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Saturday, March 08, 2008

Barack Obama's Illinois career - not quite the magic man

The Houston Press has an interesting, albeit long, story by a reporter who knew Barack Obama from his early days in Illinois politics. And it is quite revealing as the writer, Todd Spivak , recalls how Obama wasn't able to accomplish anything in his first six years in the Illinois legislature because the Democrats were in the minority. It was only in his last year in the legislature that he built up a record of achievement, a record that he distributes to reporters interested in learning more about what Obama has actually accomplished and how he might have bridged that dreaded partisan divide. But, as Spivak recounts, that record wasn't built based on his own personal achievements, but because the new Democratic leader in the state Senate.
The white, race-baiting, hard-right Republican Illinois Senate Majority Leader James "Pate" Philip was replaced by Emil Jones Jr., a gravel-voiced, dark-skinned African-American known for chain-smoking cigarettes on the Senate floor.

Jones had served in the Illinois Legislature for three decades. He represented a district on the Chicago South Side not far from Obama's. He became Obama's kingmaker.

Several months before Obama announced his U.S. Senate bid, Jones called his old friend Cliff Kelley, a former Chicago alderman who now hosts the city's most popular black call-in radio program.

I called Kelley last week and he recollected the private conversation as follows:

"He said, 'Cliff, I'm gonna make me a U.S. Senator.'"

"Oh, you are? Who might that be?"

"Barack Obama."
So how did Emil Jones set about creating himself a senator? Well, he had to build up Obama's record and the only way to do that was by stepping on the toes of other Democratic legislators. Jones took bills that they had been working on away from them and had Obama introduce them in the Senate.
Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills.

"I took all the beatings and insults and endured all the racist comments over the years from nasty Republican committee chairmen," State Senator Rickey Hendon, the original sponsor of landmark racial profiling and videotaped confession legislation yanked away by Jones and given to Obama, complained to me at the time. "Barack didn't have to endure any of it, yet, in the end, he got all the credit.

"I don't consider it bill jacking," Hendon told me. "But no one wants to carry the ball 99 yards all the way to the one-yard line, and then give it to the halfback who gets all the credit and the stats in the record book."

During his seventh and final year in the state Senate, Obama's stats soared. He sponsored a whopping 26 bills passed into law — including many he now cites 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.

Before Obama ran for U.S. Senate in 2004, he was virtually unknown even in his own state. Polls showed fewer than 20 percent of Illinois voters had ever heard of Barack Obama.

Jones further helped raise Obama's profile by having him craft legislation addressing the day-to-day tragedies that dominated local news headlines.

For instance. Obama sponsored a bill banning the use of the diet supplement ephedra, which killed a Northwestern University football player, and another one preventing the use of pepper spray or pyrotechnics in nightclubs in the wake of the deaths of 21 people during a stampede at a Chicago nightclub. Both stories had received national attention and extensive local coverage.

I spoke to Jones earlier this week and he confirmed his conversation with Kelley, adding that he gave Obama the legislation because he believed in Obama's ability to negotiate with Democrats and Republicans on divisive issues.
And Senator Jones has definitely received a benefit from his association with Obama.
So how has Obama repaid Jones?

Last June, to prove his commitment to government transparency, Obama released a comprehensive list of his earmark requests for fiscal year 2008. It comprised more than $300 million in pet projects for Illinois, including tens of millions for Jones's Senate district.

Shortly after Jones became Senate president, I remember asking his view on pork-barrel spending.

I'll never forget what he said:

"Some call it pork; I call it steak."
And some local community leaders in the district that Obama represented fault him for doing nothing about issues of importance to the region, particularly to protect locations of historic importance to black cultural history from eminent domain.
In addition to Hyde Park, Obama also represented segments of several South Side neighborhoods home to the nation's richest African-American cultural history outside of Harlem.

Before World War II, the adjacent Bronzeville community was known as the "Black Metropolis," attracting African-American migrants seeking racial equality and economic opportunity from states to the south such as Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Storied jazz clubs such as Gerri's Palm Tavern regularly hosted Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker and many others. In the postwar era, blues legends Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King all regularly gigged in cramped juke joints such as the Checkerboard Lounge.

When the City of Chicago seized the 70-year-old Gerri's Palm Tavern by eminent domain in 2001, sparking citywide protests, Obama was silent. And he offered no public comments when the 30-year owner of the Checkerboard Lounge was forced to relocate a couple years later.

