gabriel]

Hey, you know what?

You know who could SUE to make these records available to the public? The Chicago Tribune could file suit as they did to Obama's previous Illinois Senate opponent Jack Ryan to unseal private divorce proceedings in FAMILY COURT.

[Appalled]

TM:

Check your e-mail. I just did what Kim suggested and sent you the results.

[Judasmac]

To me, this Ayers stuff seems like a red herring. What I'd like to know is why nobody so far as I'm aware has followed up on the New Yorker article's story about Obama using technicalities designed by the Daley machine to get opponents names off of ballots to get ALL of his opponents names off the ballot so he could run unopposed.

[Pofarmer]

To me, this Ayers stuff seems like a red herring

The entire Obama Hussein hopey-changey campaign is a red herring. I don't know how you pick just one out of the school.

The Chicago Tribune could file suit as they did to Obama's previous Illinois Senate opponent Jack Ryan to unseal private divorce proceedings in FAMILY COURT.

Not nearly as interesting.

[DebinNC]

That was then, this is now

Iowa AG and Obama campaign chairman in 11-07 seeking release of Hillary's WH records:

"...As Americans and as Democrats ready for change, we're asking you to be as open as possible with the American people. You should publicly request that the tens of thousands of pages that have been cleared for release by the National Archives be immediately provided to the public, and ask for the expedited release of all records requested from the Clinton Library in advance of the Iowa caucuses.

As Iowans, we understand that what makes our first-in-the-nation caucus unique is the opportunity to carefully examine each of the candidates and their records before making a decision about whom to support. Fully releasing these records is in keeping with the spirit of the process that makes the Iowa caucus so special."

[Jane]

Can I fix it?

[Rick Ballard]

"Can I fix it?"

Si, se puede!

I keep wondering whether Frank Marshall Davis (commie high school mentor of Obama) made the handoff to Ayers. Did he do it directly or was there an Alinskyite system in play from Occidental to Columbia to Ayers and then on to Harvard?

[SAM]

Kurtz's article, cited above, includes an e-mail address to the president of the University of Illinois system. I encourage you to e-mail him to encourage him to release the records Kurtz seeks.

Here's the e-mail address:

[email protected]

Here's the language that I used:

I'm a person of no consequence, but I am a concerned voter and a concerned citizen. I just finished reading the following National Review Online article by Stanley Kurtz in which he outlines in detail the difficulties he has experienced in gaining access to the records relating to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTgwZTVmN2QyNzk2MmUxMzA5OTg0ODZlM2Y2OGI0NDM=&w=Mg==

The records appear to be vitally important to his efforts as a journalist. And I cannot fathom a reasonable excuse for your delaying or your obstructing his access to them. I will be deeply troubled if I learn either that his access has been delayed much longer or that records have been misplaced, destroyed, or otherwise withheld.

I will be following Mr. Kurtz's columns to gauge the level of your cooperation.

[Porchlight]

Great article by Stanley Kurtz - I appreciated the details about his efforts to access the CAC records. I have a masters in library science with a specialization in archives, and what he encountered at UIC is highly irregular. I emailed Kurtz with some background on archival processing and how deeds of gift generally work.

The presence of the detailed finding aid emailed to Kurtz by the graduate assitant indicates that the collection has indeed been processed (the finding aid, a kind of index, is the end work product of processing). Any restrictions on access would normally have been worked out before the processing began. If parts of the collection are restricted, he should still have access to the rest.

One worry I would have is that if Kurtz is eventually allowed access, certain items will be missing or redacted. The finding aid will be of some help in determining what might be missing, but as we learned from the Mixed-Up Files of Mr. Sandy Berger at the National Archives, we may never really find out for sure.

Next I am going to email the president of UIC as SAM mentioned above. Lots of pressure on university administrations can be effective as they are natural born cavers.

[kim]

Any truth to the news that Sandy Berger has been noted hotfooting it to Chicago?
======================================

[Sue]

Next I am going to email the president of UIC as SAM mentioned above.

