Daley on Obama: 'Everybody wants him" "If he wants to run, he should run--why not?"

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 9/28/06 | Fran Speilman

[Merry]

Mayor Daley is not reserving a seat on the Barack Obama bandwagon alongside television talk show diva Oprah Winfrey and actress Halle Berry.

But if the freshman senator with the rock star appeal wants to run for president in 2008, Chicago's most powerful Democrat sees no problem with it.

"Everybody wants him. If he wants to run, he should run. I mean, why not?" Daley said Wednesday.

Pressed on whether Obama was seasoned enough to make the race, the mayor said, "Well, you know, if people want to run, they're going to run. I mean, you're not going to stop anyone who basically has the passion and commitment. If they want to do it, they want to do it. There's nothing wrong with that.

"This is what America's all about," Daley said.

Halle Berry's a fan This week television talk show host Larry King asked Winfrey about a Kansas City man who is trying to promote her for president. "Take your energy and put it in Barack Obama. That's what I would say," she said. When King asked whether Obama was her choice, she replied, "That would be my favorite guy."

State Comptroller Dan Hynes, who was swamped by Obama in the 2004 Democratic primary, called a news conference this month to say the nation hungers for Obama's leadership.

Berry told the Philadelphia Daily News that she's so in love with what Obama stands for, she would be willing to "collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear."

Obama has said again and again that he has no plans to run for president. But that didn't stop him from delivering the keynote speech at Sen. Tom Harkin's Iowa steak fry before a crowd of 3,500 adoring, autograph-seeking fans. Harkin introduced Obama as a "political rock star."

[Coldwater Creek]

Half of the countries voters would vote for Osama if he declared himself a Dem.

[RexBeach]

Ms. Halle Berry is half-white, is she not?

[Sister_T]

Question: is he even old enough to run for President? Don't you have to be a certain age to even run?

[YoungSoutherner]

You are right about that I forgot about his wife. Obama's wife better keep an eye on Halle.

[linn37]

So in a debate,who gets more makeup ,Obama or Edwards?

[YoungSoutherner]

You are correct...white mom black dad

[southernerwithanattitude]

Not in the south! No way would he carry one state in the south,

[BamaAndy]

True--but the dems don't need anyone to run who is actually qualified... and certainly can't stand anyone who has principles--the only quals they want is liberal and silly.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Berry told the Philadelphia Daily News that she's so in love with what Obama stands for, she would be willing to "collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear."

HOSANNA!

[rogue yam]

You are correct...white mom black dad

In both cases, Barak and Halle, the black dad took off when the kids were young (2 and 4, respectively) and they were raised by their white moms and her white family. Their claims to be "black" are just demagogic nonsense.

[SmoothTalker]

He'd be stupid to run as her running mate. I think he stands a much better chance in a general election than she does. She has almost no appeal to moderates and would do more than any candidate in history to motivate conservatives to vote.

[YoungSoutherner]

I have always wondered how white mothers and fathers feel when their biracial children don't acknowledge or downplay the other half of the racial makeup.In some cases the white mother may have raised the child on their own. That would be like a smack in the face to me.

That is why I have so much respect for Strom Thurmond's biracial daughter, she wants to embrace both and not just half of her ethnicity. I couldn't understand why some people were scratching their heads when she wanted to join the United Daughters of Confederacy. The way I see it why not, no matter how anyone wants to look at it he was still her father. Just like Halle and Obama no matter how much the ignore the other half, it doesn't change the fact that one of their parents is white, which makes them biracial and not black.

[Coldwater Creek]

Oh yes they would. Now, I am talking about half of the voters, not half of the states.

Check out Tenn. senate race! Harold Ford Jr. is a Obama lightweight.

[Tokra]

Ms. Halle Berry is half-white, is she not?

She is 3/4 white. According to what I have read her mother is white and her father was 1/2 white & 1/2 black. That would give her one black grandparent and three white grandparents. I guess that makes her spokesman for the entire black race. We should pretend her other 75% ancestory doesn't exist - just like Osamba bin Lauded and Tiger Woods.

[mombonn]

Proof that women in general are too emotional to have the right to vote.

As compared to men who drool over Ann Coulter, et al, for their "brains".

[subterfuge]

As compared to men who drool over Ann Coulter, et al, for their "brains".

Touche' !!!

[kabar]

Obama has not come under any real scrutiny. Let him run for President and we will find out a lot more about him.

[DMZFrank]

There is another pernicious aspect to this situation that has just occurred to me. Almost every press description of Obama endlessly reminds us of his credentials. They are those of a Harvard law graduate, editor of the law review there, constitutional scholar, Illinois State senator, ad nauseam, along with the fact that he is attractive, articulate, and charismatic. Even I am forced to admit that he is qualified, particularly if you're looking for a senator for the Politburo.

