The Obama Timeline

[Harconen]

U.S. Senate Campaign

 

With support for the Iraq War strong in mid-2004, Obama softens his stance and says, “There’s not that much difference between my position and George Bush’s position at this stage.” The statement is made almost two years after Obama’s 2002 ant-war speech in Chicago. [842, p. 255]

            On July 28, 2004, Obama tells a crowd in Boston that the United States has an “absolute obligation” to remain in Iraq long enough to make it a success. “The failure of the Iraqi state would be a disaster,” he then says at a Christian Science Monitor luncheon. “It would dishonor the 900-plus men and women who have already died. It would be a betrayal of the promise that we made to the Iraqi people, and it would be hugely destabilizing from a national security perspective.” Over time, as the media pounds on President Bush and support for the war declines, Obama changes his tune to match the tone of the impatient voters. [346]

            Obama’s Republican opponent in the fall campaign for the U.S. Senate is Jack Ryan, a handsome, articulate, and wealthy investment broker with three Ivy League degrees. The press (with the prodding of Axelrod and the Obama camp) works to get Ryan’s court-sealed divorce documents and child custody records unsealed (Ryan’s ex-wife is actress Jeri Lynn Ryan), and their titillating contents cause an embarrassed Ryan to withdraw from the race in June. In public Obama makes statements such as, “I don’t think it’s an appropriate topic for debate”—knowing that behind the scenes his team is working feverishly to smear the popular Ryan. The Republicans field a last-minute replacement, former United Nations Ambassador and Assistant Secretary of State Alan Keyes. Keyes is a black, anti-abortion, fiery speaker who is ridiculed by the press and thus never taken seriously. (The ultra-conservative Keyes does not help his case by saying things like “Jesus Christ himself would not vote for Barack Obama.”) Obama wins easily. [102, 103, 359, 842 p. 243]

            During the 2004 debates with Obama, Keyes charges in an off-the-air remark that Obama is not a natural born citizen. Obama responds not by saying he is a natural born citizen, but by saying it does not matter because he is not running for president. Attempts have been made to find a video recording of the incident, which purportedly had been on YouTube.com but was removed once its significance was understood. [1418]

            In 2004, the Code Pink anti-war group delivers $600,000 in cash and supplies to Iraq—not to American soldiers, but to the terrorists who are fighting them in Fallujah. Jodie Evans, co-founder of Code Pink, later donates $2,300 to the Obama presidential campaign. (Evans later says in a June 2008 interview that Osama bin Laden had a “valid argument” for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.) [104, 355]

            London resident but Iraqi born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi flies to Chicago in a private jet and meets at the Four Seasons Hotel with Tony Rezko, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, and Obama. At this point, both Blagojevich and Obama are aware that Rezko is already under investigation for illegal activities involving kickbacks for political favors; they meet with Rezko and Auchi anyway. [249]

            During his 2004 Senate campaign one of Obama’s advisors is Charles Ogletree, a professor who is one of the leading advocates of slavery reparations. (It is believed that Ogletree remains an advisor to Obama through the 2008 presidential campaign as well.) [842 p. 68; 936]

            In a television interview with WBBM-TV in Chicago, Obama states, “I think that the Second Amendment means something. I think that if the government were to confiscate everybody’s guns unilaterally that I think that would be subject to constitutional challenge.” Obama does not define the “something” the Second Amendment means. He does not argue against confiscating guns, he merely states that someone would challenge the action in court. [2053, 2054]

            Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown hosts a fundraiser for Obama at the Waterfront restaurant. Obama tells Brown he would appreciate it if he does not have to have his picture taken with the mayor, Gavin Newsom—presumably to avoid an association with Newsom’s support of gay marriages. Newsom is outraged by the insult and Obama’s cowardice. [842 p. 261; 851]

            In November of 2004—before he is even sworn in as a U.S. Senator—Obama has “toe in the water” conversations with close associates about running for president in 2008. Publicly, however, Obama says, “I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years, and my entire focus is making sure that I’m the best possible senator on behalf of the people of Illinois.” [210, 239, 351]

            On another occasion, Obama tells reporters, “I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years… I am a believer in knowing what you’re doing when you apply for a job, and I think that if I were to seriously consider running on a national ticket, I would essentially have to start now, before having served a day in the Senate. There may be some who are comfortable with doing that, but I’m not one of those people.”  (Obama’s statement is a lie; by the end of his campaign for the Senate, he already has workers visiting Iowa to develop contacts for its 2008 presidential caucus. [881, 1278]

            On November 22, 2004, Obama is interviewed by Randi Rhodes. Discussing the federal budget process, Obama says, “When you rush these budgets that are a foot high and nobody has any idea what’s in them and nobody has read ‘em, it gets rushed through without any clear deliberations or debate then these kinds of things happen.” [2259]

            A Los Angeles paralegal, Joe Anthony, starts an unofficial fan page for Obama on MySpace.com. Anthony devotes thousands of hours maintaining the page, and by the time Obama announces his candidacy for president it has over 160,000 “friends.” [1317]

            In 2004, Rashad Khalidi publishes a book called Resurrecting Empire. In the book’s acknowledgments Khalidi thanks William Ayers for his assistance, further establishing links between Khalidi, Ayers, and Obama. [983]

            Obama signs a three-book deal with Crown Publishing Group covering The Audacity of Hope, a future non-fiction book, and a children’s book. The contract is for seven figures (probably $1.9 million), and is signed before Obama is sworn in as U. S. Senator—to keep him from falling under various disclosure and income reporting rules that apply to members of Congress. [1276]

            Obama and his wife Michelle declare income of $207,647 for 2004. [1278]

 

 

[Harconen]

2005

 

In the United States Senate

 

In January of 2005, Obama is sworn in as the junior U.S. Senator from Illinois. Obama is also sworn in as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. At the ceremony for Obama, Daniel Mudd, CEO of Fannie Mae, refers to the caucus as “our family” and “the conscience of Fannie Mae.” (The far-left Democrats push the most for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy up risky subprime mortgages from banks to encourage their approval.) [1281]

            Early in 2005, the mass media adopts its long-term “suck up to and cover up for Obama” posture, with Time magazine naming Obama one of “The World’s Most Influential People.” (MSNBC’s Chris Matthews will later say of Obama, “He seems to have the answers. This is the New Testament.” A starry-eyed Oprah Winfrey will gush that Obama’s “tongue (is) dipped in the unvarnished truth,” and author Deepak Chopra will predict that an Obama Presidency will “represent a quantum leap in American consciousness.”) [239, 351, 358]

            Obama buys more than $50,000 worth of stock in two companies whose major investors include his biggest political donors. One of the companies is developing a drug to treat avian flu (H5N1). Just two weeks after buying shares in the company, Obama pushes for federal spending to battle the disease. The fear of the disease is hyped way out of proportion by politicians and the media, with frequent scare stories not backed up by facts. (Worldwide since 2003 fewer than 300 people have died from the avian flu, which does not spread easily from human to human. In a typical year, more than 35,000 Americans die from common flu viruses.) Not long after Obama buys stock in AVI Biopharma it receives a $28 million federal contract. A few days after the announcement of the contract, the company’s stock shoots up and Obama sells his shares… at a 73 per cent profit. Obama also buys stock in a satellite communications business backed by four friends and donors who had raised $150,000 for him. A spokesman makes the remarkable statement that Obama “did not know” he had invested in either company. [351, 842 p. 254; 2577]

            Obama hires the son of one of his campaign donors, Joseph Aramanda, for a coveted summer job as an intern in his Washington, D.C. Senate offices. Campaign donations were funneled to Obama through Aramanda as part of a kickback scheme involving a $50 million deal with Glencoe Capital. Obama’s part in the various deals was to grant favors when he was chairman of the Illinois Senate Committee on Health and Human Services. [664]

            On February 17, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan tells the House Financial Services Committee that by “…enabling these institutions (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) to increase in size… we are placing the total financial system of the future at a substantial risk.” [2317]

            On March 3, 2005, Obama votes against a bill that would cap credit card interest at 30 per cent. He later defends his vote, arguing that the bill’s language did not “meet his standards” and set the interest limit too high; but he does not offer any amendments to the bill to make it acceptable to him. (Obama frequently uses “the bill wasn’t up to my high standards” argument when defending his votes.) [842 pp. 262–263; 852]

            On April 6, 2005, Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan tells the Senate Banking Committee, “If we fail to strengthen GSE (Government Sponsored Enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) regulation, we increase the possibility of insolvency and crisis.” [2317]

 

[Harconen]

The Mansion Purchase

 

In June 2005, Obama purchases a mansion in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood for $1.65 million ($300,000 less than the asking price), with the help of friend, fundraiser, and political “fixer” Tony Rezko. (The original signed contract was dated January 23, 2005.) Although Obama’s eventual down payment is $330,000, his initial earnest money is an astoundingly low $1,000—when one per cent of the purchase price ($16,500) would typically be expected. Tony Rezko’s wife Rita, who earns $37,000 per year in a position with Cook County government, purchases the empty lot adjacent to the Obama house for the full price of $625,000, with a down payment of $125,000. Both the house and the empty lot were owned by Fredric Wondisford and Sally Radovick. Obama’s 5.625 per cent mortgage is for $1.32 million, through the Northern Trust Bank, and he pays no origination fee or discount points. At the time of the purchase, it is already widely known that Rezko is under investigation by federal authorities, but Obama deals with him anyway. (Three weeks before the purchase, $3.5 million is loaned to Rezko by Nadhmi Auchi, a wealthy Iraqi who lives in England; Rezko is eventually convicted in 2008 of receiving kickbacks for political favors.) Rita Rezko then sells a 10-foot strip of the empty lot to Obama, for $104,500. The transaction leaves Rezko with an unusable empty lot with no street access—that cost her over $500,000. Rezko later asks Obama to help Auchi obtain a visa to travel in the United States in 2005. The State Department refuses, partly because Auchi, a member of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party and former high-ranking official in his Oil Ministry, had been found guilty of corruption charges in France. [105, 106, 249, 329, 1278, 1346]

            The Syrian-born Rezko’s money ties to Iraq may go back decades, and to Saddam Hussein. Just as Rezko is Obama’s main moneyman, Nadhmi Auchi is apparently Rezko’s main moneyman. Auchi dealt with Hussein as early as 1959 in a failed assassination attempt on Iraq’s Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qasim. [249, 2664]

            It is unclear how the Obamas qualified for their enormous mortgage. Their reported income for 2004 was $207,647, which is clearly insufficient for a mortgage of $1.32 million that (assuming a then typical six per cent interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage) would require payments in excess of almost $8,000 per month (not counting $1,500 or more per month for property taxes). The monthly mortgage payment would have been more than 50 per cent of the Obama’s gross income, and his 2005 U. S. Senate salary of $162,100 would not have been enough to support mortgage approval. Further, Obama still had substantial student loans to pay off—if Michelle Obama’s claims during the 2008 campaign season are to be believed. Obama later earns considerable royalties from the re-publication of his book, Dreams From My Father, but anticipated earnings would normally not be counted toward mortgage qualification if following prudent banking practices. [211, 1278, 1279]

            Bank employees had inflated the appraised value of the vacant lot by 25 per cent as part of the deal for Obama. Obama bought the house at a discount, but the sellers lost little because Rita Rezko overpaid for the adjacent vacant lot. The empty lot was appraised at less than $500,000 by bank employee Kenneth J. Connor, but his appraisal was later replaced with a more generous appraisal of $625,000 in order to finalize the deal for Rezko and Obama. Connor was then fired by the bank for complaining about its appraisal practices. (The FBI interviews Connor in late 2008 for information regarding the Rezko-Obama house purchase deal.) [696]

            The Board of Directors of Northern Trust Bank includes Susan Crown, a relative of billionaires Lester Crown and James Crown, who have ownership in many companies (including defense contractor General Dynamics Corporation) and are substantial Obama campaign contributors. The Crown family also runs the Maytag appliance company. Obama had collected campaign donations from Maytag workers and pledged to them that he would keep their jobs in Galesburg, Illinois. Obama later accepted campaign contributions from Lester Crown, who then shipped the Maytag jobs to Mexico. The Crown family also sits on the board of energy company Exelon. (Exelon was formerly Commonwealth Edison, whose CEO was Thomas Ayers, and Ayers purportedly served on the General Dynamics board with Lester Crown.) [842 p. 227–228; 2328]

            Rita Rezko borrowed the money for the empty lot from the Mutual Bank of Harvey, which is run by Rezko pal Amrish Mahajan. Mahajan’s wife, Anita, has been charged with fraudulently receiving $2 million in Illinois taxpayer dollars for drug tests never performed by her company, K. K. Bio-Science, which had a no-bid contract with the state. (As of March 2009, Mahajan is still awaiting trial.) Her company’s computers “disappeared” right before investigators arrived to take them away for evidence. Patti Blagojevich, wife of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, is a real estate agent whose dealings with both Tony Rezko and the Mutual Bank of Harvey are under scrutiny by federal investigators. (Amrish Mahajan, a major fundraiser of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, resigned from the bank in February of 2009. Federal banking regulators said that Mutual Bank of Harvey had “unsafe and unsound banking practices and had violated laws or regulations.”) [530, 1456]

            Further investigation of the Obama mansion real estate deal shows that the empty lot was only temporarily deeded to Rita Rezko. According to Cook County land records, the empty lot was later deeded to Obama’s Northern Trust Company Land Trust Number 10209 on January 11, 2006 and recorded on February 16, 2006 (document number 0604733162). The vacant lot therefore appears to be legally owned by (deeded to) Obama, even though a Rezko limited liability corporation (“5050 S. Greenwood LLC”) holds its outstanding mortgage. The implied scenario is that the Obamas wanted the house (and perhaps the adjacent lot as well) but could not afford it. The sellers did not want to separate the house from the lot, sell only the house, and be left with an empty lot. A deal was therefore arranged by which the sale would be divided into two parts, with Rezko’s wife overpaying for the empty lot and Obama underpaying for the house, helping Obama qualify for the mortgage. Rezko then deeded the empty lot to Obama a few months later. The Obama campaign later stated that Rita Rezko sold the empty lot to one of Tony Rezko’s attorneys, Michael Sreenam, but Cook County property records do not support that statement. (It may be interesting to see what happens should Rezko, who is currently in jail for fraud, fail to keep up with the monthly mortgage payments on the lot.) [1182]

            Living within a few blocks of Obama’s mansion (which boasts a wine cellar containing over one thousand bottles, and bookcases made of Honduran mahogany) are Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, William Ayers, and Toni Preckwinkle. Preckwinkle is Chicago’s 4th Ward Alderwoman [329, 842 pp.109, 127]