I have a feeling this is important information. And even if it isn't, the appearance of cover-up will hurt Obama.

[Sue]

Kurtz needs to get Rush and Sean on this. If he needs the public to know, those are the 2 outlets that can reach the largest audience. Surely he has access to both.

[Porchlight]

Kurtz needs to get Rush and Sean on this.

I agree. There is not much time left.

[Gabriel]

Kurtz needs to get Rush and Sean on this.

Careful. Is it a trap?

Team Obama is in desperate need of some red meat for the 527s. He needs to appear on the defensive end of unregulated, unlimited money in politics.

[Sue]

A trap? I don't guess I understand. The documents should speak for themselves.

[RichatUF]

Gabriel-

Team Obama is in desperate need of some red meat for the 527s. He needs to appear on the defensive end of unregulated, unlimited money in politics.

No worries on that front. You can almost see the strings in this picture.

[xcurmudgeon]

So, who cares? This is the GOP attack machine. It's not like Obama was in the Weathermen with Ayers.

Gee, why isn't the MSM also digging up all the Keating 5 dirt on McCain.

Move on.

[sbw]

"Move on" ... was that xcurmudgeon's signature?

[Sue]

Move on.

Not just yet.

[Pofarmer]

"Gee, why isn't the MSM also digging up all the Keating 5 dirt on McCain."

Because that was all hashed out 20 years ago?

[kim]

if you'd bother to understand, xcur, the real dirt on Keating was Democratic. Drat, stymied again.
==================================

[Joan]

Hmm, Obama 'deplores' making bombs and trying to kill people. Isn't that tremendous?

Great scott, Good God, and help me. There's a man in New Zealand named David who was a little boy back in the 70s when his parents took him and his brother to visit the Tower of London and a member of the IRA placed a bomb there. David lost his leg. Wonder what he thinks of bombers? Near that time, a secretary working in an English politician's office opened a letter bomb and her eyes and fingers were destroyed. Wonder who is leading her around.

I can't help it. I loathe and despise terrorists. Why didn't Obama walk out of his first meeting with Ayers? A principled man would have.

[Jane]

Because that was all hashed out 20 years ago?

And it was a lot more damaging to the democrats involved than it was to McCain. Oh and because he didn't try and cover anything up. Oh and because the documents are available.

Or maybe the media is hopelessly biased toward the GOP. Yeah, that's the ticket.

[kim]

It's a measure of your desperation, Kos Kiddie, that you really believe Keating and Hanoi, twenty and forty years ago, are your most effective political strategies. People without your warped perspective are going to think Democratic Congressional misbehaviour and the tragic miscalculations of John Kerry.
======================================

[Jim]

So, who cares?

I give up. People who distrust people who befriend terrorists?

[kim]

Obama is vulnerable with his otherwise most reliable constituency over this issue. Black people are among the angriest at the failure of public education. And LOTS of other people are highly frustrated. If I were his campaign, I'd certainly conceal any previous thoughts or speech Obama has had on the subject. Knowing him as we are getting to know him, there must be some real pearls in the archives. Remember, this was a time when he was proving his bona fides to the corrupt political machine which has promoted him. There is no telling what he might have said.
==========================

[ben]

"So, who cares? This is the GOP attack machine. It's not like Obama was in the Weathermen with Ayers."

Are you sure its not the "vast right wing conspiracy"???

[Barney Frank]

Gee, why isn't the MSM also digging up all the Keating 5 dirt on McCain.

Because there isn't any dumbass.
It was investigated by the senate and he and Glenn were found to have done nothing wrong.
Cranston (D), Deconcini (D) and Riegle(D)were found to have interfered improperly.

[Patton]

Andrew Sullivan says that during a long, grueling painful Chicago Annenberg Challenge meeting, Obama was getting very tired, weak in fact, feeling like he had been beaten by guards.

