Obama Watch: In His Own Words [incl. Rashid Khalidi]

A few weeks ago, “Joe the Plumber” one-upped the elite media by getting Obama to admit his economic philosophy -- “spread the wealth around.” This week nearly two million people have watched a recently unearthed video of a 2001 interview with Barack Obama on Chicago Public Radio. Obama was free to share his views on redistributing wealth and the role of the courts:

“If you look at the victories and failures of the civil rights movement and its litigation strategy in the court. I think where it succeeded was to invest formal rights in previously dispossessed people, so that now I would have the right to vote. I would now be able to sit at the lunch counter and order as long as I could pay for it I’d be o.k. But, the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as it’s been interpreted and Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the Federal government or State government must do on your behalf, and that hasn’t shifted and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change. In some ways we still suffer from that.”

After the audio was released, Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves to express the dangerous nature of an Obama Administration:

“He preaches socialism; he preaches envy; he preaches racism; he tears down America and our society. He tears down the American people. He then claims to represent the middle class when the middle class is his target. Make no mistake about this, the middle class is his target. How? Because he wants to totally control their lives and he wants, based on these tapes, he wants the Supreme Court to do it, and if they won’t do it, he wants to do it legislatively.”

Shooting Off at the Mouth

As Obama and Biden campaign in Red states, the issue of Second Amendment rights remains an important issue in battleground states. Obama and Biden may dance around the issue during his presidential campaign, but according to NRA News’ Cam Edwards, “The Obama-Biden ticket is the most anti-gun in history.” The following are just a few statements Obama has made on the Second Amendment:

“I am consistently on record and will continue to be on the record as opposing concealed carry.” -- Chicago Tribune, April 27, 2004

“I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturers’ lobby.” -- The Audacity of Hope

On gun ownership and restriction on guns, “I think we have two conflicting traditions in this country.” -- Politico, February 11, 2008

Not to be outdone, Biden has said, “I’m the guy who originally wrote the assault weapons ban.”

At a campaign stop in Duryea, Pennsylvania, Obama was asked about a “rumor” that he would take away people’s guns. He responded, “Even if I want to take them away, I don’t have the votes in Congress.”

As Election Day draws near, the possibility of a supermajority – the White House, House of Representatives and Senate (with a filibuster-proof majority) – is within reach for the Democrats. What would Obama do if he did have the votes in Congress?

Two Nuts with the Same Agenda

In December 2007, Obama spoke at a forum exclusively for community organizers. The forum was organized by Deepak Bhargava, ACORN leader of community reinvestment and fair housing and founder of The Campaign for Community Values. On behalf of ACORN, Bhargava lobbied for the Clinton Administration to toughen the Community Reinvestment Act, the legislation that led to the current housing crisis. ACORN, with the help of Obama, then sued banks to force them into giving out bad, insecure loans. At the forum, Obama was asked to tell the audience of ACORN workers and community organizers what his administration would do for them:

Questioner: If elected President of the United States, would you agree in your first 100 days to meet with a delegation of representatives from these various community organizations -- The Campaign for Community Values. Could they count on you in your first 100 days to sit down with them?

Obama: Yes, but let me say before I’m even inaugurated, during the transition we’re going to be calling on all of you in to help us shape the agenda. [Applause] We’re going to have meetings all across the country with community organizations so that you have input in the agenda for the next President of the United States of America.

An Obama Speech You Won’t Hear Until After the Election

The Little Green Footballs blog reports that the Los Angeles Times obtained a video of a going away party in which Obama offered a toast to Rashid Khalidi, a former PLO spokesman. However, in an interview with blogger Gateway Pundit, a Times reporter said they will not release the tape before the election because the reporter is “through with the story.”

In the April 2008 article “Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Barack,” the Times reported:

“At Khalidi’s going-away party in 2003, the scholar lavished praise on Obama, telling the mostly Palestinian American crowd that the state senator deserved their help in winning a U.S. Senate seat. ‘You will not have a better senator under any circumstances,’ Khalidi said.”

The evening turned into an anti-Semitic soiree. According to the

Times

“During the dinner a young Palestinian American recited a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism in its treatment of Palestinians and sharply criticizing U.S. support of Israel. If Palestinians cannot secure their own land, she said, ‘then you will never see a day of peace.’”

Also in attendance at the party, Weather Underground terrorists William Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn. As with Ayers, Obama has denied having a close relationship with Khalidi. Afterall, they only lived in the same neighborhood, worked together, campaigned together and partied together.

Twitter
Telegram
LinkedIn
Email
Copy
Link copied
Print

Columbia University