Deference to the ambitions of minorities is almost a de riguer nostrum to counter the past evils of discrimination and exclusion, particularly when the person in question is "qualified". I fear that a desire to compensate for the wrongs of the past will blind many voters in Illinois to Obama's advocacy of positions that they would find unacceptable if advanced by a white candidate. I think that we are being conditioned by the politically correct press to vote for this man as a panacea for past elective biases. We might want to point out to those so inclined that that is also a form of racism.

Another interesting fact is that Obama is the product of an interracial marriage between a black Kenyan and a white American woman. Obama Sr. left the family early on and he was raised by his white mother. I realize the perculiarly insidious nature of the racial construct and the racial politics of this country would cause most to identify Obama as black, but one would think that since at least half of the genetic material that makes him what he is comes from a Caucasian woman, that he would counter this to some extent by paying homage to the mother that apparently did such a successful job of raising him and stress the bi-racial nature of his personal history when others posit him as an "African-American". But then that might not make him as eligible for the exalted mantle of the first black elected male senator of the Democratic Party, increase the danger of alienating some segments of the black vote, and the enable him as the beneficiary of politically correct bonus points.

[toddlintown]

First his wife slides into a job and receives a pay raise that triples her salary to $316,962. Sure, that happens to all of us.

Now the specter of Obama endorsing the ethically challenged Alexi Giannulous, the Democrat nominee for Illinois State Treasurer. "I'm going to take a look at what's been going on and I'm going to ask Alexi directly what is happening," said Obama, an early and enthusiastic backer of the first-time candidate. That was months ago. In the meantime, no more than a handful of voters has ever heard of Giannulous, but a lot of money bought a lot of TV ads featuring an endorsement from Sen. Barack Obama, and that carried Giannoulias to a victory over an underfunded opponent

Now Speaker Mike Madigan is starting to raise questions about Giannulous. Obama profiles himself as the Democratic point person on ethics in the Senate, yet back in his home state, the man he strongly endorsed for state Treasurer was once under fire from the Chicago Tribune for questionable loans and questionable answers about those loans.

So now we have Blessed Barack's wife, a wife who suddenly triples her salary, and a still-unexplained endorsement of a candidate whose background Madigan notes, is tainted. "I mean my history in politics, if you were alleged to be connected to the mob, you were done, but life seems to go on," says Madigan.

Go back and look at the Trib's scathing editorial from April 12, 2006, "Deposit some answers, please." Unfortuantely, since then, the Chicago Tribune has jumped on the Obama-as-Superstar Wagon, letting Channel 5 NBC reporter Carol Marin and the Sun-Times continue doing the job that the Tribune has chosen to ignore.

Where's Nancy Pelosi and her "Culture of Corruption" charges when you need her? Oh, I forgot. That only applies to Republicans.

Meet the new boss, Barack Obama. Same as the old boss.

More here about Blessed Barack's friend:

Alexi Giannoulias won the Democratic primary for state treasurer. No more than a handful of voters had even heard of him a few months ago, but a lot of money bought a lot of TV ads featuring an endorsement from Sen. Barack Obama, and that carried Giannoulias to a victory over an underfunded opponent.

Obama said he was a fine young man, and that apparently was good enough for most primary voters. But we need to learn a whole lot more before November.

And the paper goes on to say Alexi has some serious questions to answer about the paper's revelations that his answers about giving out bank loans in the primary weren't exactly accurate.

Giannoulias has been nothing but puzzling when he has been questioned about his ties to Michael Giorango, a convicted bookmaker and prostitution ring promoter.

Giorango has received multiple loans from Broadway Bank, where Giannoulias is vice president and senior loan officer. The bank is owned by the Giannoulias family.

When he was questioned by the Tribune in March about loans made between 1994 and 2002, Giannoulias said the bank's decisions were made while he was still in law school, when he wasn't a full-time bank employee.

But the Tribune reported Sunday that newly discovered public records show Broadway Bank made nearly $12 million in additional mortgage loans to Giorango just last year–when Giannoulias was overseeing the bank's loans.

Giannoulias' newest response? Those 2005 loans were negotiated by his brother, Demetris, the bank's chief financial officer.

In March, Giannoulias said Broadway Bank "never financed any casinos. We never did anything like that." But newly obtained records show that the recent loans went partly toward a mortgage that Giorango and another convicted felon used to acquire a casino boat marina in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Let's get this straight. Voters are supposed to be impressed by Giannoulias' experience at the bank. Yet his defense here is that he was clueless as to what his bank was doing?

And he wants to take control of the entire state treasury?
Giannoulias was asked if it was acceptable for a state treasurer to lend money to crime figures. His response to Tribune reporter David Jackson: The treasurer should work to get "the best rate of return for taxpayers to create jobs."

What, no questions asked?

There's no suggestion that the loans were illegal. Giannoulias makes the point that they met standards set by federal regulators and passed audits. But, oh, there are a lot more questions to be answered.

Has the 30-year-old candidate for treasurer ever really been more than a junior officer at the family bank? If he had the authority his title implies, how can he claim he didn't know about this bank business?

How well does he know Giorango?

And what's Obama's real connection to Giorango?

[RockinRight]

You have to be 35 to run. Obama is 45.