Ayers saw his distress and reached over and drew a Hammer and Sickle on Obama's notebook. This raised Obamas spirits as they had a knowing glance and went about the peoples party work.

[kim]

I'm really struck by this persistent meme, of McCain's dishonourable Vietnam service. This has the amusingly ironic flavor of being Kerry's campaign in the corollary; not 'I'm a big war hero' but 'Your's is not a big war hero'. Tone deafedness, thy name be Democratic.
===============================

[Semanticleo]

"Obama is vulnerable with his otherwise most reliable constituency over this issue. Black people are among the angriest at the failure of public education."

Um, yeah, you go with that Kim......meanwhile, other OVERREACHING issues with Authentic American McCain give pause to the Ethnic Rainbow......which will be illustrated with Maritime (Naval) figures from history.

Kevin Drum sums up the risk attendant to electing The Ancient Mariner.......

McCain is old and gets confused occasionally.(Captain Queeg)

McCain is running an ugly, smear-based campaign.(There was a QUART of strawberries!)

McCain has a legendarily short fuse.(Captain Ahab)

McCain is annoyingly self-righteous.(Captain Ahab)

McCain's straight talk has evaporated in the face of his need to win evangelical votes.
(Captain Kangaroo)

Well, the last one wasn't really an historical figure, but he was a captain.

[kim]

What, Semi? You don't think black people are upset about public education? Yeah, you go with Ayres. Education is going to be big in this election. You got a real winner, there.
=========================

[Danube of Thought]

It now appears that when Obama gave his answer the other night about how "tough" it was for him to vote against the liberation of Iraq, he was simply lying. LUN

[Ranger]

I think the presure is really starting to get to Barry. He chose to join the "Not My President" crowd today apparently. As a senator sworn to uphold the constitution, you'd think that would be a violation of his oath of office.

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/08/18/obama-referring-to-bush-now-as-john-mccains-president/>Obama referring to Bush now as “John McCain’s president”

[hit and run]

Well, some in Illinois call Obama "Tony Rezko's Senator"...

[JM Hanes]

While I assume that Kurtz has pulled National Review in as a petitioner, I hope he is doing more than just soliciting emails to Chancellor White to press his case. To whit:

I would certainly copy Mark Rosati, Associate Chancellor for Public Affairs, [email protected], but not only would I go straight to UI Board of Trustees, if I were Kurtz, I would also submit an official request for an Appearance before the Board at their meeting on Sept. 6th. The deadline for such public requests is August 31st. Until such a request is officially declined, referring to an intended appearance in correspondence can make folks think twice about how they respond.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees is Lawrence Eppley, a lawyer, who lists himself as an Independent. Open Secrets has him giving $300 to Obama back in 2004, but also to Hastert in 2001 & 2003. The Boards lists two Republicans, who might prove sympathetic and would be worth contacting, one of whom, Robert F. Vickrey is the County Chairman of the "LaSalle County Republican Central Committee" and gave $1,000 to Mitt Romney. Email can be directed to trustees at: [email protected]

It would be worth boning up on the Trustees published Policy Documents, for potential avenues of protest, even if individual items might not seem specifically on point. Their General Rules Concerning University Organization and Procedureoo, for example, include sections on Nonmonetary Gifts, Intellectual Property, and University Archives. While the last may not apply directly to Special Collections, a similar permissions procedure with regard to discarding or destroying records may well govern the University libraries generally and it might not hurt to put a preemptive protest or expression of interest on the record.

[Blame captcha's link limits for Part Deux which follows below.]

[JM Hanes]

Policy wise, the value of University Ethics Office is easy to overlook. Their Policy on Conflicts of Commitment and Interest could be a useful point of departure for a query to the University Ethics Officer, Donna McNeely, 217/206-6202, [email protected] Their Ethics Scenarios provide some helpful examples of Prohibited Political Activity, Suspected Fraud, and Conflicts of Interest which apply to University personnel.

