Change You "Can't" Believe In

Barack Obama's campaign is all about change. A change, supposedly, for the better. However, the one time in his life that he was actually "charged" with making a change for the better, he failed and he failed miserably.

From 1995 until 2000, Barack Obama chaired the now-defunct, Chicago Annenberg Challenge ("CAC") which was, in theory, intended to improve the performance of the city schools of Chicago (See Project Overview). Obama's so-called "neighbor" and "not really" a close friend, William Ayers, a subversive radical leader and bomber for the Weatherman/Weather Underground (See Ayers' Bio), authored the request for funding and outlined the program. He Co-Chaired with Obama. Dissolved in 2001, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge burned millions of wasted dollars and resulted in a failed experiment.

For me, this episode in Mr. Obama's life clearly highlights doubts about his ability to take the highest office in this country.

First, Obama must have thought that this program would make a change in the educational system in Chicago or, else, he wouldn't have taken the directorship. The fact that he wasn't able to achieve the desired results reflects heavily on his ability to lead and get the job done. Further, it is apparent that the thrust of the project was flawed; resulting in its cancellation in six short years and only a year after Obama left the helm. This reflects on Obama's judgment skills. It shows he wasn't able to sort out the merits of a program and whether or not it would be successful. During this campaign, he has outlined a number of programs from universal health care to wind and solar energy programs. They amount to a near trillion dollars worth of proposals. Not just the few millions that were wasted for the CAC. One can only wonder about the successfulness of his near trillion dollars in programs. Programs that, if they were to fail like the CAC, would cost billions of dollars and that would affect an entire nation; not just a few million wasted dollars in the city of Chicago.

Another thing that comes out of the CAC debacle is the fact that, once again (See Full Story), Obama is being closely connected to William Ayers. Obama has claimed that Ayers was just a neighbor and, what Ayers did against this country, he did when he (Obama) was only 8 years old. Obama started his Senatorial campaign out of Ayers home. He associated with him at the University of Chicago. He co-chaired the CAC. He overlapped directorship of the Woods Fund in Chicago. There are just too many connections to Ayers for Obama to claim that Mr. Ayers is just a mere "neighbor". Ayers is an anti-American socialist that doesn't believe in this country. In fact, in a 2001 Chicago Magazine article he was photographed stomping on the American Flag (See Full Story). As the story goes on to say, Ayers has no regrets in what he did against America. Despite all that, Obama appears not to have distanced himself from Ayers. Like Obama, Ayers has also believed in "change" for America. It just so happens that the Ayers view of "change" isn't hardly the popular view of America. There is an old saying about "birds of a feather" and you have to wonder if it applies in this case. From Rev. Wright to Ayers to Bernadine Dorhn (Ayers wife) to Rashid Khalidi (a pro-Palestinian/anti-Jew --- See Full Story), Obama has manage to surround himself with more radical friends that any other American would have in a whole lifetime.

Finally, the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC) houses the "dead" records of the CAC. They are hidden away in a storeroom of the Daley Library. Clearly the CAC was a public program and the UIC/Daley Library is a publicly-funded school. However, access to these records have been blocked. You've really got to wonder what lies in those boxes of records and what nobody seems to want investigative reporters to look at. Is there something about either Ayers or Obama, or both, that is being hidden? Were there misappropriations of public money that aren't being told? I lived in Chicago for years, and that city has a long history of political corruption. I personally think there is a story there. However, don't expect the Obama-loving, mainstream media to uncover the true facts about the CAC and Obama. I guarantee you that if the CAC had been in McCain's past, the New York Times would have already published it. In fact, the "Times" would have probably serialized it on their front page from now until the election!