Even in Hyde Park, Obama declined to take a position on a years-long battle waged by hundreds of local community activists fighting against the city's plan to replace the historic limestone seawall along Lake Michigan — a popular spot to sunbathe and swim — with concrete steps.
Many of the people quoted in Spivak's article, including Spivak himself like and support Obama. Particularly in comparison to Hillary Clinton. There's nothing particularly outlandish about his rise to prominence. He was a promising and intelligent politician who got a lot of help from powerful supporters and a whole lot of good luck as his opponents for the Senate dropped out of the campaign due to their own personal scandals until all he faced was a farcical candidacy by Alan Keyes. Many successful politicians got their start because someone powerful or wealthy helped them along. John McCain certainly did. But Obama is running as someone totally new in politics. He's not running as a typical pol who sprang to prominence because a kingmaker in the state Senate decided to help craft a record for him. It's just not the magic record that would inspire the creepy Dipdive celebrity videos with the chants of "Obama" in the background like some sort of 1984-style mass hynotic trance.

It's a long story, but more informative than some of the more rosy-hued puff pieces that I've seen out there. Thank you to my reader who posted the link in a comment.
Labels: Obama

posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:23 AM 0 comments

Comments:

The Houston Press has an interesting, albeit long, story by a reporter who knew Barack Obama from his early days in Illinois politics. And it is quite revealing as the writer, Todd Spivak , recalls how Obama wasn't able to accomplish anything in his first six years in the Illinois legislature because the Democrats were in the minority. It was only in his last year in the legislature that he built up a record of achievement, a record that he distributes to reporters interested in learning more about what Obama has actually accomplished and how he might have bridged that dreaded partisan divide. But, as Spivak recounts, that record wasn't built based on his own personal achievements, but because the new Democratic leader in the state Senate.

The white, race-baiting, hard-right Republican Illinois Senate Majority Leader James "Pate" Philip was replaced by Emil Jones Jr., a gravel-voiced, dark-skinned African-American known for chain-smoking cigarettes on the Senate floor.

Jones had served in the Illinois Legislature for three decades. He represented a district on the Chicago South Side not far from Obama's. He became Obama's kingmaker.

Several months before Obama announced his U.S. Senate bid, Jones called his old friend Cliff Kelley, a former Chicago alderman who now hosts the city's most popular black call-in radio program.

I called Kelley last week and he recollected the private conversation as follows:

"He said, 'Cliff, I'm gonna make me a U.S. Senator.'"

"Oh, you are? Who might that be?"

"Barack Obama."

So how did Emil Jones set about creating himself a senator? Well, he had to build up Obama's record and the only way to do that was by stepping on the toes of other Democratic legislators. Jones took bills that they had been working on away from them and had Obama introduce them in the Senate.

Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills.

"I took all the beatings and insults and endured all the racist comments over the years from nasty Republican committee chairmen," State Senator Rickey Hendon, the original sponsor of landmark racial profiling and videotaped confession legislation yanked away by Jones and given to Obama, complained to me at the time. "Barack didn't have to endure any of it, yet, in the end, he got all the credit.

"I don't consider it bill jacking," Hendon told me. "But no one wants to carry the ball 99 yards all the way to the one-yard line, and then give it to the halfback who gets all the credit and the stats in the record book."

During his seventh and final year in the state Senate, Obama's stats soared. He sponsored a whopping 26 bills passed into law — including many he now cites 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.

Before Obama ran for U.S. Senate in 2004, he was virtually unknown even in his own state. Polls showed fewer than 20 percent of Illinois voters had ever heard of Barack Obama.

Jones further helped raise Obama's profile by having him craft legislation addressing the day-to-day tragedies that dominated local news headlines.

For instance. Obama sponsored a bill banning the use of the diet supplement ephedra, which killed a Northwestern University football player, and another one preventing the use of pepper spray or pyrotechnics in nightclubs in the wake of the deaths of 21 people during a stampede at a Chicago nightclub. Both stories had received national attention and extensive local coverage.

I spoke to Jones earlier this week and he confirmed his conversation with Kelley, adding that he gave Obama the legislation because he believed in Obama's ability to negotiate with Democrats and Republicans on divisive issues.

And Senator Jones has definitely received a benefit from his association with Obama.

So how has Obama repaid Jones?

Last June, to prove his commitment to government transparency, Obama released a comprehensive list of his earmark requests for fiscal year 2008. It comprised more than $300 million in pet projects for Illinois, including tens of millions for Jones's Senate district.

Shortly after Jones became Senate president, I remember asking his view on pork-barrel spending.

I'll never forget what he said:

"Some call it pork; I call it steak."