Can't believe I forgot to scout out their Development Office, but giving the money raisers a heads up on potential bad publicity is always worth doing. That doesn't necessarily mean threatening bad publicity. Development people are pretty good at reading tea leaves. There was no individual listing of major donors in the last Annual Report, but I'm sure one exists somewhere. Adding the Executive Director of the Office for University Relations , Thomas Hardy [email protected] to the mix seems like a no brainer. His office is charged with "developing and executing strategic communications programs designed to gain and sustain public support of the University." I note that they produce "a weekly summary of the most positive news about the University of Illinois." I'm sure they're charged with heading off bad news too.

While the archives in question may not qualify for FOIA disclosure, it's entirely possible that the UI's Freedom of Information Act Officer, Jenny Fontaine, [email protected], might respond with useful into to a query about the status and ownership of the archives in pursuit of a determination as to whether an FOIA request is appropriate, and if not, what alternative avenues might exist within UI's administration structure. And last but not least, there's the University Librarian, Mary Case [email protected]

The point, of course, is to make sure that multiple folks on various rungs of the food chain are suddenly making inquiries as well. I'm not sure how sophisticated Kurtz himself may be about the various media angles here, but I'llleave that for someone else to suss out. There are certainly a couple of Chicago reporters who might be willing to make some calls -- Lynn Sweet springs to mind. The various Rezko bloggers in folks' bookmarks -- and who may not be in the NR loop -- are a potential resource too.

Just for starters.....

[JM Hanes]

Just in case the powers that be at the Annenberg Foundation itself don't go without saying. We're talking about the record of how their money was spent. It may not be a record that they're enthusiastic about preserving, but they are an interested party with eleemosynary responsibilities.

[Semanticleo]

Don't bother, JM. I mean, unless you derive some satisfaction from a "Pyrrhic War".

The Dems watch Republicans and learn.
Obama just needs to stack the courts, intimidate and bribe witnesses, and claim
'Executive Privilege' applies to anyone remotely connected to him in an advisory capacity.

But go ahead, if it makes you feel better.

[bad]

Bush is McCain's president

That's gonna clear up those citizenship questions...

[JM Hanes]

That may be on of your funniest, words-have-no-meaning-I-just-like-hearing-myself-talk, posts yet, Semantic.

[Semanticleo]

"That may be on of your funniest,"

I'm glad you're getting something for your
effort.

[bad]

Its not as if the bar is all that high.

[bad]

Liars' brains 'are not the same'

Obama doesn't want to be a liar. His brain is making him do it.

LUN

[PaulL]

Great work, JM Hanes! I want you for my lawyer, should I ever need one.

[ben]

PRESIDENT - ILLINOIS (Rasmussen)
Barack Obama (D) 55%
John McCain (R) 40%

I will hazard a guess that if McCain gets 40% or better in Illinois he will win by a landslide.

[ben]

"McCain is old and gets confused occasionally."

As opposed to Obama, who is younger and gets confused a lot....

[bad]

Under proposed convention bylaws, delegates would be forced to register their votes on a tally sheet with the convention secretary

The party that wants to eliminate secret ballots for unions is feeling threatened by an open vote: for or against Hillary Clinton!!

LUN

[bad]

Sorry,link under name

[Barney Frank]

which will be illustrated with Maritime (Naval) figures from history.

(Captain Queeg)

(Captain Ahab)

(Captain Kangaroo)

Well, the last one wasn't really an historical figure, but he was a captain.

Jeez, Clarabelle;
You do know the first two were fictional NOT historical, right?

[narciso]

An interesting story is Larry Grathwohl's account of Ayers connections to the Detroit cell of the Weatherman; mind you this link was turned up; four years ago, not Freddoso's
recent scoop. href<http://www.claremont.org/publications/pubid.321/pub_detail.asp> Of course the fact that he was an informant for the FBI, will probably discredit his testimony; but that's only among the ones who are denying McCain's POW experiences and truthers.

