Romney thinks 47% consider themselves victims, I disagree

FactCheck: Obama treats Secret Service members with respect

Kessler says, "Contrary to the email, the book actually says Obama treats the Secret Service with respect and appreciates what the agents do. It does not say he hates the military."

Furthermore, the book is not the one-sided partisan attack that the e-mail describes. As Kessler says, "The book is totally non-partisan and skewers Democrats-JFK, LBJ, Carter, Gary Hart--and Republicans--Nixon, Jenna Bush, Barbara Bush, Dick Cheney's daughter Mary, Agnew, Ford, and Bush's treasury secretary John Snow--alike.

2008 Super Tuesday: We are the change we seek

I believe in a humbler, less self-involved America. I believe in that simple, commonsense wisdom that has come down to us through the ages: Everything that is worthwhile comes through effort. There is no free lunch. Anybody who tries to tell you otherwise is selling something--usually something paid for by tax dollars.

Dems still have the largest majority in decades

To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve problems, not run for the hills. And if the Republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town--a supermajority--then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well. Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it's not leadership. We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions. So let's show the American people that we can do it together.

Used Hillary's 2001 Senate transition as model

Clinton believed that success in the Senate required the sublimation of the ego (or a credible facsimile thereof). And the advice she offered Obama based on that theory was clear and bullet-point concise: Keep your head down. Avoid the limelight. Get on the right committees. Go to hearings. Do your homework. Build up a substantive portfolio. And never forget the care & feeding of the people who sent you here.

During that first year together in the Senate, Obama would approach her often on the floor (something he did with other colleagues only rarely), and she always took time to chat with him quietly, to try to steer him in the right direction.

To Hillary: You didn't run to be vice president

Clinton's ambivalence at the prospect was deep. If Obama offered her the #2 spot, Hillary DID feel she would have to take it--but mainly to avoid being blamed if she declined and then Obama lost. Hillary found it difficult to muster any enthusiasm for it. "I've already done that job," she said.

Obama's view of the matter was complicated, too. He respected and admired Hillary, but he wondered if she would ever be able to see herself as his subordinate. There was also the issue of the baggage she brought: You can't have three presidents in the White House, Obama told some friends.

Obama indicated he was willing to vet her, but that he was unlikely to pick her. Then, as if to make Clinton feel better, but actually putting the sting in the tail, Obama added, "You didn't run to be vice-president."

I am only at the beginning of my labors on the world stage

And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage. Compared to some of the giants of history who have received this prize--Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela--my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened of cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women--some known, some obscure--to be far more deserving of this honor than I.

Inaugurated using Abraham Lincoln's Bible

Just past noon on January 20, Obama placed his left hand on the Lincoln Bible, a velvet-bound volume purchased by a Supreme Court clerk for the Great Emancipator's swearing in on March 4, 1861. Obama raised his right hand and took the 35-word oath of office administered by Chief Justice John Roberts.

[During the parade], twice, Obama and his wife left their limousine to walk along Pennsylvania Avenue and wave to the crowds. Jimmy Carter was the first president to do this, spontaneously leaving his limousine without clearing it with the Secret Service. Since then, the Secret Service has scripted where the president should walk, providing extra security along the way. In the end, nearly two million people packed the outside of the Capitol, the parade route, and the National Mall. The inauguration went off without a hitch.

Defensive about attempts to portray as sexually attractive

40 million viewers for convention nomination speech

Unconvinced, Republicans ridiculed the staging of Obama's convention speech at Denver's Invesco Field. To them, the venue seemed more fitting for an athletic event or concert, the backdrop more suitable for a coronation than a speech. The public disagreed. More than 40 million viewers tuned in, a record for convention viewership. Within twenty-four hours, another three hundred thousand viewers had watched the speech on YouTube. Not surprisingly, Obama scored well with black viewers as well. Only one African American public figure has achieved higher rating among black viewers in this decade: Michael Jackson.

Described by fans as rock star; dismissed by critics as same

Obama's youthful vigor and attractiveness--uncommon in national political contests--prompted an outpouring of Internet parodies, tributes, and mashups. Some are subtle, while others get right to the point. Such as the famous Obama Girl video, for example, in which a buxom white brunette lip-synchs that the candidate of her dreams is "smart," "black," "sexy," and "fine."

McCain's team, frustrated, began to lampoon their opponent in ads like "Fan Club," in which Obama was contemptuously dismissed as a "rock star." Women were shown comparing him to Bono and praising his "very soft eyes."

Evokes Lincoln's call to overcome irreconcilable differences

Bill Ayers is not & will not be involved with my campaign

McCAIN: On Mr. Ayers: I don’t care about an old washed-up terrorist. But as Sen. Clinton said in her debates with you, we need to know the full extent of that relationship.

OBAMA: Mr. Ayers has become the centerpiece of Sen. McCain’s campaign over the last 2 or 3 weeks. So let’s get the record straight. Bill Ayers is a professor of education in Chicago. Forty years ago, when I was 8 years old, he engaged in despicable acts with a radical domestic group. I have roundly condemned those acts. Ten years ago he served and I served on a school reform board. Other members on that board were University presidents who happen to be a Republican. Mr. Ayers is not involved in my campaign. He has never been involved in this campaign. And he will not advise me in the White House. So that’s Mr. Ayers.

FactCheck: Spoke at ACORN events, as well as court case

The Facts:ACORN, a grass-roots community organizing group, faces allegations of filing fraudulent voter registrations in several states. Sen. John McCain, reflecting rising Republican concerns about ACORN, said at the debate “we need to know the full extent of Sen. Obama’s relationship with ACORN.“

While ACORN said Obama ”never organized with or worked for ACORN,“ it does mention other ties. Obama ”accepted two invitations to be an unpaid guest speaker at training for volunteer community leaders organized by Chicago ACORN“ in the early 1990s.