And some local community leaders in the district that Obama represented fault him for doing nothing about issues of importance to the region, particularly to protect locations of historic importance to black cultural history from eminent domain.

In addition to Hyde Park, Obama also represented segments of several South Side neighborhoods home to the nation's richest African-American cultural history outside of Harlem.

Before World War II, the adjacent Bronzeville community was known as the "Black Metropolis," attracting African-American migrants seeking racial equality and economic opportunity from states to the south such as Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Storied jazz clubs such as Gerri's Palm Tavern regularly hosted Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker and many others. In the postwar era, blues legends Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King all regularly gigged in cramped juke joints such as the Checkerboard Lounge.

When the City of Chicago seized the 70-year-old Gerri's Palm Tavern by eminent domain in 2001, sparking citywide protests, Obama was silent. And he offered no public comments when the 30-year owner of the Checkerboard Lounge was forced to relocate a couple years later.

Even in Hyde Park, Obama declined to take a position on a years-long battle waged by hundreds of local community activists fighting against the city's plan to replace the historic limestone seawall along Lake Michigan — a popular spot to sunbathe and swim — with concrete steps.

Many of the people quoted in Spivak's article, including Spivak himself like and support Obama. Particularly in comparison to Hillary Clinton. There's nothing particularly outlandish about his rise to prominence. He was a promising and intelligent politician who got a lot of help from powerful supporters and a whole lot of good luck as his opponents for the Senate dropped out of the campaign due to their own personal scandals until all he faced was a farcical candidacy by Alan Keyes. Many successful politicians got their start because someone powerful or wealthy helped them along. John McCain certainly did. But Obama is running as someone totally new in politics. He's not running as a typical pol who sprang to prominence because a kingmaker in the state Senate decided to help craft a record for him. It's just not the magic record that would inspire the creepy Dipdive celebrity videos with the chants of "Obama" in the background like some sort of 1984-style mass hynotic trance.

It's a long story, but more informative than some of the more rosy-hued puff pieces that I've seen out there. Thank you to my reader who posted the link in a comment.