 

[Harconen]

More Wheeling and Dealing

 

In April of 2005, while Aiham Alsammarae is Iraq’s Minister of Electricity, a $50 million contract is negotiated with a company called Companion Security to train Iraqi security guards in Illinois. Companion Security is run by Daniel T. Frawley and a Tony Rezko/Daniel Mahru partnership. In May a Panamanian company, Fintrade Services, lends money to Rezko. On Fintrade’s board of directors is Ibtisam Auchi, wife of Nadhmi Auchi. Another of Nadhmi Auchi’s companies helps finance a power plant in Iraq, working with Rezko and Aiham Alsamarrae. Alsamarrae is a Chicago resident with dual (U.S. and Iraqi) citizenship. He was accused of graft with Iraqi construction projects and imprisoned for four months in Iraq in a $2 billion corruption case. Obama is thus a critic of the War in Iraq at the same time he is receiving political favors and contributions from Rezko, who is in turn dealing with Iraqis and kickback schemes. [249, 351]

            In 2005, Virginia officials reject an astounding 83 per cent of ACORN’s Project Vote new voter registrations as fraudulent, yet Obama continues to push for federal grants for ACORN. [204]

            In the U.S. States Senate Obama votes against the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. The law would prevent minors from being taken across state lines to have an abortion without the consent of their parents. [97, 108]

            Although he publicly rails against “big oil,” Obama votes for an energy bill including billions of dollars in subsidies for oil and natural gas production. [109]

            Obama votes for a bill (S 397) classifying most rifle ammunition larger than .22 caliber as “armor piercing ammunition” and prohibiting its manufacture for civilian use. The bill fails to pass. [444, 445]

            On June 25, 2005, Michelle Obama is named a “non-executive director” of the board of TreeHouse Foods, a supplier of Wal-Mart. Her annual salary is $51,200 (boosted to $101,083 in 2006), and she is given 7,500 TreeHouse stock options, worth approximately $72,375. She has no experience in the retail industry or private sector which would justify giving her the appointment—but she is married to a U.S. Senator. [677, 842 p. 109]

            In July of 2005, Obama votes to allow extensive lawsuits designed to bankrupt the firearms industry (SB 397). That same month he also votes to re-authorize the Patriot Act, and against implementing the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). [97, 445, 842 p. 256]

            In September 2005, in support of ACORN policies, Obama sponsors a resolution rejecting a requirement to show a photo I.D. in order to vote. [97]

            Suggesting he cares less about the letter of the law and more about the status of the litigants, Obama argues against the confirmation of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, saying that the role of the justice is to favor the weak over the strong; “I hope he will recognize who the weak are and who the strong are in our society.” Obama is alleged to be a Constitutional lawyer, but legal scholars—and educated Americans—would argue that the role of a Supreme Court Justice is to interpret the law and rule on whether it complies with the U.S. Constitution—not to arbitrarily decide in favor of the “weak.” (As columnist and author Walter Williams points out, the job of a Supreme Court Justice is to act as a referee and should not allow empathy to influence decisions. One would not want a referee in the Super Bowl to intentionally rule in favor of the Arizona Cardinals because the Pittsburgh Steelers have already won six titles. By Obama’s logic, the umpires should rule in favor of the Chicago Cubs simply because they have not won a World Series since 1908.) [344, 445, 2677]

            In November, Obama votes to prevent oil leasing in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR), and votes no on a bill that would extend the Bush capital gains and dividends tax cuts. [97]

            In December, Obama votes against a $40 billion reduction in overall federal spending, and against extending the Patriot Act’s wiretap provisions. [97]

            During both 2004 and 2005 the FBI takes note of repeated visits by Obama and Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to the offices of Rezmar Corporation, a joint business venture of Daniel Mahru and Tony Rezko. [207]

            Obama’s reported income in 2005 is about $1.7 million, more than twice the income of President Bush, yet they donate similar dollar amounts to charity. [1655, 2215]

 

 

[Harconen]

2006

 

The Audacity of Obama

 

Obama’s second book, The Audacity of Hope, is published. The book’s title is inspired by a sermon given by Obama’s controversial pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. [137]

            Obama pushes for a $1 million earmark for the University of Chicago Hospitals. His wife, Michelle, is promoted to Vice-President of Community and External Affairs for the hospitals, and her salary jumps from $121,900 to $316,962. Her main responsibilities, in promoting an Urban Health Initiative, are to act as a “bouncer”—to encourage the poor, uninsured area residents to go to neighborhood clinics rather than diminish hospital profits by using the hospital emergency rooms. Assisting her with the public relations of the policy is David Axelrod. An executive vice-president of the University of Chicago Hospitals is Eric Whitaker; Obama had previously arranged for Whitaker to be hired as the head of the Illinois Department of Public Health, at a salary of $150,000. Obama later says of the $1 million he obtained for his wife’s employer, “I don’t think that I was obligated to recuse myself from anything related to the university… but you could make a good argument that this is something that slipped through our cracks, through our screening system.” (By using the word “our,” Obama attempts to place the blame for the action on others, as though he could vote for an earmark that he added to a bill without realizing he did it.) [110, 111, 112, 664, 1945]

            The Board of Trustees of Chicago’s Adler Planetarium raises $250,000 for Obama’s campaign. Obama then obtains a $3 million earmark for the planetarium. (A $300,000 amount had been sought by the Trustees to upgrade a projector system.) [113]

            Obama votes against the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, a man with sterling academic and legal credentials. [97]

            On February 6, Obama wins a Grammy Award in the “best spoken word album” category for the audio book version of Dreams From My Father.  (A line-by-line comparison with the print version shows that the audio version recorded by Obama omits some text that many people might call controversial; that was likely done to prevent campaign ads from using those recorded words against him.) [2216]

            In February of 2006, anti-military Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) votes against suspending aid to Hamas. His is the only vote against the bill. Abercrombie, an Obama supporter from Hawaii, had been a friend of Obama’s father and mother at the University of Hawaii and, like Obama, is linked to the socialist New Party. He is also, like most socialist members of Congress, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. [388, 1362]

            In February 2006, Obama votes against a bill calling for the retention of the Bush capital gains and dividends tax cuts. [97]

            Sarah P. Herlihy, an associate of the Chicago law firm of Kirkland and Ellis LLP, writes a document called, “Amending the Natural Born Citizen Requirement: Globalization as the Impetus and the Obstacle,” in which she argues for eliminating the natural born citizen requirement of the U.S. Constitution—which she calls the “stupidest provision” in the document because the rule “discriminates” against naturalized citizens. (Amazingly, Herlihy does not understand that was precisely what the framers of the Constitution intended, just as their constitutional requirement that a president must be at least 35 years old was intended to “discriminate” against 12-year-olds.) The employees of Kirkland and Ellis (which does not specialize in constitutional law) later contribute $87,722 to the Obama campaign, and Bruce I. Ettleson, a partner in the law firm, is a member of Obama’s campaign finance committee. [581, 582, 588, 598]

            In March, Obama tells a crowd, “I’ve been very blessed. Keynote speaker at the Democratic convention; the cover of Newsweek; my book made the best-seller list; I just won a Grammy for reading it on tape. Really, what else is there to do? Well, I guess I could pass a law or something.” At this point, it is clear that Obama has his eye on the White House, even though he has made no public pronouncement and has accomplished nothing to suggest he is qualified to serve as president. [842 p. 247]

            Illinois’ Cook County Board President John Stroger becomes ill during the 2006 primary election campaign. Chicago Democrats keep his illness a secret until the deadline for candidate filings passes, and then manage to place the name of his son, Todd Stroger, on the ballot. Despite his total lack of experience and history as a corrupt, machine-style ward boss, Obama supports the young Stroger, calling him a “good, progressive Democrat.” (Progressive Democrat is generally code for socialist.) More qualified Democrats are outraged, especially those who support reform of the corrupt and reckless Cook County Board. As predicted by many, Stroger proves to be a disaster. (In early 2009, it is reported that Stroger failed to report at least $733,000 in political donations, and is fined $27,000 by the Illinois State Board of Elections.) [119, 1578]

            On April 6, a group of Senators (including John McCain and Edward Kennedy) completes work on an immigration bill and heads to a news conference. Catching them in a hallway, Obama asks, “Hey, guys, can I come along?” At the microphones, Obama then proceeds to congratulate a list of Senators—including himself—saying “I want to cite Lindsey Graham, Sam Brownback, Mel Martinez, Ken Salazar, myself, Dick Durbin, Joe Lieberman… who’ve actually had to wake up early to try to hammer this stuff out.” Senate staffers are outraged because they know Obama was never among the group that arrived at seven a.m. to work on the legislation. Senator Arlen Specter comments that when a Senator is running for president, “embellishment of legislative records may be an inevitability.” [1607]

            In April of 2006, Companion Security (run by Daniel T. Frawley, Tony Rezko, and Daniel Mahru) works with Governor Rod Blagojevich to lease an Illinois military facility for training Iraqi security guards. In August of 2006, Frawley works with Obama’s Senate staff to complete the deal. [249]

            Obama is Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe, but never convenes the committee for a meeting. [114]

                On May 5, 2006, John McCain and 19 other Republican Senators send a letter to the Senate Majority Leader urging the passage of Senate Bill S190, which is intended to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and which could possibly have reduced the likelihood of the economic crisis in 2008). Obama does not sign the letter of support. McCain’s letter states that it is “…vitally important that Congress take the necessary steps to ensure that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac …operate in a safe and sound manner. More importantly, Congress must ensure that the American taxpayer is protected in the event that either …should fail.” [278, 2317]

            On May 25, Senator McCain addresses the Senate and states, “For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac… and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market… (they) need to be reformed without delay.” Led by Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CN), all Democrat Senators on the Senate Banking Committee vote against the proposed regulatory bill; all Republicans vote for the bill. Without sufficient support, the bill never makes it to the Senate floor for a full vote. (When Fannie Mae later needs a taxpayer bailout, Dodd and his Democrats cohorts blame a “lack of regulation.”) [278, 2317]

            In a June 28, 2006 speech about religion, Obama states, “The dangers of sectarianism are greater than ever. Whatever we once were we are no longer a Christian nation, at least not just… we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers; and even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the USA, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would it be James Dobson’s or Al Sharpton’s?” (Obama is offering a “false dilemma” here, because there is no need for anyone to choose between only two interpretations of Christianity. Obama criticizes his opponents for offering “false choices” but he routinely uses the manipulative debate technique. Further, it is still proper to call the United States a “Christian nation” because the majority of its citizens are in fact Christians. Indonesia is a Muslim nation despite the small percentage of its citizens that do not follow Islam.) Obama also states, “Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal rather than religion-specific values. In a pluralistic society we have no choice. Politics involves compromise… the art of what’s possible. Religion doesn’t allow for compromise; it’s the art of the impossible.” [2209, 2686]

            Obama votes in favor of establishing a foreign guest worker program and giving the guest workers a “path to citizenship.” He votes in favor of allowing illegal immigrants to participate in the Social Security program. [97]

            Obama votes against a resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution authorizing Congress to prohibit the desecration of the American flag, against a ban on same-sex marriages, and against repealing the estate (death) tax. [97, 432]

            In the summer of 2006, homes in Obama’s Chicago neighborhood are reassessed for property tax purposes. Houses surrounding Obama’s are reassessed for, on average, 28 per cent more. Obama’s house is assessed at only six per cent more. [329]

            The federal government shuts down an Islamic charity called KindHearts because of its fund-raising for terrorist groups, including Hamas. The chairman of the organization, Hatem El-Hady, then directs his fund-raising efforts to helping Obama. [115]

            Obama proposes legislation prohibiting gun stores from operating within five miles of a school or a park. Inasmuch as most communities have schools and parks scattered widely throughout their areas, the legislation would effectively ban gun stores unless they re-locate far from population centers. [339]

            Obama visits Kenya in 2006 to give support to Raila Odinga, a Muslim socialist candidate for president who has ties to both al-Qaeda and Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, was educated in communist East Germany, and who hopes to get Shari’ah Muslim law established. Odinga is a cousin of Obama; Odinga’s mother is the sister of Obama’s father. (Odinga named his first son Fidel after Fidel Castro.) During his Kenya visit, Obama makes a speech to university students in Nairobi. In the speech, Obama criticizes the existing pro-American Kenyan government, rallies the students against it, and talks of the need for change. Obama’s actions are logically seen as an endorsement of Odinga, the existing Kenyan president’s opponent. By making his speech, supporting Odinga, and standing beside Odinga at rallies, Obama violates the stated conditions of his Official Government Visa: “to nurture relations between the (African) Continent and the United States.” The Kenyan government lodges an official protest of Obama’s passport abuse and misconduct, and Obama’s actions are denounced by the U.S. State Department as being in direct opposition to U. S. National Security. After Odinga loses the election, his Muslim followers burn Christian women and children alive in a church where they had sought refuge. More than 1,500 people are ultimately killed in riots, and Odinga is reluctantly given the position of prime minister to placate his radical supporters and stop further bloodshed. [126, 127, 207, 208, 271, 293, 294, 313, 329, 452, 1449]

            In support of Odinga, Obama raises approximately $950,000. The cash for Odinga comes from private meetings in 2006 arranged for Odinga by Mark Lippert, a foreign policy advisor on Obama’s staff. Odinga visits Obama during three separate trips to Washington in 2004, 2005, and 2006. Odinga promises his supporters in Kenya that he will “re-write the Constitution of Kenya to recognize Shari’ah as the only true law sanctioned by the Holy Quran for Muslim declared religion.” In early 2006, Lippert had been sent by Obama to Kenya, at taxpayer expense, on a “fact-finding” mission, and to do advance work for Obama’s later visit. [313]

            Odinga made the following pledges to his supporters: re-write the constitution of Kenya to recognize Muslim Shari’ah law for Muslim regions; facilitate the establishment of a Shari’ah court in every Kenyan divisional headquarters; order every primary school to conduct daily Madrassa classes; impose a total ban on open-air Christian gospel crusades; outlaw gospel programs on KBC radio; impose a total ban on the consumption of alcoholic beverages; and impose an immediate ban on women’s public dressing styles that are considered immoral and offensive to the Muslim faith. [329]

            In August of 2006, Obama votes against making the temporary Bush estate (death) tax cuts permanent. In September, Obama votes to give Habeas Corpus rights to Guantanamo detainees. [97]

