The Ace Comes Up Aces

The Ace of Spades has an instant-classic YouTube attack clip which includes never-before seen footage of Barack Obama touting his experience in the Chicago Annenberg Challenge as a key qualification for national office.  Of course, this was back in 2000 when he was contesting Congressman Rush's seat; today, there is nothing about Barack's failed attempt at school reform at his website.

Doug Ross provides the transcript and a few video captures but his presentation totally loses the impact of the ominous music - watching the clip I kept waiting for Freddy Krueger (or Bill Ayers) to jump out from behind a door.

A few quibbles - the video asserts that Ayers created the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and hired Obama.  The record is clear that Ayers was instrumental in writing the grant proposal that brought the Annenberg money to Chicago, and it is an excellent guess that he was involved in hiring Obama.  However, his specific role in hiring Obama has not yet been documented (we await the results of Stanly Kurtz's research into the archives of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge for more insight on that point.  And a personal bete noire - on a slide mentioning the Woods Fund money that went to Barack's allies at mega-churches such as Jeremiah Wright's, Ayers is spelled "Ayres".  Ahhhh!

Steve Diamond provides an excellent synopsis of the development of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and places it in the context of an ongoing tussle between the mayor's office and the Local School Councils.  Here I noted the many prevarications and Obamafuscations that the Obama campaign and Obama himself have put forward to mask the Obama/Ayers connection.

Some open questions:

(1) why the current cover-up of something that was once a source of pride to Obama?

(2) what is the real tie between Obama and Ayers?  The Times wrote just enough to cover themselves but did not push on this story or this angle, despite this provocative quote:

“Let me say the room had no shortage of egos, including my own,” said Stanley O. Ikenberry, a board member who at the time was president of the University of Illinois. “It was unusual: here you had a person trained in the law chairing a board on school reform.” Still, he said, Mr. Obama won his colleagues’ respect.

So why was Obama tapped as chairman?  My guess - during a 1988 push for school reform his Developing Communities Project teamed up with the ABCs Coalition which was coordinated by Bill Ayers.  This is just about the time Obama went back to Harvard but it is likely that the two men met then and resumed their alliance in 1995.

We know the Times will want to probe this after they resolve open issues about Ms. Palin's 4-H dues from 1971.  Jim Geraghty has more on the Times priorities.

Comments

[narciso]

Well he was running against Bobby Rush,
former Black Pan. .sorry community organizer
so the Ayers connection might have been handy at the time. After September 11th, not so much.

[BumperStickerist]

minor correction,

Sarah Palin was a dues paying member of the Wasilla 5-H club, the fifth "H" is silent, and stands for "Hatemonger" ..

-

[Ranger]

We know the Times will want to probe this after they resolve open issues about Ms. Palin's 4-H dues from 1971.

The NYT should change their motto to:

We will vet no Democrat before their election.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

why the current cover-up of something that was once a source of pride to Obama?

Because it's now an Inconvenient Truth?

[Mustang0302]

Am I missing some significance in the one-time misspelling of Ayers as "Ayres"?

[clarice]

Damn--You are all so sharp today and I'm still half asleep.

[DebinNC]

BO was close to Wright in 1988. Was Wright involved in joint efforts with Ayers back then?

[Barney Frank]

why the current cover-up of something that was once a source of pride to Obama?

I'll take a stab at this one.
Because in a Chicago congressional district 'community organizing' with a marxist nutter is the equivalent of an Iowa congressman dragging home ethanol earmarks.
Whereas in a national election it is the equivalent of an Iowa congressman dragging home ethanol earmarks.

[Sue]

Wow, the # 1 conservative blogger last year can't handle the traffic. Either that or he has been hacked.

[matt]

Obama's swiss cheese resume gets curiouser and curiouser.....first he does and then he doesn't.....and the prevarications resonate with Bill Clinton's best....and the media remains silent....

[Beto Ochoa]

"But listen to the music... He's evil!"

[Beto Ochoa]

Considering the fact that Frank Marshall Davis was his boyhood mentor and his mother was a dyed in the wool commie, making Mr Obama a Red Diaper Baby, the idea he wouldn't have known who William Ayers was and already had some introduction is ridiculous.
The dearth of any real paper trail until Mr Obama arrives at Harvard is quite suspicious and suggest some sort of "put up job".
Just Sayin'

[Enlightened]

Ok, I am moving towards the "resume padding" crowd with Obama and the CAC.

On the 1996 and 1997 Board of Directors list, Obama's name is not followed with "President or Chairman."

Other listees did in fact have President listed after their name, and I don't see "Chairman" listed anywhere.

And then in the 2000 Annual report, they indicate Obama left the board due to his Senate run, but it did not say "Board President, BO has left...etc."

I wonder if it's that simple - Barack Obama was NEVER the President of the CAC board, and they are trying to keep it secret because it contradicts his claims to executive experience.

I'd like to know if Stanley has found documents that actually indicate Obama was a President or Chairman of the Board. And if they do - why does it contradict the Board Members list in the Annual Reports?

