Obama's Illinois kingmaker gets "steak" not "pork"

[candice]

http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-02-28/news/barack-obama-screamed-at-me/2


Obama built his entire state legislative career in one year under the direction of Emil Jones, Jr.-- Obama's kingmaker. After the 2002 Democratic "sweep" replaced a racist Republican Senate Majority Leader with the African-American Emil Jones and finally gave Dems a chance to legislate.

From Spivak's recent article in the Houston Press:

http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-02-28/news/barack-obama-screamed-at-me/2


"Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills."

... Spivak called some of his contacts in the Illinois Legislature and "'was surprised to learn that many resented him (Obama) and had supported other candidates in the U.S. Senate election."

After Jones became Senate president, Spivak asked him his view on pork-barrel spending.

"Some call it pork; I call it steak."

And what was the payback for Jones's "making" his "U.S. Senator" as he bragged he was going to do?

"Last June, to prove his commitment to government transparency, Obama released a comprehensive list of his earmark requests for fiscal year 2008. It comprised more than $300 million in pet projects for Illinois, including tens of millions for Jones's Senate district."

[rox63]

1. Part of a Senator's job is to secure funds for projects in their states n/t

[MNDemNY]

2. And specifically, for those who made them.

[karynnj]

8. Obama's list has been published

Obviously I don't know how his projects compare to others, but none read like McCain's annual list of questionable grants. They looked like sensible deserving project. Notice it didn't say his mentor got anything - it says his district did. Maybe you should research the district. It might be one with great needs.

Franklu McCain likely would have less fun than he did with HRC's Woodstock one.

[candice]

10. But one "hoped" for a change...but one doesn't really change one's stripes...

...Obama "won" his first state office by knocking off all of the other Dem candidates from the ballot so he could run unopposed.

http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-02-28/news/barack-obama-screamed-at-me/4


...Many of Obama's staunchest supporters resent the strong-arm tactics Obama employed to win his seat in the Illinois Legislature.

"Obama hired fellow Harvard Law alum and election law expert Thomas Johnson to challenge the nominating petitions of four other candidates, including the popular incumbent, Alice Palmer, a liberal activist who had held the seat for several years, according to an April 2007 Chicago Tribune report.

Obama found enough flaws in the petition sheets — to appear on the ballot, candidates needed 757 signatures from registered voters living within the district — to knock off all the other Democratic contenders. He won the seat unopposed.

"A close examination of Obama's first campaign clouds the image he has cultivated throughout his political career," wrote Tribune political reporters David Jackson and Ray Long. "The man now running for president on a message of giving a voice to the voiceless first entered public office not by leveling the playing field, but by clearing it.""

[troubleinwinter]

26. Evidently you didn't read the article? The pork issue is a sliver of the subjects covered.

"n/t" is not your response to the entirety of the interesting article?

[blm]

3. And Jackson Stephens got BCCI, IranContra and CIA drugrunning matters deep-sixed throughout the 90s

which ended up protecting not only him, but Poppy Bush, Marc Rich, Dubai and Saudi royals, AQ Khan, Bin Ladens, Adnan Khashoggi, James Bath, and many more.

How did THAT work out for this nation in the long run?

[scheming daemons]

4. I can't hear you until Clinton releases her tax returns...

...

[troubleinwinter]

27. It is an article about "Barack Obama and Me". You aren't interested in reading about Obama?

[SteppingRazor]

5. Spivak's got a grudge against Obama, though...

so I'd take what he writes with a grain of salt.

[candice]

12. Why does he have a grudge? Based on what?

[SteppingRazor]

18. Wonkette has a good summary of the article you posted:

http://wonkette.com/361542/barack-obamas-dastardly-rage-and-corruption-revealed

[mopinko]

6. more cut and paste bullshit from people who couldn't find illinois

with a gps.
really, i can see criticizing a candidate. but this wholesale sliming of everything about illinois and chicago democrats in all capacities is just disgusting. get over it. al capone is dead. dead, do you hear me. it ain't the 20's. dems are in charge here. we like it that way. fuck you all who think all you have to do is say "chicago" and everyone is covered in slime.

[flyarm]

9. yeah well wait till Fitzgerald starts his case...

he always starts out with just one or two indictments..then builds from there...

yes the same Fitzgerald we all cheered here at Du...

but i am sure he will go on the long list of obama supporters now hate list..

gee it seems like little lord pissy pants all over again...sheeple everywhere!! but now it is oamamania..

