US Features
PROFILE: Obama's star rose fast with eloquent speech, steady presence
Oct 28, 2008, 14:58 GMT
Colleen McCormick and her daughter, Gracie, 18 months, of Brighton (L) look on as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama makes voter contact phone calls from the Obama for President office in Brighton, Colorado, USA, 26 October 2008. EPA/JUDY DEHAAS/POOL
Barack Obama's enigmatic smile has seen him through many difficult times - even when he was just 6 years old, an outsider in an alien neighbourhood in Jakarta, Indonesia.
He looked different from the other children, who would bully him and pass racial remarks. One day they ambushed him and dunked him in a river.
Obama came up for air, laughing. Instead of picking a fight, he chose to make friends and worked his way to becoming an insider.
This unique quality was to hold him in good stead - whether as a child in Indonesia struggling to fit in, an Ivy League graduate working in Chicago's desperately poor neighbourhoods, a political greenhorn in the Illinois Senate or the country's first African American candidate of a major party for president.
In 21 months of gruelling campaigning, he has fended off personal attacks without blinking. Accused of being un-American, untrustworthy and a secret Muslim - as if believing in Islam were a terrible thing - Obama responded with uncommon ease and no traces of rancour or anger, which seem to eat away at his Republican rival John McCain, 72.
Whether it was addressing a nation wrestling with a crippling economic collapse or facing his mocking opponent in the presidential debates, Obama, 47, remained preternaturally calm, his gaze steadfast. And always, the smile.
But the smile reveals little - while he comes across as affable, his critics say that he seems inaccessible, that people don't really know him. He has also been derided for his complex ethnicity and his progressiveness.
So, who is the real Obama, the man who could be the country's first black president?
Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961, the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas who met at the University of Hawaii. He was to say later that they 'weren't well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.'
This lineage ensured that Obama sees the world in both black and white, perspectives that are important in a country where black America and white America are often completely separate spaces.
His parents separated when he was 2 and were subsequently divorced. His mother remarried and moved to Indonesia, where Obama spent ages 6 through 10. He returned to Hawaii for high school, then went to Columbia University and Harvard law school, where he made headlines as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review - seen as a stepping stone to any number of career opportunities.
He had earlier worked in Chicago as a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighbourhoods. Practicing civil rights law back in Chicago after Harvard, Obama's advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years.
Obama's rise from obscure state legislator to presidential candidate was nothing short of meteoric. In 2004, as the Democratic nominee for a US Senate seat from Illinois, Obama got an unusual opportunity to deliver a prime-time address to the party's national convention.
In words that are now standard components of his presidential stump speech, Obama said: 'There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America.'
Although party leaders placed him on the podium simply to get more exposure for his Senate race, they were bowled over by his ability to command a crowd. Before long, Obama was deployed as a speechmaker on the Democratic fund-raising circuit, cultivating a following that would soon urge him to bid for the presidency as the war in Iraq spiralled out of control.
His eloquence has always won him admirers - even the woman who was to become his wife in 1992, Michelle Obama, who was at first skeptical of the Harvard hotshot who came to intern in her high-power law firm in Chicago.
In early 2007, with mounting US casualties in Iraq eroding Republican fortunes, Obama formed a committee to explore his presidential bid, just days before Senator Hillary Clinton did the same.
For the first time in history, a black man and a woman would battle it out for their party's presidential nomination, a race that went to the bitter end in June, when Obama emerged the winner.
Obama leads in most polls against McCain, buoyed by financial uncertainty and his own reassuring presence that impressed admirers such as Colin Powell, the decorated retired four-star general, Bush's one-time secretary of state and one of the nation's leading Republican figures.
Endorsing Obama, Powell turned the tables on his own party, saying he was uneasy about McCain's erratic reactions during the finance crisis.
Powell, an African American, cited Obama's 'ability to inspire' and called him a 'transformational figure' who could bring about a 'generational change.'
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Older Talkback
page: 1
Imagine for a few moments that you are the human resources director of a major multi-billion dollar corporation. You are sitting in your large, luxurious office when you receive a phone call from the Chairman of the Board of Directors.
He tells you that the board is considering a candidate for a high-level executive position. He advises you to complete a thorough background investigation and have it to him within 10 days.
You immediately call the private detective agency you have used for years and give them the name and address of the prospective candidate, along with the deadline for a high level security clearance.
Your next move is to call your assistant to your office, giving him/her the candidate’s personal information along with instructions to “do your standard beginning background checks.”
Preliminary findings begin landing in your fax machine on the third day:
* Your candidate has used more than one name.
* He was mentored during his youth by a high level communist in Hawaii, Frank Marshall Davis.
* You receive a 3 page dossier on Frank Marshall Davis.
* You also learn the candidate was proctored into an elite Eastern private university by a middle eastern Muslim, Khalid al-Mansour.
* You receive a short dossier on Khalid al-Mansour.
* You learn the candidate has terrorist organization “Nations of Islam” employees on his current staff, and one of his advisors is a member of the global terrorist group “Muslim Brotherhood.”
On day four, you receive in the mail from the security agency two books the candidate has written:
* You read both books, highlighting the anti-American, anti-white racist passages.
* You note the admissions of drug use.
* You also receive in the packet a copy of the bitter anti-white thesis his wife wrote as a college undergraduate.
* You receive a 4 page fax on the candidate’s relative, Raila Odinga, who is connected with brutal Muslim politics in Africa, and background information on the candidate’s estranged father who was part of Kenya’s most corrupt regime.
The fifth day brings to your special delivery mail the complete background on Bill Ayers; his association with your candidate, his FBI criminal record, and a copy of the book “Rules for Radicals” written by communist Saul Alinsky:
* You are advised your candidate used tactics from “Rules for Radicals” at his previous employment.