The Verdict:False. Obama’s legal work was his only professional tie to the group, but he also spoke at group events, and his campaign had a contract with a group that worked with ACORN.

My associates are Warren Buffett, Paul Volcker, & Sen. Lugar

OBAMA: Let me tell you who I associate with. On economic policy, I associate with Warren Buffett and former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker. If I’m interested in figuring out my foreign policy, I associate myself with my running mate, Joe Biden or wit Dick Lugar, the Republican ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, or General Jim Jones, the former supreme allied commander of NATO. Those are the people, Democrats and Republicans, who have shaped my ideas and who will be surrounding me in the White House. And the fact that this has become such an important part of your campaign, Sen. McCain, says more about your campaign than it says about me.

Biden has knowledge, long career, and cares

OBAMA: Joe Biden is one of the finest public servants that has served in this country. It’s not just that he has some of the best foreign policy credentials of anybody. It’s also that he has never forgotten where he came from, fighting on behalf of working families, remembering what it’s like to see his father lose his job and go through a downward spiral economically.

McCAIN: Sarah Palin took on a governor who was a member of her own party when she ran for governor. When she was the head of their energy and natural resources board, she saw corruption, she resigned. She’s given money back to the taxpayers. She’s cut the size of government. She negotiated with the oil companies and faced them down.

The Ownership Society really means “you’re on your own”

To John McCain: We all put our country first

The Republicans make a big election about small things

Only presidential nominee to never have faced tough GOP race

So it is hardly surprising that Obama started out the 2008 campaign believing that you don't have to be a tough partisan to be a winning progressive politician--because he has never had to. Yet his partisanship seems to be maturing nicely--without sacrificing his gift for the broad unifying vision.

Ally Tony Rezko indicted for kickbacks from Gov. Blagojevich

Rezko managed 30 projects in total, including 11 that were in Obama's state senate district. Foreclosures followed by abandoned properties are the legacy of the Rezko low-income-housing empire.

The Sun-Times exposed the fact that Obama wrote letters to city and state officials supporting his political patron Rezko's successful bid to get more than $14 million from taxpayers to build apartments for senior citizens. The development, Cottage View Terrace, opened in 2002, providing 97 apartments for low-income senior citizens. The letters appear to contradict statements from Obama that he never did any favors for Rezko.

Rezko was indicted in 2007 on federal charges that accuse him of demanding kickbacks from companies seeking state business under Gov. Blagojevich.

Just words? "I have a dream," Just words?

Obama's language almost identically matched the substance and structure of what Patrick had said in Massachusetts. Obama's phrasing was "Don't tell me words don't matter. 'I have a dream.' Just words? 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' Just words? 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself.' Just words? Just speeches?"

Don't take a chance on me; take a chance on your aspirations

On Feb. 18, the Clinton campaign charged that a speech by Obama included a passage nearly identical to one in a speech delivered two years earlier by Deval Patrick. That same day, a second video clip was posted on YouTube.com showing Obama copying from yet another Patrick speech, nearly word for word, again without attribution to Patrick.

Patrick said, "I am not asking anybody to take a chance on me. I am asking you to take a chance on your own aspirations." Obama said: "I'm not asking you to take a chance on me. I'm also asking you to take a chance on your own aspirations."

Obama issued a nondenial denial: "Deval and I do trade ideas all the time, and you know, he's occasionally used lines of mine. I used some words of his."

GovWatch: Wears flag pin to deflect anti-patriotism critics

Anybody notice how the American flag pin has become an almost permanent part of Barack Obama’s wardrobe these days? A few months ago, Obama rarely, if ever, wore the flag pin. Then he started wearing a pin occasionally, claiming it’s a matter of personal whim and his choice of outfits. Nowadays, you rarely see Obama without a pin in his lapel. By contrast, John McCain rarely wears a flag pin.

Obama is unconvincing when he claims that his decision on whether or not to wear the flag in his lapel comes down to the suit he is wearing on any particular day. Political campaigns spend untold hours obsessing over such image questions. A more plausible explanation for his embrace of the flag pin is that he wants to defuse the patriotism debate.

Suggesting that I plagiarized Deval Patrick is silly

A: It’s not a lot of speeches. There are two lines in speeches that I’ve been giving over the last couple of weeks. I’ve been campaigning now for the last 2 years. Patrick is a national co-chairman of my campaign, and suggested an argument that I share, that words are important. Words matter. The implication that they don’t I think diminishes how important it is to speak to the American people directly about making America as good as its promise. Barbara Jordan understood this as well as anybody. That I had plagiarized from somebody who was one of my national co-chairs who gave me the line and suggested that I use it is silly, and this is where we start getting into silly season, in politics, and people start getting discouraged about it. What we shouldn’t be spending time doing is tearing each other down. We should be spending time lifting the country up.

Don’t seat MI & FL delegates; they’re based on non-campaign

A: Well, here’s what I think is important. We’ve got to make sure that whoever wins the most votes, the most states, the most delegates, that they are the nominee [and not] somehow overturned by party insiders.

Q: What do you think should happen, then, to the delegates in Michigan and Florida? Shouldn’t their votes be counted?

A: You know, all we’ve done in this process is to just follow the rules as they’ve been laid out. We abided by the rules that had been set up by the DNC, so we didn’t campaign there.

Q: Is Sen. Clinton trying to change the rules in the middle of the game?

A: It certainly wouldn’t be fair to allocate delegates based on a non-campaign. We did not campaign in those states. So there may be ways that we can manage this--having a caucus for example

FactCheck: Obama praised GOP for having ideas, not GOP ideas

Clinton is referring to what Obama told the editorial board of the Reno Gazette-Journal on Jan. 14: “The Republican approach has played itself out. I think it’s fair to say that the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom. Now, it’s all tax cuts.“

There’s a difference between praising someone for having ideas and praising the idea itself. Obama is doing the former--and just as clearly not doing the latter. He says the GOP approach has ”played itself out,“ for example.

