September 02, 2008
Annenberg, Ayers And Obama In The Weekend News
Barack Obama, unrepentant Weatherman Bill Ayers, and their link through their years of effort together on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was in the news over the weekend.
First, the beginning of the Long Walkback was noted by Steve Diamond (Dean of the Annenberg story):
Perhaps realizing that there is no hope on the Ayers issue, the Obama campaign began its strategic retreat today. They trotted out a local ally in the Chicago school wars, Linda Lenz, to begin the effort. Her job: admit finally that, in fact, there was some kind of relationship between Ayers and Obama after all but "it ain't no big thang."
And over to Ms. Lenz herself:, who relies on the fact that Bill Ayers has been mainstreamed back into Chicago civic life:
In other words, Obama does, indeed, know Bill Ayers as more than just a guy from the neighborhood. So do a host of civic leaders in Chicago. For example, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge board included Susan Crown of the General Dynamics Corp. family; Patricia Graham, former dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Arnold Weber, past president of Northwestern University and of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. Indeed, just about everyone active in Chicago school reform in the early days saw Ayers as a colleague. No one ever accused them of being radical because of their association with Bill Ayers.
Whatever one thinks of Ayers’ actions 40 years ago, there is nothing to condemn, and much to admire, about his leadership and commitment over the past 20 years in making schools better places to teach and learn. And there is nothing to condemn, and much to applaud, in Obama’s close association with those efforts.
Well, fine - we eagerly await the day when Obama steps forward and expresses pride in his long, failed association with Bill Ayers as they worked together on public school reform. Meanwhile we continue to wonder - if Obama is so proud of this, why the cover-up?
Clarice Feldman of The American Thinker notes the commencement of the walkback and awaits Obama's arrival at the reparations trap.
Up in Minnesota the Post-Bulletin highlights the media infatuation with Obama and passes this along to their readers:
Or consider Obama's association with Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, members of the notorious Weather Underground. The Ayerses bombed the Pentagon during the turbulent '60s and are unrepentant about this terrorist past.
Obama launched his political career at their home, and served as chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a foundation Ayers founded. But major media have been almost completely uninterested in the story.
Imagine if John McCain had a similar relationship with a right-wing militia leader who had bombed a federal building.
Down Georgia way the Augusta Chronicle tells us "What Obama Doesn't Want You To Know", with highlights of his liberal voting record and this about Ayers:
Meanwhile, as stories come out about his having learned at the feet of socialists and even a communist, Obama has tried to downplay his connections to admitted domestic terrorist William Ayers ('a guy who lives in my neighborhood,' Obama said in a primary debate). But in papers from Ayers' "Chicago Annenberg Challenge" released just this past week after a long battle, it appears the association between Obama and Ayers was much deeper. Obama served on the organization's board for years, for a time as chairman. And Ayers hosted Obama's first campaign fund-raiser.
"They in fact were partners in various entities and regularly exchanged ideas," writes Investor's Business Daily , "including on how to turn Chicago schools into re-education camps to create a generation of social revolutionaries."
Obama isn't just ignoring or running from his past. He's actively trying to cover over it: His campaign has threatened TV stations with their broadcast licenses for running ads noting Obama's link to Ayers.
In Utah the Daily Herald focuses on Ayers in "The company Obama keeps":
Since [Obama] has done so little, we can't very well judge him by his deeds.
National leaders must convey a sense of who they are and what they believe. Think of Ronald Reagan or Harry Truman, for example. But that's where Obama fails. And that's why his friendships and associations are so important and why his association with William Ayers is so troubling.
...
Obama and Ayers attended the same board meetings, retreats and at least one press conference, and met and talked often from 1995-2001. And the 132 boxes of Annenberg papers may yet yield more information.
It's no wonder that Obama's campaign tried to block release of the papers by the library, and has tried to censor ads about the Ayers-Obama relationship.
How could a man who wants to be president work so closely with an unrepentant terrorist? We know how a Harry Truman or a Ronald Reagan would react to a former leader of a group who took the side of America's enemies, and who boasts even now of doing so.
Michael Barone tells us that "Three ghosts haunt Barack": Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, and the Born Alive abortion bill.
John Fund of the Wall Street Journal wants Obama to come clean on the Three Horseman of the Obamalypse:
Obama Should Come Clean On Ayers, Rezko And the Iraqi Billionaire
And finally, here is some coverage of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge in the NY Times...
Psych! They still have not mentioned the Chicago Annenberg Challenge by name in a story although they braced their readers for shocks to come with this from Jim Rutenberg on August 27:
The fight may move to another front this week.
The University of Illinois at Chicago is in the process or releasing documents detailing Mr. Obama’s involvement with a non-profit education project started by Mr. Ayers.
All the news that's fit to print! The Times also has provided one bit of blog coverage at the Opinionator.
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