What do we know, or not know, about the man who became president? We have no proof of him being born in the United States because he will not produce a birth certificate. Nor are there any grade transcripts from elementary school thru college. And a paltry handful of people who supposedly knew him in high school and college have come forward. If YOU had gone to college with the president, wouldn’t YOU want to bask in his limelight? Odd.
He was singled out early in life as someone who could make waves. He looked good, he talked ‘white’, and he was a charismatic speaker. [Ralph Nader accused Obama of downplaying poverty issues, trying to "talk white" and appealing to "white guilt"]
In his second year at law school, Obama decided to run for law review president after a conversation with a black friend. "I said I was not planning to run and [his friend] said, `yes you are because that is a door that needs to be kicked down and you can take it down.’ "
In his two years as Editor of the Harvard Law Review, it was said that he never wrote anything, though there HAS been a ‘discovered’ unsigned article that is said to be his – about the rights (or lack thereof) of a fetus. An unsigned — and previously unattributed — 1990 article unearthed by Politico offers a glimpse at Obama's views on abortion policy and the law during his student days, and provides a rare addition to his body of work. The word is that he DID write, but his articles were unsigned. Odd? His name doesn't appear on any legal scholarship. So no ‘record’ to hurt or help him down the road.
The Obama campaign … provided a statement on Harvard Law Review letterhead confirming that the unsigned piece was Obama's - the only record of the anonymous authors is kept in the office of the Review president - and that records showed it was the only piece he'd written for the Review.
After law school, he returned to Chicago and organized an aggressive voter registration effort that registered over 100,000 voters and aided in the election of President Bill Clinton and Senator Carol Moseley Braun, the first African-American woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate. Soon after, he joined a local civil rights law firm, and he became a lecturer of constitutional law at the University of Chicago.
In 1996, Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate from the south side neighborhood of Hyde Park, in Chicago's 13th District. An element of controversy surrounded the election, due to Obama's legal challenges to the petition signatures of all four opponents in the race, resulting in their subsequent disqualification.
In other words, the Chicago machine eliminated his opposition.
[While in the State Senate] Obama passed a bill to put limits on racial profiling and place cameras in police interrogation rooms. The racial profiling bill was originally worked on by Senator Rickey Hendon, had been previously the efforts of other Senators. Nonetheless, Obama struck a deal with then-head of the Illinois Senate, Emil Jones, in a well-recorded conversation asking Jones to make him a U.S. Senator, following which, Jones appointed him head of the prominent, headline-grabbing legislation worked on by other Senators to raise his political profile…he built his entire legislative record in Illinois in a single year. In his last (of seven) years in the State Senate, Obama sponsored a whopping 26 bills passed into law - including many he cited in his presidential campaign when attacked as inexperienced. It was a stunning achievement that started him on the path of national politics — and he couldn't have done it without Jones. In other words, he plagiarized the work of others, taking credit to boost his resume. Jones saw the potential.
In 2000, he ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for Illinois' 1st Congressional district against incumbent Bobby Rush. Rush had suggested during the campaign that Obama "wasn't black enough" for the position, and stated, "He went to Harvard and became an educated fool. We’re not impressed with these folks with these Eastern elite degrees." In the primarily black district, Obama struggled for support from the black community since, as the New York Times noted, he was viewed as a Harvard professor living in Hyde Park. Rush received 61% of the vote, while Obama received 30%.
Would NOT happen again.
In 2004, Obama ran for the U.S. Senate seat to be vacated by Sen. Peter Fitzgerald. Despite opposition in the Primary Election from tough challenger Blair Hull, Hull would collapse after pressure from journalists ILLEGALLY unsealed his divorce files. Again, the machine took out his opponents. Obama took 54% of the vote and became the Democrat candidate for the U.S. Senate.
History was to repeat as his Republican opponent, Jack Ryan, who was leading Obama in the polls, was also forced to withdraw because of ILLEGAL release of HIS divorce records. Forced to scramble for a candidate, the Republicans tapped Alan Keyes to run but he had residency issues that, while finally resolved, were used to beat him up during the campaign. Keyes also ran a far right, radical campaign. Obama won the general election with 70% of the vote. Are you starting to see a pattern here?
As an Illinois Senator, he voted ‘present’ 129 times. The New York Times reported that the records show at least 36 occasions in which Obama was either the only state senator to vote present or was part of a group of six or fewer to vote that way.
As a United States senator, he voted against the Iraq war. Most of his other votes were ‘present’, or he was simply absent and cast no vote at all. This meant he had no record to defend in the 2008 campaign.
So Obama arrives as the Democrat Party candidate for president, never having taken a position on any major issue.
His first presidential decision was a gamble that he is living to regret. With the economy on the skids because of the mortgage industry disaster, Mr. President made a POLITICAL decision rather than an ECONOMIC decision on the stimulus. He was betting that the natural, cyclic, and historic ‘growth/recession’ of the economy would take care of the slipping economy, and he went on a spending spree that will most likely bring about the end of this country as we know it.
His other ‘decisions’ except for his determination to socialize the health care industry, have all been weak. He was late coming to the dance with the oil spill in the Gulf. In more than one case, he has twiddled his thumbs until a direction showed itself (Egypt, for instance) and then he jumps in and says ‘me, too! Me, too! Same for Libya – that uprising is over and now he decides to jump in.
What we have here is a PRESIDENT WHO CANNOT MAKE A DECISION AND LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES. Because he has NEVER had to do it! He doesn’t even know the decision making PROCESS. And as for taking responsibility, look back – when something goes south, it’s always another’s fault (usually Bush’s).
We have a president with a community organizer mentality – he jumped into the fray with Prof. Gates and Sgt. James Crowley, saying Crowley acted stupidly before ever having the facts. Hence the ‘beer summit’. He jumped into the Arizona massacre, implying the shooter was a right wing nut, but he had no facts. And most recently, he said he was ‘walking the picket lines’ with the unions in Wisconsin.
The Middle East is crumbling before our eyes; Iran is close to having nuclear weapons; Obama has insulted most of our European allies; he hung Poland out to dry on the missile defense system planned there; Japan is facing a disaster of indescribable proportions, gas prices are approaching $4.00 yet we cannot drill; electricity prices are rising but his administration is impeding coal mining; more and more people are out of work; and Obama refuses to come to the table to reduce government spending.
He has picked all four #1 seeds to be in the Final Four of the NCAA tourney. I’m sure he struggled with this decision.
Today the community organizer arrives in Brazil for a vacation with the family.
