Taking All The Credit

    One thing that is now clear is that Barack Obama's charmed life is coming to an end. The press basically gave him a free ride until now...but check out this story in the L.A.Times--and expect to see more in the future:

The drama began with a tiny ad in a local newspaper — a notice that asbestos was about to be removed from the management office at Altgeld Gardens, the all-black public housing complex where young Barack Obama worked as a community organizer.

"You think it's in our apartments?" a worried mother asked.

"I don't know," Obama replied. "But we can find out."

What followed, Obama says in a memoir, was a life-altering experience, an early taste of his ability to motivate the powerless and work the levers of government. As the 24-year-old mentor to public housing residents, Obama says he initiated and led efforts that thrust Altgeld's asbestos problem into the headlines, pushing city officials to call hearings and a reluctant housing authority to start a cleanup. pppppp But others tell the story much differently.

They say Obama did not play the singular role in the asbestos episode that he portrays in the best-selling memoir, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance." Credit for pushing officials to deal with the cancer-causing substance, according to interviews and news accounts from that period, also goes to a well-known, pre-existing group at Altgeld Gardens and to a local newspaper called the Chicago Reporter. Obama does not mention either one in his book.

    The rest of the story is here.

Comments

[what a silly story]

really? this is the best that can be done to besmirch Obama's character? if so, i'm impressed.

i mean, this guy wasn't writing a history of community organizing; he was writing a memoir and admits in the preface that parts of it are fictionalized. perhaps the perceived slights are rude, but i have a hard time taking this seriously as a character flaw. this book came out two years before he even ran for the state senate, so it's not even like he was doing this for campaign purposes.

Now, as it happens, i have no intention of voting for this guy in the primary since he seems to be too moderate. But these kind of shallow character attacks -- rather than a focus on policies and their effects -- do NOT help progressive politics as a whole. they take the public's eye off the ball -- away from the destructive effects of the war, "free" trade, etc -- onto trivia. To that extent, I'm disappointed Tasini of all people, given his most recent experience running for office, is indulging in this kind of silliness (as fun as character assassination can admittedly be).

[tasini]

I think all I said was Obama had been given a free ride--and to not agree with that is odd since I dare say that little of his track record has been explored nor has there been much in-depth examination or critique of what he would actually do for the country beyond be hopeful and audacious--and that the free ride was up. Whether that is good or bad is up to you. I was just making a pretty factual statement. Indeed, you make my point--the focus on Obama has not been on his policies and their effects--and that needs to happen. Maybe he'll turn out to be great.