Posted on 08/21/2008 4:38:42 AM PDT by Renfield
The cloak of media invisibility is slowly beginning to lift from Barack Obama's most important administrative leadership experience, helming an expensive educational reform effort in Chicago that failed to produce any measurable academic gains, according to the project's own final report.
Add in the fact that former Weatherman and admitted terrorist William Ayers (whom Obama described in the Philadelphia debate as merely a "neighbor") was head of the operating arm of the CAC, working with Obama on distributing scores of millions of dollars to grantees in the wards of the city, and you have a topic that the Obama campaign wishes to avoid at all costs.
A compliant media has averted its eyes so far. A timeline of Obama's career from George Washington University omits it. Why the McCain campaign has not even raised any questions on the subject is a question beyond my pay grade.
The four plus years (1995-1999) Barack Obama spent as founding chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) represent his track record as reformer, as someone who reached out in a public-private collaboration and had the audacity to believe his effort would make things better. At the time he became leader of this ambitious project to remake the public schools of Chicago, he was 33 years old and a third year associate at a small Chicago law firm, Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland.
This was a big test for him, his chance to cut his teeth on bringing hope and change to the mostly minority inner city school children trapped in Chicago schools. And he flopped big time, squandering lots of money and the time of many public employees in the process.
Given Senator Obama's lack of any other posts as leader of an organization, someone unschooled in the ways of the American media might expect that for months reporters have been poring over the records of the project to get an idea of how it managed to fail so badly. Examining the track record of the guy who wants to lead the federal government would seem to be part of the campaign beat for media organizations.
But as a matter of fact, until recently, only a few bloggers were looking into the most important organized effort ever led by Barack Obama, prior to his successful campaigns for public office.
The Cover-up
Now, it appears a cover-up is underway, in order prevent journalists and researchers from getting access to the records of this charitable project housed in a taxpayer supported library. And there is a mystery:
The UIC Library says it is acting on behalf of the donor, whom it refuses to name.
It took Stanly Kurtz, of National Review Online to ask permission to see the files held by the publicly-funded University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). After initially agreeing, The Richard J. Daley Library withdrew permission. Kurtz writes:
"The Special Collections section of the Richard J. Daley Library agreed to let me read them, but just before I boarded my flight to Chicago, the top library officials mysteriously intervened to bar access. Circumstances strongly suggest the likelihood that Bill Ayers himself may have played a pivotal role in this denial. Ayers has long taught at UIC, where the Chicago Annenberg Challenge offices were housed, rent-free. Ayers likely arranged for the files of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge to be housed in the UIC library, and may well have been consulted during my unsuccessful struggle to gain access to the documents. Let me, then, explain in greater detail what the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) records are, and how I have been blocked from seeing them."
It is highly unusual and legally questionable for a publicly-funded archive to deny access to records in its collection, particularly when they have a bearing on matters of intense public interest: the qualifications of a man seeking to be Commander in Chief.
But even if the university manages to stall release of the records until after the election, it is only drawing attention to the project. Already, the nation's mainstream media have taken notice (however imperfectly) of the University's unusual actions, albeit without exploring it in any depth yet.
In the midst of a heated presidential campaign, it is going to be hard to keep this interest in Obama's Annenberg years contained, now that it has surfaced.
A blogger, Steve Diamond, has put together enough data from public sources to seriously embarrass Obama over the closeness of his association with Ayers in the project, and to describe the wrong-headed and politicized approach taken by the project. Anyone can go to this page ( http://globallabor.blogspot.com/2008/06/that-guy-who-lives-in-my-neighborhood.html ) and look at the latter half of the very lengthy post to see the data uncovered by this intrepid researcher. At a minimum, it proves that Obama has seriously misled the public about his association with Ayers. And it documents and analyzes some of the complex left wing politics underlying the effort.
As the public begins to notice this outlines of the history of the CAC presented by Diamond, more questions are bound to be asked.
The First Cover-up
Diamond examined public documents, receiving cooperation from the Brown University Library, where the Annenberg Challenge Program national headuarters had been housed. Until, that is, Diamond's requests for further information fell on deaf ears following publication of a post highlighting a grant to one of Ayers' former revolutionary cohorts in the Weathermen. He writes:
"...while the representative from the university I originally corresponded with had been quite friendly and accommodating prior to my June 23 post, afterwards my additional requests for further information went unanswered. I did not pursue it at the time because I felt I had told a significant part of the story already. Thanks to the diligent work of Dr. Kurtz, however, we now know there is much more to know."