            On September 20, 2006, in a startling coincidence of similar names, Kelly J. McCrum Robinson (wife of Michelle Obama’s brother Craig Robinson) sells her Chicago condominium to a person named “Osama Barakat” for $376,500. The property is located at 1525 S. Sangamon, Unit 707. The Cook County property parcel number is 17-20-232-050-1168. Listed as creditor on the real estate transaction is Burlew Plumbing and Heating of New Jersey. Burlew purportedly owns Magic Touch Construction Company, located at 59 West Front Street in Keyport, New Jersey. Located at that same address is Magic Touch Plumbing and Heating. On September 11, 2001, Sakher “Rocky” Hammad drove from New York City to Memphis, Tennessee. Hammad was later arrested by the FBI in connection with an illegal driver’s license scheme. In Hammad’s wallet was found a security pass giving him access to the World Trade Center on September 5, 2001, and a business card for Magic Plumbing and Heating. Hammad stated he was a plumber, and had worked with his cousin on the WTC sprinkler systems. New York authorities have no record of a plumber’s license for either Hammad or his cousin. Hammad’s mother lives in Jordan or Gaza. (Some have theorized that the World Trade Centers towers collapsed because their sprinkler systems were not functioning properly.) [1186, 1187, 1188, 1189, 1190, 2028]

            On October 22, 2006, Obama publicly states he is considering a run for the presidency—at age 45 and after only a year and a half as a Senator. [1314]

            Alexi Giannoulias runs for Illinois State Treasurer in 2006 and receives a strong endorsement from Obama, who states Giannoulias is “…one of the most outstanding young men I could ever hope to meet”—despite the candidate’s youth (he is 29), total lack of experience, mob connections, and his family bank’s (Broadway Bank) financing of a Chicago crime figure. Ten years earlier the Giannoulias family had been rumored to have helped Obama with campaign financing, and provided an alleged sweetheart deal mortgage for his Chicago townhouse (Obama’s residence before Tony Rezko helped him buy his Hyde Park mansion). [116, 117, 281]

            Giannoulias is the moneyman for Michael “Jaws” Giorango, a Chicago thug with convictions for bookmaking and promoting prostitution. Giannoulias is so tainted by mob connections that the powerful Illinois Speaker of the House and State Democrat Party Chairman Michael Madigan refused to endorse Giannoulias for State Treasurer. Thus, even the Democrat Party does not endorse Democrat Giannoulias in the November election. Despite the hands-off attitude of all prominent Democrats in Illinois, Obama (who plays basketball with Giannoulias at the exclusive East Bank Club in Chicago) endorses him anyway. Obama uses Giannoulias’ Broadway Bank for his personal business and his Senate campaign fund. Giannoulias wins the election, and he and his family donate more than $10,000 to Obama’s campaign. [318, 319, 842 pp. 206–207]

            Obama campaigns in Vermont for socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, who calls rookie Senator Obama “one of the great leaders of the United States Senate,” even though he has been there less than two years and has done little but write another book about himself. By the 2008 presidential election, Obama’s voting record is farther left than that of socialist Sanders. [118]

            In an article in the Jakarta Post of November 29, 2006, Julia Suryakusuma, a long-time friend of Obama’s mother and an outspoken feminist writer, states that Obama could run for president of Indonesia. It is assumed Suryakusuma means that Obama retains his Indonesian citizenship. (Indonesia does not allow dual citizenship and Obama cannot be an American citizen if he has not relinquished his Indonesian citizenship.) [120]

            In a 2006 speech, Obama says his mother’s parents were Baptists and Methodists, but in his book, Dreams From My Father, Obama wrote that, “In his only skirmish into organized religion, he (Obama’s grandfather Stanley Armour Dunham) would enroll the family in the local Unitarian Universalist congregation.” Obama refers to himself as a “lifelong” Christian, but his only Christian church affiliation appears to have been with Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ. (Some critics might take exception to TUCC being called a Christian church, considering its black liberation theology—a Marxist version of Christianity that worships a white-hating black Jesus—and the fact that it accepts Muslim members.) [744]

            In December of 2006, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) gives Obama a 100 per cent rating for his anti-religious stances on church-state separation. [97]

            In a December 22, 2006 e-mail, Obama personally informs Kenyan Raila Odinga that “all our correspondence (should be) handled by Mr. Mark Lippert,” and says that using Lippert as their common contact would be for his (Obama’s) “…own security now and in the future.” [313, 1017]

            Obama’s income in 2006 is $991,296. The total includes $273,618 for Michelle Obama from the University of Chicago Hospitals, and $506,618 in advances and royalties from Obama’s books. [1046]

            Obama donates $22,500 to Trinity United Church of Christ in 2006. In that year Obama earned more than three times the income of President Bush, yet Bush donated a larger amount than Obama to charity. Obama’s charitable donations were 5.8 per cent of his income. (Senator Joe Biden donated an astoundingly low 0.15 per cent, despite being in the top one per cent of all income earners in the nation.) [842 p. 97; 1655]

 

[Harconen]

2007

 

The Campaign Begins

 

On January 16, 2007, after only two years in the U.S. Senate, Obama officially announces his candidacy for U.S. president. Obama’s main campaign strategist continues to be David Axelrod (the “Karl Rove” of the Obama campaign). Obama’s theme of “hope and change” allows him to avoid specific commitments and skirt the issue of how programs would be paid for. “Hope” being an inclusive word, the candidate does not have to talk about the details of his plans, he merely has to suggest that he is the “hope” the voters have been waiting for, and they will fill in the details in their own minds. “Change” works to attract voters disillusioned with President Bush and the Iraq War and who feel that any non-Republican alternative is an improvement. Two weeks before he launches his presidential campaign, Obama pays $375–$400 for two decades worth of unpaid parking tickets received while at Harvard Law School; he manages to avoid the late fees and penalties that would be imposed on an average citizen. [121, 353, 356, 1314]

            In addition to paying old parking fines, Obama also relinquishes his law license in early 2007 to avoid the possibility of punishment for lying on his Illinois bar application. Obama’s application failed to disclose the fact that he had used different names in the past (Barry Soetoro, and perhaps Barry Dunham), had used drugs, and had unpaid parking tickets of approximately $400. A complaint against Obama was filed on March 13, 2007, but because he had just relinquished his license, he escaped an investigation and possible punishment (such as disbarment). [1096]

            Arguably (and putting his inflated ego aside), Obama may have decided to run for president, rather than attempting first to be the vice-president of the more likely candidate, Hillary Clinton, partly because he knew he would never make it through the VP vetting process. There essentially is no presidential vetting process, especially if the media gives the candidate a pass on investigating his past or challenging his political philosophies.

            The unpopularity of President Bush is also a significant factor in Obama’s decision to run because the odds of the Democrat candidate beating the Republican candidate are high in 2008, regardless of who the eventual two candidates are. Thus, the real race lies in the Democrat primaries, not the November election, and the odds in the primaries tend to favor the most liberal candidate because the most active party members are leftists. Obama knows he is the most liberal candidate in history, but he is also aware that 2008 may offer his best chance at the presidency because of the “Bush baggage” weighing down the Republican opponent. While he campaigns in the Democrat primary, Obama hopes the media will work against the strongest conservative candidates in the Republican primaries to help insure a weak opponent in the November election. (The media eagerly does what it can to get McCain—the least conservative of the Republican primary candidates—nominated.)

            At the time of his candidacy announcement Obama has been present for work in the Senate a total of only 143 days. Obama’s announcement includes this statement, “I know that I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I’ve been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.” (Obama’s remark is essentially lifted from John Edwards, who said when he announced his own candidacy in 2003, “I haven’t spent much of my life in politics… but I’ve spent enough time in Washington to know how much we need to change it.”) [349, 351, 353, 1595]

            On January 24, the Obama Exploratory Committee releases the statement, “To be clear, Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the (Trinity) United Church of Christ in Chicago.” On March 14, that statement is clarified, as follows: “Obama was never a practicing Muslim.” Obama’s Web site eventually includes this statement: “Obama Has Never Been A Muslim.” [353]

            In early 2007, Obama states in a filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that he would work out an agreement with the Republican nominee to accept public campaign financing. On an FEC questionnaire, Obama states, “If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.” (It later becomes clear that Obama never had any plans to honor that commitment.) [433]

            In February, Obama votes for a bill raising the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour, making it more difficult for unskilled minority youths to be hired. [97]

            New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof interviews Obama and writes, “Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated… Mr. Obama described the Muslim call to prayer as ‘one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.’” The interview is later deleted from the New York Times Web pages. (Interestingly, although Obama says he was never a Muslim and never practiced the religion, he is able to recite from memory the “Adhan,” something he learned in a school in Indonesia more than 30 years earlier.) [122, 353]

            Robert Wolf, CEO of the American branch of the Swiss banking giant UBS, collects more than $370,000 in campaign contributions for Obama. UBS lies to the government and conceals the identities of over 19,000 clients in order to help them avoid paying U.S. income taxes. [123, 448, 1286]

            In 2007, the Obama campaign receives $32,000 from companies affiliated with Robert Blackwell. While an Illinois State Senator, Obama had received $112,000 from Blackwell in monthly $8,000 retainers, funneled through the law firm at which he had previously worked. Obama had persuaded the Illinois legislature to award $320,000 in state grants to Blackwell’s company, Killerspin, a company that promotes table tennis (ping-pong), sells equipment and apparel, and promotes tournaments. (It is unclear why Obama and his fellow legislators thought Illinois taxpayers should be forced to spend $320,000 on ping-pong.) Blackwell, in turn, raises between $100,000 and $200,000 for Obama’s campaign. The University of Chicago Medical Center, with Michelle Obama’s encouragement, had granted a $650,000 contract to another Blackwell company, Blackwell Consulting, for upgrading the center’s intranet. [207, 352, 1314]

            On March 4, 2007, Obama appears at the Brown Chapel A. M. E. Church in Selma, Alabama, and incorrectly states that it was the Selma civil rights march that brought together his parents, Ann Dunham and Barack Obama, Sr. (Obama was born in 1961, four years before the 1965 Selma march.) Obama also incorrectly states that his father was able to attend school in the United States because of the “Kennedy airlift” to help African students. (Obama’s father attended the University of Hawaii even before Kennedy had been elected.) These incorrect statements by Obama were likely meant to give him street cred in the civil rights movement and to associate him with the Kennedy mystique. [564]

            In March 2007, Obama votes against repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), and against raising the death tax exemption to $5 million. [97]

            In March, Obama endorses Chicago’s controversial Alderwoman Dorothy “the Hat” Tillman for re-election, even though she is being investigated for using city resources to hire her family and reward campaign donors. Tillman, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, routinely neglects to provide services for her constituents—her ward includes the largest concentration of weed and vermin-infested vacant lots in Chicago—while maintaining “an iron grip on every nickel that rolls into the 3rd Ward and has pulled in the backing of virtually every black big shot in the city.” Obama owes Tillman support in her tough primary campaign as re-payment for her support when he ran against Blair Hull in the 2004 Democrat primary for the U.S. Senate. Tillman loses the election. (In December of 2006 Tillman is arrested for criminal trespassing in her native Alabama, and spends two hours in jail before being bailed out. Charges are later dropped.) [1314, 1315, 1316]

            Joe Anthony’s work maintaining the Obama MySpace.com page increases steadily. He asks the Obama campaign for remuneration for his thousands of hours of work, and for the tens of thousands of valuable supporter e-mail addresses he has collected. The Obama campaign laughably tells Anthony it “doesn’t have any money,” and forcibly takes control of the site with the help of the MySpace.com owners. Anthony alleges he was bullied by the Obama campaign, while Obama’s staffers allege that Anthony was simply trying to shake them down for money. In either event, Obama ends up with valuable e-mail addresses he would not have had without Anthony’s efforts. [1316, 1317]

            To the Des Moines Register Obama states, “…nobody’s suffering more than the Palestinian people.” [387, 419]

            Obama, a member or the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, arrives late or leaves early for its meetings on May 17, 2005, September 28, 2005, April 26, 2006, May 18, 2006, July 13, 2006, September 13, 2006, September 19, 2006, January 17, 2007, January 23, 2007, and February 8, 2007. [421]

            To raise money for her husband’s campaign, Obama’s wife charges $500 to have a photo taken with her. [124]

            Obama gets Marshall Ganz to help train organizers and volunteers for his presidential campaign. Employees and volunteers go through several days of intense training sessions, called “Camp Obama.” The sessions are led by Ganz and Mike Kruglik (one of Obama’s past fellow community activists, who may be the “Marty Kaufman” in Obama’s Dreams From My Father). Ganz, Kruglik, and Obama all have long associations with ACORN and Alinsky-style activism and agitation methods. [284, 287, 842, p. 63]

            Five ACORN employees are convicted in Washington State in “the worst case of election fraud” in the state’s history. Despite repeated charges of voter registration fraud and misuse of funds, Obama continues to support ACORN and repeatedly works to obtain federal funds for the organization. [240]

            Obama works to prevent Hans von Spakovsky, an official in the Justice Department, from being named to the Federal Election Commission because von Spakovsky had supported a Georgia photo I.D. law. Like his ACORN supporters, Obama opposes voter I.D. laws. ACORN also opposes welfare reform and the strengthening of U.S. border security. [255]

            In an April, 2007 speech, Obama, paraphrasing a line from Saul Alinsky’s book, Rules for Radicals, says, “We don’t care about the world as it is we imagine the world as it might be.” [353]

            In April 2007, Obama endorses the idea of “comparable worth pay” by supporting a bill sponsored by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. Under a comparable worth scheme, the federal government would define the value of every job in the United States, and then force employers to follow those rules. (A kindergarten teacher, for example, might be considered “worth” 82.7 per cent of a truck driver, while a truck driver might be considered to be “worth” 56.6 per cent of an electrical engineer.) The alleged (and absurd) logic of the plan is that it would “eliminate wage discrimination.” In practice, it would lead to substantially increased costs for all businesses, and introduce lawsuits into every aspect of wages and salary determinations. Asking for a raise would not mean meeting with your boss, but lobbying in Washington. Pay would be based not on what you know, but whom you know. (Those who draft the legislation and administer the pay rules would no doubt make sure they are “worth” the most.) [354]

            In April 2007, chief campaign strategist David Axelrod meets with Obama in Obama’s Senate office. Congressional ethics rules prohibit the use of federal office space for political and campaign activity. [356]

            On April 30, 2007, in an interview with the New York Times, Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, says, “My whole family was Muslim, and most of the people I knew were Muslim.” [353, 2039]