Objected to Republican ideas; did not compliment them

OBAMA I did not compliment Republican ideas. That is not true. What I said was is that Reagan was a transformative political figure because he was able to get Democrats to vote against their economic interests to form a majority to push through their agenda, an agenda that I objected to. While I was working on those streets watching those folks see their jobs shift overseas, Clinton was a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart. What I said had nothing to do with their policies.

Made the right decisions that were not politically popular

OpEd: Radical Spenders; Weak Defenders

The Obama-Pelosi-Rei team is the most radical group ever to hold the reigns of American power. Its vision of a high-tax, bureaucratic, Washington-centered system leading to a secular-socialist future will fundamentally challenge America's role as a beacon of hope, opportunity, and freedom.

The $700 billion Wall Street bailout of September 2008 marked the complete collapse of the Bush administration's economic discipline. Obama took office and presided over "Bush Plus"--but with an aggressiveness, speed, & scale that shocked most Americans.

In foreign policy, the Obama administration has reverted to the weakness and apologetic critique of America that characterized the Carter administration from 1977 to 1980. President Obama bows to the King of Saudi Arabia.

OpEd: Replace red-vs.-blue politics with positive campaign

Senator Obama ran a positive presidential campaign that reached out to many sectors of the population beyond the Democrats' traditional base. The result was not just winning a narrow victory by maximizing turnout in traditionally Democratic areas among people who were angry with President Bush. Obama had reached out to all Americans and was rewarded with victories in North Carolina, Colorado, and other traditionally red states. In fact, it is likely that Senator Obama's victory would have been even more overwhelming if the ideology of the Left were not so fundamentally out of synch with that of the vast majority of Americans.

On “inexperience”: he wrote policy books that media ignores

The idea of Obama as inexperienced was not merely unproven but the opposite of truth. Since the details of Obama’s life have already been extensively covered in his own books, journalists have little new to do except trying to find holes in Obama’s story.

As Obama noted, “I’ve written two very detailed books that give people a pretty good window into my heart and soul. I’ve given policy speeches on just about every important issue.” It was the media that didn’t want to talk about policies, not Obama. Yet in the media spotlight, the horse race always prevails over policy debates.

Don’t know if life beyond earth; focus on life here on earth

The Plan: Raise Obama’s profile, including African adventure

Since Obama’s election to the US Senate, Kenyans had adopted him as one of their own, and his rapid ascent to political power in the US had made him a living folk hero in the East African nation, especially among his father’s native tribe, the Luo. A beer named for Obama had gone on the Kenyan market (Senator Beer); a school in rural Kenya was named in his honor; and a play based on his Dreams Memoir had been staged at the Kenyan National Theater.

Assigned RFK’s Senate desk; invokes RFK regularly

It is JFK’s younger brother who was a witty, eloquent, dashing, and politically progressive, 40-something freshman junior senator from a large northern industrial state when he ran for president in 1968, to whom Barack is most frequently compared. Bobby Kennedy, who sat at the same desk Obama was assigned when he first sat in the Senate chamber and who was sworn in on January 4, 1965, 40 years to the day before his political descendant, launched his quest as the electorate was despairing under the rising death count of a badly conceived and ill-defined, no-end-in-sight war.

When Obama invokes Kennedy, he sounds as if he could be reading a passage from his own book. “In a nation torn by war and divided against itself, he was able to look us in the eye and tell us that no matter... how persistent the poverty or the racism, no matter how far adrift America strayed, hope would come again.”

Hopefund PAC donated $500K to Democratic Senate candidates

Candidates
• Daniel Akaka (HI)
• Jeff Bingaman (NM)
• Sherrod Brown (OH)
• Robert Byrd (WV)
• Maria Cantwell (WA)
• Thomas Carper (DE)
• Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY)
• Kent Conrad (ND)
• Dianne Feinstein (CA)
• Edward Kennedy (MA)
• Amy Klobuchar (MN)
• Herb Kohl (WI)
• Ned Lamont (CT)
• Claire McCaskill (MO)
• Ben Nelson (NE)
• Bill Nelson (FL)
• Debbie Stabenow (MI)
• Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)

Convention speech understood country yearns for unity

Pro: He was inspiring.

There is not a liberal America and a conservative America--there is the United States of America. There’s not a black America and white America: there’s the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who oppose the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes.

Unflinching progressive but ok to downstate conservatives

Be strong or be clever and make peace

Wouldn’t be running if I didn’t think I was prepared

2 years older than JFK when JFK ran for president

Obama does give a youthful impression. Every time Obama advances a conciliatory idea it conspires with his juvenile appearance, and his deliberative streak can seem like indecisiveness.

Change stirs passion & controversy; but don't play it safe

No wonder there's so much cynicism out there. No wonder there's so much disappointment. I campaigned on the promise of change--change we can believe in, the slogan went. And right now, I know there are many Americans who aren't sure if they still believe we can change--or that I can deliver it.

But remember this--I never suggested that change would be easy, or that I could do it alone. And when you try to do big things and make big changes, it stirs passions and controversy. That's just how it is.

Those of us in public office can respond to this reality by playing it safe and avoid telling hard truths and pointing fingers.

OpEd: Spoke often during campaign of common struggles

The Democratic Party has become synonymous with government security. Democrats agitate & unite by reminding voters that America has been unfair, and without government protection, they will be alone and powerless. In so many words "freedom: is their enemy. Ironically the more dependent Americans become on government, the more insecure and fearful they become. Democrats use this fear to manipulate their votes at election time.