The events in the Russian invasion of
Georgia; seem much more like the Arab end of their wars with Israel. Tshinvali, is
as autonomous a region as the Golan Heights
or Northern Lebanon. Interestingly, even Gitmo cross carrier Tom Lasseter, found it's not Fallujah or Dresden, as the Russian apologists have made it out to be.
It shows some damage, as Quana showed after the 1996 and 2006 strikes.

I've suggested the first Berlin crisis,and
the Hungarian invasion, (which would not focus on the Soviet strategic threat till Sputnik, something this crisis might make us consider) as parallels for this
situation. With the former, we haven't heard much about the airlifts, which it interesting would come from Rammstein/
Landstuhl; where Mr. Dunham would fatefully shun the troops. Of the latter, theGeorgians
are feeling unconfortable reminiscences, as does the Kurdish, Cubans and Laotians experiences.

The Crimean War, nearly 150 years ago;which occurred in the same neigborhood, is a more disconcerting example which kind f explains why it's not brought up more often. For one, it involved the Brits, the French and the Ottoman Turks working together against the Russians. It recalls the debacles of
Balaclava "The Charge of the Light Brigade" & Inkerman; most recently invoked as an analogue for Vietnam and Iraq? in Clare Clarke's Victorian mystery 'The Big Stink'

[bgates]

Barney - a story about olden days counts as history. That's how Kerry won the Vietnam war.

[MarkO]

I believe I will ask cleo those two questions his other co-religionists would not answer:

First, Against Putin, you want the One and not McCain (the over/under being what on the slap down)?

Second, can you defend in a coherent manner with actual words, the One's position on no funding for babies that survived abortion?

I'll check back later so you can ask your writers.

[ben]

"Under proposed convention bylaws, delegates would be forced to register their votes on a tally sheet with the convention secretary"

Members of the Obamacomissariat will also be taking names of unbelievers for subsequent ideological retraining after the election.

[Sue]

JMH,

You are awesome.

[narciso]

Href<http://www.claremont.org/publications/pubid.321/pub_detail.asp>

[Rick Ballard]

JMH,

Very nice work. I'm not sure that there will be a breakthrough of the 'cone of silence' regarding Obama's close connections with domestic terrorists prior to the election but it's worth a try.

The hypothesis is that Obama is lying about his past connections. I'm rather intrested in the Gramscian aspects of his passage from being mentored by a run of the mill commie in Hawaii during high school through his stint at Occidental and on into Columbia. Obama's refusal to release school records may be covering more than barely adequate grades. I wonder who wrote the letters of recommendation which accompanied his applications along the way?

[Sue]

Did anyone sign up for the text message from Obama? Drudge is reporting that he is getting ready to announce his VP.

[bad]

I wanted to but figured he sell the numbers to finance his campaign so I didn't.

[Danube of Thought]

When will someone ask Obama, "Who's the toughest negotiator you've ever been up against?"

[Danube of Thought]

The Fox guys seem to think it's down to Biden, Kaine or McCaskill. My guess is none of the above, but I'd love to see him pick either of the latter two--kiss of death.

[reliapundit]

frank marshall davis is at the center of this.

he sent obama to chi-town.

and this is what they are really covering up.

that obama is a commie.

[bgates]

He'd better hurry, Sue. The networks love Obama, but any veep is only going to bask in reflected glory, and he (I assume) will be up against hurricane coverage the rest of the week. Down here in Florida, we're going to look back on tomorrow as the time the waters stopped receding for a while.

[bgates]

DoT, when will they ask him what were the gravest failings of his 4 years in his current office? That was the Most Important Question Ever in 2004.

If Obama chooses Biden, McCain has to choose Jindal. Biden's a lock to get about 18 minutes into the VP debate before saying something like, "listen, I don't tell you people how to run your motels and convenience stores, don't tell me about politics."

[Charlie (Colorado)]

...but they are an interested party with eleemosynary responsibilities.

