Obama - Who Is He, What Has He Done?
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Barack Hussein Obama Jr., the Democrat U.S. Senator from Chicago, has become a rock star in his party.
After the holidays and consultations with his family, he will let us know if he will run for president in 2008.
Most pundits think he will.
According to the U.S. Senate Historical Office, he's the fifth black senator in U.S. history and the only black now serving in the U.S. Senate.
He delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. At the time he was still serving in the Illinois State Senate. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2004.
According to his 1995 memoirs, "Dreams from My Father," he was born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama Sr. of Nyangoma-Kogelo, Siaya District, Kenya, and Ann Dunham, of Wichita, Kan.
His parents met at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was enrolled as a foreign student.
When he was 2, his parents divorced and his father returned to Kenya.
His mother married an Indonesian foreign student and moved to Jakarta when Obama was 6. Four years later he went back to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents.
He graduated from high school in Hawaii. Then it was off to Occidental College, followed by Columbia College, an undergrad division of Columbia University.
He majored in poli-sci and international relations. After graduation, he worked for a year at Business International Corp. Then he moved to Chicago to work for a non-profit outfit that helped residents in poor neighborhoods get job training.
After that, he entered Harvard Law where he was elected president of the Harvard Law Review.
He got his law degree in 1991, moved back to Chicago and got a job with a civil rights law firm.
He was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996. He lost in a bid for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004.
Political pundits in Illinois note that during his State Senate career, Obama was known for working with lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle.
Right now, political analysts tab him as his party's No. 2 in popularity to run for president, right behind No. 1, Hillary Clinton.
Obama is a pretty typical Democrat, politically. One would consider him a liberal.
According to ontheissues.org he's pro-abortion, anti-gun, against ban of same-sex marriage, against teaching family values in public schools, against ban of flag burning, against privatizing Social Security, against the death penalty and three strikes laws, for hiring more women and minorities, for increased funding for health care and for campaign finance reform.
One interesting position on which Obama had no opinion for ontheissues.org was: "Drug use is immoral: Enforce laws against it."
Interesting because in an excerpt from his book, he writes about smoking marijuana and trying cocaine during his teenage years.
Drawing a contrast between himself and President Bill Clinton, Obama recently said, "I inhaled - that was the point. ... It was reflective of the struggles and confusion of a teenage boy; teenage boys are frequently confused."
Frankly, I admire Obama's candor. I always thought Clinton's "didn't inhale" story was a lie.
Obama has tried hard to steer clear of the foibles that tend to entrap politicians - the lobbyists, the special interests, the iffy campaign contributions, the political action committees.
The result has been that Obama has been pretty much walking on water to the White House. His handlers have been on the offense, spinning positive story after positive story to the press - as political handlers are wont to do, of course.
But for a brief moment in mid-November, they were playing defense.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Obama inked a book deal after winning election to the Senate in 2004.
With his newfound wealth, Obama bought a $1.65 million mansion in the south Chicago suburb of Kenwood.
He bought it some $300,000 below asking price. But to make matters interesting, he bought the property on the same day that Rita Rezko bought the adjacent vacant lot for the asking price of $625,000.
Rita is the wife of Antoine "Tony" Rezko.
Tony Rezko is Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's former chief fundraiser. Rezko has been indicted in an alleged kickback scheme. A massive federal investigation dubbed "Operation Board Games" links Rezko to a scandal involving giving government jobs and contracts to Blagojevich contributors. The schemes allegedly involved state pension fund investments.
The Rezkos live in a mansion north of Chicago and knew the developer who had the southside real estate for sale.
After the initial sale, Obama bought an additional 10 feet of the lot next door from Rezko. Obama has been paying for the mowing of both lots, although he says he's been meaning to divide the costs.
A city ordinance required Rezko to fence the property line, but the Obamas took care of that. They hired an attorney and architects to inquire about the fence. Obama said he wanted to be sure it was done right.
Interestingly, even though an appraiser valued the piece of land Rezko sold at $40,500, Obama decided it would be fair to pay Rezko much more - $104,000. It was a 60-foot lot and Obama told the CT he felt compelled to pay one-sixth of the original purchase price.
Rezko befriended Obama during his Harvard days and two have remained in contact.
An Obama spokesperson told the CT the senator lunches or dines with Rezko "once or twice a year."
Obama, when questioned by the Chicago Sun-Times, said he approached Rezko.
"To the best of my recollection, I told him about the property, and he developed an interest, knowing both the location and, as I recall, the developer who had previously purchased it," Obama is quoted in the CST.
It's also interesting to note that Rezko and his companies donated at least $19,500 to Obama's state Senate campaigns and federal fund. Obama told the CT he would divest the federal donation.
In a written reply to questions submitted to him by the CST about his real estate dealings with Rezko, Obama said he made a mistake and, "I regret it."
Now, none of this stuff is illegal. Some would argue it's not even unethical. And this may or may not become an issue if and when Obama makes his White House run.
But when these deals went down, Rezko was already under a cloud of suspicion. One can only wonder why in the world an upstanding guy like Obama would willingly get mixed up with somebody like that? [[In-content Ad]]
Barack Hussein Obama Jr., the Democrat U.S. Senator from Chicago, has become a rock star in his party.