OpEd: Victimology master; irrevocably bound to tragic past

Obama offered hope not in an American identity but a hope that America could change from its repressive past. The enchantment of Obama to the disenchanted was derived from the fact that much of what he said was true. There has been political injustice. But instead of inspiring Americans with hope and pride in the greatness of our country and the strides we've made toward justice, he inspired people to unite around the wrongs & injustices that they have suffered because of their affiliation with a victimized group. Obama's platform was the antithesis of liberty; he offered hope in more government

Young supporters make parallels between Obama & pop stars

I no longer find it far-fetched to compare a political intellectual with a pop performer of any kind. Jay-Z, who offered vocal support of Obama durin stops on his 2007 concert tour, acknowledged that others might have reservations. He told "Vibe" magazine, "So in the concert, I always say, 'This is not sponsored by Obama.'"

If Obama saw the connection, and he often implied that he did, he showed few signs of discomfort. During the campaign for the Democratic nomination, an Obama spokesperson confirmed that Jay-Z was among the artists whose songs were on Obama's iPod. Jay-Z and his wife, Beyonce, appeared at a number of Obama fundraisers.

Rev. Wright's sermon "Audacity of Hope" was radical optimism

"There may not be any visible sign of a change in your individual situation, whatever your private hell is," Wright told his congregation. "But that's just the horizontal level. Keep the vertical level intact, like Hannah. You may, like the African slaves, be able to sing, 'Over my head I hear music in the air. There must be a God somewhere.'" Lean, elegant, powerful, and precise, Wright's sermon eloquently demonstrated that few philosophical threads weave so sturdily through black public rhetoric as radical optimism.

The destiny of all Americans is inextricably linked

OpEd: A resolute progressive AND sick of partisan bickering

50-state strategy: focus on states ignored by Hillary & GOP

Obama has built on Dean's strategy of investing in party infrastructure and candidates rarely paid attention by the national party--candidates for "down-ticket" offices such as state rep and county commissioner. The Democrats' pickup of thirty-one House seats in 2006, many of them in "Red" states, reflected not just a popular repudiation of Bush but also the Democrats' investment in states where their candidates seldom win. This accelerated in 2008, with Obama's strong support.

Obama is in some ways the accidental beneficiary of Dean's party building.

OpEd: Behind "hope & change" rhetoric lays radical views

Obama has borrowed phrases freely even from movies, taking "bamboozled" from Spike Lee's movie about Malcolm X and the phrase "He is the One" from the Matrix movie series. When we look closer at Obama's intellectual legacy, we find him telling us the writers who impressed him included Malcolm X, master of black rage.

Behind the Obama "hope" and "change" rhetoric, we find the verbal mask has covered over the development of a liberal Democratic politician who, in truth, harbors radical views that are extreme even for most Democrats.

Emphasis on cooperation and listening to both sides

Obama did not invent this persona just for the campaign. People who knew him in law school say that he was always good at listening to all sides and bringing people of disparate views together. In his community organizing work in Chicago, cooperation was the key to getting anything done in his inner city poor neighborhood.

Key issue is McCain following Bush on war & economy

A: Issue #1, how we’re going to keep America safe. John McCain has a vision that is very similar to George Bush’s. He wants to continue in Iraq on the current course. I believe that we need to begin a process of withdrawal, initiate tougher diplomacy and refocus our attention on Afghanistan. That’s going to be a set of issues.

On the economy. John McCain’s main economic platform is to continue the Bush tax cuts and then to add $300 billion worth of corporate tax breaks that aren’t paid for. And then, you know, I think that the American people are going to have to make some decisions about our personal qualities. Obviously, the presidency is more than just a set of talking points. It has to do with the American people lifting the hood and kicking the tires and seeing who do they trust, who do they think can lead us at this moment in history. And those are more intangible qualities, but, you know, those’ll play into this race as well.

This union may never be perfect, but can always be perfected

Go beyond the divisions so that the government can work

I have shown the right judgment to lead

Labels like “most liberal” prevent problem-solving

A: Well, an example of why I was rated the most liberal was because I wanted an impartial office of public integrity. Now, I didn’t know that it was a Democratic issue. I thought that was a good government issue that a lot of Republicans would like to see. So that’s the problem with some of these ratings--how they score things. It uses categories that I think don’t make sense to a lot of Americans.

Q: Are you proud of that designation? To be known as the most liberal voting senator?

A: I don’t think you heard what I just said, which is that the designations don’t make sense. This is what I would call old politics. This is the stuff we’re trying to get rid of. Because the problem is, when we start breaking down into conservative & liberal, [that creates nothing but partisanship]. Those old categories don’t work, and they’re preventing us from solving them problems.

Overcome politics of demonizing opponents

I believe a new kind of politics is possible, and I believe it is necessary. Because the American people can’t afford another four years without health care, decent wages, or an end to this war.

Imagine if next year, the entire nation had a president they could believe in. A president who rallied all Americans around a common purpose. That’s the kind of President we need in this country. And that’s the kind of President I will be.

We are choosing hope over fear

The time has come for a president who will be honest about the choices and the challenges we face, who will listen to you and learn from you even when we disagree, who won’t just tell you what you want to hear but what you need to know.

Focus on Iraq, revising presidential power, and healthcare

If you join me I promise you we can change America

Viral video “I Got a Crush on Obama” by Obama Girl

Apply lessons from both Goldwater and McGovern

Conservatives and liberals have learned different lessons from losing. In 1964, when Barry Goldwater was trounced by Johnson, it actually launched today’s conservative movement that culminated in the election of Reagan In 1972, when McGovern was trounced by Nixon, the progressive movement was dead. Democrats always avoided a progressive agenda. After the miserable failures of Gore and Kerry, progressives have argued that Democrats need to follow the conservative approach post-Goldwater and win by standing for something. Obama is trying to bridge these two approaches, to have integrity and progressive values, while simultaneously presenting a more centrist face that appeals across political boundaries.