Not to quibble with your otherwise excellent points, but don't you mean "fiduciary"? Or does "eleemosynary" have a legal meaning as term of art that I'm not getting?

[bad]

.. ask Obama, "Who's the toughest negotiator you've ever been up against?"

Answer: Myself. I am consistently maintaining a humble quest for change as my values hope for illumination from my eloquence.

[Sue]

Obama is going to have a problem if he doesn't choose Hillary.

[Sue]

Who is Sebilius? I know. I know. Google is my friend...

[JM Hanes]

Rick:

University Administrations are less ivory tower than walls of Jericho I fear. That's why I suspect you've got leap frog departmental powers as fast as possible, and if you can forgive the cumulative metaphors, stir multiple pots, & follow the money to boot. Any single individual has multiple buck passing options which ultimately lead back to where you started like those infuriating menus you encounter calling customer service at unpopular corporations. I don't know if listing the party affiliation of your board members is standard University operating procedure, but it struck me that politics is the Chicago sine qua non -- the details of which are completely opaque to outsiders like me, alas. The "who sent you" phenom is not encouraging.

narciso:

The Crimea is still the place to watch, isn't it? I read somewhere today that the Russians have been passing out Russian passports there too for awhile now, which should probably raise the hair on the back of everybody's heads.

bad:

Not sure if you're the one who supplied the JPost link, but I thought this was a really telling of point:

Obama's record of accomplishment is thin not because of lack of opportunity, but in spite of it. For twenty years, Obama has walked the floors of the most prestigious institutions in the nation, but has left no footprints other than those from his runs for whatever office came next.

No footprints, and in the context here, no paper trail either -- both, I believe, by design.

[Sue]

Oh. The governor of Kansas that said all of her NG was in Iraq when the tornado hit. Great choice!

[Sue]

but has left no footprints other than those from his runs

no paper trail either

I don't know why I always think of shit when Obama is mentioned.

[bad]

And is any fool out there still claiming that they're voting for Obama because the Bush Administration has been too secretive?

Jim Geraghty at NRO about the secrecy surrounding Obama.

LUN

[pagar]

Sue, Since starting to read JOM,I always think of carp.

[hit and run]

.. ask Obama, "Who's the toughest negotiator you've ever been up against?"

Answer: Myself. I am consistently maintaining a humble quest for change as my values hope for illumination from my eloquence.

"I had an internal debate" -- Obama negotiating with himself whether or not to wear the bike helmet.

[Sue]

I was enjoying a weekend with my grandchildren, watching the Olympics and Mary Poppins and did not see the Saddleback forum. From everywhere, and I mean everywhere, McCain kicked butt. The left has to be getting edgy. I wonder if the supers are also getting edgy? I keep thinking back to the reason they were set up to begin with. To stop the nomination of the wrong candidate. Too bad they don't have the nerve to do what they were set up to do.

[narciso]

The region is a little too laden with history; Chechnya, Georgia (re; Lermontov and probably Tolstoy) The Crimea; with it's attendant wars, and Sochi, that's the spot Gorbachev chose to take his vacation, on that fateful day in August (which falls tomorrow, 18 years ago) The Crimean War was
really about Russian control on Moldova and the very Dracula resonant Wallachian province of Romania; which seems as obscure as it sounds. How a move, outside of Russian territory, would bring three fleets
and their forces, to that Black Sea promontory. Would even Sarkozy venture into those historically treacherous territory; Brown certainly wouldn't but would Cameron.

Sibelius, that's the composer at the end of the second Die Hard film right, I get them confused, Tom Franks, who has the itinerate lefty column that Cockburn abandoned apparently doesn't have any respect for that State (sometimes I think he saw Footloose too many times) That tornado, Greenburg, was the one, Obama said claimed 10,000 lives; and that comment went without comment by the Governor.

