Perhaps a liberal friend of mine is right and there’s nothing much to the story of his candidate’s longtime association with an unrepentant terrorist. Â But, I keep asking him if there’s nothing to that story, why does Obama keep misrepresenting his relationship with William Ayers.
First, the Democratic presidential nominee describes him as just a guy in the neighborhood, contending in April he’s “not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.” Â Earlier this month, when Bill O’Reilly asked him about his relationship with Ayers and his wife Bernadette Dohrn, Obama dismissed the question, saying that those two terrorists were among the “thousands of” people he knows.
But, did Obama work with “thousands of” people on certain projects over an extended period of time.  The archives on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge at the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago reveal that “Mr. Obama and Mr. Ayers worked as a team:”
The Daley documents show that Mr. Ayers sat as an ex-officio member of the board Mr. Obama chaired through CAC’s first year. He also served on the board’s governance committee with Mr. Obama, and worked with him to craft CAC bylaws. Mr. Ayers made presentations to board meetings chaired by Mr. Obama. Mr. Ayers spoke for the Collaborative before the board. Likewise, Mr. Obama periodically spoke for the board at meetings of the Collaborative.
Such a relationship is not one one has with thousands of people. Ayers was more to Obama than just a guy in the neighborhood. Obama launched his first bid for the U.S. Senate in Ayers’s home.
If there’s nothing to this relationship, why does Obama repeatedly misrepresent it? Â And why doesn’t the media look into this? If John McCain repeatedly misrepresented his relationship to a controversial figure, don’t you think the media would look into it?
What if he had launched his campaign in the home of as associate of Timothy McVeigh and worked with him on a commission to reform, say, military policy over a period of five years, and said it was just a guy he met a veterans’ gathering? Do you think the media would ignore the story?
Heck, if John McCain had such associations, his political career wold long since have ended. Â The story would have led the news until he withdrew from the presidential race and resigned his Senate seat.
Hugh Hewitt put it best, “Never has so little been written about so large a series of stories about a modern presidential candidate.”
UPDATE: In a similar vein, Michael Barone observes:
it’s interesting that Obama, in his two autobiographies and in his campaign, has said almost nothing about the one executive position he has held [as head of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge] and his one major effort on education. If you don’t have anything positive to say, it’s a good idea to say nothing and hope that nobody else will say anything either.
Another question for Obama then: why has he left this stuff out of his autobiography?
UP-UPDATE: Tom Maguire gets at the essence of why this story matters:
And the suggestion is not that Obama endorses Ayers’ domestic terrorism; the suggestion is that Obama and Ayers share a hard-left educational philosophy, that Obama has an odd taste in friends, and that Obama has been lying about his past.
(Via Instapundit). Read the whole thing and you’ll see what I mean.
UP-UP-UPDATE: Stanley Kurtz asks: “Is the Obama campaign telling the truth about how Barack Obama got chosen to head the Chicago Annenberg Challenge? Did Bill Ayers have a much greater role in that decision than Obama is letting on?”
……for one reason only-he is the Democrat and they are willing to overlook anything that may damage his chances to win.
Next topic..
You left out the part that Ayers got him on the board in the first place.
Take a deep breath.
Don’t worry.
The McCain campaign knows all about this. (If they were so incompetent that they wouldn’t, things would not be all tied up in the polls at this point…)
They’ll be getting the word out to swing voters in swing states when it will do the most good.
People have a very short attention span, and a very short memory — especially with the MSM working frantically to distract and confuse.
Ironically, the MSM’s extraordinary bias this year works against Obama — if they’d covered all this stuff during the Democratic Primary, or just after he locked it up, then it would be old news now, and he would have been able to work his way past it all. (Remember Clinton and Flowers — totally “old news” and boring by the time November rolled around…)
And how does this side-issue relate to how Obama is going to lead the country? Obama’s assocation to Ayers is of a professional and political nature and is not illegal, unethical or a disservice in any way to his constituents in Chicago. McCain is against all gay rights! Obama is for all gay rights and will let states decide on gay marriage! Get a clue people!
Clint, I hope you’re right. I’ve been compiling info for a post on stories the MSM is not covering.
Eric, did you even read the post? The issue is that Obama lied about his relationship with Ayers. Is someone fit to lead a nation when he misrepresents his past associations?
And how does this side-issue relate to how Obama is going to lead the country?
Let’s see….Obama worked with someone who fully supports firebombing houses of sleeping children because their parents are doing their job……to make decisions on educational grants and programs.
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the – Web Reconnaissance for 09/24/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.
If McCain had ever so much as had lunch with Eric Rudolph, we would never hear the end of it.
From everything I’ve read McCain is NOT against all gay rights. Where has he said this, Eric?
He hasn’t, but you’re not supposed to ask questions. ACHTUNG!!
Clint,
I hope you’re right. I’ve learned to distrust Republicans resolve to defend themselves and to point the finger at Democrats for even the most blatant wrongdoing. Besides, McCain gets some screwy, and inconsistent, ideas about what is and isnt honorable sometimes.
I’ll try to connect the dots for you. See if you can follow along. Obama surrounding himself his entire career with radicals strongly suggests that he would lead America in a radical direction. (as do his policy proposals) The fact that he lies about said relationships suggests he is lying when he says he wont lead in a radical direction. And the same goes for all the crooks he has associated himself with.
“I’ve learned to distrust Republicans resolve to defend themselves and to point the finger at Democrats for even the most blatant wrongdoing. Besides, McCain gets some screwy, and inconsistent, ideas about what is and isnt honorable sometimes.”
Aint that the truth