Invites supporters to join him on “This Improbable Quest”

Obama’s campaign is improbable, but not because he is black and so little known nationally It seems improbable because it defies the political establishment. Obama is a candidate who urges bipartisanship, who calls for ethics reform and changes in the campaign finance systems, and who speaks in grand terms about transforming American politics.

Obama’s biggest flaw may be that he’s not audacious enough, that he holds his tongue to spare feelings. Obama thinks we need to restore faith in government and hope in the better nature of our fellow citizens. But sometimes he seems unwilling to trust the people enough to tell them what he really thinks. Or perhaps he just doesn’t trust the media to let him engage in honesty without destroying his campaign. Instead, Obama’s first instinct too often is to compromise to reach common ground.

Resolve “most electable” vs.“most progressive” by being both

For a long time, progressive have been forced in the Democratic primary to choose between pragmatism and idealism, between delectability and values. In 2004, many Democrats made the unfortunate choic of John Kerry over Howard Dean precisely because they though Dean couldn’t be elected. Obama offers an easy resolution to this program, by being both the most electable and the most progressive candidate among the leaders in the Democratic Party.

Seen as both critical outsider and establishment insider

Movements to draft him to run for the presidency in 2008 would take hold on the Internet Not since the days of Jack & Bobby Kennedy had a politician captured so quickly the imagination of such a broad array of Americans. And even the Kennedy comparison would not characterize Obama’s fame properly. Not since Ronald Reagan had a politician bee so adept at sharing his own unwavering optimism with a disheartened electorate. Using the broad power of the modern media as his launching pad, Obama would plot a course that catapulted him from little-known state lawmaker to best-selling author to US Senator to national celebrity. A mixture of idealistic and pragmatist, Obama would move almost overnight from a critic of the established political system inside the Beltway to a player within that system. He would represent both outsider and insider.

On cover of Time magazine, about his book & presidency

The 45-year-old has done nothing to squelch the growing frenzy. Obama no longer denies interest in joining the race for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Obama indicated that he will weigh the outcome of the Nov. 7 US congressional elections. A Democratic takeover of both the House & Senate would increase the likelihood of Obama vying with Hillary Clinton for the party’s 2008 nomination. “When the election is over and my book tour is done, I will think about how I can be most useful to the country and how I can reconcile that with being a good dad and a good husband,” Obama told Time.

Portrayed as a multiplier instead of a divider

This neologism was coined by Robert McElvaine of the Jackson, Mississippi Clarion-Ledger: “What America needs is a leader who practices the politics of multiplication rather than division. The person who has the greatest potential to be the Multiplier has just returned from a successful visit to Africa and will be speaking Sunday in Iowa: Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.”

Pro: America wants a president who will bring us together. The current partisan atmosphere is tiresome. McElvaine is right, we need a unifier.

Con: America voted for President who divided us. In 2004, the majority of us voted for arguably the most divisive president in history.

Pro: A multiplier is electable.

Con: An African-American Multiplier is not electable. McElvaine concedes that a significant fraction of the American electorate would vote against any black candidate.

Offer real hope-not blind optimism-to the American people

Actions can be seen in 20 years of my public service

Registered 150,000 young Chicago area black voters in 1992

Obama has already brought in a new generation of voters. He led a movement in Chicago in 1992 that registered 150,000 new voters--mostly African Americans--and helped Carol Moseley Braun narrowly win an election to become the first black woman elected to the Senate. Obama’s appeal to voters disenchanted with conventional politics could bring many new voters into the political process.

Father's car crash death may have included alcohol

The truth was first disclosed by London's Daily Mail in a January 2007 expos‚. Obama begins his Dreams from My Father with a scene from 1982, when Obama, having just turned 21, is shaken by a phone call from Africa telling him his father has been killed in a car accident. The narrative omits that Obama Senior killed himself driving drunk.

"Friends say drinking blighted his [Obama Senior's] life," the Daily Mail reported; "he lost both his legs while driving under the influence and also lost his job."

Drunken driving ended Obama Senior's "brilliant" civil service career as a top Harvard-trained econometrician in the newly independent Kenyan government. Then, shortly after Barack Obama Junior's 21st birthday, Obama Senior put an end to the sad drama by killing himself in yet another car crash, once again driving drunk.

Father came to US on student airlift; JFK funded 2nd airlift

Unfortunately for Obama, the 1959 airlift, which brough 81 Kenyan students to the US, including Obama's father, happened before JFK was inaugurated president and did not benefit from any Kennedy family funding. JFK met with [Kenyan leader] Tom Mboya--but after the 1959 airlift had already occurred. Mboya met with JFK on July 26, 1960, to convince JFK to fund a second airlift of African students to the US. The Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation, decided to give Mboya $100,000 to pay for the second airlift.

To recap: Obama Senior came to the US to study on the first airlift, the one organized by Mboya. JFK was involved in funding only the second airlift and played no part in the first airlift.

If Obama owes his life to any politician, it is to Tom Mboya, not John Kennedy.

Mother named "Stanley Ann" because grandfather wanted a son

OpEd: Racial angst from paternal abandonment, not injustice

Nicknamed "Barry the O'Bomber" in prep school basketball

On the outside, teenage Barry Obama as he was known at Punahou, went out for the school basketball team & did his best to fit in socially, while struggling to make modest grades. A member of the varsity squad, though not a starter, Obama was called "Barry the O'Bomber" by teammates because of his long shots. Obama's friends at the time do not remember Obama as an angry black kid. Instead they remember him as fairly normal, just one of them. The one time Obama Senior visited, the two of them fought over Barry's laziness about homework.

