Bill Ayers is, by all accounts, a mild-mannered professor in his mid-sixties who teaches at the University of Illinois. He lives with his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. That’s the same neighborhood in which Barack Obama and his family live. Louis Farrakhan, the head of the Nation of Islam, lives there as well. So does my sister and her husband. My brother-in-law teaches at the University of Chicago Medical School. Before getting elected to the United State Senate, Obama taught at its Law School.
Hyde Park is a genteel, slightly upscale, southside neighborhood that borders the campus of the University of Chicago. It’s a neighborhood that’s not marked by great wealth, but it does have a racially mixed population filled with various kinds of professionals who prefer urban to suburban living. It has lots of bookstores, organic food outlets, funky cafes, interesting restaurants, coffee houses and an extraordinary intellectual life.
Hyde Park is surrounded on its other three sides by far less well off black, urban ghettos. It was in these surrounding neighborhoods that Obama cut his teeth as a community organizer in the eighties.
It seems that when Barack Obama first decided, in the mid-nineties, to run for state political office in Illinois, Ayers and Dohrn hosted an event in their home to raise money for his campaign. The relationship remained casual. In subsequent years Obama and Ayers served together on the boards of several community organizations concerned with educational issues. On occasion they would see each other on the street and say hello.
The McCain campaign has begun to panic in the face of plummeting polling numbers with only three weeks to go until the election. Deciding they cannot defeat Obama on the issues, they have decided to attack him personally. “Who is Barack Obama? Do we really know him? Is he really an American like us? Does he share our American values?” intone regularly both McCain and Palin. A conservative white candidate from Alaska asking whether Obama is “really an American like the rest of us” is purely and simply a set of racist code words designed to scare borderline voters and strike fire into the soul of the Republican base.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Les Slater
I was briefly attracted to the Weather Underground as I rapidly moved from right-wing Republican to a more considered and serious political outlook and activity.
First, it was the May Day, 1971, fiasco in Washington, DC. It was a bunch of what I would later call ultra-lefts who claimed that they were going to shut down the Pentagon. It ended up that they dumped tacks/nails in the streets and pissed off everyone. How unserious! I totally dismissed them as anything worth looking to.
Second, on August 15, 1971, the U.S. went off the gold standard. I had previously been frustrated by not only the crimes of the U.S. but its seemingly all-powerful ability to get away with anything it pleased. August 15 exposed the kinks in the armor, the Achilles heel.
Investigating the economics, and its political consequences, of this shift has been a major factor of my analysis since.
Now back to the ultra-lefts. Their ideology, and professed tactics, left them open to police provocateurs, who posed as the most radical. It was estimated that about 50% of the bombings were carried out by, or at the instigation of cops.
2 - Emily
bull shit
3 - Baritone
Bill,
Very good, well written article. Of course, those who oppose Obama will likely not accept your explanation of the Ayers/Obama relationship.
The "guilt by association" that the Republicans are trying to establish apparently is not working all that well.
They are getting a similar lack of bounce from their charges that Obama is a shill for ACORN. Frankly, most people have no idea who or what ACORN is. The silliness of it broadens when we see video of McCain attending an ACORN convention as its keynote speaker back in 2006. What's up with that?
Hell, I knew Bill and Emily Harris at Indiana University - had coffee and split a couple of joints with them at a mutual friend's home. I performed in a play with Angela DeAngelis Atwood at the IU Theatre. All three subsequently became members of the infamous Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) which perpetrated the kidnapping of Patty Hearst. I guess that makes me a violent radical. If I'm not there already, writing this will likely get me placed on some kind of "watch" list. After all, I set off some firecrackers when I was around twelve. I was obviously, even then, in training to become a terrorist bomber.
B
4 - Les Slater
“Frankly, most people have no idea who or what ACORN is.”
But they got a little bit of an eye opener about Colombia in last night’s debate.
