Message #162016

[Harconen]

1998–1999

 

Still More Rezko and ACORN

 

In March 1998, Obama delivers the eulogy at the funeral of Saul Mendelsen, a leader of Chicago’s far left and a socialist community organizer and activist. [79]

            At a June 14, 1998 State of the Cities Forum, Obama is asked about the 1996 welfare reform bill and how it can be reversed. (The 1996 legislation gave states fixed amounts of federal money to spend on welfare, rather than continuing to give them additional money based on how many people were on the welfare rolls—which had given states no incentive to reduce the welfare population.) Obama answers, “I was not a… huge supporter of the federal plan that was signed in 1996. Having said that, I do think that there is a potential political opportunity that arose out of welfare reform and that is to desegregate the welfare population, meaning the undeserving poor, black folks in cities, from the working poor, deserving white rural as well as suburban. Now you’ve got just a bunch of folks who are struggling at the bottom of the economic ladder. And that means that at least from my perspective the political strategy and the political coalition to put together… is to think about where are the areas where you are not just helping welfare people, you know folks on welfare, but how are you helping folks who are not currently making enough money in the economy to support a family and pay a mortgage and send their kids to school.” Obama is here accusing those who passed welfare reform of racism. He believes the welfare reform bill passed in 1996 was anti-black, and that supporters of the bill considered “black folks in cities” undeserving of welfare while the poor working whites in rural or even suburban areas were considered deserving. Obama’s “political strategy” is to get poor blacks and poor whites working together to demand benefits… a strategy no doubt inspired by Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. (Obama argues that welfare reform does not work. In fact, it does. In the years following the passage of the welfare reform bill the number of black children living in poverty drops dramatically—reaching record lows—because welfare reform prompts their mothers to get jobs. But in 2009 Congress votes to restore the old system, rewarding the states with more money as they sign up additional people for welfare benefits.) [2260]

            On July 4, 1998 Obama’s daughter Malia Ann is born. Some wonder whether she was named in honor of one of the daughters of Malcolm X, Malika Shabazz, or after Malcolm X himself, whose tombstone is inscribed with “Hajj Malik.” Malik means “king” in Arabic, while Malikah means “queen.” (Malcolm X became a Sunni Muslim and after a pilgrimage to Mecca, he called himself El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz; his children use the surname Shabazz.) [527,2421]

            In October 1998, Obama writes a letter supporting plans for low-income senior citizen housing. The project’s site, a large empty space owned by the city of Chicago, is sold to Obama’s friend Tony Rezko, and Obama’s former law firm boss, Allison Davis, for one dollar. The project, Cottage View Terrace, eventually consumes $14.6 million in taxpayer dollars, with a substantial amount going to Rezko and Davis as development fees. Still more taxpayer funds are later given to Rezko for additional housing projects, despite the fact that many of his prior projects had fallen into disrepair. (In 2007 and 2008 Obama says he “never did any favors” for Rezko; persuading the city to sell Rezko a large plot of land for only one dollar is apparently not considered a favor by Obama.) Obama’s former boss, Davis, donates more than $400,000 to dozens of political campaigns, including those of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and Obama. [80]

            In November of 1998, Obama is re-elected to the Illinois State Senate. Obama attends a speech given by Columbia University Professor Edward Said, who calls for a non-violent campaign “against settlements, against Israeli apartheid.” [387]

            In 1999, Obama casts the only vote against Illinois Senate Bill 485, which would make felons convicted of sexual abuse crimes serve their full sentences without getting credit for time served in the county jail. Obama votes against a bill that specifically allows homeowners the right to use a gun in self-defense during a home invasion. The Illinois Governor vetoes the bill; Obama votes to uphold the veto. Obama proposes increasing Illinois firearm and ammunition excise taxes from 11 to 66 per cent. (A $55 tax on a $500 rifle would increase to $330.) The tax would be changed from a legitimate wildlife preservation fee to a gun-punishing penalty. [93, 315, 444]

            Obama continues to serve (until 2002) with William Ayers on the board of the Woods Fund. Grants from the fund are given out to Reverend James T. Meeks (a fiery, anti-white and anti-Semitic Chicago preacher, in the style of Obama’s reverend Jeremiah Wright), and Father Michael Pfleger, who once stated, “America is the greatest sin against God.”  Pfleger is perhaps best known for encouraging his parishioners to buy time from prostitutes as a way of inviting the women to counseling and job training. Obama also joins the anti-Semite Pfleger (who has been called “the white Jeremiah Wright”) in an ACORN demonstration protesting payday loans. [81, 227, 284, 842 p. 110]

            The Woods Fund also gives money to ACORN, which registers voters in poor black neighborhoods—a convenient way to garner additional support for Obama. Arguably, these actions by Obama and ACORN are illegal. As an allegedly independent, apolitical, tax-exempt, non-profit group, ACORN cannot legally “pimp for Obama,” but that is essentially what it does in registering voters while at the same time drumming up support for the candidate who is financing its operations. Its tax-exempt status is thus violated by ACORN. [227, 284]

            Obama addresses a 1999 fundraiser for the Deheisha refugee camp in Israel’s occupied West Bank. Obama’s anti-Semite Palestinian friend, Ali Abunimah, introduces him to the audience. Abunimah serves on the board of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN), an anti-Israel group. [974]

            On September 30, 1999, the New York Times reports that Fannie Mae is easing credit requirements on loans it will purchase from banks and mortgage lenders. The Times notes “Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.” It continues, “In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates— anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.” Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines brags that “Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990’s by reducing down payment requirements,” but argues that “…there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.” The Times article states that by moving into this new (subprime) area of lending, Fannie Mae is “taking in significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn.” The Times quotes Peter Wallison of the American Enterprise Institute, who warns, “If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out.”  (Fannie Mae CEO Raines later becomes an Obama economic advisor.) [1320]

            On November 6, 1999, Obama allegedly shares crack **** and homosexual activities in the back of a limousine with a man named Larry Sinclair. The activities, according to Sinclair, continue the next day at a Comfort Suites motel in Gurnee, Illinois. (Sinclair makes these allegations in late 2007, when he states that he also had telephone conversations about the 1999 activities with the gay choir director of Obama’s church, Donald Young—who was then murdered on December 23, 2007.) [1242]

            In November 1999, the Senate voted 90–8 and the House voted 362–57 to pass the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which allowed banks to underwrite and trade mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, and mortgage-backed securities. The bill was signed into law by Bill Clinton, after which subprime loans ballooned from five per cent of all mortgages to 30 per cent, by 2008. (Some argue that the legislation contributed to the financial crisis of 2008; others say that it kept some banks from failing.) [2683]