Mother attacked for playing with a black girlfriend

2005: Inherited staff from outgoing Senator Tom Daschle

One coming, the other going, they became fast friends, and Daschle persuaded much of his staff, from [his key adviser] Rouse on down, to move from the most powerful office in the Senate to that of the bright young man from Illinois. This was unheard of. First off, skilled and seasoned staffs in the Senate--and Daschle's was about the best--have never been known to be transferable. But this one was. Daschle became Obama's mentor, with Obama's new chief of staff, Rouse, as his guide.

Obama operated from moments when no one was looking, how unflinchingly loyal he was to everyone around him--grateful, really, that they were doing what they could on his behalf. His instincts were to always push for consensus, and then affirm it.

Borrowed "Just Words" speech from Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick

On Feb. 18, 2008, the Clinton campaign charged that a speech by Obama in Wisconsin included a passage nearly identical to one in a speech delivered two years earlier by Deval Patrick. The controversy was fueled by a YouTube.com video showing side-by-side segments from Patrick's and Obama's speeches, making the similarity between them obvious. Particularly striking was how both candidates focused on the theme "Just Words," followed by a string of famous quotations that obviously were not just words, but statements of important political moments and causes.

Obama responded, "Deval and I do trade ideas all the time, and he's occasionally used lines of mine, & I used some words of his."

Handpicked as successor by retiring State Senator

Obama's current press secretary has argued that Obama was an eight-year-old when Ayers was active in the Weather Underground and that "any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost 40 years ago is ridiculous." Yet the record shows that connections between Obama and Ayers have actively continued since Obama launched his political career in their living room in 1995. Obama and Ayers served together on the Woods Fund board for three years, beginning in the year Obama joined it.

1996: Campaigned on unity, but got opponents disqualified

What he practiced, however, was more traditional politics. On the fist working day of 1996 Obama's staff started a series of hearings at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners to challenge the validity of nominations of his three other rivals. To those who complained that a voter registration activist and civil rights attorney should not use administrative procedures to limit ballot access, Obama replied that the issue was one of competence: "My conclusion was that if you couldn't run a successful petition drive, then that raised questions in terms of how effective a representative you were going to be." All of his opponents were disqualified and Obama ran unopposed in the March primary. He cruised to victory in the overwhelmingly Democratic district in the general election.

After challenging Rep. Rush, got redistricted out

The candidate campaigned frenetically. "We called him the Kenyan Kennedy," said a field worker, because he appeared on elevated subway platforms in the dead of winter without an overcoat, hat or gloves. He ultimately won the endorsement of the Chicago Tribune, but it was not enough. He lost 2-1 in the March, 2000 primary. Later, during redistricting after the 2000 census, Rush saw to it that Obama's street was cut out of his congressional district.

Obama's political capital was at a low ebb. So were his personal fortunes: his bank account was empty.

Ran for Congress in 2000 & lost

As a US senator, he supported tort reform, voted against filibustering the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, and backed the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorizatio Act. He favors capital punishment (though only in cases of “heinous” crime). He calls himself a strong supporter of reproductive rights, but in the Illinois legislature he voted present instead of yea on a number of bills concerning parental notification and late-term abortion.

On the stump now, he shies away from “social issues” unless he is speaking to a crowd that expects him to comment.

State Senate opponents disqualified on technicality

Palmer lost the congressional primary contest in Nov. 2005 to Jesse Jackson Jr., and then quickly filed to run for her old seat in the March 2006 Democratic primary against Obama--even though she had publicly supported him for the seat.

Obama challenged the legality of her petitions, as well as the legality of petitions from several other candidates in the race. Palmer realized that Obama had called her hand, and she acknowledged that she had not properly acquired the necessary number of signatures. She had no choice but to withdraw from the race. The other opponents were also knocked off the ballot, leaving Obama running unopposed in the primary.

Rather than winning a position in the Illinois General Assembly by ousting an incumbent or taking an open seat, he appeared to have slipped in the back door on a technicality.

Lost campaign for US Congress against Bobby Rush in 2000

Obama had returned to Chicago from Harvard Law with an eye on the mayor’s office [but Mayor Daley was well-entrenched, so] Obama looked at Congress instead, deciding to challenge Rep. Bobby Rush in the 2000 Democratic primary. To Obama, Rush looked vulnerable [because] Rush had tried to oust Daley in 1998--but he was stomped by the mayor. For this reason, Obama saw Rush as an aging politician ready to be replaced by a younger man with a fresh vision.

“Less than halfway into the campaign, I knew in my bones that I was going to lose,” Obama wrote. Obama lost the election by 30%.

The reason was summed up by one elderly woman who explained to Obama succinctly: “Bobby just ain’t done nothin’ wrong.” Obama said it became clear to him that he had put himself ahead of the electorate, that his own time frame for advancement was not necessarily the same time frame that voters saw for him.

2004: Won Senate seat against Alan Keyes, 70%-29%

“What could I say? That a literal reading of the Bible was folly?” Obama wrote. “I answered with the usual liberal response in such debates--that we live in a pluralistic society, that I can’t impose my religious views on another, that I was running to be the US Senator from Illinois and not the minister of Illinois. But even as I answered, I was mindful of Keyes’ implicit accusation--that I remain steeped in doubt, that my faith was adulterated, that I was not a true Christian.“

The rest of the way, Obama kept his head in the game and his hands off the porcupine. That November, in perhaps the most anticlimactic moment of Obama’s political ascension, he won the general election by the largest margin of victory in the history of Senate races in Illinois, defeating Keyes by a final tally of 70% to 29%.

Ryan quits Senate race amid sex scandal allegations

It is clear a vigorous debate on the issues could not take place if I remain in the race. What would take place rather is a brutal scorched-earth campaign, the kind of campaign that has turned off so many voters, the kind of politics I refuse to play.