Labels: Obama

posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:23 AM 0 comments

Comments: Post a Comment

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Saturday, March 08, 2008

Barack Obama's Illinois career - not quite the magic man

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HOME Betsy neither necessarily uses, nor endorses, the products advertised on this site. The truth about Avesil Cheap Hosting Atlanta Bankruptcy Attorney Dallas Bankruptcy Attorney Wikio Get exclusive travel deals and book discount cheap flights Online Bachelors Degree Comments from an AP history and government teacher in Raleigh, NC. e-mail betsynewmark AT gmail.com Commissions earned from selling items through Amazon will go towards buying materials for my classes. Thank you. Site Feed		Saturday, March 08, 2008 Barack Obama's Illinois career - not quite the magic man The Houston Press has an interesting, albeit long, story by a reporter who knew Barack Obama from his early days in Illinois politics. And it is quite revealing as the writer, Todd Spivak , recalls how Obama wasn't able to accomplish anything in his first six years in the Illinois legislature because the Democrats were in the minority. It was only in his last year in the legislature that he built up a record of achievement, a record that he distributes to reporters interested in learning more about what Obama has actually accomplished and how he might have bridged that dreaded partisan divide. But, as Spivak recounts, that record wasn't built based on his own personal achievements, but because the new Democratic leader in the state Senate. The white, race-baiting, hard-right Republican Illinois Senate Majority Leader James "Pate" Philip was replaced by Emil Jones Jr., a gravel-voiced, dark-skinned African-American known for chain-smoking cigarettes on the Senate floor. Jones had served in the Illinois Legislature for three decades. He represented a district on the Chicago South Side not far from Obama's. He became Obama's kingmaker. Several months before Obama announced his U.S. Senate bid, Jones called his old friend Cliff Kelley, a former Chicago alderman who now hosts the city's most popular black call-in radio program. I called Kelley last week and he recollected the private conversation as follows: "He said, 'Cliff, I'm gonna make me a U.S. Senator.'" "Oh, you are? Who might that be?" "Barack Obama." So how did Emil Jones set about creating himself a senator? Well, he had to build up Obama's record and the only way to do that was by stepping on the toes of other Democratic legislators. Jones took bills that they had been working on away from them and had Obama introduce them in the Senate. Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills. "I took all the beatings and insults and endured all the racist comments over the years from nasty Republican committee chairmen," State Senator Rickey Hendon, the original sponsor of landmark racial profiling and videotaped confession legislation yanked away by Jones and given to Obama, complained to me at the time. "Barack didn't have to endure any of it, yet, in the end, he got all the credit. "I don't consider it bill jacking," Hendon told me. "But no one wants to carry the ball 99 yards all the way to the one-yard line, and then give it to the halfback who gets all the credit and the stats in the record book." During his seventh and final year in the state Senate, Obama's stats soared. He sponsored a whopping 26 bills passed into law — including many he now cites 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. Before Obama ran for U.S. Senate in 2004, he was virtually unknown even in his own state. Polls showed fewer than 20 percent of Illinois voters had ever heard of Barack Obama. Jones further helped raise Obama's profile by having him craft legislation addressing the day-to-day tragedies that dominated local news headlines. For instance. Obama sponsored a bill banning the use of the diet supplement ephedra, which killed a Northwestern University football player, and another one preventing the use of pepper spray or pyrotechnics in nightclubs in the wake of the deaths of 21 people during a stampede at a Chicago nightclub. Both stories had received national attention and extensive local coverage. I spoke to Jones earlier this week and he confirmed his conversation with Kelley, adding that he gave Obama the legislation because he believed in Obama's ability to negotiate with Democrats and Republicans on divisive issues. And Senator Jones has definitely received a benefit from his association with Obama. So how has Obama repaid Jones? Last June, to prove his commitment to government transparency, Obama released a comprehensive list of his earmark requests for fiscal year 2008. It comprised more than $300 million in pet projects for Illinois, including tens of millions for Jones's Senate district. Shortly after Jones became Senate president, I remember asking his view on pork-barrel spending. I'll never forget what he said: "Some call it pork; I call it steak." And some local community leaders in the district that Obama represented fault him for doing nothing about issues of importance to the region, particularly to protect locations of historic importance to black cultural history from eminent domain. In addition to Hyde Park, Obama also represented segments of several South Side neighborhoods home to the nation's richest African-American cultural history outside of Harlem. Before World War II, the adjacent Bronzeville community was known as the "Black Metropolis," attracting African-American migrants seeking racial equality and economic opportunity from states to the south such as Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Storied jazz clubs such as Gerri's Palm Tavern regularly hosted Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker and many others. In the postwar era, blues legends Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King all regularly gigged in cramped juke joints such as the Checkerboard Lounge. When the City of Chicago seized the 70-year-old Gerri's Palm Tavern by eminent domain in 2001, sparking citywide protests, Obama was silent. And he offered no public comments when the 30-year owner of the Checkerboard Lounge was forced to relocate a couple years later. Even in Hyde Park, Obama declined to take a position on a years-long battle waged by hundreds of local community activists fighting against the city's plan to replace the historic limestone seawall along Lake Michigan — a popular spot to sunbathe and swim — with concrete steps. Many of the people quoted in Spivak's article, including Spivak himself like and support Obama. Particularly in comparison to Hillary Clinton. There's nothing particularly outlandish about his rise to prominence. He was a promising and intelligent politician who got a lot of help from powerful supporters and a whole lot of good luck as his opponents for the Senate dropped out of the campaign due to their own personal scandals until all he faced was a farcical candidacy by Alan Keyes. Many successful politicians got their start because someone powerful or wealthy helped them along. John McCain certainly did. But Obama is running as someone totally new in politics. He's not running as a typical pol who sprang to prominence because a kingmaker in the state Senate decided to help craft a record for him. It's just