            In an April primary debate, NBC’s Brian Williams asks Obama what his military stance would be if two American cities were simultaneously struck by terrorist attacks. Obama’s response is, “Well, the first thing we’d have to do is make sure that we’ve got an effective emergency response, something that this administration failed to do when we had a hurricane in New Orleans. And I think that we have to review how we operate in the event of not only a natural disaster, but also a terrorist attack.” (Obama fails to state what his military response would be to a two-city terrorist attack, which was the focus of the question. It is unlikely that Obama’s answer made al-Qaeda leaders nervous.) [2684]

            Obama’s Kenyan grandmother, Sarah Obama, tells the New York Times, “I am a strong believer of the Islamic faith.” (In early 2008, when the issue of candidate Obama’s religion is in the news, Sarah Obama tells USA Today that she too is a Christian, in an attempt to damper the “Obama is a Muslim” rumors.) [329, 2416]

            In May of 2007, Obama votes for a bill requiring that “global warming” be factored into all federal project plans. [97]

            On May 8, Obama criticizes U.S. automakers for not making more hybrid vehicles, like those manufactured by Honda and Toyota. At the time, Obama drives a Chrysler 300C with a large, gas guzzling, Hemi V-8 engine. [353]

            Obama says, “ten thousand people died” in a Kansas tornado. The death toll was 12. [842 p. 362; 854]

            On May 24, 2007, Obama votes to cut off all funding of military efforts in Afghanistan, but on the campaign trail Obama says more American troops need to be shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan. [125]

            On May 24, Facebook.com unveils a new platform, which allows independent developers to create applications that easily plug into the Facebook.com pages of users. The Obama campaign had been given access to the development process (along with Microsoft, the Washington Post, Digg.com, and others). The Obama campaign—but not the McCain campaign—was thus able to unveil new applications just hours after being introduced publicly. Chris Hughes, one of Facebook.com’s founders, had been working full-time for the Obama campaign since early 2007. Some argue that Facebook.com and Hughes made an illegal, in-kind donation to the Obama campaign. [1318]

            Despite having been against the Iraq war since its inception, Obama does not cast a vote against funding the war until May of 2007. [2510]

            In June of 2007, Obama votes against a resolution that declares English the official language of the United States. [97]

            Despite a long history of corruption in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Teamsters Union), Obama tells the union he will end its federal oversight if he is elected. The oversight was a result of the long history of corruption in that union; in exchange for votes, Obama is willing to remove that supervision and look the other way while the union commits additional crimes. Obama, not surprisingly, receives substantial campaign donations from the Teamsters Union. Obama also promises to support legislation allowing unions to avoid secret ballots in organizing campaigns, and legislation making it illegal for employers to hire new workers to replace striking employees. Such rules would effectively allow unions to blackmail employers, causing businesses to raise prices on goods and services and forcing companies to flee overseas or go out of business. [128, 256]

            Obama states he would meet, with no pre-conditions, the leaders of Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela. [353]

            On July 18, ABC News reports that Obama told Planned Parenthood sex education for kindergartners is “the right thing to do.” [337]

            On July 22, Obama’s church bulletin publishes a Hamas document that defends terrorism, denounces Israel, and equates the Hamas charter (which calls for the murder of all Jews) with the American Declaration of Independence. Obama claims he was never in church when his spiritual mentor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, delivered his fiery, anti-white, anti-American sermons; Obama apparently also never reads and denounces his church bulletins… or he agrees with their contents. [2589]

            On July 25, Obama tells media bigwigs and corporate CEOs in a meeting at the Time-Warner Center in Manhattan, “One thing I’m very confident about is my judgment in foreign policy is, I believe, better than any other candidate in this race, Republican or Democrat.” [353]

            Obama tells friend Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian activist in Chicago, that he cannot talk more about the “Palestinian cause” because his primary campaign has “constrained” what he can say. Abunimah tells the far-left radio talk show Democracy Now! he has known Obama for many years and “when he used to attend events in the Palestinian community in Chicago all the time.”  Abunimah responds to Obama’s sudden about-face and soft support of Israel during the campaign by remarking, “He is merely doing what he thinks is necessary to get elected and he will continue doing it as long as it keeps him in power.” [130, 223, 335]

            Obama receives advisory support from Zbigniew Bzrezinski (Obama’s Chief Foreign Policy Advisor and former President Jimmy Carter’s inept National Security Advisor); Samantha Power (senior foreign policy advisor); General Merrill A. McPeak (senior military advisor, who believes the United States drove Iran to hate Israel); Joseph Cirincione (Obama’s advisor on nuclear threats, who denies the known fact that North Korea assisted Syria in the development of a plutonium plant); Daniel Kurtzer (Middle East advisor, who has received criticism for pushing Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights); and Robert O. Malley. All are known for their anti-Israel views. [356, 1583]

            The globalist Brzezinski’s book, Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era, describes the future he is looking forward to helping create. He writes, “The technetronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, (who are) unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by authorities.” He then states, “Today we are again witnessing the emergence of transnational elites… ties cut across national boundaries… it is likely that before long the social elites of most of the more advanced countries will be highly internationalist or globalist in spirit and outlook… The nation-state is gradually yielding its sovereignty… Further progress will require greater American sacrifices. More intensive efforts to shape a new world monetary structure will have to be undertaken, with some consequent risk to the present relatively favorable American position.” This was written by Obama’s Chief Foreign Policy Advisor, who may be expected to encourage Obama to pursue those stated goals. (Apparently to cover all bases, Brzezinski’s son Mark works for the Obama campaign, his son Ian works for the McCain campaign, and his daughter Mika works for MSNBC.) [2045]

            Robert O. Malley’s father, Simon Malley, was an Egyptian-born journalist, member of the Egyptian Communist Party, close friend of Yasser Arafat, anti-Semite and anti-American. Malley had been expelled from France in 1980 for, according to government officials, “political activities which do not correspond with, and even run contrary to, French interests in certain countries…” and some articles written by Malley that were “genuine appeals to murder foreign chiefs of state.” Robert Malley served as Clinton’s Special Assistant for Arab-Israeli Affairs (1998–2000). (In May of 2008, Obama removes Malley from his list of official advisors after it is reported that he had met with the terrorist group Hamas, but he continues to rely on his advice and support.) [453]

            Also advising Obama are Richard Clark (foreign policy advisor, who has said that if captured, Osama bin Laden should be allowed to appeal his case in U.S. courts); Wesley Clark (the “perfumed prince” who commanded the Fort Hood military forces at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in which 76 people—including 23 children—were killed); Richard Danzig (national security advisor, who said the U.S. war on terrorism should follow a lesson from the pages of Winnie the Pooh); Sam Graham-Felsen (Obama’s official blogger, who has written for a socialist magazine); Austan Goolsbee (chief economic advisor who, in 2007, wrote a defense of sub-prime mortgage loans); Penny Pritzker (financial chairperson, and former head of Chicago’s Superior Bank FSB, which eventually failed because many of its assets were invested in sub-prime mortgages while Pritzker cooked the books long enough for her to make millions, resulting in RICO charges and $450 million in penalties); and Susan Rice (a known anti-Semite and senior foreign policy advisor who, as assistant secretary of state under Bill Clinton, and with the aforementioned Richard Clark, persuaded Clinton not to accept Sudan’s offer to hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States). [356, 360, 831, 1282, 2467, 2505]

            Obama economic advisor Goolsbee wrote in 2006, “Future increases in tax rates potentially threaten to significantly reduce the value of your retirement savings and may even mean that you should not save in 401(k) accounts at all.” (Goolsbee was perhaps looking ahead to working with Obama and a Democrat majority in Congress, because it is reported in October of 2008 that “House Democrats are looking at eliminating most of the $80 billion in annual tax breaks for 401(k) investors.” That would allow capital gains to be taxed every year, instead of deferring taxes to retirement.) [378, 379]

            On September 17, at a gathering in Indianola, Iowa, Obama is photographed during the playing of the National Anthem. He  holds his hands together below his waist, while primary opponents Bill Richardson and Hillary Clinton respectfully hold their right hands over their hearts. [353]

            Obama pledges a “full withdrawal” of American troops from Iraq. [1314]

            Obama again agrees to use public financing for his campaign. He makes that promise several more times, but eventually disregards it totally—which enables him to collect significant contributions from Goldman Sachs, UBS bank, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, and other financial giants. Refusing public financing also allows Obama to collect almost unlimited amounts of donations via the Internet, much of which is essentially impossible to trace (such as illegal foreign donations or contributions using electronic gift cards). Obama campaign records show a substantial number of questionable entries, such as $19,500 in 786 separate donations from a person named “Pro, Doodad,” from “Nando, New York.” His employer is listed as “Loving” and his occupation as “You.” It is virtually impossible to trace donations submitted over the Internet with such phony information, which enables Obama to take in illegal contributions from overseas donors. Even if the Federal Election Commission questions the entries, it is also impossible to order them returned. In June, Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi said in a speech, “All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applauded this man. They welcomed him and prayed for him and for his success, and they may have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American presidency…” (Qaddafi is mistaken or lying; foreign contributions to American presidential candidates are illegal.) [353, 2045, 2513]

            In September of 2007, Orlando Jones is found dead of allegedly self-inflicted gun wounds. Jones, the subject of an FBI corruption inquiry, had left his position in Cook County government to create a lobbying firm with Obama’s pal Tony Rezko. [842 p. 192]

            On September 20, Obama submits a letter to a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hearing encouraging diversity in the media and the promotion of localism. One month later Obama sends another letter to the FCC Chairman, emphasizing that the Commission has failed in that regard. The FCC localism rule can be used to remove a radio station’s broadcast license, putting it off the air and out of business. The liberal organization Center for American Progress (CAP) issues a report in 2007 concluding there are too many conservatives on the radio and calls on the FCC to use the localism rule accordingly. The CEO of CAP is John Podesta, former Clinton staffer and the eventual head of Obama’s White House transition team. (Obama’s pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, once successfully lobbied the FCC to use the localism rule to take away the broadcast license of a station it felt was not covering the civil rights movement fairly.) [520]

            The Senate votes 72–25 to condemn MoveOn.org’s controversial “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?” ad in the New York Times. Hillary Clinton votes against the resolution. Obama does not vote. [2515]

            In October of 2007, Obama co-sponsors legislation, the Helping Families Save their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2007, which makes it easier for homeowners to protect themselves from losing their homes. The bill also intentionally shields ACORN and other middleman groups from being charged with violations of the Truth in Lending Act in connection with obtaining mortgages for clients. [310]

            The New York Times, on October 30, 2007, reports, “Obama has declined repeated requests to talk about his New York years, release his Columbia transcripts or identify even a single fellow student, co-worker, roommate or friend from those years…” [2218]

            Obama promises Planned Parenthood the first law he will sign if elected president will be the Freedom of Choice Act. The legislation would overturn virtually all state pro-life laws, including prohibitions against partial-birth abortions and parental notification requirements for minors seeking abortions. [132, 133]

            On November 1, Obama says, “We’ve got to make sure that people who have more money help the people who have less money.” The Federal Reserve Board injects $41 billion into the money supply for banks to borrow at a low rate. [353, 1238]

            On November 2, Obama tells a Manning, South Carolina crowd, “I’m not just asking you to take a chance on me. I’m also asking you to take a chance on your own aspirations.” (On June 3, 2006, Massachusetts candidate for Governor Deval Patrick had told a crowd, “I am not asking anybody to take a chance on me. I’m asking you to take a chance on your own aspirations.” On more than one occasion, Obama has plagiarized Patrick’s statements.) [842, p. 315]

            In a speech to ACORN members, Obama brags that when he “…ran the Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it.” (In 2008, when critics connect Obama to ACORN and Project Vote, Obama disavows having worked for or with the groups.) [283]

            In a November 9, 2007 interview on Iowa Public Television’s Iowa Press, Obama declares that Americans will have to change their habits because of global warming. He advocates price increases to encourage people to use less electricity and gas, and states, “I think it is important for us to send some price signals to change behavior. You know, if electricity goes up, people start becoming more mindful of their electricity bill.” Obama is suggesting that the government artificially force energy prices higher in order to force changes in consumer behavior. [447]

            On December 1, 2007, Obama speaks to the Heartland Democratic Presidential Forum, at a gathering held exclusively for community organizers and members of the Gamaliel Foundation and ACORN. Obama tells the group that even before he is sworn in as president, “During the transition (period) we’re gonna [sic] be calling all of you in to help us shape the agenda,” and assures them that they will be actively involved in the first one hundred days of his administration. [280]

            Obama avoids casting a Senate vote on a November 2007 resolution that declares the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, an elite part of the Iranian military, a terrorist organization. [351]

            Oprah Winfrey campaigns with Obama in Iowa and South Carolina in December. [1314]

            On the primary campaign trail in Iowa, Obama boasts that he passed a bill requiring nuclear plants to promptly report radioactive leaks. The bill, which would have affected energy company Exelon, had never been passed, and each time the bill went through Obama’s staff its language was weakened. Exelon executives and employees have donated at least $227,000 to Obama campaigns since 2003. (Exelon was formerly known as Commonwealth Edison, and its CEO was Thomas Ayers, father of Obama friend William Ayers.) [842 p. 258]

            While campaigning in corn-rich Iowa, Obama says he supports corn-based ethanol—even though it takes seven barrels of oil to produce eight barrels of ethanol, and food prices would rise drastically if corn were to be used extensively as a fuel. [842 p. 259]

            On December 23, 2007, Donald Young, a friend of Obama and the gay choir director of Obama’s Chicago church, is murdered, gangland style. Young “knew more,” according to Larry Sinclair, a man who claims he shared crack **** and homosexual activities with Obama in the back of a Chicago cab in 1999, and again in a hotel in Gurnee, Illinois. The media has chosen not to interview the cab driver, whose name, according to Sinclair, is either Paramjit Singh Multani or Jagir P. Multani. (Sinclair publicly admits to having a 20-year-old arrest record for crimes involving forgery and passing bad checks.) One other gay member of Obama’s church, Larry Bland, is also murdered within a few weeks of Young. Young’s mother and several of his friends have purportedly suggested that Obama had a relationship with the murdered man. A third man, Nate Spencer, dies of an illness, although some have suggested he was also murdered. (It has been suggested that Obama’s campaign guru David Axelrod, through his businesses AKP&D Message and Media or ASK Public Strategies, paid the formerly pornographic Web site whitehouse.com $750,000 to discredit Sinclair.) [134, 135, 136, 392, 393, 409, 842 pp. 143, 352–353, 358; 1242, 2278, 2475]