GovWatch: “Worked his way thru college” meant 2 summer jobs

The only back-up the campaign provided for this claim was a quote from Obama’s book “Dreams from My Father“ having to do with a construction job he had one summer while he was in college, and an article mentioning his job as a summer associate one year at a big Chicago law firm. We asked a campaign spokesman if Obama held jobs during the school year, or other summer jobs, but he said only, ”He had the two jobs I told you about.“ Unless Obama had a good bit more employment than his spokesman was able to describe for us, it’s a real stretch to claim he ”worked his way“ through school.

Real estate deal with felon was “boneheaded” but ethical

[After accusations of an unethical deal, press investigations showed that], Obama paid fair market value for his portion of the land [as did Rezko]. Rezko was indicted for fraud [unrelated to real estate], but at the time Obama bought his house, there was no public indication of Rezko’s problems.

Obama declared, “I am the first to acknowledge that it was a boneheaded move for me to purchase from Rezko.” Despite all the rumors about Obama and Rezko, none of the evidence indicated any wrongdoing. The mistake Obama made was to have any dealings at all that would give the appearance of impropriety.

Born in Hawaii; lives on Chicago’s South Side

Barack Obama was born on August 4th, 1961, in Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. and Ann Dunham. Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983, and moved to Chicago in 1985 to work for a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.

Portrayed by GOP as "risky", implying alien and un-American

And leave his followers to fill in the blanks: "Terrorist!" "Arab!" "Liar!" "Kill him!"

Then there were the television ads promoting the argument that Obama was too "risky" to serve as president. Obama's vast war chest enabled him to greatly outspend McCain for TV ads, but his spots differed dramatically in tone. A study by the Wisconsin Advertising Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison determined that roughly one-third of Obama's ads attacked McCain directly while virtually all of McCain's attacked Obama. Salon contended that the subliminal message of all McCain's spots was that Obama is "scary, black, unknown, black, alien, black, un-American, black." The Brother from Another Planet, Osama bin Laden, and Willie Horton, all photoshopped into one dark, horrifying monster.

OpEd: Despite Obama, blacks still need focus on advancement

Obama has said as much himself. He writes in "The Audacity of Hope" that for black Americans, "separation from the poor is never an option, and not just because the color of our skin--and the conclusions the larger society draws from our color--makes all of us only as free, only as respected, as the least of us."

Source: What Obama Means, by Jabari Asim, p. 13-14 Jan 20, 2009

Rev. Wright and flag pins are distractions from real issues

A: Absolutely. And so the question becomes, how do voters draw conclusions about my values? Do they look at the 20 years in which I have devoted my life to community service? Do they look at how I’ve raised my children? That’s a reflection of my values. I don’t think that the issue of Rev. Wright is illegitimate. I just think that the way it was reported was not a reflection of both that church that I attend and who I am. On flag pins, you know, I’ve worn flag pins in the past. I will wear flag pins in the future. The fact that I said that some politicians use flag pins and then aren’t acting in a particularly patriotic way, for that to somehow be translated into me being antipatriotic or antiflag--I think that is a distraction

FactCheck: William Ayres never killed anyone with bombs

In fact, nobody died as a result of bombings in which Ayers said he participated as part of the Weather Underground. Other members were associated with 5 deaths, but none in which Ayres was present.

Ayers did say “I don’t regret setting bombs” and “I feel we didn’t do enough” regarding the group’s violent protests against the Vietnam War. That was in a NY Times interview that was published the morning of September 11, 2001. Ayers is now a professor of education in Chicago. Obama and Ayers served together for a time on the board of an antipoverty charity, the Woods Fund of Chicago, from 1999 to 2002.

This candidacy is not just an exercise in affirmative action

On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely o the desire of wild and wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation, and that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Rev. Wright that have caused such controversy and, in some cases, pain. For some, nagging questions remain.

Rev. Wright’s comments were not only wrong, but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity, racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve problems that confront us all.

Working together we can move beyond some old racial wounds

But I have asserted a firm conviction, a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people, that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life.

Clinton earned a great relationship with African-Americans

A Bound Man: inner turmoil of 1960s black nationalism

This is the double-bind, the crucible, really, that sets up Barack Obama to become a bound man. On the one hand, he begins life with so many strikes against a transparent black identity that it is almost inevitable that he should long for one. The absent black father, the mixed-race background, the privileged education--all this makes for a kind of identity vacuum. There will be parts of himself that he will not be able to take with him into the black identity he longs for. Barack writes, “If nationalism could deliver on its promise of self-respect, then the hurt it might cause well-meaning whites, or the inner turmoil it caused people like me, would be of little consequence.”

Embodies smothering racial power in individual democracy

It doesn’t matter that he sometimes goes along with race-based policies, or that he made his own Faustian bargain with affirmative action. No one is excited because Obama nods to identity politics; people are excited because he represents an idealism that opposes such politics. Any black who takes on the near-absolute visibility that goes with seeking such high office will function as both a man and a symbol, and sometimes the two will be at odds. So it is not surprising that Obama the man may vary a bit from Obama the symbol.

More influenced by his race than public perceives

But Obama is not such a person. His books show a man driven by a determination to be black, as if blackness were more an achievement than a birthright. And this need within him puts Obama at odds with himself. His plausibility as a candidate comes, in part, from the perception that he is not driven to be black, that he is rather lightly tethered to his race. But the very arc of his life has been greatly influenced by an often conscious resolve to belong irrefutably to the black identity.

Whites sense that Barack grants them “benefit of the doubt”

“White folks” is a term that shames Obama. It is bigotry because it paints all whites with the same brush. He has to give whites their innocence until they prove unworthy of it. That is what white Americans sense in Barack Obama. On pain of his own integrity, he cannot be challenger.