After the holidays and consultations with his family, he will let us know if he will run for president in 2008.
Most pundits think he will.
According to the U.S. Senate Historical Office, he's the fifth black senator in U.S. history and the only black now serving in the U.S. Senate.
He delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. At the time he was still serving in the Illinois State Senate. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2004.
According to his 1995 memoirs, "Dreams from My Father," he was born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama Sr. of Nyangoma-Kogelo, Siaya District, Kenya, and Ann Dunham, of Wichita, Kan.
His parents met at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was enrolled as a foreign student.
When he was 2, his parents divorced and his father returned to Kenya.
His mother married an Indonesian foreign student and moved to Jakarta when Obama was 6. Four years later he went back to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents.
He graduated from high school in Hawaii. Then it was off to Occidental College, followed by Columbia College, an undergrad division of Columbia University.
He majored in poli-sci and international relations. After graduation, he worked for a year at Business International Corp. Then he moved to Chicago to work for a non-profit outfit that helped residents in poor neighborhoods get job training.
After that, he entered Harvard Law where he was elected president of the Harvard Law Review.
He got his law degree in 1991, moved back to Chicago and got a job with a civil rights law firm.
He was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996. He lost in a bid for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004.
Political pundits in Illinois note that during his State Senate career, Obama was known for working with lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle.
Right now, political analysts tab him as his party's No. 2 in popularity to run for president, right behind No. 1, Hillary Clinton.
Obama is a pretty typical Democrat, politically. One would consider him a liberal.
According to ontheissues.org he's pro-abortion, anti-gun, against ban of same-sex marriage, against teaching family values in public schools, against ban of flag burning, against privatizing Social Security, against the death penalty and three strikes laws, for hiring more women and minorities, for increased funding for health care and for campaign finance reform.
One interesting position on which Obama had no opinion for ontheissues.org was: "Drug use is immoral: Enforce laws against it."
Interesting because in an excerpt from his book, he writes about smoking marijuana and trying cocaine during his teenage years.
Drawing a contrast between himself and President Bill Clinton, Obama recently said, "I inhaled - that was the point. ... It was reflective of the struggles and confusion of a teenage boy; teenage boys are frequently confused."
Frankly, I admire Obama's candor. I always thought Clinton's "didn't inhale" story was a lie.
Obama has tried hard to steer clear of the foibles that tend to entrap politicians - the lobbyists, the special interests, the iffy campaign contributions, the political action committees.
The result has been that Obama has been pretty much walking on water to the White House. His handlers have been on the offense, spinning positive story after positive story to the press - as political handlers are wont to do, of course.
But for a brief moment in mid-November, they were playing defense.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Obama inked a book deal after winning election to the Senate in 2004.
With his newfound wealth, Obama bought a $1.65 million mansion in the south Chicago suburb of Kenwood.
He bought it some $300,000 below asking price. But to make matters interesting, he bought the property on the same day that Rita Rezko bought the adjacent vacant lot for the asking price of $625,000.
Rita is the wife of Antoine "Tony" Rezko.
Tony Rezko is Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's former chief fundraiser. Rezko has been indicted in an alleged kickback scheme. A massive federal investigation dubbed "Operation Board Games" links Rezko to a scandal involving giving government jobs and contracts to Blagojevich contributors. The schemes allegedly involved state pension fund investments.
The Rezkos live in a mansion north of Chicago and knew the developer who had the southside real estate for sale.
After the initial sale, Obama bought an additional 10 feet of the lot next door from Rezko. Obama has been paying for the mowing of both lots, although he says he's been meaning to divide the costs.
A city ordinance required Rezko to fence the property line, but the Obamas took care of that. They hired an attorney and architects to inquire about the fence. Obama said he wanted to be sure it was done right.
Interestingly, even though an appraiser valued the piece of land Rezko sold at $40,500, Obama decided it would be fair to pay Rezko much more - $104,000. It was a 60-foot lot and Obama told the CT he felt compelled to pay one-sixth of the original purchase price.
Rezko befriended Obama during his Harvard days and two have remained in contact.
An Obama spokesperson told the CT the senator lunches or dines with Rezko "once or twice a year."
Obama, when questioned by the Chicago Sun-Times, said he approached Rezko.
"To the best of my recollection, I told him about the property, and he developed an interest, knowing both the location and, as I recall, the developer who had previously purchased it," Obama is quoted in the CST.
It's also interesting to note that Rezko and his companies donated at least $19,500 to Obama's state Senate campaigns and federal fund. Obama told the CT he would divest the federal donation.
In a written reply to questions submitted to him by the CST about his real estate dealings with Rezko, Obama said he made a mistake and, "I regret it."
Now, none of this stuff is illegal. Some would argue it's not even unethical. And this may or may not become an issue if and when Obama makes his White House run.
But when these deals went down, Rezko was already under a cloud of suspicion. One can only wonder why in the world an upstanding guy like Obama would willingly get mixed up with somebody like that? [[In-content Ad]]