The Way Barack Machine
Where did Barack Obama come from? No, I don't mean his ethnic origins, but his political ones. Todd Spivak, a reporter who knew Obama way back when in Chicago, has the story in Houston Press. An excerpt:
When asked about his legislative record, Obama rattles off several bills he sponsored as an Illinois lawmaker.He expanded children's health insurance; made the state Earned Income Tax Credit refundable for low-income families; required public bodies to tape closed-door meetings to make government more transparent; and required police to videotape interrogations of homicide suspects.
And the list goes on.
It's a lengthy record filled with core liberal issues. But what's interesting, and almost never discussed, is that he built his entire legislative record in Illinois in a single year.
Republicans controlled the Illinois General Assembly for six years of Obama's seven-year tenure. Each session, Obama backed legislation that went nowhere; bill after bill died in committee. During those six years, Obama, too, would have had difficulty naming any legislative achievements.
Then, in 2002, dissatisfaction with President Bush and Republicans on the national and local levels led to a Democratic sweep of nearly every lever of Illinois state government. For the first time in 26 years, Illinois Democrats controlled the governor's office as well as both legislative chambers.
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."
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.
> Where did Barack
> Obama come from?
A magical land called "the 70's," where he was known as "Barry".
Crid at March 3, 2008 2:59 AM
Yesterday I was listening to Bill Clinton talk about the "real" job of a president. Besides having no waiting lines in stores, never waiting in traffic, and a song played every time you walk in the room, he basically said being the prez means you are the luckiest figure head in the world for a while. I thought that was an interesting take. As for the article above, I have a few questions. Why would Jones pick Obama? Because Obama is black(ish)? Maybe Jones believed in Obama? Maybe Jones was (uh oh) INSPIRED? Who gets anywhere (ever) on merit alone? If anyone in this world thinks they are where they are because of simple hard work and that's it, you are living in a dream. We all know the adage: "It's not what you know; it's who you know." And sometimes, "It's not who you know; it's who you blow." Maybe the reason Obama didn't get shit done at first is because he was trying to do things differently, and doing so was getting him no where. Maybe Jones watched (and snickered) for a while as Obama groped around and was impressed at his relentlessness. And maybe that is why one of the biggest issues of his campaign is running it differently. And then maybe if he gets in office, he will be able to change a lot of what is considered dirty politics? Let's ask.
kg at March 3, 2008 9:54 AM
You dare question the Obamessiah? His religious fanatics put the Paulbots to shame. Pretty soon you're going to have a comment section full of credulous morons gushing about how they've been touched by Hopey McChangey and how he'll change the nature of politics. Of course we all know that no politician has ever promised that before in any election...*
*For the Obama cultists, that's sarcasm.
Jordan at March 3, 2008 10:04 AM
If Obama looked like Gary Coleman, cute as the little bugger is, even at, whatever he is...45?...do you think he'd have gotten this far?
Amy Alkon at March 3, 2008 10:20 AM
And here's the "maybe we all suck" argument:
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Vote2008/story?id=4374621&page=1
Amy Alkon at March 3, 2008 10:23 AM
Exactly. I prefer to ask, what if he was white?
Jordan at March 3, 2008 10:44 AM
Ah, yes. I don't want a black president, or a woman president, or a president who was in a prison camp, but a president who, collectively, has the brains, knowledge, diplomatic ability, rationality, and emotional and physical ability to lead the country.
See anybody like that running?
Me neither.
Amy Alkon at March 3, 2008 10:48 AM
And you never will - your vote for president doesnt count.
Thinl about it. First the cadindates have to have the approval of the GOP or the DNC to run.
Right there your options have already been limited, and given our two party system it doesnt matter how much money you have - no third party canidate will ever get elected.
Then we have a ridiculas primary system wherein some states have citizens vote and some states have delegates vote - but the point is if your not with the right party you have no say in half of the primary canidates.
So by the time the general election rolls around, depending on your registered voting status you have had a say in half the presidental canidates - from an artifically deflated selection. And no say in the vice president.