            During the Christmas service at Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama’s pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright says, “Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and a process that is controlled by rich white men. Hillary can never know that, Hillary ain’t ever been called a ****!” (Wright makes the statement during a Christmas service.) Obama contends he never heard such remarks from Wright or he would have condemned them. Apparently the allegedly church-going Obama (who records show was in Chicago at Christmas in 2007) failed to catch that part of Wright’s sermon. Whether Obama’s children were in church to hear Wright’s remarks is unknown. Note that Obama does not believe in giving Christmas presents to his children. (Some might argue that his lack of Christmas gift giving is support for the argument that Obama is a “closet” Muslim, although it may simply mean he believes Christmas has become too commercial and gifts are not reflective of the Christian significance of the day.) [357, 361]

 

 

[Harconen]

2008

 

“Hope and Change”

 

Obama is one of the Illinois politicians cited in the indictment of his long-time friend and fundraiser, Tony Rezko, for having received political contributions from Rezko’s kickback funds. Obama allegedly returns between $85,000 and $250,000 in political contributions received from Rezko. [138, 139, 207]

            ACORN feverishly registers new Democrat voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and other states to boost Obama’s chances of winning the primaries and the general election. In Cuyahoga County, Ohio alone, ACORN registers more than 75,000 new voters. Fraud is certainly involved, inasmuch as the voter rolls in that county already exceed the number of adult residents living there by 200,000. ACORN’s Project Vote activity has a tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code, which prohibits its involvement in partisan political activity, but its workers consistently violate those laws when they pass out Obama literature and advocate his candidacy as they register new voters. [54, 240]

            According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, Obama requests $860 million in earmarks during 2007 and 2008. They include $1 million for his wife Michelle’s employer, $62 million for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, $8 million for Human Genome Expression, $4.8 million for a Light Emitting Diode Healing Program, $2 million for a Soybean Disease Biotechnology Center, and money for projects linked to campaign donors. [140]

            In January, Obama confirms that he supports drivers licenses for illegal immigrants (which his campaign refers to as “undocumented people”) and will take up immigration reform during his first year in office. [341]

            On January 17, in a recorded interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Obama explains his expensive cap-and-trade tax to address global warming. With regard to using coal for power plants Obama states, “So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.” (Obama does not repeat that remark when campaigning in coal-producing states like Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Colorado.) Roughly one-half of the nation’s electricity comes from coal-fired power plants, which would either be bankrupted or would have to charge much higher rates based on Obama’s statement that he “…would put a cap-and-trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else’s out there.” [442, 443, 450]

            Obama goes on to say, “Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket… even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I’m capping greenhouse gasses, coal power plants, natural gas… you name it… whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retro-fit their operations. That will cost money… they will pass that money on to the consumers.” [455]

            Obama tells American Morning host John Roberts that high taxes are in the best interest of the American economy. [353, 1620]

            In January of 2008, Michelle Obama says, “…sometimes it’s easier to hold on to your own stereotypes and misconceptions. It makes you feel justified in your own ignorance. That’s America.” [352]

            Before the start of the January 28 State of the Union Address by President Bush, Obama rudely and abruptly turns around to avoid acknowledging Hillary Clinton as she approaches to shake the hand of Senator Edward Kennedy. [2050]

            With a straight face, Obama tells a Dartmouth College audience that his job “…is to be so persuasive… that a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany, and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Barack.” (Obama’s frequent use of speech hypnosis tricks gets the better of him with that statement, and it is widely ridiculed.) [1121, 2048]

            On January 30, 2008, Obama reiterates his support for driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants. [353]

            In February, the Obama campaign reluctantly releases copies of his wife Michelle’s 1985 Princeton thesis on racial divisions, entitled “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community.” (It had originally planned to keep it concealed at least until after the election. Luckily for Obama, few people choose read the document and endure its spelling errors, improper grammar, poorly constructed sentences, and nonsensical arguments.) In the introduction to her angry paper, Michelle LaVaughan Robinson writes, “I have found that at Princeton no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my White professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feels like a visitor on campus; as if I really didn’t belong. Regardless of the circumstances underwhich [sic] I interact with Whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be Black first and a student second.” She then unknowingly proceeds to convince the reader that everyone looks at her as “Black first and a student second” precisely because that is how she presents herself. She writes, “It is possible that Black individuals either chose to or felt pressured to come together with other Blacks on campus because of the belief that Blacks must join in solidarity to combat a White oppressor.” Her thesis states, “By actually working with the Black lower class or within their communities as a result of their ideologies, a separationist may better understand the desparation [sic] of their situation and feel more hopeless about a resolution as opposed to an integrationist who is ignorant to [sic] their plight.” Critics who have read the thesis say it is the “most sophomoric, non-scholarly piece of drivel ever,” and claim it exposes a “lack of academic rigor” at Princeton. [352, 597, 842 p. 121; 2589]

            Michelle Obama has stated that her SAT scores were not good enough to get her into Princeton but she was admitted with a scholarship—suggesting racial quotas greased the skids for her. Once at Princeton, she learns that the students are more interested in studying and preparing for their careers than the feelings of a quota student who believes she is a victim of racial prejudice. Her thesis is thus much ado about nothing; it is essentially (like her husband’s autobiography) about herself and her “feelings.” [842 pp. 115, 124]

            On February 10, Obama wins a Grammy Award in the “best spoken word album” category for the audio book version of The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. [2217]

            Lauren Collins, a reporter for the Guardian’s Observer, attends a February service at Trinity United Church of Christ. After the service, she approaches Reverend Wright to talk about Michelle Obama. Wright says, “She’s from the ’hood,” and then Collins is quickly told by Wright’s handlers that interviews with him are forbidden. When asked by Collins about the controversial Wright, Michelle Obama responds, “You know, your pastor is like your grandfather, right? There are plenty of things he (Wright) says that I don’t agree with, that Barack doesn’t agree with…  So, you know, you make choices, and you sort of… you can’t disown yourself from your family because they’ve got things wrong. You try to be a part of expanding the conversation.” One can, of course, certainly stop attending a church when “they’ve got things wrong,” although one cannot change one’s genealogy. (Candidate Obama also uses the “can’t disown your own grandfather” analogy, which suggests he and his wife knew the issue would come up often and that would be their standard response.) [2215]

            On February 18, Michelle Obama says at a rally in Milwaukee, “…for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country” The comment draws severe criticism and allegations that she is un-American—or at least unappreciative of the wealth and privilege she has been able to accumulate as a citizen of a country for which she has obvious contempt. (She repeats the same comment later in the day in Madison, Wisconsin.) [352, 2215]

            In February, a photo is released that shows a Cuban flag, adorned with the picture of communist murderer Ernesto “Che” Guevara, hanging on the wall of Obama’s Houston campaign office. Obama fans who admire Guevara are likely not aware that, besides being a violent thug who executed political prisoners, he was a racist who wrote, “The Negro is indolent and spends his money on frivolities, whereas the European is forward-looking, organized and intelligent… We’re going to do for blacks exactly what blacks did for the Cuban revolution. By which I mean: NOTHING!” [353, 2052]

            The controversial anti-Semitic leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, praises Obama as the “new messiah.” [471,558,559]

            In February, Obama denies that Austan Goolsbee, one of his economic advisors, told the Canadian government during his visit there that the candidate does not mean what he says publicly about opting out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and that his criticism of NAFTA was just campaign rhetoric. The Canadian government confirms that the statement was in fact made. (During the Ohio and Pennsylvania primaries, to garner union support, Obama pledges to renegotiate NAFTA.) [353, 1688]

            Obama names Penny Pritzker his national finance chairperson. Pritzker is the former chairperson of the board of the Superior Bank, which went out of business because of irresponsible mortgage practices in the 1990s. Obama names Martin Nesbitt treasurer for his presidential campaign. Nesbitt, a close friend of Obama (with whom he often plays basketball), is also vice-president of the Pritzker Realty Group, and is the chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA). Nesbitt, who is also a friend of Valerie Jarrett, contributed at least $10,000 to Obama campaigns, and the Pritzker name appears frequently in lists of Obama contributors. (Fundraising for Obama by Nesbitt and Pritzker was instrumental in his winning his U.S. Senate seat in 2004.) Nesbitt’s wife, Anita Blanchard, is an obstetrician who delivered Michelle Obama’s two children. [353, 664, 1185]

            Obama defends his association with William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn with the statement, “The notion that…me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago… somehow reflects on me and my values doesn’t make much sense.” Dohrn once publicly praised Charles Manson and his followers for killing actress Sharon Tate. Dohrn’s words were, “Dig it. First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into a victim’s stomach! Wild!” In 2007 (which is considerably more recent than 40 years ago) Ayers describes the United States as an “…incipient fascist country,” and talks about overthrowing capitalism, while Dohrn, at a reunion of the radical group Students for a Democratic Society, says that “…living in America constitutes living in the belly of the beast” and “the heart of the monster”—but those statements of Obama’s friends are not supposed to reflect on him or his values. Nor, apparently, does it bother Obama that Dohrn served prison time for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigating a Brink’s robbery in which three people were killed. Obama may as well have said, “The notion that my being friends with someone who was on the FBI’s most wanted list and went to prison reflects on me should be disregarded… otherwise I might not be elected president.” (Obama and Charles Ogletree, a friend and close advisor who has long supported slavery reparations, should try to understand that many Americans feel “The notion that my great-great-great-great-great-grandparents engaged in the detestable act of slavery 250 years ago somehow reflects on me and my values doesn’t make much sense.”) [141, 142, 143, 2271]

[Harconen]

When further criticized for his friendship with William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, the Obama campaign issues a lengthy document trivializing their actions as 1960s radicals and defending them as “respectable fixtures of the mainstream in Chicago.” In a September 11, 2001 New York Times interview, Ayers says of his bombing history, “I don’t regret setting bombs; I feel we didn’t do enough.” In a memoir published by Ayers after 9/11, he wrote that America is “not a just and fair and decent place… it makes me want to puke.” The cover of Ayers’ book is a photograph of him trampling on an American flag. [143, 144]

            Accountable America, an organization that supports Obama, sends threatening letters to nearly 10,000 citizens who frequently contribute to Republican causes, warning them of potential legal problems if they finance conservative groups. [145, 146, 338]

            Obama supports a Democrat housing bill that provides $200 million to community groups—including ACORN—for homeowner foreclosure counseling. ACORN, in turn, pledges to spend $35 million to register new Democrat voters in 2008. [147, 148, 149]

            When Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s controversial, anti-American sermons are revealed to the public by the media, Obama says he knows nothing about such remarks and adds a “dog ate my homework” statement, “I wasn’t in church that day.” [239]

            Before the Ohio primary in 2008, Obama’s campaign gives ACORN $832,598, allegedly for get-out-the-vote activities. The money is paid to ACORN through Citizens Consulting, Incorporated (CCI), which ACORN uses for distributing funds. Wade Rathke, founder of ACORN, also exercises control over CCI. At the same time Obama gives ACORN almost one million in cash, it is dealing with the IRS over liens of almost one million. [240, 1971]

            In February, Obama votes against raising the death tax exemption from $1 million to $5 million. [97]

            On February 26, during a primary debate in Cleveland, Obama states he will work with John McCain to ensure they both use public financing. (The Obama campaign never does so. In his 1996 candidate questionnaire, when running for the Illinois State Senate, Obama had responded “Yes” to the question, “Do you support public financing of election campaigns?”) [433]

            On February 28, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduces Senate Bill 2678, the Children of Military Families Natural Born Citizen Act. The bill is intended to allow McCain to be considered natural born citizens eligible to serve as president. (An argument can be made that he is not a natural born citizen because he was born in Panama to a military family stationed there.) The bill is co-sponsored by Obama and Senators Hillary Clinton, Robert Menendez, and Tom Coburn, but does not pass. [820]

            On February 29, Michelle Obama visits a daycare center in Zanesville, Ohio, where she complains about how difficult it is to survive financially in America because she has to spend $10,000 on “piano and dance and sports supplements” and “summer programs and so on and so forth,” for her daughters. She typically tells her audiences, “I don’t care where I am, the first question is ‘How are you managing it all? How are you holding up?’” The remark is meant to get the crowd to feel sorry for her and to believe she is enduring a great hardship, as though she is doing them a favor by consenting to speak to them. (“Wow! She took time from her busy schedule to visit us regular folks in little old Zanesville!”) She also tells the crowd—in complete disregard for the truth about the lucrative careers she and her husband have had—“Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Become social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we’re encouraging our young people to do that. But if you make that choice, as we did, to move out of the money-making industry, then your salaries respond.” (The Obama couple’s “move out of the money-making industry” resulted in a 2006 reported income of $991,296. The total included $273,618 from Michelle Obama’s income from the University of Chicago Hospitals.) [110, 111, 352, 842 pp. 125,128; 1046]

            On March 1, Obama tells an Ohio gathering “America is at its best when it’s not fearful. I mean, if you think about our history, our most shameful times have been when we were afraid.” [1221]

            The government of Columbia raids a camp in Ecuador run by the leftist narco-terrorist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Columbia, or FARC). Items confiscated include several laptop computers that contain thousands of documents, spreadsheets, multimedia files, Web pages, images, written documents, and e-mail addresses. Obama’s name appears on more than one document on the confiscated laptop. In one document, FARC leader Raul Reyes (who is killed in the raid) relates that he met “two gringos” who assured him “the new president of their country will be Obama and that they are interested in your compatriots. Obama will not support ‘Plan Columbia’ nor will he sign the TLC (Free Trade Agreement).” The identities of the “two gringos” are unknown and it is unclear who might have authorized them to speak to FARC terrorists on Obama’s behalf. Information on the laptop also suggests that FARC is receiving aid from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. (FARC’s tentacles spread worldwide. Reyes’ son, Ariel Robespierre Diva, visited Berlin in 2005 to try to persuade Germany’s Party of Democratic Socialism—the successor to the East German Communist Party—to remove FARC from the list of terrorist organizations.) During the campaign, Obama says little about Columbia other than to criticize President Bush’s good relations with President Alvaro Uribe, a U.S. ally. (FARC has been holding three American hostages.) [1614, 1615, 1616]

            In March 2008, Obama says of his controversial pastor, Jeremiah Wright, “I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.” Obama’s remark is calculated to allow him to turn any criticism of his association with Wright into a racist attack. [150]

            In San Antonio on March 3, several Chicago reporters ask Obama about his connections with Tony Rezko. Obama avoids the questions, saying, “These requests, I think, could just go on forever. At some point, what we need to try to do is respond to what’s pertinent.” (Politicians generally use that “It’s time to move on” response when they want to avoid an issue, in the hope that it will go away. The technique often works because the less capable reporters meekly comply; they fear being shut out by the candidate if they press too hard. That is, they care more about their careers than pursuing the story.) [249]