[Radical Activist]

25. Obama isn't the target of that case.

The Governor is. Obama is just one of several dozen Illinois Democrats Rezko donated money to.

[flyarm]

29. neither were the 59 others that Fitz got in the Ryan case ..

Illinois Republican Gov. George Ryan case started out with one target ..and 60 were indicted and even more charged with wrong doing...

fly

[candice]

13. Wouldn't this have happened in the Illinois statehouse? Springfield (get your GPS out)!

Chicago politics are great.

[mopinko]

19. you think so?

you don't have a clue. neither does the author. nice was to kick your thread without responding to what i actually said.
this is a democratic message board. the wholesale sliming of the government of a blue state, and a blue city, does not belong here.

[candice]

20. Just geography, that's all. Isn't Springfield the capital of Illinois...

...am not sure how mentioning the state legislature in Springfield slimes Chicago politics, but the comment didn't make sense to begin with.

[cali]

7. goodness. what a lot of people "made" Obama

yes, yes, we know. You hilly heathers can't deal with Obama's beating your dear Hilly.

[juajen]

11. Well, my dear, would you love it if it were the reverse?

I thought not. What's a hilly heather, glitterbaby? Gee, I really love these nicknames.

[tridim]

17. I haven't heard that one yet, but actually it's pretty spot-on.

Heathers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathers
http://imdb.com/title/tt0097493/

[candice]

14. He's barely self-made, but gets lots of free rides.

[elixir]

15. I guess you haven't taken the "nice posts for 24 hours" pledge. I have and I feel great.

For the next 24 hours (starting at noontime today) I will post only positive, constructive threads about candidates whether they be mine or not.

It feels great. I could swear I feel lighter. I suggest you try Cali, just for a little while... it couldn't hurt?

[elixir]

16. Nice post. Thanks.

[Peregrine Took]

21. I'm a born and bred Chicagoan and I never heard of BO until a year or so

ago.

I wondered where the hell he came from - now I know - Emil Jones!! In this city and in this state if you don't have "clout", and in this case huge "clout" - you go nowhere.

[Radical Activist]

22. The article lacks backing facts or substance.

How many bills did Obama sponsor in that one year compared to previous years? How about a number?
Maybe they don't tell us because posting the numbers would reveal that what they printed is a lie.

Obama built up his record over time and was well respected in the legislature. Yeah, a few petty jealous people had problems. There are a lot of small people in the IL legislature.

Sure, Jones helped Obama. But Obama is no fool who needed a political boss to make his career. Obama worked with the political leaders who were there and gained their support. That's what a good political leader does.

If you read the end of the article it sounds like this is his pissy little revenge for not getting an interview. Sorry but the fact that you don't get an interview isn't an excuse to write a slanted hack job.

[MagsDem]

23. Nice to see some reality in the press

for a change.

[Radical Activist]

24. Not everything that tells you what you want to hear

is reality.

[carlotta]

28. Obama's Dick Cheney moment

Recall Cheney's role as looking at a list of possible running mates for GWB back in l999, and finally deciding "I pick me". Well, Obama's rise to fame as an Illinois senator wasn't all that different.



"Now, with Jones elevated to the senate presidency, Obama was approaching him with a cold-eyed proposal.

“After I was elected president, in 2003, he came to see me, a couple months later,” Jones recalled, relishing the tale. “And he said to me, he said, ‘You’re the senate president now, and with that, you have a lot of pow-er.’ ” Jones stretched out the word, as if savoring the pleasure of it, and his voice became very quiet as he continued: “And I told Barack, ‘You think I got a lot of pow-er now?,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, you got a lot of pow-er.’ And I said, ‘What kind of pow-er do I have?’ He said, ‘You have the pow-er to make a United States sen-a-tor!’ ” Jones let out a soft, smoky laugh. “I said to Barack, I said, ‘That sounds good!’ I said, ‘I haven’t even thought of that.’ I said, ‘Do you have someone in mind you think I could make?,’ and he said, ‘Yeah. Me.’ ”

Jones let the words hang for a moment, and then went on. “The most interesting conversation. And so I said to him, ‘Let me think about this.’ ” Obama knew that Jones’s support could single-handedly freeze the discretion of other powerful politicians in the state, and put endorsements of possible rivals on ice. “We met a little later that day, and I said, ‘That sounds good. Let’s go for it.’ ”


http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/03/obama200803