A Guy Who Lives In My Neighborhood

The guy in the “neighborhood” is not always someone you want to associate with. For Obama, this is exactly the case. Just because Bill Ayers is just “a guy who lives in my neighborhood” (Obama), does not make him a worthy or acceptable associate. First, let’s give some background. Bill Ayers was leader among the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1968 and 1969 before deciding that the action taken by this “new left” movement was not enough. Growing continuously more militant, he and his sect broke from the SDS and formed their own group, the Weatherman underground. He participated in the bombings of the New York City police headquarters in 1970, the United States Capitol building in 1971, and The Pentagon in 1972. He has stated his non-repentance three times.
So today, one would assume that an older, wiser, less activist Bill Ayers would be around. Wrong. Ayers, today, is an education reform advocate with a focus on transforming teaching and curriculum. So, it would seem he is now on the right track. Wrong again. He isn’t sorry for destroying millions of dollars of federal property, and on September 11, 2001, he is even quoted in the New York Times as saying, “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.” But, for Obama, because he is a University of Illinois at Chicago professor of Education, it’s ok. Because it happened 30 years ago, we can let it slide. Well, The Wall Street Journal would disagree. In an article by Stanley Kurtz, several disturbing aspects about the relationship between Obama are further exposed.
From 1995 until 1999, Barack Obama led an education foundation called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), remaining on the board of directors until 2001. The connection lies here: The CAC was created by Bill Ayers. According to the Journal, Mr. Obama’s “first run for the Illinois State Senate was launched in 1995 at Mr. Ayers’s home.” They definitely have a history of business and political relationships. Now, let us investigate the extent of their relationship through this organization.
The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was created with the hope of improving Chicago’s public schools. Funding comes from a national education initiative from Ambassador Walter Annenberg. As the first chairman appointed in 1995, Barack Obama worked closely with the guiding force of CAC, Bill Ayers. According to Kurtz, public documents provide proof that the two collaborated on funding initiatives – which schools to endorse, which to not. So, how did Mr. Obama, having only experience as a community organizer and fresh out of Harvard Law, jump to the head of this foundation? Documents also show that Mr. Ayers was one of a group of five people who created the board, and being that Ayers founded the CAC, no one could be appointed without his approval -- lets face it, Bill Ayers is not just the guy next door.
Next, lets look at the function of the CAC. The foundations agenda is mostly rooted in Bill Ayers’s education philosophy – he is a teacher at University of Illinois at Chicago. But, his philosophy calls for empowering students and parents to have radical political commitments. The foundation also downplayed achievement tests in favor of activism, according to the article. Being that Ayers worked at a radical alternative school in the mid-1960s, it would make sense that a similar radicalism is present today. “It works like ‘City kids, city teachers’ and ‘Teaching the personal and the political,’ Mr. Ayers wrote that teachers should be community organizers dedicated to provoking resistance to American racism and oppression.” This sounds good, but it undermines the entire education system, and has no proven success rate with regard to educational excellence. On funding issues, the foundation has removed its focus on math and science excellence and instead has filtered money through various far-left community organizers, “such as the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (or Acorn)”. The final issue is that Mr. Obama actively worked on leadership training seminars and used Acorn and CAC assistance is his early campaigns.
Now, I’ve yet to decide who I want to vote for. I’m scared of Mrs. Palin’s inexperience and Mr. McCain’s age and senility, yet I am becoming more terrified of the other ticket. At least with McCain and Palin you get a weaker federal branch, and you get to be led in a better balance of power (i.e. a stronger Congress). Yet, when I think about the political relationships Obama has had, I am afraid if he is in office with someone as experienced in working the political system as Joe Biden, I slowly become fearful of their potential for radicalism and what they may do in office, rather than what McCain-Palin won’t do.