Maybe it's that simple - BO calls Ayers and says "Hey- I'm running for IL Senate, can I say I was President of the Board?" And Ayers says okey dokey - voila'! Experience is Born.

I wonder if the Annual Board Member Lists are originals? Just curious. It could be a common mistake to "add" someone to the list, and forget to check the page format of also "adding" their title.

I don't think the CAC was as sinister as some want it to be, I think it was highly socialist in intent, but not in a Weather Underground context.

We might be missing the elephant in the room - Ayers was an aquaintance who merely padded a Zero resume. Funny how CAC kind of went away round about the time Bambi made it the IL Senate.

[Enlightened]

And furthermore - Rolling was the Executuve Director, he is the one with the "executive experience". Bambi was NOT driving the CAC.

[Enlightened]

Try googling Barack Obama, Chairman, or Barack Obama, Founding President, or Barack Obama - Board President, Board Chairman - whatever -it never comes up - Except on his website and Wikipedia.

So does that mean that there are no articles wherein Bambi was described as such? Is it me or is that just standard?

[Rick Ballard]

Deadthread OT -

Can today's market action be characterized as capitulation? (My tentative answer is no, but it's a nice start.) The 500 point drop wasn't matched by a high enough surge in the 10 yr T-Bonds. I'm wondering whether we're going to see a bottom without a capitulation move. PIMCO and Vanguard both were clipped pretty good by the Lehman failure, with PIMCO being hit harder. Shareholders with Vanguard can head for the sidelines with no penalty (other than what they've already dropped for the day). If too many shareholders in that position in mutual funds get nervous then we should see that capitulation move and the jump in the 10 year bond.

Other opinions avidly solicited.

[JAL]

Ikenberry said Obama chaired it.

Something definitely off, as BO was not an education dude.

[paul a'barge]

In paragraph 3 you are missing a closing parenthesis.

[Kyle]

Attack ad suggestion...
Suggest that Obama's only prior executive experience (Annenberg foundation) was not actually executive experience. Wait for clarification. Then target the Annenberg connection? Think the BO campaign would play?

[matt]

we really need exposition and clarification from Kurtz as soon as possible. He's doing the research which may explain a lot of the goings on with the CAC. When/if NR decides to release an article would go a long way towards explaining a lot of Obama's actions from the late 80's onwards.

[Brian G.]

Typical Karl Rove tactics to pull this video out.

[Steve Diamond]

I believe that Obama was both President and Chairman of the Board of the CAC.

President is an executive position with authority to speak for the entity and potentially other powers. Those would be described in the articles and by laws of the entity.

Typically, at non-profits the chief executive officer is the Executive Director but a President could retain certain independent authority, for example, signing certain large checks, etc.

As board chairman, Obama would have called board meetings, set the agenda and chaired the actual meetings.

[ben]

"Typical Karl Rove tactics to pull this video out."

Sure is....magnificent bastard.

[Bryan Lovely]

we really need exposition and clarification from Kurtz as soon as possible.

I'm guessing this will be an October Surprise.

[ZF]

Why is it not news that the only time Obama got his hands on a substantial resource ($160 million), the Annenberg Project's own assessment was that the entire sum was wasted?

The entire amount! Without any discernible beneficial impact! This is at the very least utter, bungling incompetence on a grand scale.

[Thomas Hazlewood]

Will someone please explain to me what the 'Community Organizer Panthers' were?

[Jack]

Enlightened wrote,

"Ok, I am moving towards the "resume padding" crowd with Obama and the CAC."

There is another reason for the changes, and eventual leaving by Obama from the organization. And why today he never mentions his time there.

A reason that is not overtly political, thereby less interesting, but more mundane, thereby more probable, but still embarassing.

The reason? He was fired. Or politely pushed out. Why? Incompentence, or he was in over his skill-set, or a failure in leadership skills. I very much doubt financial malfeasance, his exit would have been short and swift. Nevertheless, not something he wants on his resume under national scrutiny.

Sorry if this is boring, but c'mon, doesn't this sound more likely than some Marxist party-line schism with Ayers?

[Rocco]

I think there's a possibility Obama met Ayers before 1988. From the WP

In his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, Obama portrays himself as drifting through high school, a little directionless and rebellious. It was becoming clear to him that there were aspects of his identity that white family members couldn't help him sort out. "I was trying to raise myself to be a black man in America," he writes. The quest drove him East to New York City, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983. In search of the communal spirit of the civil rights era, he decided to become a community organizer.

Obama also came to Chicago without traditional African American credentials. He didn't belong to a church, and he had to work to win the trust of South Side leaders, many of whom were Baptist and Pentecostal ministers. But Obama was polite and winning, willing to work with pastors, separatists and grandmothers alike. He was a good listener, and Kellman set out to make him better

The Foreign Policy Association lists four types of terrorism.

A. Nationalist-Separatist Terrorism: violence undertaken by those seeking to establish a separate state for their own national/ethnic group [e.g. the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Basque Homeland & Liberty (ETA), the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK)].

[nlcatter]

Im waiting for a point to be made in the article, guess till hell frezzes over and it doesnt show anything done wrong by Obama.