            Obama’s foreign policy advisor, Samantha Powers, resigns from the campaign after calling Hillary Clinton a “monster.” Powers nevertheless expects a top position in an Obama Administration, despite having publicly discussed the possibility of invading Israel to help create a Palestinian state. [233, 234, 235, 236]

            In the March 11 issue of the New Yorker, Michelle Obama, with a seemingly endless supply of racial hatred, criticizes the United States as a mean country. “We’re a divided country; we’re a country that is just downright mean. (We are) guided by fear… We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day. Folks are just jammed up, and it’s gotten worse over my lifetime.” [842 p. 121]

            One of Obama’s supporters is billionaire James S. Crown. Crown is a member of Obama’s National Finance Committee, and serves on the board of General Dynamics. In 2006, Obama had secured federal funds for General Dynamics’ High-Explosive Technology Program for the Army’s Bradley Fighting Vehicle, an inadequate machine ridiculed by soldiers as an “Exploding Coffin.” [830, 842 p. 274]

            On March 13, former Congresswoman and 1984 vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro steps down from her fundraising post in Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign after intense media criticism for her comment to the Daily Breeze (Torrance, California) newspaper that Obama was benefiting from being black. “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman—of any color—he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.” In defending her politically incorrect but accurate comment, Ferraro judiciously recognized that her own prior national-ticket candidacy was because of her gender, with the admission that “In 1984, if my name were Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would never have been chosen as the vice-president (nominee).” With the help of the media, Obama thus has the advantage of no one else being permitted to bring up the topic of race—while he is free to use it at any time. [1173]

[Harconen]

On March 16, J. P. Morgan Chase acquires Bear Stearns for $2 per share. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is at 11,972.25. [1238]

            Obama makes the remarkable comment, “All of the statements that have been the subject of controversy are ones that I vehemently condemn.” (In other words, “If anyone has ever said anything that is offensive, I am against what he said.”) [353]

            On March 18, Obama delivers what is billed as an “important race speech” in Philadelphia in response to questions raised about his association with his controversial pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Instead of criticizing Wright and suggesting that he, Obama, was wrong to associate with the hate-filled, racist minister, Obama condescendingly blames the American people for their inveterate racism. He turns what could have been a sincere apology into an accusation. With the help of an uncritical and supportive media, Obama gets away with it. [842 pp. 112–113]

            In March, Obama votes to continue allowing federal funds to be distributed to declared “sanctuary cities” (cities which support hiding illegal aliens from immigration authorities and which interfere with deportation attempts). He also votes for a bill increasing taxes on those who earn more than $1 million per year, and votes against allowing a reduction in the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). [97]

            According to the State Department, Obama’s federal passport file is improperly viewed at least three times, at least once by someone sympathetic to his campaign. (A few weeks later, a police officer involved with the investigation of the illegal passport access is found shot to death in his automobile in Washington, D.C.) [158, 2438, 2439]

            On April 1, Obama visits Tama Manufacturing in Allentown, Pennsylvania. After some gratuitous flirting with a female employee, Obama praises the company as a success story, saying, “I’m glad to see we still have a good company here with a good owner looking after his workers.” Obama is unaware that Tama workers make $10.50 per hour and had recently been on a 15-week strike. [842 p. 331]

            Obama, wooing blue-collar votes in Pennsylvania, goes to a bowling alley. His score is an almost unbelievable 37. This prompts some critics to ask, “If he bowls like a fag, does that mean he is one?”  [842 p. 404; 856]

            The Democrats’ increase in the federal cigarette tax, from $0.39 to $1.01 per pack, goes into effect. In New York City, the cost of a pack of cigarettes tops $9.00 (which includes over $5.00 in state and local taxes). [2413]

            Obama remarks in an April 6 speech in San Francisco that because of lost jobs the residents of small-town America “…get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or (become) anti-immigrant.” His imprudent comment, full of patronizing condescension and contempt, draws severe criticism from gun-owners and churchgoers. [273, 315, 1609]

            During that same speech, Obama mentions his 1981 trip to Pakistan in an effort to “shore up” his foreign policy credentials, saying, “I knew what Sunni and Shia was [sic] before I joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.” Obama’s press secretary Bill Burton later confirms the trip, which immediately prompts questions from those who wonder how Obama could have gotten into Pakistan during a period of martial law when Americans, Christians, Jews, and most non-Muslims were prohibited from entering that nation. [1609]

            On April 10, Obama says he favors repealing Bill Clinton’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” practice for gays serving in the military. [337]

            Michelle Obama addresses a Pennsylvania crowd where the rally is staffed by volunteers from Carnegie Mellon student organizations. Obama’s staffers make a special effort to control the seating of people who will appear on camera behind Mrs. Obama. Witnesses hear one coordinator say to another, “Get me more white people, we need more white people.” [352, 842 p. 321]

            In a primary debate on April 17 Obama makes the statement, “I believe that the Constitution confers an individual right to bear arms. But just because you have an individual right does not mean that the state or local government can’t constrain the exercise of that right.” (As an Illinois State Senator, Obama voted four times against legislation that would allow citizens to use firearms to defend their homes and families.) [337]

            On April 18, Citigroup reveals an additional $12 billion in sub-prime losses. Its $40 billion total loss exceeds those of all other banks. The DJIA is at 12,849.36. [1238]

            Under political pressure, Obama, in May of 2008, half-heartedly disowns Reverend Jeremiah Wright and (at least temporarily) quits his controversial church. [151]

            Reverend Wright responds to Obama’s newfound criticism by saying, “He had to distance himself, because he’s a politician, from what the media was saying I had said, which was anti-American.” Wright tells the media that friends had written to him and said, “We both know that if Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected.” Wright then added, “Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls.” [446]

            A birth certificate purported to be Obama’s is alleged to be that of his younger half-sister, Maya Kassandra Soetoro (b. 1970), which was altered to make it look like the candidate’s. Although Maya Soetoro was born in Indonesia, her mother later had her birth registered in Hawaii. [153, 289]

            Having failed to get Senate Bill 2678 passed, on April 10 Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduces Senate Resolution 511 to “recognize that John Sidney McCain is a natural born citizen.” The resolution is intended to clarify that McCain is eligible to be president even though he was born in Panama. Because McCain’s parents were both Americans and he was born in Panama while his military father was stationed there, existing law arguably already covers McCain and he is eligible to serve as president. McCaskill’s resolution is therefore unnecessary and serves no purpose, but an effort is made by McCaskill and Obama to change the resolution’s language to provide a “blanket cover” for other foreign-born candidates without military backgrounds—in an attempt to enable Obama to be eligible to serve as president should it be discovered that he was not born in Hawaii. McCaskill and Obama have the following language inserted, “Whereas previous presidential candidates were born outside of the United States of America and were understood to be eligible to be President…” They unsuccessfully attempt to remove the following language, “…and Whereas John Sidney McCain, III, was born to American citizens on an American military base in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936.” The only reasonable explanation for the resolution and the proposed changes to make it more generic and less McCain-specific is to cover Obama if he is not a natural born citizen. (McCaskill’s personal motives in sponsoring the resolution may relate to her being mentioned as a possible vice-president for Obama, to whom she gave early support.) [301, 303, 2647]

            At an April 17 campaign appearance in Raleigh, North Carolina, Obama crudely and childishly “gives Hillary Clinton the finger” by scratching his face with his middle finger while mentioning her by name. [842 p. 332; 853, 2049]

            On April 18, police Lieutenant Quarles Harris, Jr. is found shot to death in his car in Washington, D.C. Harris had been cooperating with federal investigators in connection with the 2008 illegal access of passport information related to Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain. (A year later, there are still no arrests in connection with the murder/assassination.) [2438]

            Hillary Clinton beats Obama in the April 22 Pennsylvania primary 55 to 45 points. Obama is harmed partly by the over-saturation of his ads (he outspends Clinton by a margin of two-to-one or more), and partly by voters who had simply tired of seeing and hearing him and listening to his condescending tone. Obama is also harmed some by his homophobic refusal to grant interviews with gay publications. The Philadelphia Gay News had featured an interview with Clinton, with the headline, “Clinton Talks, Obama Walks.” [842 p. 332]

[Harconen]

It is reported that the Obama campaign’s official blogger, Sam Graham-Felsen, has participated in labor riots in France, written articles for a socialist magazine, and hung in his dorm room a communist flag he had purchased on a trip to Russia. [1244]

            In the few weeks following his defeat in Pennsylvania, Obama loses enthusiasm. He puts forward no new proposals, repeats his standard stump speech, and appears stale and tired. One British journalist notes that Obama is an “Adulation addict: he needed the adoration of the mob as his emotional fuel.” He was not getting it after the Pennsylvania loss. Most of Obama’s primary wins were early; he was ahead of Clinton in delegate count as a result, but she was winning the later primaries. [842 p. 335]

            On April 27, Obama tells Fox News host Chris Wallace, “I have promised that I would sit down with John McCain and talk about can we preserve a public (financing) system.” Obama never fulfills that promise. [433]

            On April 29, Obama states, “I still believe in affirmative action as a means of overcoming both historic and potentially current discrimination.” [337]

            Obama promises, “I will make ending the genocide in Darfur a priority from day one.” [1680]

            In a primary debate statement that reveals Obama’s hatred of capitalism, Obama tells ABC’s Charlie Gibson, “I would look at raising the capital-gains tax for purposes of fairness”—even though raising that tax would ultimately result in shrinking federal revenues. Gibson correctly points out that a higher capital gains tax typically means less tax revenue for the federal government, but Obama remarks that he would raise it anyway (simply to punish people who make money through the capitalist system). [265, 295]

            The Guardian asks Michelle Obama if she was offended by Bill Clinton’s January remark that her husband’s perception of the war in Iraq is a “fairy tale.” She responds, “No… I want to rip his eyes out!”  After a glance from an aide, she adds, “Kidding… see, this is what gets me into trouble.” [2214, 2215]

            In May, the New York Times reports that Obama quietly dumped his anti-Israel advisor Robert O. Malley after the media learned he had regular contacts with the Iran-financed terrorist group Hamas.

            Nevada issues an arrest warrant for Tony Rezko for having written at least $450,000 in bad checks to Caesar’s Palace and Bally’s. Rezko also allegedly owes $331,000 to the Bellagio casino. The checks are from Rezko’s account at Broadway Bank, which is run by the mob-connected Giannoulias family. The checks date back to 2006, when the bank’s vice-president, Obama-endorsed Alexi Giannoulias, was running for Illinois State Treasurer. [319]

            Upon winning the North Carolina primary Obama remarks, “I trust the American people to understand that it is not weakness, but wisdom to talk not just to our friends, but to our enemies, like Roosevelt did, and Kennedy did, and Truman did.” President Roosevelt never spoke with Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Emperor Hirohito, or Hideki Tojo. Nor did President Truman speak with them or with North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. (President Kennedy did meet with Soviet Premier Khrushchev in 1961, and was considered by him a lightweight who could be intimidated and blackmailed.) [2511]

            Sometime in May 2008, Obama meets with Hassam Qazwini, a pro-Iranian lobbyist and head of the Islamic Center of America. [1973]

            To a gathering in Oregon, Obama talks about the need to lead by example with regard to global warming, and remarks that “We can’t just keep driving our SUVs, eating whatever we want, keeping our homes at 72 degrees at all times regardless of whether we live in the tundra or the desert and keep consuming 25 per cent of the world’s resources with just four per cent of the world’s population, and expect the rest of the world to say, ‘You just go ahead, we’ll be fine.’”  Obama’s statement suggests that Americans must drastically reduce their standard of living, rather than encourage residents of other nations to improve theirs. Obama’s method of accomplishing that reduced standard of living will likely be a “global-warming tax” or “carbon tax”—which would cause utility bills to skyrocket. (The United States is not wasting that 25 per cent of the world’s resources; it is using it to create 25 per cent of the world’s wealth—and feeding much of the globe. Were the United States to reduce its use of resources from 25 to four per cent, hundreds of millions of people around the world would starve to death.) [481, 2685]

            While in Oregon, Obama also states he has campaigned in “57 states.” Obama critics immediately argue that his remark was a Freudian slip and he was subconsciously thinking of the 57 Islamic member states of the Ogranisation of the Islamic Conference. [842 p. 362; 855, 2665]

            On May 15, Obama blows off a female reporter, WXYZ’s Peggy Agar, by ignoring her question and calling her “Sweetie.” Obama has used the term with women on many other occasions as well. [353, 842 p. 331]

            At a campaign appearance in Pendleton, Oregon on May 18, Obama defends his offer to meet with leaders of Iran and Venezuela with no pre-conditions, saying, “I mean, think about it. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela—these countries are tiny, compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet, we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying, ‘We’re going to wipe you off the planet.’” His comment prompts a Republican ad that charges, “Obama says Iran is a ‘tiny’ country, ‘doesn’t pose a serious threat… Terrorism, destroying Israel, those aren’t ‘serious threats’? Obama—dangerously unprepared to be president.” Obama supporters claim the ad distorts his statement and that he did not call Iran and Venezuela “tiny countries,” but “tiny” compared with the Soviet Union; he did not say they pose no threat, just less of a threat than the former Soviet Union. McCain supporters claim that Obama’s statement that Iran and Venezuela “don’t pose a serious threat” confirms his naïveté, and that the threat may be more in the instability of their leaders (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez) than in the geographical area of their nations. [2671, 2672, 2673, 2674]

            It is reported that the Obama campaign hired 400 bloggers to post comments on the Internet to sway Hillary Clinton supporters to defect to Obama and not allow Democrat divisiveness to cost them the election. [1243]

            At a fundraiser in Denver, Obama states that if he is elected he “…would call my attorney general in and review every single executive order issued by George Bush and overturn those laws or executive decisions that I feel violate the Constitution.” (Although he claims to be a professor of Constitutional law, Obama apparently is unaware that only the Supreme Court can overturn laws; the president of course has no such authority.) [2500, 2502]

[Harconen]

  In New Mexico on Memorial Day Obama states, “As our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes—and I see many of them here in the audience today—our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.” (No dead heroes are in the audience.) Obama also boasts that his maternal grandmother’s brother, in the 89th Infantry Division, had liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in April of 1945. (The Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz, not the Americans.) [842 p. 362]

            In a commencement address at Wesleyan University, Obama advises graduates not to pursue the American dream, but to serve others, saying, “You can take your diploma, walk off this stage and chase only after the big house and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should. But I hope you don’t.” (In other words, “Do as I say, not as my wife and I did.”) [276]