So now you cast your vote, news casters call the election, and your tate legislator sends represenitives to cast ballots in the electoral college. Funny thing though - there is no law requiring those represenitives to cast their ballots to reflect the citizens they are representing.
If they all got together and decided to vote the socalist party canidate they could do so.
Durring the last presidental election one electoral voter cast his ballot for Edwards, as it was not overturned at the time we now have a precident on file which will allow electoral votes to stand as they were cast - even if they are not cast for the canidates who were running in the election.
And that is just one way the government has changed itself to safe guard its own power.
Try looking up how vice presidents originally got the office - much better system then what we have now
lujlp at March 3, 2008 11:20 AM
It's time we elected candidates by popular vote (in the general election). The primary problem is too big an issue to solve in a single blog comment (and when I'm on deadline to boot).
Amy Alkon at March 3, 2008 11:37 AM
[i]See anybody like that running?
Me neither.[/i]
The said truth is, none of the candidates currently in the lead for their party’s nomination ever rose above middle management.
John McCain is an honorable man. When captured by the North Vietnamese he declined a chance for early release, knowing it would mean torture and probably death. In terms of executive management level positions, John’s experience is limited. He has been a squadron leader in the United States Navy. He served as a Vice President of Public Relations for his father-in-law’s beer distributorship in Arizona. From that job, he went into politics and was elected to Congress. Although McCain has been a leader in both the House and Senate and chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, his actual executive experience stops at middle management.
Hillary Clinton has been a law school teacher, a social activist, a patent lawyer, a partner in a law firm, First Lady of the United States, and a US senator. She has published numerous articles on child welfare and social policy. Mrs. Clinton has chaired several committees, including Governor Clinton’s Rural Health Advisory Committee and the ABA’s Commission on Women in the Profession. She has served on numerous boards (Legal Services Corp., Wal-Mart, TCBY, Children’s Defense Fund, Arkansas Children’s Hospital Legal Services, etc.). She was a very active First Lady, traveling to 79 countries; but also one whose only foray into policy-making ended in abject failure (chairing the Task Force on Health Care Reform). As a senator, Clinton has not chaired any committees – although much of that can be attributed to her status as the “junior” senator from New York and the Senate’s arcane seniority rules regarding committees assignments and chairmanships. Her executive experience, like McCain’s, stops at middle-management.
Barack Obama has been an attorney, a state legislator, and a US senator. After graduation from college, he went to work as the Director of the Developing Communities Project in Chicago. He was elected president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation, he went to work as an associate attorney. From that job, he went into politics and was elected to the Illinois State Legislature. From there, he was elected to the US Senate in 2004. In the Senate, he has been an active senator, even co-sponsoring legislation with John McCain (the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act). Like Clinton, he has not chaired any committees – again mostly attributable to having lower status as the state’s “junior” senator and the Senate’s arcane seniority rules. Like the other two leading candidates, Obama’s executive-level experience stops at middle-management.
Like ‘em or hate ‘em other candidates that were in the race had better executive-level experience: Mitt Romney could claim extensive executive-level experience in both he public and private sectors (Governor of Massachusetts, Salt Lake City Olympics, CEO of Bain & Company and engineer of its corporate turnaround, etc.). Bill Richardson was Secretary of Energy, Ambassador to the UN, author of two books, and the governor of New Mexico. Rudy Giuliani was the mayor of New York City (practically like being the governor of a small-ish state). Mike Huckabee was governor of Arkansas.
Conan the Grammarian at March 3, 2008 12:03 PM
> Thinl about it.
I hate it when you talk that way. Do you really believe people aren't thinking until you explicitly tell us to?
The miracle of broad suffrage and secret ballot is that we can vote for anybody we want to for whatver reason we like. This isn't a resume comparison.
No one, no one, no one prepares for --or earns-- the job of President of the United States
Crid at March 3, 2008 12:32 PM
"No one, no one, no one prepares for --or earns-- the job of President of the United States"
Exactly, Crid. That is why I found Clinton's take about the presidencey pretty dang interesting.