Challengers, like Obama’s black friend Ray, deprive whites of their racial innocence until they do something to earn it.

Challengers [like Al Sharpton] have come to play an unexpected role in the Obama saga. It is precisely against the specter of an Al Sharpton that a Barack Obama looks so “fresh” and “appealing.” Sharpton makes the point--better than Obama’s most savvy speechwriter could--that Obama is a black man for all people, a black man who gives whites “the benefit of the doubt.

Balancing “challenger” for blacks & “bargainer” for whites

No black before Obama has employed the bargainer’s charms in pursuit of so high an office. We are used to black challengers, like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Life-long protesters are not likely to have developed an easy reciprocity with white voters. On the other hand, no one ever asks them if they are black enough.

If, to please blacks, Obama does more challenging, he loses his iconic status with whites. He loses white votes because whites don’t want a challenging Al Sharpton; they want the iconic Negro. If, to please whites, Obama bargains more, he loses votes among blacks--a vital constituency in the Democratic party.

Bradley effect: black candidates poll above actual votes

Is the Bradley effect history? A 1958 poll found that 53% of Americans admitted they would not vote for a black presidential candidate. In 2003, only 6% said they would not vote for a black president. The people who voted against Bradley, Wilder, and Dinkins despite telling pollsters the opposite were those who, in the abstract, were racist toward black candidates. But in generational terms, openly racist voters have mostly died off.

Issue of race has given Senate a black eye

Candidacy taken seriously despite his race or because of it?

What gives people a jolt in their gut about the idea of President Obama is the idea that it would be a ringing symbol that racism no longer rules our land. President Obama might be a substitute for that national apology for slavery that some consider so urgent. Surely a nation with a black president would be one no longer hung up on race.

Or not. Perhaps Obama is being considered as presidential timber not despite his race, but because of it. That is, for all its good intentions, a dehumanization of Obama. What Obama has done is less important than his skin color and what it means. The content of our character is not center stage here. We are a long way from Selma, but not yet where the Rev. King wanted us to be.

Yet, in the grant scheme of things, I will take a little unintended dehumanization over naked bigotry.

Convention keynote speech highlights party’s black targeting

The announcement from the Kerry campaign came on the same day that the Democrat launched $2 million worth of ads for television, radio and newspapers targeting black voters. Democrats handily won the black vote in 2000 by a 9-to-1 margin, and the party and Kerry campaign want to boost that turnout this November.

Obama’s Republican opponent Jack Ryan dropped out last month over embarrassing allegations in his divorce papers. The GOP’s top choices have refused to run, sending Republicans scrambling to line up opposition.

Biracial heritage has caused identity crisis

FactCheck: Did not say “I will stand with the Muslims”

Origins: These cherry-picked statements are presented devoid of context, and some are reworded from the original.

“I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

This statement is a rewording of a passage from page 261 of The Audacity of Hope. The original contains no specific mention of “Muslims”:

“In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a mor urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific reassurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.

Father rejected Muslim faith and witch doctors of his youth

Though he now spent weekends with Ann, listening to jazz, drinking beer, and debating politics and world affairs with their friends, he had only a few years before lived a Kenyan village life, herding goats and submitting to the rituals of a village witch doctor. Now, in the West, he had rejected the Muslim faith of his youth just as he rejected the babblings of all witch doctors. Religion is superstition, he insisted. It falls to man to fashion his own fate and the fate of his nation. This was what he intended to do when he finished school and returned to Kenya.

Things moved quickly for Ann and her new love. Sometime late in the fall of 1960, she conceived a child. Several months into 1961, she and Barack married.

No madrassa, but was introduced to Islam as a child

Source: Obama Nation, by Jerome Corsi, p. 51 Aug 1, 2008

I joined church to commit to Christ, not to Rev. Wright

A: Well, obviously it’s distracted us. I mean, we ended up spending a lot of time talking about Reverend Wright instead of talking about the issues. And so it wasn’t welcome. But, you know, I think that the American people understand that when I joined Trinity United Church of Christ, I was committing not to Pastor Wright, I was committing to a church and I was committing to Christ. And it is a wonderful church. It’s a member of the United Church of Christ, a denomination that dates back to the battles around abolition. And, as a consequence, when Rev. Wright, who married me and baptized our children, when I learned of his statements that I found so objectionable, I felt that they didn’t define him. I don’t think Rev. Wright’s [more recent comments] represented well the church. And I had to make a clear statement [against Wright]. Hopefully we’ve been able to put it behind us.

Blacks are angry; but I dissociate myself from Rev. Wright

OBAMA: Rev Wright is somebody who made controversial statements, & I specifically said that those comments were objectionable; they’re not comments that I believe in. And I disassociated myself with them. But the body of Reverend Wright’s work, over the course of 30 years, were not represented in those snippets that were shown on television: the church has done outstanding work in ministries on HIV/AIDS, and prison ministries. So I’ve tried to speak to a broader context, which is that there is anger in the Africa American community that sometimes gets expressed, whether in the barbershop or in the church. That’s true not just in the African American community, but in other communities as well. My candidacy represents the opportunity to move beyond it.

We should be guided by what works

The result is a politician who asserts that we are all linked, and that while idealism must serve realism, pragmatism requires purpose. His latest book, which carries the inspirational title The Audacity of Hope, contains the following conclusion: "We should be guided by what works."

Madrassa myth perpetuated by false email & fabricated story

[The story was based on an] April 2005 anti-Obama email entitled “The Enemy Within,” which circulated among right-wing circles. CNN sent a correspondent to Indonesia the check on the story. CNN reported that the madrassa “was an ordinary public school Kids ran around in short pants and learned math and science and participated in the Boy Scouts.” One reason the madrassa lie was so convincing can be attributed to the blind hatred of Muslims found on the Far Right.