McCain: Free trade with Colombia is something that's a no-brainer. But maybe you ought to travel down there and visit them and maybe you could understand it a lot better.
Obama: Let me respond. Actually, I understand it pretty well. The history in Colombia right now is that labor leaders have been targeted for assassination on a fairly consistent basis and there have not been prosecutions.
McCain: Well, let me just said that that this is -- he -- Senator Obama doesn't want a free trade agreement with our best ally in the region....
Right, that's the kind of ally the U.S. is quite comfortable with.
Was Obama supposed to say what he did?
5 - bliffle
Colombia is our best ally in the region?
I don't think so. It seeems to me we have forced a relationship with Colombia in order to try to interdict coca shipments.
6 - Heloise
If you dig a ditch better dig two one for me and one for you...so it goes...McCain et al camp found out the hard way.
My sister and husband also live in Hyde Park as I've mentioned in other articles. I grew up in Chatham but we went to Harper's Court every weekend, fav spot for folks to play chess in Hyde Park.
Obama's mansion is in Kenwood, a few blocks north of HP where he had a condo. Yeah, I passed by Farrahkans mansion all the time.
And by the way my same sister who lives in HP has a step daughter who is married to the son of Wallace Deen Muhammed (who died recently at guess what 72, the same age as McCAIN!!!) but there was no real news about it.
If the black muslims were so damned threatening why is news about them like a blip on the media screen? So, does that make me a Muslim sympathizer or terrorist because I have in laws who are Muslims and my own religion is an offshoot of Islam? I don't think so.
Heloise
7 - Baritone
I think refering to Obama's home as a mansion is a bit of a stretch. Is it big? Yes. A mansion? Mmmmmm, no.
I'm guessing that the house has about 5000 square feet of above grade living space - maybe a bit larger.
I've been a residential real estate appraiser for more than 20 years. I have inspected a number of homes similar to Obama's. I've never considered them to be mansions. I appraised Reggie Miller's house. It measures at around 17000 square feet. I've inspected a couple of others measuring around 15000 to 16000 square feet - still small by some standards - but keep in mind, I live in Indy. Those homes come closer to being what someone would consider to be a bonafide mansion.
I know, this is hardly worth discussion. But I'm sitting here rather bored with itchy fingers hovering over my keyboard.
B
8 - Heloise
Defintion from dictionary.com
And link of mansion below. And yes, it fits the definition. The homes near me where the rich used to live look just like his home and they are mansions.
man·sion /ˈmænʃən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[man-shuhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
"noun 1. a very large, impressive, or stately residence.
10, 2007 from a Chicago Sun Times article where they tried to tie Rezko around Obama's neck:
"BY TIM NOVAK Staff Reporter
For $1.5 million, you can buy the vacant lot next door to Sen. Barack Obama's mansion in Chicago's historic Kenwood neighborhood.
It's the same land that has been giving Obama political headaches for nearly two years -- ever since he bought a sliver of it from the wife of Tony Rezko, the now indicted businessman who was once Obama's political patron."
Obama's mansion in Kenwood (Chicago)
9 - Heloise
Washington Post breaks for Barack
10 - Sarah
Calling them racist, brainless, etc. ? Then calling your lovely lady of Northwestern a middle aged academic ?!? This lady was on the FBI's top ten most wanted list for God sake. Oops, you probably do not think there is a God either. What a slanderous and racist article you have written. You, my friend are the racist. Stand up and admit your bias. Be a man.
11 - Clavos
Since he's a professional appraiser of many years' standing, Baritone's definition of what constitutes a mansion is far more definitive than you, the Sun Times, and the dictionary put together, Heloise; even in triplicate.
12 - Baronius
"Racist code words"? That doesn't even make any sense. Obama's black. How is it racist to link him to two white people?
13 - El Bicho
rates in Chicago must be bad if you can get close to a mansion for that kind of money. No chance in California.
El Bicho would also like to point out that back in primary school El Bicho used a dictionary. El Bicho is sure it is no coincidence that El Bicho has influenced many others like Heloise to do the same.