            By mid-2008 more than a few passages from both of Obama’s books are misquoted or taken out of context as Americans share e-mails about the candidate who is, to most of them, a stranger on the political stage. The source of one misquote, “I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction,” is on page 261 of The Audacity of Hope: “Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.” [2645]

            In June, Obama tours a solar power plant in Nevada where he says that renewable energy “isn’t some pie-in-the-sky, far off future, it is now… providing cheap alternatives to $140 per barrel oil.” The facility powers only 75 homes and took ten years to build—at a cost of almost $300,000 per home. [154]

            Certain he has the nomination sewed up, Obama gives a self-congratulatory victory speech in St. Paul on June 3 in which he states, “I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless.”  He then takes credit for superhuman tasks he has yet to accomplish, with the words, “…this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” [353, 1035]

            When questioned about attempts by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to introduce “Fairness Doctrine” legislation that would restrict conservative radio talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, Obama’s campaign press secretary, Michael Ortiz, says Obama supports “media-ownership caps, network neutrality” and more “public broadcasting.” Ortiz further states that Obama considers the fairness doctrine debate to be “…a distraction from the conversation we should be having about opening up the airwaves and modern communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible.” Obama’s approach to silencing radio critics like Limbaugh and Hannity will likely rely, instead, on an existing “localism” rule in FCC regulations. That rule requires stations to serve the interests of their local communities in order to keep their FCC broadcast licenses. As president, Obama would have the opportunity to replace at least one member of the FCC; that may enable him to define localism in a way that allows him to revoke radio station licenses for reassignment to minority broadcasters with liberal viewpoints. If Obama believes a broadcasting corporation owns too many radio stations that broadcast conservative viewpoints, he will ask the FCC to use “media ownership caps” to take away some of their broadcast licenses—which will then be given to someone sympathetic to Obama’s political agenda. Obama, Pelosi, and Reid will attempt to reinstate some type of Fairness Doctrine; but they will give their brand of censorship a different name. [152, 520]

            On June 4, Obama’s main moneyman, Tony Rezko, is convicted of 16 out of 24 counts of felony charges for influence peddling, fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit bribery after a lengthy FBI investigation known as “Operation Board Games.” Obama’s response is, “I’m saddened by today’s verdict. This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew, but now he has been convicted by a jury on multiple charges that once again shine a spotlight on the need for reform.” [316, 842 p. 9]

            In Briston, Virginia on June 5 Obama states, “Well, we’re here today because we know that if we’re going to make real progress, this time must be different. Throughout my career, in Illinois and the United States Senate, I’ve worked to reduce the power of the special interests by leading the fight for ethics reform. I’ve sent a strong signal in this campaign by refusing the contributions of registered federal lobbyists and PACs. And today, I’m announcing that going forward, the Democrat National Committee will uphold the same standard and won’t take another dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. They do not fund my campaign. They will not fund our party. And they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I’m President of the United States.” (Many of Obama’s ardent supporters naïvely believe the statement.) [2510]

            On June 6, reporters traveling with Obama board his campaign plane at Dulles International Airport to head with him to his next destination, Chicago. Obama never boards the plane and instead heads off to a secret meeting. Reporters are outraged, and are not satisfied by the unsatisfactory and evasive information given by Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs. One reporter asks, “Why were we not told about this meeting until we were on the plane, the doors were shut and the plane was about to taxi to take off?” Gibbs answers, “Senator Obama had a desire to do some meetings, others had a desire to meet with him tonight in a private way, and that is what we are doing.” Another reporter asks, “Is there more than one meeting, is there more than one person with whom he is meeting?” Gibbs replied, “I am not going to get into all the details of the meeting.” Reporters initially believe the meeting is with Hillary Clinton at a private location. Others believe that both Obama and Clinton are at the nearby Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia, where Henry Kissinger (former Secretary of State), David Rockefeller (former Chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank), and other “globalists” were gathered for the annual Bilderberg Group conference. Among the other attendees are reportedly Keith B. Alexander (Director, National Security Agency), Ben Bernanke (Chairman, Federal Reserve Board), Tom Daschle (former Senate Majority Leader), Harold E. Ford, Jr. (Vice Chairman, Merrill Lynch and Co., Inc.), Timothy Geithner (President of the New York Federal Reserve Board), Paul Gigot (Editorial Page Director at the Wall Street Journal), Donald E. Graham (CEO of the Washington Post Company), Richard Holbrooke (Vice Chairman, Perseus, LLC and former board member of AIG), James A. Johnson (Vice Chairman, Perseus, LLC, and former head of Fannie Mae), Craig J. Mundie (Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Microsoft), Condoleezza Rice (Secretary of State), Charlie Rose (Producer, Rose Communications), Mark Sanford (Governor of South Carolina), Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google), and Kathleen Sebelius (Governor of Kansas). [1752, 1753, 2663, 2687]

            At a convenient moment, the Westfields Marriot’s fire alarm goes off, enabling staff to clear the premises of media investigators trying to cover the Bilderberg Group. Investigators say the hotel was swarming with security, and they were followed as they drove their cars near the area. At least seven convoys with armed Secret Service escorts are seen arriving at the hotel, and many observers are certain Obama and Clinton are among the attendees of the conference. Although the mainstream media gives little or no coverage to the Bilderberg Group, alternative media, via the Internet, has been able to report of the semi-secret group’s existence and its possible agenda. The Bilderberg Group itself issued a press release with the statement, “The conference will deal mainly with a nuclear free world, cyber terrorism, Africa, Russia, finance, protectionism, U.S.-European Union relations, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Islam and Iran. Approximately 140 participants will attend, of whom about two-thirds come from Europe and the balance from North America. About one-third is from government and politics, and two-thirds are from finance, industry, labor, education and communications. The meeting is private in order to encourage frank and open discussion.” There would seem to be no reason to hide the presence of Obama and Clinton at the Bilderberg Group meeting if, in fact, its agenda is as described in its press release. [1752, 1753]

[Harconen]

On June 7, the day after the Bilderberg Group meeting, Hillary Clinton concedes the Democrat primary race to Obama. [2510]

            On June 12, 2008, Obama agrees to a Democrat budget proposal that calls for raising income taxes from 25 to 28 per cent for individuals with gross incomes of at $42,000 or more. [315]

            In June, the pro-Obama Web site dailykos.com receives from the Obama campaign’s Tommy Vietor an alleged scanned copy of Obama’s “birth certificate.” The original computer image is 2550 x 3300 pixels, and is provided to four pro-Obama organizations for online posting. Sometime between June 12 and June 16, the dailykos.com site posts it at 2427 x 2369 pixels, FightTheSmears.com posts it as 575 x 585, FactCheck.org posts it at 2550 x 3300, and PolitiFact.com posts it at 811 x 786. (The various images may still be available at those Web sites.) The posted birth certificate is not the long form document with all the important birth details, but the short form—which the State of Hawaii will issue even if the child is born somewhere other than Hawaii. (Note that the FightTheSmears.com image was originally posted at 1024 x 1100 pixels, but was replaced the very next day with a lower-resolution image of 575 x 585, possibly because people were finding evidence of forgery in the more detailed document image.) [548, 549]

            Document expert Dr. Ron Polarik examines the scanned image of the Obama birth certificate, subjects it to over 700 tests, and determines that it is a forgery created with the intention of tricking the American people into believing that the images were scans of an original, valid birth certificate. [548, 549]

            The birth certificate image provided by the Obama campaign has text written with bitmap fonts, rather than vector fonts—an indication that the text was superimposed on a blank form using a graphics program. Image Exif data also supports the argument that the document is a computer forgery. The original .jpg scan was likely saved as a .gif file, edited as a .gif image, and then saved as a .jpg file. (According to Polarik, the process explains, for example, the color loss that appears in between the letters of the words “child’s name” on the document.) [548, 549]

            The forgery process likely involved scanning someone’s valid Hawaiian document as a .jpg file, converting it to a .gif file, using a graphics program to cover the existing text with copied background image, placing the new Obama text over that, and then saving the file as a .jpg document with enough compression (a 45 per cent compression ratio) to attempt to hide the alterations. Lending credence to the forgery suspicion is the fact that the alleged certificate used a 2007 form for the background but copied a 2008 seal and signature stamp. [548, 549]

            The scanned image of the Obama birth document shows no crease marks from having been folded, but those creases should be visible on the document image. A photograph of the document on FactCheck.org shows the document, clearly folded and “posed” for the photograph to indicate that it is a “real” piece of paper. It is illogical for the photograph to show the paper folds while the scanned image does not. Had the document been folded and placed in a regular business envelope for mailing from Hawaii, the fold marks would have been visible in both the factcheck.org photograph and the scanned image—but the scanned image shows no fold marks. One explanation is that the document was created on a computer and that image was published on the Internet. The computer image was then printed and folded for the photograph to “prove” the form exists. [2391]

            More information about the Obama birth certificate is revealed when the image posted on the Internet is examined with a hex editor. (A hex editor allows the user to see the raw file contents of the displayed image.) The hexadecimal information within the Obama document shows that the image was edited with Adobe Photoshop CS3 software, on June 12, 2008, at 8:42 in the morning. A paper document that is simply scanned and posted on the Internet would have no such information within the raw file information. [2391]

            Obama receives endorsements, albeit with reservations, from Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il. North Korea’s press release remarks, “We will see a better relationship between the U.S. and the Korean Peninsula with Obama, who sternly criticizes Bush and who would meet the leader of Chosun (North Korea) without pre-conditions, than with the ‘Bush clone’ and scarecrow of the neocons McCain.” [1360]

            In June, two Muslim women at an Obama rally in Detroit are asked to move from their seated positions behind Obama in order to prevent the women’s headscarves from appearing in photographs with the candidate. [353]

            Obama delivers a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in which he states that if he is elected president, “Jerusalem would remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.” Immediately following the speech, Obama reverses himself during a CNN appearance, explaining he only meant that Jerusalem should not be divided with any physical partition. [512]

            Obama’s campaign reveals a customized “Obama presidential seal” that hangs from the lectern for his speeches. The seal does not last long; its use is discontinued after intense criticism of Obama’s arrogance—and when the campaign learns it is illegal to create and use a false presidential seal. [353]

            Sometime in June, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson holds a meeting to discuss the looming economic crisis. At the meeting is Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve Board. Geithner proposes that Congress give President Bush the power to guarantee all banking system debt, which likely is in the trillions of dollars. The idea is shelved as something too radical and beyond what the taxpayers would accept. (Geithner later says, “I don’t remember a serious discussion on that proposal then.”) [2598]

[Harconen]

Michelle Obama tells a crowd, “The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more.” (Forcing the more productive to give up the wealth they created so that the less productive can have more is traditional socialist dogma. It does not occur to Michelle Obama—or her candidate husband—that the economy is not a fixed size; it can grow, allowing everyone to earn a bigger “piece of the pie” without having to confiscate any to distribute to others. Under free enterprise capitalism the pie grows; but under socialism it shrinks, leading the individual portions to shrink as well.) [352, 2589]

            On June 18, a press conference is held by Larry Sinclair at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. during which he charges that he had shared crack **** and engaged in homosexual activities with Obama on two occasions in November of 1999, in a Chicago cab and at a hotel in Gurnee, Illinois. Sinclair also discusses the murder of Donald Young, the gay choir director of Obama’s church who was alleged to have had sexual relations with Obama. Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod purportedly pays Dan Parisi, of the porno site www.whitehouse.com, $750,000 to discredit Sinclair. Parisi calls off a “counter press conference” when Sinclair is arrested immediately after his press conference, apparently on an old, outstanding warrant from Delaware. The warrant to arrest Sinclair is issued by Beau Biden, Attorney General of Delaware and son of Senator Joe Biden. (Note: The Web site www. whitehouse.com was a private site displaying pornography, while www.whitehouse.gov is the official site of the White House. Parisi, the owner of the .com site eventually sold the domain; it is now advertised as a non-partisan political Web site.) [842 pp. 358–359; 1991]

            When asked what he would do as president if Osama bin Laden is captured, Obama suggests a trial like the Nazi War Crimes tribunal at Nuremberg. Obama, who supports granting terrorist detainees at Guantanamo the right of habeas corpus, states “I think what would be important would be for us to do it in a way that allows the entire world to understand the murderous acts that he’s engaged in and not to make him into a martyr and to assure that the United States government is abiding by the basic conventions that would strengthen our hand in the broader battle against terrorism.” Obama is incorrect; those tried at Nuremberg were not given the right of habeas corpus (which allows prisoners to question the right of their captors to hold them), and the military court proceedings in Nuremberg consisted of international judges from the United States, Great Britain, France, and the U.S.S.R. Obama may believe that the Nuremberg process is an appropriate civilian model for trying bin Laden… but that is not what it was. [2503, 2504]

            With regard to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centers (WTC) Obama states, “What we know is that in previous terrorist attacks, for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center, we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated.” Obama is arguing that attacks on the homeland should be considered criminal acts, rather than acts of war, and those responsible should be treated as criminals. Obama fails to recognize, however, that only some of the terrorists who bombed the WTC were prosecuted, convicted, and jailed. Others involved, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Abdul Rahman Yasin, escaped prosecution because of the limitations of treating war as a simple crime. In expressing a preference for civilian court proceedings to deal with the perpetrators of acts of war, Obama is holding up an unsuccessful model of prosecution as his ideal. [2504]

            By June of 2008, Google has sporadically restricted access to at least seven anti-Obama (or pro-Hillary Clinton) Web sites. (After Obama is elected, he is frequently seen accompanied by Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who also attends a closed-door meeting with Obama and his economic advisory team. Schmidt is on the leadership council of a leftist group called The New America Foundation. Also on the council is Jonathan Soros, the son of billionaire George Soros, a significant donor to leftist candidates and organizations like dailykos.com, ACORN, Media Matters, MoveOn.org, and the Democrat Party.)  [353, 467, 505, 712]

            A writer for Online Journal, Wayne Madsen, publishes an article on June 9, 2008 claiming a research team went to Mombasa, Kenya, and located a certificate of the Kenyan birth of Barack Obama, Jr. [248]

            Fearing additional publicity of his links to radical socialists, Obama removes all of Mike Klonsky’s blogs from his official campaign Web site. Klonsky, a political activist and leader of the New Communist Movement, was a 1960s radical in the Students for a Democratic Society and an avid advocate of Maoism who formed a pro-Chinese sect called the October League (which then evolved into a Beijing-recognized Communist Party). Klonsky, another disciple of Saul Alinsky, was chairman of the party. He was also one of the first westerners allowed to visit the People’s Republic of China, and was honored with state dinners in Beijing. [155, 201, 408]