[Extraneus]

That's an interesting angle, Jack.

[ben]

"Im waiting for a point to be made in the article, guess till hell frezzes over and it doesnt show anything done wrong by Obama."

"Wrong" is a red herring here. Is it wrong to be a socialist? Is it wrong to be friends with terrorist bombers? Is it wrong to sit in a church for 20 years while your pastor screams Goddamm America? "Wrong" is one thing. President of the United States is another. Even if Obama is not guilty of any malfeasance (and it's not clear he isn't) there are plenty of issues of judgment and beliefs and background that come into play when electing a President.

[BobS]

At the very least, the grant patterns of the Obama led CAC show faulty judgement by targeting dubious entities with questionable agendas

[BobS]

CAC's appetite for funding ACORN associated groups that sought to circumvent school adminstrators, boards and teachers with leftist philosophies goes beyond mistakes.

[Hucbald]

Everything after the middle of your third paragraph is parenthetical.

Hypothetically parenthetical, anyway.

Nice catch on the spelling mistake, though, as reversed letters are the most common form of typographical error.

Just teasing.

I predict McPalin will beat O'Biden handily. Besides, Time says that race is the elephant in the room for Obama, and so all of these living skeletons in his closet must not matter.

[drill]

Who really cares? I guess it's pie in the sky to say "Can't we just stay focused on the issues, ferchrissakes?" But can't we? I mean, is it really that important to you that Obama worked for Chicago Annendale Challenge? C'mon people.

[JM Hanes]

I'd have said education reform was a pretty big issue myself, drill, but I guess your mileage varies.

[BobS]

drill: To me it does as it reveals a sense of values, philosophies and liasons I find troubling.

[BobS]

Besides: There isn't anything else. The man's a mystery and he voted present an alarming number of times.

[vinron]

In his Illinois senate bio:
http://www.ilga.gov/senate/Senator.asp?GA=93&MemberID=747

Senator Barack Obama (D) - 93rd General Assembly

Years served: 1997 - Present

Committee assignments: Welfare; Sen. Comm. Whole; Health & Human Services (Chairperson).

Biography: Attorney; born Aug. 4, 1961, in Hawaii; bachelor's degree, Columbia University, NY, 1983; graduate, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, 1991; chair, The Chicago Annebery Challenge; board member, Woods Fund of Chicago; "40 under 40" award, Crain's Chicago Business, 1993; married (wife, Michelle).

A convenient typo??

[RichatUF]

Rick-

Can today's market action be characterized as capitulation? (My tentative answer is no, but it's a nice start.) The 500 point drop wasn't matched by a high enough surge in the 10 yr T-Bonds. I'm wondering whether we're going to see a bottom without a capitulation move.

It is feeling like the end, but I'm not sure. I'm scratching my head on the AIG situation. Reading and listening to market commentary, AIG seems like the leak in the dam for European and Asian banks, and once it goes under, the crisis jumps to Asia and Europe. I don't see JPM and GS stepping up as leaders with the $75 billion when the agencies can lower their ratings again triggering a similiar crisis. I think the Fed and Treasury are rightly pissed off too that no other central banks are stepping up to the plate (AIG has a massive portfolio of Euro real estate and China investments, where are they) and that the management at AIG seems to be in fantasyland. Also I wonder if this crisis will crack the soverign spreads as different EZ areas start breaking under the weight of the Euro. They are already pushing all time highs. Also the volume today was 20% AIG, everyone took a hit but CAT and IBM looked reasonable well.

[Enlightened]

Ok - If Obama was such a involved "executive" of CAC - why is there absolutely no articles that detail anything Barack Obama did there?

Numerous articles on what William Ayers did, numerous articles on what Anne Hartlett did, some articles with some members speaking about the goings on - but NOTHING, not one instance, other than Obama-backed sites listing him as a President or Chairman.

Anyone got any photos of him on-the-job?

Ayers attended CAC meetings with members of Annenberg and also Chicago school boards.

If Obama was a key player at CAC - what exactly was he tasked with?

[Steve]

Great site!

Would you like a Link Exchange with our new blog COMMON CENTS where we blog about the issues of the day?

http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com

[M. Simon]

If Obama was a key player at CAC - what exactly was he tasked with?

Hiding his involvement.

[Rick Ballard]

Rich,

As oil seeks to break 90 and the ten year bond goes to a 52 week high it appears that I was a day early on capitulation.

It's a good day to consider buying.

[kim]

Don't whine, drill. It's bad enough that Obama is whining. Courage.
=========================================

[Sue]

Even if Obama is not guilty of any malfeasance (and it's not clear he isn't) there are plenty of issues of judgment and beliefs and background that come into play when electing a President.

He is running on his judgment. Hillary tried to beat him on experience and lost, because no one cared he is inexperienced. He had/has the judgment required for the job. Well does he? How do you know if someone has judgment if they don't have the experience to judge it by? Everything Obama has ever done or said is fair game in order for the voting public to judge his judgment. The only qualification he ran on.

[Moultrie]

Where is Stanley Kurtz, hope the BO Thugs haven't gotten to him like they have to some others?

[sophy]

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