14 - Cannonshop
17,000 sf isn't a mansion? huh??
you can get a pretty decent house for a family of four for around 2000 square feet.
Let's see... is this a mansion?
Real-estate values in Washington are inflated pretty heavily, but...
15 - Baritone
I knew my defining what I consider a mansion would get a rise out of some of you.
Clav, thanks for getting my back {:)>
Words like mansion and estate are fairly nebulous and relative terms. My 1500 square foot Bedford Stone ranch home would, I suppose, seem a sprawling mansion to someone who had lived their lives in a one room mud hut. To most, though, it's just an average home in my neighborhood.
The home of the former CEO of Conseco Insurance Company pretty much meets my personal criteria for a mansion. It is approximately 30000 square feet and it sits on about 20 acres of ground. It's currently available for about twenty mil.
There are a number of homes similar to Obama's north of Chicago in Evanston and further north in Wilmette and Winnetka. They are impressive, grand homes, but not really what I would consider as mansions.
But, I guess it is, in fact, all relative.
B
16 - Cindy D
17,000 sf? where did that come from?
17 - Cindy D
Obama's "mansion" is about twice as big as mine.
18 - zingzing
jesus christ. why are we talking about how big his house is?
this is really getting pathetic.
let's talk about the economy, iraq, healthcare, civil rights...
for fuck's sake...
19 - Cindy D
I thought it was fun. It didn't involve hardly any research.
20 - Shyla
How can you be so indifferent? I wonder if 40 years from now Osama Bin Laden will be hosting political parties in Chicago. Will the Chicago University hire him because he is brilliant and was able to allude capture? Will everyone wonder what the big deal was? Will people like yourself be spreading the story that 911 was planned by the police, fire department and government? Questioning why a person who wants to be Commander in Chief of the US pals around with criminals or terrorists or whatever you want to call Ayer&Dorhn is not racist... it has nothing to do with race. The fact that you don't care says a lot about your character.
21 - Cannonshop
#20 Shyla, it's a matter of perspective. Ayers and Dorhn and their compatriots are heroes of the American Left, which is an interesting status when you really sit back and think about it. A lot of that status comes from fond romanticizing of the Counterculture of the sixties. Obama associating with Ayers isn't crippling within the Left, it's seen as a "Positive" within the Left. It's only viewed negatively by those who don't share their 'progressive' standards.
22 - Baritone
What the hell does "palling around" mean, anyhow?
What we've learned about Obama's relationship to Ayers amounts to sharing time on a couple of boards. A "meet the candidate" get together apparently took place near the beginning of Obama's Senatorial campaign. It has been noted that Ayers gave $200 to that campaign.
Does that meet the standard for "palling around?"
Did they 'hang out' together? Did they share beers at a Hyde Park pub? I doubt that, but even if they did, so what?
What is the worst case scenario that could come out of that relationship? Did Ayers brainwash Obama. Did he inculcate Obama into being a violent radical who will use the White House to imprison right wingers?
B
23 - Baronius
"A "meet the candidate" get together apparently took place near the beginning of Obama's Senatorial campaign."
Fascinating use of the passive voice. It would be more accurate to say that Ayers and Dohrn hosted the first campaign event in Obama's political career. It was presumably intended to attract sympathetic people, the message being that if you liked the Weather Underground, you'll love Barack Obama. This was Obama's debutante ball, and his first dance was with former terrorists.
24 - Mark Saleski
...and factcheck.org debunked the whole thing.
25 - Baronius
Mark, did you read the piece? McCain's sin was saying that Obama called Ayers "just" a guy from his neighborhood. Obama's sin was calling Ayers a guy from his neighborhood. McCain's trying to overstate the connection, and Obama's trying to understate it. But look at the actual connection, and you'll find that Ayers did aid Obama's political life and that the two of them worked on some pretty radical education programs.