not the magic record that would inspire the creepy Dipdive celebrity videos with the chants of "Obama" in the background like some sort of 1984-style mass hynotic trance. It's a long story, but more informative than some of the more rosy-hued puff pieces that I've seen out there. Thank you to my reader who posted the link in a comment. Labels: Obama posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:23 AM 0 comments Comments: The Houston Press has an interesting, albeit long, story by a reporter who knew Barack Obama from his early days in Illinois politics. And it is quite revealing as the writer, Todd Spivak , recalls how Obama wasn't able to accomplish anything in his first six years in the Illinois legislature because the Democrats were in the minority. It was only in his last year in the legislature that he built up a record of achievement, a record that he distributes to reporters interested in learning more about what Obama has actually accomplished and how he might have bridged that dreaded partisan divide. But, as Spivak recounts, that record wasn't built based on his own personal achievements, but because the new Democratic leader in the state Senate. The white, race-baiting, hard-right Republican Illinois Senate Majority Leader James "Pate" Philip was replaced by Emil Jones Jr., a gravel-voiced, dark-skinned African-American known for chain-smoking cigarettes on the Senate floor. Jones had served in the Illinois Legislature for three decades. He represented a district on the Chicago South Side not far from Obama's. He became Obama's kingmaker. Several months before Obama announced his U.S. Senate bid, Jones called his old friend Cliff Kelley, a former Chicago alderman who now hosts the city's most popular black call-in radio program. I called Kelley last week and he recollected the private conversation as follows: "He said, 'Cliff, I'm gonna make me a U.S. Senator.'" "Oh, you are? Who might that be?" "Barack Obama." So how did Emil Jones set about creating himself a senator? Well, he had to build up Obama's record and the only way to do that was by stepping on the toes of other Democratic legislators. Jones took bills that they had been working on away from them and had Obama introduce them in the Senate. Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills. "I took all the beatings and insults and endured all the racist comments over the years from nasty Republican committee chairmen," State Senator Rickey Hendon, the original sponsor of landmark racial profiling and videotaped confession legislation yanked away by Jones and given to Obama, complained to me at the time. "Barack didn't have to endure any of it, yet, in the end, he got all the credit. "I don't consider it bill jacking," Hendon told me. "But no one wants to carry the ball 99 yards all the way to the one-yard line, and then give it to the halfback who gets all the credit and the stats in the record book." During his seventh and final year in the state Senate, Obama's stats soared. He sponsored a whopping 26 bills passed into law — including many he now cites 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. Before Obama ran for U.S. Senate in 2004, he was virtually unknown even in his own state. Polls showed fewer than 20 percent of Illinois voters had ever heard of Barack Obama. Jones further helped raise Obama's profile by having him craft legislation addressing the day-to-day tragedies that dominated local news headlines. For instance. Obama sponsored a bill banning the use of the diet supplement ephedra, which killed a Northwestern University football player, and another one preventing the use of pepper spray or pyrotechnics in nightclubs in the wake of the deaths of 21 people during a stampede at a Chicago nightclub. Both stories had received national attention and extensive local coverage. I spoke to Jones earlier this week and he confirmed his conversation with Kelley, adding that he gave Obama the legislation because he believed in Obama's ability to negotiate with Democrats and Republicans on divisive issues. And Senator Jones has definitely received a benefit from his association with Obama. So how has Obama repaid Jones? Last June, to prove his commitment to government transparency, Obama released a comprehensive list of his earmark requests for fiscal year 2008. It comprised more than $300 million in pet projects for Illinois, including tens of millions for Jones's Senate district. Shortly after Jones became Senate president, I remember asking his view on pork-barrel spending. I'll never forget what he said: "Some call it pork; I call it steak." And some local community leaders in the district that Obama represented fault him for doing nothing about issues of importance to the region, particularly to protect locations of historic importance to black cultural history from eminent domain. In addition to Hyde Park, Obama also represented segments of several South Side neighborhoods home to the nation's richest African-American cultural history outside of Harlem. Before World War II, the adjacent Bronzeville community was known as the "Black Metropolis," attracting African-American migrants seeking racial equality and economic opportunity from states to the south such as Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Storied jazz clubs such as Gerri's Palm Tavern regularly hosted Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker and many others. In the postwar era, blues legends Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King all regularly gigged in cramped juke joints such as the Checkerboard Lounge. When the City of Chicago seized the 70-year-old Gerri's Palm Tavern by eminent domain in 2001, sparking citywide protests, Obama was silent. And he offered no public comments when the 30-year owner of the Checkerboard Lounge was forced to relocate a couple years later. Even in Hyde Park, Obama declined to take a position on a years-long battle waged by hundreds of local community activists fighting against the city's plan to replace the historic limestone seawall along Lake Michigan — a popular spot to sunbathe and swim — with concrete steps. Many of the people quoted in Spivak's article, including Spivak himself like and support Obama. Particularly in comparison to Hillary Clinton. There's nothing particularly outlandish about his rise to prominence. He was a promising and intelligent politician who got a lot of help from powerful supporters and a whole lot of good luck as his opponents for the Senate dropped out of the campaign due to their own personal scandals until all he faced was a farcical candidacy by Alan Keyes. Many successful politicians got their start because someone powerful or wealthy helped them along. John McCain certainly did. But Obama is running as someone totally new in politics. He's not running as a typical pol who sprang to prominence because a kingmaker in the state Senate decided to help craft a record for him. It's just not the magic record that would inspire the creepy Dipdive celebrity videos with the chants of "Obama" in the background like some sort of 1984-style mass hynotic trance. It's a long story, but more informative than some of the more rosy-hued puff pieces that I've seen out there. Thank you to my reader who posted the link in a comment. Labels: Obama posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:23 AM 0 comments Comments: Post a Comment