All Posts Tagged With: "Biography"
All You Need Are Friends
Over the weekend, something by Charles Krauthammer caught my eye. Unfortunately I now can’t find the exact article but I clearly recall his question; Where are Barack Obama’s friends?
I have read a lot about Obama, seen two different biographies on him and watched him during the DNC Convention. Yet I don’t recall ever seeing any mention of or interview with his friends. Whenever a man runs for president there have always been interviews with old high school friends, basketball teammates, college roommates, and past girlfriends. But I don’t think I have seen any of these in regards to Obama. Have you?
Doesn’t that seem a little bit strange? Even now, other than his wife, who would he call his best friend? In direct contrast, John McCain seems to have made friends in every stage of his life. In the Senate, he has friends on both sides and though his Democrat friends may strongly disagree with his politics, they still like him as a man. But where are these friends for Barack Obama?
Yes, this man does give wonderful, warm and stirring speeches but that is not out of character. When you give a speech there is this invisible wall separating the speaker from the audience. Plus the speaker is in complete control and is speaking prepared lines. On the other hand, Barack does not do at all well in Town Hall forums. This forum requires that the wall separating him from the audience is gone and instead he has to interact with people and do so extemporaneously.
Not surprisingly, John McCain is the exact opposite. He does very poorly when giving speeches because there is that invisible wall separating the speaker from the audience. Instead he is wonderful in a Town Hall or one on one forum. John is definitely a people person who truly enjoys being with people and talking to them. (This must have made all those years as a POW and in solitary confinement so much worse for him.) Senator McCain comes across as someone you would enjoy having a drink with but I am not so sure the same could be said about Obama.
So to repeat my question, where are Barack Obama’s friends, roommates, teammates or even old girlfriends? I have often thought that he appears aloof and even cold at times. That he is not a people person, and is more comfortable dealing with law or procedures or strategies than dealing one on one with people. Yet it is one thing to be a loner and self sufficient but not to find anybody who was his friend is ridiculous. What does that say about how he would govern or interact with other leaders?
Ironically, the one man who has been found to be his friend was Reverend Jeremiah Wright. We know how voters thought of that friend! And was Obama really a closer friend to that 1960’s radical and former Weathermen, Ayers? Are there more “friends” like this out there but keeping quiet for fear of doing further damage to Obama’s image?
It does make you wonder. Here is this candidate for President who seems to have very few friends and the only close associates found so far are extreme radicals. Someone needs to do some more digging into Obama’s life. Either through out his entire life he never made any close friends, or his friends are like the two discovered, Wright and Ayers, who are so radical that Obama had to disown their friendship. In either case, it doesn’t bode well for someone who wants to be the next President.
Obama’s Bio
CNN had two interesting features last night; one on McCain and the other on Obama. I am not sure if I learned many new things about Obama but this was the first time I saw his life laid out in a chronological order. It is both impressive and scary. Underneath his friendly demeanor is a man who goes to almost any length not just to win but to undermine his opponents. Based on that CNN show and Biography.com I have put together a timeline of his life including how he won (or lost) each of his elections. I think this gives a look into his life and what we might expect from him in the future. To help, I have included his age after the year and key political events in his life are in red.
August 1961 – Born to Ann Dunham and Barack Obama
1963 – (2) Parents separated and later divorced
1965 – (4) Ann Dunham marries Lolo Soeturo
1965 – (4) Moves to Jakarta Indonesia with mother and step-father
1966 – (5) Attends Catholic school and then a public Indonesian school
1971 – (10) Obama sent back to Hawaii to live with grandparents and received a scholarship to an exclusive private school
aprox. 1976-1979 (15-18) Uses alcohol, marijuana and cocaine
1979 – (18) – Graduates high school. Goes to Occidental College in LA
1981 – (20) Transfers to Columbia University in NY
1983 – (22) Graduates from college with a degree in political science
1983 – (22) Takes a job with Business International Corp in NY
1985 – (24) Moves to Chicago to be a community organizer. Joined Trinity Church
1988 – (27) Attends Harvard Law school. He is first black editor of Harvard Law Review
1991 – (30) Graduates magna cum laude.
1991 – (30) Moves to Chicago. Works as a civil rights lawyer (where he meets Rezco), heads Project Vote where he has the most successful voter registration drive in Chicago’s history and teaches at University of Law School
1002 – (31) Barack and Michele are married by Reverend Wright
1995 – (34) Writes autobiography Dreams of My Father
1996 – (35) Runs for State Senate against favored incumbent. Found invalid names on opponents nominating petition and knocked the incumbent off the ballet, as well as all three other candidates.
1997 – 2005 – (36 - 41) Illinois State Senator
2000 – (39) Decides to run for Congress against four term incumbent Bobby Rush. Race became personal and nasty. Rush beat him by nearly 2:1.
2000 - (39) Tries to network with leaders at 2000 DNC Convention but not even allowed on the floor.
2000 – (39) Told by many that politics is people not just policies. So he began to cultivate a network including Rev. Wright and Illinois State Senate President
2001-2003 – (40-43) In the Senate, Barack starts to have more bills with his name on them. But he also votes “present” 129 times and wouldn’t commit on controversial votes.
2002 – (41) Begins to run for Senate. Gives speeches opposing the war.
2003-2004 (42-43) In the US Senate race there are unsubstantiated scandals which force both the Republican candidate and the favored Democratic candidate to leave the race. Barack is now the Democratic candidate against a last minute replacement for the Republican candidate – Alan Keyes.
2004 – (43) Gives the keynote speech at Democratic Convention. He then wins the Senate race by a landslide.
2005 – (44) Freshman Senator but with high recognition due to speech yet “like most Senate Freshmen, legislature record is thin”.
2006 – (45) Obama joined partisan group, including McCain to write an Immigration Bill, bill but when it got to the floor he distanced himself from it and voted for amendments favored by labor groups. Bill died in Senate. “Critics said Obama put partisan politics above bipartisan reform.”
2006 – (45) Write second book Audacity of Hope
2007 – (46) Announces candidacy for President