A Nice Symbolic Gesture.
kg at March 3, 2008 12:47 PM
The batch of morons presently on offer for President should serve as a warning - nobody who actually wants the job should be allowed to have it.
The primary system is screwed hopelessly. Either have all the primaries on one day, or just throw all 20 or so morons on a ballot and call it an election.
Ideally, we'd go back to the way it was structured in the beginning, and there wouldn't BE a presidential election for the masses. No more of the endless presidential posturing.
Not gonna happen, but a man can dream, can't he?
brian at March 3, 2008 7:31 PM
Obama is the only candidate willing to build bridges rather than walls.
OBAMA IN '08
Sirk at March 3, 2008 7:32 PM
I hate that kind of talk. Have I linked to
this lately?
Crid at March 3, 2008 7:38 PM
Ugh. I knew that cheerleaderism was coming.
Will go read the link.
Amy Alkon at March 3, 2008 8:56 PM
A political cartoon from years ago showed a large, complicated machine with belts and pulleys and smokestacks and gears -- and a banner across the front which read "American Presidential Primary Process"
Standing to one side pf the machine was a skinny caricature of Uncle Sam with his hand moving a large lever from "Off" to "On".
Coming down a chute on the front of the machine was ...
two yo-yo's!
kirk at March 3, 2008 9:24 PM
Fact is, name one president, hell one politician, who got anywhere without friends- especially friends with money and power and influence. From that article I got that Obama had the opportunity and he passed 26 good bills- I don't care if he did it in a year, that's actually even more impressive. He was in a position to do good and he did it and he did it fast.
Hilary gives me a migraine and has some nerve using her years as a political wife as experience. My husband is an attorney and I've occassionally helped him right an opening/closing statement- that doesn't count as time served toward my law degree.
But I do agree that the electoral college is ridiculous and president should go to popular vote. Which would mean democrats would forever win because Cali has the most people last time I checked.
Kristy at March 3, 2008 11:19 PM
Good going, Sirk. You made even me hate Obama.
Paul Hrissikopoulos at March 3, 2008 11:29 PM
The electoral college is imperfect.
However, a popular vote means California, Florida, Texas, Ohio, New York City, and Chicago decide who gets to be president. That means every other state is immaterial in the election process - and will get ignored in both the election and in governing.
In the '80s, farmers from the rural areas in France, fed up with being ignored by the popularly elected government, drove their tractors to Paris and clogged traffic - just so someone would pay attention to their concerns. Do we want that here?
Do we want a new civil war as midwestern "flyover land" secedes because no one in the government pays attention to the concerns of the "hicks in the sticks?"
The electoral college means that smaller, less populated, states do have some influence on elections and cannot be ignored.
I am in agreement that the primary system should be revamped (or eliminated). Why do we take a party-specific process and turn it into a government process?
Get rid of the exclusionary requirements to get on the ballot (designed to protect the major parties) and open the election process to candidates from smaller parties.
Get rid of the tradition by which all electors for a state go to one candidate - whomever wins the state (again, designed to protect the major parties). Let electors be apportioned by district with the two state-wide delegates going to the main winner.
We'd see much more open elections with that process and still have an electoral college to protect the interests of the smaller states.
Conan the Grammarian at March 4, 2008 9:02 AM
Kinsley.
Crid at March 4, 2008 12:14 PM
Alright, I'm so sick of this shit, everybody just agree to elect me Goddess of the Universe! First order of business: Appoint the Advice Goddess as my next-in-command. Next: Eradicate the threat of Islam. Then: Mandatory (for everyone on the planet) Lessons in Personal Responsibility!!
Anyone who does not comply will be exiled to the farthest reaches of the globe, with one book of matches, 1 pair of boots, and 1 dull-edged knife. Fend for yourselves, suckers!
(Bwahahahahaha! Go me!)
Flynne at March 5, 2008 7:24 AM
Oh yeah, and these little girls will be my Official Goddess Chorus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKCVS57j284
Flynne at March 5, 2008 7:34 AM
Leave a comment