* You are advised the candidate’s wife used an excerpt from this book during a recent speech.
* You receive by fax, a background on A.C.O.R.N. and an alert that this group is being watched by the U.S. Department of Justice and other state and local law enforcement agencies.
* You learn your candidate is endorsed by every Muslim terrorist organization on Earth; that he holds Muslim beliefs.
* His friend, Louis Farrakhan, is head of Nations of Islam.
* You learn that the candidate’s pastor met with global terrorist Mohmmar Gaddafi in Libya, along with their mutual friend and anti-American Louis Farrakhan.
* You receive printed transcripts of his pastor’s anti-White, anti-American “sermons” and are advised your candidate has been close personal friends with this “pastor” for two decades.
* Your candidate has referred to this radical pastor as his “personal spiritual advisor,” and in fact, the title of one of your candidates memoirs was inspired by a line from this pastor’s “sermons.”
In your fax machine on the sixth morning is a file on one Tony Rezko:
* His friendship, associations and business transactions with your candidate, as well as high level “people” of middle eastern origin, and his federal conviction.
You will spend most of day seven compiling TheObamaFile - complete with footnotes and cross references.
* Additional information is arriving regarding the candidate’s friends and acquaintances during college.
* You learn that he did not run with a mainstream crowd, but chose radicals and communist agitators for his social group.
The morning of the eighth day has arrived and you and your assistant have placed a small mountain of background information into manageable “piles” - including photographs of the candidate’s family in Africa, he and George Soros (including a brief file on the Soros “Open Society Institute”), photos of the candidate and Louis Farrakhan and anti-Israel Arafat advisor Edward Said.
You begin to outline and write your “Summary Evaluation” to the Chairman of the Board of Directors:
* This candidate has a tissue thin work experience resume.
* He has not managed large groups of personnel, departments, material, or P&L statements.
* This candidate’s own writing exhibits a deep-seeded anger and resentment towards people of the Caucasian race over the issue of slavery.
* His emotional gravitas is centered upon his African heritage, and his belief that the white man is responsible for global poverty and unequal sharing of wealth.
* The candidate’s personal associations since childhood have been mostly with radical African Americans, Muslims, and communists; those who harbor anger towards The United States of America.
* Particularly disturbing is his lengthy relationship with Bill Ayers, an unrepentant Weatherman radical who bombed government buildings and abdicated the overthrow of the United States.
* Given the current global situation of nearly twelve thousand Muslim acts of terrorism since 911, it is disturbing to find his close associations with Muslim groups, MAFO2008.com.
* I have highlighted passages in both books and find one particularly disturbing: “Should the political winds shift in an ugly direction I will side with the Muslims.”
* The candidate has surrounded himself with anti-American grievance mongers, and appears to manipulate “typical white people” by appealing to their guilt about slavery.
* He is a socialist, and totally disenfranchised from the history of “root America.”
* The candidate refuses to discuss his years at Columbia University, although he lived off campus and made few friends.
* He will not release his application to the state bar notes which raises questions on several issues including the use of drugs.
* Very little is available about his experience with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a foundation that spent $100 million with no discernable benefit for the schools and students that it was putatively designed to help.
It is therefore my strongest recommendation this candidate not be considered for any position within the corporation.
Obama's white hating minister for 20 years:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3IAjphhw6E
www.youtube.com/watch?v=36T1fnIafC0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=617eK2XIaLk
His 20 year student, the fellow who had this man marry him and baptize his children, the fellow who named the 'audacity of hope' after this mans sermon is running for president of the 'USA of KKKA'.
And I'm not responsible for what my pastor says or believes - same old, same old.
'And I'm not responsible for what my pastor says or believes - same old, same old.'
YES YOU ARE.
If you don't like it you can get up and walk out.
the blacks love to throw themud-i think they feel good when they do,insecure people,at times and frightening too if you live in america,be vigilante-america.
Obama is getting away with the biggest fraud in our history. Someone please do something.
Leave the country - maybe Canada will take you!
page: 1
James EverittOct 28th, 2008 - 15:41:47
'Straight Talk From Fred Thompson'
Thompson: You got a few minutes?
It's time for those of us who are concerned about our nation's future to focus on what's at stake in this year's elections.
This is a time of great challenge for our country.
We know that somewhere in the world our worst enemies either have, or are trying to get their hands on, the most dangerous weapons known to man. Small rogue nations are developing nuclear weapons and threatening our allies. Large nations are engaged in massive military buildups.
At home we are girding for the possible onset of a recession. If this wasn't America, I might be worried. But very soon we will go to the polls and set a path that will determine how we respond to these challenges.
It'll be a decision that we'll make not only for ourselves but very possibly for generations to come.
John McCain's entire life has been devoted to defending those principles that made our country great. His life has been one of duty, honor, dedication, sacrifice.
He's been involved in every major domestic and foreign policy issue for three decades and has fought to reform Washington in ways that would change our country for the better.
Responsible change is the essence of conservatism. We must change in order to preserve what's best about our country.
We've always been able to accommodate constructive change without turning our back on our first principles.
We must do it again.
However, that does not include staking everything upon the eloquence and inexperience of one who has towed the extreme liberal and partisan line his entire political life, as much as he tries to blur that fact now.
This is the choice that we have in this election. Let's hope that for our nation's sake that we choose well.
Thank you
Fred Thompson
Country First - Duty - Honor - Integrity - Service
I believe that McCain-Palin with the rest of our ticket for reform best represents our best hope for America and are ready to serve our country. With your help and support, we can make this happen on November 4th. Stand with us now and join our team.
We need your support,
James Everitt
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