[JM Hanes]

Charlie:

I don't believe they have a specific fiduciary responsibility (or even a legal right) where preserving unspecified internal records of a separately chartered entity is concerned. While it varies from one organization to another, most major charitable foundations have an institutional understanding of what they conceive their obligations to be -- obligations which differ dramatically from those of a profit making corporation, for example, or non-profits seeking rather than dispensing funds -- which is why eleemosynary struck me as the appropriate term (which doesn't happen very often!). Annenberg may not have an explicit legal interest in the documents at issue, but nobody in a fund-raising dependent sector is going to piss them off if they can help it.

[kim]

That same Governor initially blamed a poor response to the tornado on her National Guard being over involved in Bush's Iraqi war. It wasn't true and was withdrawn, under cover from the lightweight Brownback.
============================

[bad]

"I had an internal debate"

He has an internal debate over every word that comes out of his mouth.

[JM Hanes]

narciso:

Cameron sounded pretty gung-ho to me, but that was just yesterday and I already can't remember why!

[kim]

Heh, Sue beat me to it. Brownback covered for Sibelius. What a schmuck.
===============================

[JM Hanes]

I think Obama has strictly cerebral, not genuinely internal, debates.

[Sue]

I wonder why McCain is choosing Dayton, OH to announce his VP choice? Is there some significance I am not seeing?

[Jane]

He needs Ohio and he's close in Ohio. That's the only significance I see.

[Sara]

Kasich?

[Jane]

Obama better announce his VP selection soon because his whole infanticide decision is starting to be reported on.

[BobS]

Is it Kasich?

[Jane]

I think its down to Romney and Pawlenty. It's not Kasich.

(How would I know?)

[kim]

Sebelius grew up in Ohio, but I don't think he is picking her.
=====================================

[BobS]

Why Ohio then? He's surely do it Michigan if it were Romney.

[BobS]

Is Michael Phelps from Ohio?

[kim]

Well, no, kim, McCain won't pick Sebelius.

Wright-Patterson? Dayton Accords?
=========================

[narciso]

Maybe Cameron is 'channelling' Palmerston,
the other Etonian and Oxbridge man in the
Downing queue although he's closer to the younger Pitt in general temperment. It really got under Max Hasting's skin, who was wrongly identified as being pro-Iraq in some clueless mainstream report. said the Russians just want respect; hence Georgia, I might add, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Litvinenko, & the Yandarbichev takedown in
Doha. The BTC pipeline is an interesting aspect of this conflict; Azerbaijan, would be a likely next target, since Aliev jr, is a less solid chip from the KGB's block, however, Blackwater has a pre-existing contract to train the Azeris, as does DynCorp probably. It's also a predominantly Sunni regime in a majority Shia nation, and within the Iranians sphere of influence.
(eg:Ayatollah Khameneni is Azeri)Baku is probably the next likely target, since that is where pipeline starts(anyone heard from Armitage, Powell, Scowcroft, any other parties to the AIOC "anyone, anyone, Bueller
. . ." Rice through her former directorship with Chevron, is the only one that has really spoken up on the matter. If this starts to sound like that really poorly scripted James Bond film, it may not be accidental. Azerbaijan, was an independent state, as much as Georgia was before before it fell under Soviet influence. The
propagandacampaign that led to it's incorporation, contained an Islamist, anti-colonialist screed, which grated on John Reed's sensibilities as Warren Beatty relates it. Of course if either target proves too difficult, Ceyhan on the Turkish side of the Med, is the last point

[Sue]

Kasich?

That was my first thought. I like Kasich, but I don't know if he would help McCain outside of Ohio. However, Kasich was part of the '94 Congress that came up with the Contract With America. Interesting, but I still hold out for Romney.

[Terry Gain]

No doubt impressed with the magnificent gold medal performance of Chinese officials in preventing the disqualification of prepubescent gymnasts, Obama has added three of these Chinese specialists to his campaign team.

He now has a handful of affidavits and passports proving that Ayers was just a guy in his neighborhood. He's not sure what to do with the passports.