            In an interview with the New Republic, Mike Kruglik, one of Obama’s early mentors in the art of community activism, says of Obama, “He was a natural, the undisputed master of agitation, who could engage a room full of recruiting targets in a rapid-fire Socratic dialogue, nudging them to admit that they were not living up to their own standards… he could be aggressive and confrontational. With probing, sometimes personal questions, he would pinpoint the source of pain in their lives, tearing down their egos just enough before dangling a carrot of hope that they could make things better.” That modus operandi is similar to what Obama follows on the campaign trail: list the things that many people believe are not going well in their lives; get the crowd riled up, angry and feeling hopeless; and then present himself as the one who can save them from their problems… regardless of whether he can.  [239, 337]

            On June 26, a letter sent by New York Senator Charles Schumer to the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is made public. The letter expresses doubts about the solvency of the IndyMac Bancorp Inc., which specializes in mortgages. (IndyMac had made frequent “liar’s loans,” where a bank accepts the borrower’s statement of job, assets, and income with minimal confirmation; IndyMac made over $80 billion such loans in 2006 alone.) On June 27, Schumer tells the Los Angeles Times, “I am concerned that IndyMac’s financial deterioration poses significant risks to both taxpayers and borrowers,” and the “bank could face a failure if prescriptive measures are not taken quickly.” Although the bank had been receiving net inflows of money from depositors, the release of Schumer’s letter prompts a rush of withdrawals totaling $1.3 billion. Within a few weeks (July 12), federal regulators seize the bank. It is argued that Schumer’s release of his letter caused a run on the bank and prompted potential buyers of the bank to change their minds about acquiring it. Schumer’s actions may have been illegal. Schumer denies having anything to do with the run on the bank, instead blaming the OTS. Some charge that Schumer intentionally leaked the letter in order to devalue IndyMac and help Democrat donors who planned to purchase the bank obtain a better sale price. (Schumer would be serving prison time if such a charge could be proven.) [1179, 1180, 1385, 2189, 2194]

            On June 27, the Boston Globe reports Obama’s associations with Cecil Butler, a campaign contributor who controlled Lawndale Restoration, Chicago’s largest subsidized-housing complex. With Obama’s assistance Butler received $51 million in state funds for renovations. Butler also received assistance from Valerie Jarrett’s Habitat Company. After a woman making a drug deal drove her SUV into one of the buildings and caused it to collapse in 2004, city inspectors found more than 1,800 code violations in the 97 buildings and 1,200 apartments, including roof leaks, exposed wiring, and raw sewage. The federal government eventually seized the complex in 2006. Lawndale residents staged a protest against Obama in 2004, complaining that he ignored their slum conditions at the same time he accepted $3,000 in campaign donations from Butler. Obama took no action to improve their housing. [842 p. 202]

            Obama’s lawyers file a complaint with the Justice Department in an effort to stop the broadcasting of an American Leadership Project campaign ad linking Obama to William Ayers. [157]

            In a July 2 Colorado campaign appearance—in a proposal worthy of Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro—Obama announces plans for a “civilian national security force.” (Obama’s remark is not included in the original prepared text distributed to the media; he inserts the words as he delivers the speech.) He states, “We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded. People of all ages, stations, and skills will be asked to serve.” (The U.S. Defense budget is over $500 billion per year. If Obama is not lying about a volunteer corps just as well-funded as the Department of Defense, he will need to increase the federal budget by an additional half-trillion dollars—and have the U.S. Constitution amended.) After a flurry of questions about Obama’s intentions with his security force, the proposal is dropped from his speeches and all references to it are deleted from the campaign’s official Web site. [129, 276, 1992]

            In July 2008, a complaint is filed with the Illinois Bar Association alleging that Obama should be disbarred because of lying on his bar application. His application concealed his use of another name (Barry Soetoro), his felony drug use (****) in Hawaii, California, and New York, and approximately $400 in unpaid parking fines. (The bar application requires listing all aliases, drug use, and fines in excess of $200.) The complaint is filed too late to be effective because Obama had already voluntarily relinquished his law license in early 2007, perhaps to avoid an embarrassing disbarment. [217, 1096]

[Harconen]

Obama addresses the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at its 99th annual convention in Cincinnati, where he says, “I’ve been working my entire adult life to help build an America where economic justice is being served,” and pledges that he will “ensure that economic justice is served.” He does not have to translate “economic justice” to the audience, which understands that when a Democrat uses the term it means, “punishing the successful and redistributing their wealth” through government policies and programs. Another of Obama’s comments, “restoring fairness to the economy” is code for “soak the rich with tax increases.” [33]

            The satirical Web site TheOnion.com posts an article called “Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble To Invest In,” which reports, “A panel of top business leaders testified before Congress about the worsening recession Monday, demanding the government provide Americans with a new irresponsible and largely illusory economic bubble in which to invest. What America needs right now is not more talk and long-term strategy, but a concrete way to create more imaginary wealth in the very immediate future… ‘We are in a crisis, and that crisis demands an unviable short-term solution.’” Although the article is meant to be humorous, more than one reader no doubt recognized some truth in it. [1852]

            In a July speech Obama says, “But understand this, instead of worrying whether immigrants should learn English—they’ll learn English—you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish.” It is not known if Obama can today speak another language, but he has recited the Muslim call to prayer, in perfect Arabic, to a New York Times reporter. (Obama states he learned the Indonesian language quickly when he moved to Jakarta as a child, but former teachers and classmates say he never grasped the language and was quiet because of that.) [122, 257, 353, 2288]

            In response to criticism about Jeremiah Wright’s inflammatory sermons, Obama says in July that he “didn’t hear a lot of sermons at Trinity.” (In 2004 he said he attended church “every week. 11 o’clock service. Ever been there? Good service.”) [2589]

            Candidate Obama remarks about Hillary Clinton, “I am confident I will get her votes if I’m the nominee. It’s not clear she would get the votes I got if she were the nominee.” This is a veiled threat that if Obama is not given the Democrat nomination blacks will stay home rather than vote for Hillary Clinton. [159]

            When discussing slavery reparations with a group of “minority journalists,” Obama states, “I consistently believe that when it comes to… reparations, the most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer words, but offer deeds.” Several days later, to calm fears of white taxpayers and voters who read his remarks, Obama adds that he’s not calling for direct cash payments to descendents of slaves, but indirect aid through government programs to “close the gap” between white America and black America. His government programs will be “universal”—such as universal health care, mortgage credits, college tuition, job training, and universal 401(k) accounts— programs that Obama feels “disproportionately affect people of color.” Obama does not dare propose a program to tax whites to give cash directly to blacks so he instead will offer “universal” programs for everyone, but will design them so that blacks will benefit much more than whites. (The net result would arguably be similar to slavery reparations, however. Taxing white citizens to fund programs for blacks may not seem much different than taxing them to give their money directly to blacks, even if higher-income blacks end up paying more taxes in the process.) One of Obama’s advisors is Professor Charles Ogletree, a prominent proponent of slavery reparations. Another avid supporter of slavery reparations is the anti-gun Illinois Congressman Bobby Rush. [275, 842 p. 68; 1600]

            Obama continues to oppose school voucher and school choice programs, including the successful and popular experimental program in the Washington, D.C. system (where students do better using $7,500 vouchers at private schools than they do at the $13,400 per-student public schools). To gain the endorsement of the American Federation of Teachers, Obama tells the union members he will not be swayed by “tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice.” Obama’s own children, of course, have school choice and attend the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, where annual tuition ranges from $15,528 per year for kindergarten to $20,445 for high school. In a YouTube.com debate, Obama says that was “the best option” for his children. His voting record suggests he is opposed to giving poor black students any option beyond their local public schools. (In his 1996 candidate questionnaire when running for the Illinois State Senate, Obama responded “No” to the question, “Do you support vouchers or other means of public funding for private or parochial schools?”) [274]

            Dr. Alveda King, a niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, remarks that Obama’s “…answer to the ills of society, of higher government spending, weaker national defense, continued tax dollars to Planned Parenthood, and support of gay marriage, are diametrically opposed to everything African Americans truly believe and an anathema to the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” [160]

            On the campaign trail, Obama refers several times to an incident where his white grandmother was approached by a black panhandler and he remarks about her response being that of a “typical white person.” This remark stuns her former co-workers at the Bank of Hawaii, who state that Madelyn Dunham never made comments about anyone’s ethnicity. (Obama’s opponents, of course, would not be able to get away with using the phrase, “typical black person.”) [744]

                Obama defeats Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in enough of the primaries to become the probable Democrat candidate for president of the United States. Obama will arrive at the Democrat National Convention without technically having won enough committed delegates in the primaries to win the nomination, but will likely manage to persuade enough uncommitted delegates to vote for him to win the nomination. The “persuasion techniques” include DNC Chairman Howard Dean and his surrogates telling delegates they must vote for Obama or he (Dean) will work to defeat them by funding primary challengers in their Congressional or local races. [161]

[Harconen]

    In an appearance at the Saddleback Church, Pastor Rick Warren asks Obama when he believes human life begins. Obama, wanting to avoid his controversial pro-abortion votes, responds, “Well, (sigh), you know, I… I… eh, er, I think that whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or, uh, a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, uh, you know, is above my pay grade.” Most of the people in the audience and watching on television believe Obama’s answer is “reflective,” not knowing that he was avoiding the question and that his voting record is more pro-abortion than that of any legislator in the nation. (They also probably assume he must be intelligent because he used the word “specificity.”) [315, 430]

            John McCain also appears at the Saddleback Church, and Obama’s campaign later accuses him of having been fed his questions in advance by Pastor Warren. Obama staffers make sure NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell repeats the unfounded charges on the evening news. Warren and McCain categorically deny the charge. No apology to Warren or McCain is issued by Obama or Mitchell. [162]

            Reverend Leah Daughtry is named by Obama and DNC chair Howard Dean to be the Democrat National Convention chief. In Daughtry’s House of the Lord Church in Brooklyn hangs a banner supporting slavery reparations, which reads, “They Owe Us.” [163]

            Eric Holder, who was instrumental in persuading Bill Clinton to pardon members of the terrorist group FALN and fugitive financier Marc Rich, leads Obama’s team to select his vice-presidential running mate. Holder is also rumored to be a potential Attorney General in an Obama Administration. Working with Holder on the selection committee is James A. Johnson, former CEO of Fannie Mae, who was found “cooking the books” at the mortgage giant to inflate its earnings and boost his executive bonus. Another former CFO of Fannie Mae, Tim Howard, is a chief economic advisor to Obama. [164, 353]

            Among the groups working for Obama is Progressives for Obama, which is supported by Mark Rudd (who had been trained by the KGB in Cuba and was a former Weather Underground member and close ally of William Ayers); Tom Hayden (former husband of actress Jane Fonda and principal founder of the radical Students for a Democratic Society, who traveled to North Vietnam to give support to the Viet Cong); Bill Fletcher (founder of the Marxist Black Radical Congress); Barbara Ehrenreich (honorary chairman of the Democratic Socialists of America); actor Danny Glover (recipient of $20 million from Venezuela’s dictator Hugo Chavez to make a movie about a Haitian communist revolutionary), and Fred Klonsky (former SDS member and brother of Mike Klonsky). Ayers is also on the board of a Venezuelan government think tank assigned the task of bringing Cuban-style education to Venezuela. Ehrenreich and Fletcher co-authored the article, “Rising to the Occasion; Re-Imagining Socialism: A Nation Forum,” in which they express pleasure at the flailing American economy but admit that they and their fellow socialists “…don’t even have a plan for the deliberative process that… has to replace the anarchic madness of capitalism.” [218, 262, 2026, 2656]

            In support of abortion, Obama remarks that if his daughters ever make a mistake and get pregnant, he would not “want them punished with a baby.” [165, 315]

            Obama tells Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic that Israel is a “constant sore” that “infects all of our foreign policy.” [343]

            Obama takes credit in campaign ads for “…extending health care for wounded troops who had been neglected,” referring to the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. Obama was not, however, present for voting when that legislation passed, nor was it drafted by him. [351]

            A review of campaign donations filed with Federal Election Commission shows that Obama’s campaign receives a substantial number of contributions in unusual amounts, such as $74.37 or $42.95, suggesting they were illegal foreign contributions originally made in “even” amounts, which were then converted to U.S. dollars. The Obama campaign appears to have made no significant effort to identify or return illegal foreign contributions. Obama has over $200 million in contributions of less than $200, but his campaign has done little to insure that they are legal. The campaign also illegally accepts contributions without requiring donor addresses. Hedge funds around the world are suspected of massive donations to the Obama campaign in an effort to influence his future actions as president. The Federal Election Campaign Act “…prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly. It is also unlawful to help foreign nationals violate that ban or to solicit, receive or accept contributions or donations from them. Persons who knowingly and willfully engage in these activities may be subject to fines and/or imprisonment.”  The Obama campaign likely received millions of dollars in illegal foreign campaign contributions. [166, 167, 2284]

            Obama’s wife criticizes President Bush’s $600 economic stimulus checks at a working-women’s round table discussion, saying, “The short-term quick fix kinda sounds good, and it may even feel good that first month when you get that check, and then you go out and buy a pair of earrings.” [168] 

            Obama visits Iraq in July. Although campaigning publicly for a quick and steady withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, Obama—not wanting the Bush Administration to receive credit for any successes—tries in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a reduction of American troops. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari confirms that Obama demanded the delay during discussions with Iraqi leaders, stating that Obama “…asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington.” Obama tells the Iraqis it is in the interests of both sides not to have an agreement negotiated by the Bush administration in its “state of weakness and political confusion.”  Zebari relates that he responded to Obama, “As an Iraqi, I believe that even if there is a Democrat administration in the White House it had better continue the present policy instead of wasting a lot of time thinking what to do.”  (Obama was attempting to thwart U.S. policy, and Zebari told him not to not interfere.) [169, 200, 350]

            That action by Obama in Iraq is possibly in violation of the Logan Act, which prohibits unauthorized individuals from negotiating with foreign governments. The crime is a felony and can be punished with a three-year prison sentence. (The Logan Act reads, in part, “Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”) After the story is disclosed, Obama denies having made the statements. Either Obama or Zebari is therefore lying, but even Obama’s own protestations suggest Obama is making the false statements. Because Zebari is fluent in English, he would not have misinterpreted Obama’s words. [203, 1017, 2298]

            During the July trip, Obama privately remarks that it would be “crazy” for Israel to refuse a deal that would “give them peace with the Muslim world.” The source reporting the comment is likely Robert O. Malley, an Obama advisor with strong anti-Israel leanings. [497]