So the appearance of a cover-up actually began in June.
If Ayers were the sole point of interest in seeking the Annenberg Challenge files promised to Kurtz, all "132 boxes, containing 947 file folders, a total of about 70 linear feet of material", then the Obama camp might claim it was merely guilt-by association and persuade at least some of its own partisans. But the fact that Obama was in charge of a massive expensive project makes it indisputably a matter of proper vetting to examine his track record at delivering on promises of hope and change.
The Obama camp has already noted that it does not control the archives at UIC. All well and good, though it would be nice for the candidate to plead with the university and the mystery donor to let the sun shine on his track record. After all, he is a new kind of politician.
But even if he doesn't, the Annenberg Challenge is slowly entering the national consciousness, and that's very bad news for Barack Obama.
Thomas Lifson is editor and publisher of American Thinker.
More on this continuing saga....
When this is all over (this Presidential campaign) it’s going to be obvious that what we are experiencing is a new level of liar in politicians.
His brazen lying about his present and his past beats anything I have ever seen, even in a politician. He lies about things that can be CHECKED, and his lies openly refuted. He seems to believe that if he keeps on lying about it, his media and leftist posse will cover for him. Of course, the Clintons did too (and still do).
It seems part of his arrogance is believing he can sell anything to the American people when he has the complicit media with him.
Good article BUMP
What I don’t understand is why the dirt digging started only in June? Everybody knew his position. Throughout the 2007 and early 2008 nobody in RNC or conservative blogs looked at those files?
The "new level of liar" is only possible because we're also seeing a new level of bias and side-choosing from the MSM, which seems to be reacting to the dimunition of their power as a result of the internet by dropping any pretense of objectivity and turning themselves into an off-budget propaganda department for the far left of the Democrat party. Which, to be fair, is pretty much all of the Democrat party.
But, you know, I remember 1992 reasonably well, and the MSM was whole-heartedly behind Bill Clinton back then. I mean, to the extent they're doing things today they weren't doing back then, it's only because they handn't thought of them yet.
The "new level of liar" is only possible because we're also seeing a new level of bias and side-choosing from the MSM, which seems to be reacting to the dimunition of their power as a result of the internet by dropping any pretense of objectivity and turning themselves into an off-budget propaganda department for the far left of the Democrat party. Which, to be fair, is pretty much all of the Democrat party.
But, you know, I remember 1992 reasonably well, and the MSM was whole-heartedly behind Bill Clinton back then. I mean, to the extent they're doing things today they weren't doing back then, it's only because they handn't thought of them yet.
Sorry for the repeat post.
You're right. If they could just figure out how to shut off all opposing viewpoints, we would quickly descend into Soviet Union or Red Chinese territory. Can anyone say 'Fairness Doctrine'?
Thank God for talk radio and Fox News (despite all the grousing about them, they will still allow the truth to get out about the Dems). No wonder Obama is yelling about them, that ability to still get the truth out is what is killing him right now.
The run for president of the United States can be summed up as a long, arduous and exhausting job interview. We have the right and the responsibility to know EXACTLY what makes Barack Hussein Obama fit for the job of leader of the free world.
And Barack Hussein Obama is holding out. He's hiding behind a terrorist and expecting the American people to hire him.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
Since when has total and utter failure of a program made a liberal decide that it was a waste of money? This is the 'Rats' plan on a mini scale. Click here for Michelle Malkin's column on the Democrats' publicly funded slush fund to reward liberals
Wouldn't that make the CAC a terrorist organization?
_______________________________________________________
The Center for Public Intellectuals & The University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC)
April 19th-20th, 2002, Conference
"This conference is part of the Center's mission of helping to create a more engaged civil society, working towards social change, fostering coalitions between theorists and activists, and combating anti-intellectualism in contemporary culture. It will be both a celebration of ideas and a rigorous examination of the roles and responsibilities that intellectuals play in society."
[Participants include: William/Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, Sen Barack Obama]
This and MUCH more at my FR Home page:
http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl
The thoughts of this man appointing a secretary of HOMELAND SECURITY makes me feel very INSECURE!
His arrogance is just the epitome of the arrogance of all Democrats. Each one knows he or she is the smartest person in the room. They make little jokes to themselves and think they're the only ones that truly get it.
Most importantly, they they can sell anything to the American people if they package it right and sell it with sufficiently floral words because there IS a sucker born every minute.
The worst part is that, in a way, they're right. If the left couldn't sell $hit in a shiny gold wrapper to the American people, the race wouldn't be so close.
Excellent article.
BUMP!!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.