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Obama made a big mistake here.
We see that Beavers is trying to help out a fellow colleague. The Shaws come out the woodwork. Then the Jacksons and then Obama come to the fray.
I think I'd be with Bridget here. But then we could see Sen. Obama's popularity with blacks come to a head here. Would he lose support among blacks or not. I know that's a stretch.
Bollocks was sweet on The Hat, but she never gave the poor boy a second thought - let alone look, because Bollocks is as ugly as a bald dog.
But I suspect that Barack knows that Tillman won't be reelected, largely because of labor. There's a bit of a user quality to that tactic that smells funny to me.
Are you supporting Dolar over Stone? I was pretty shocked at the CFL's no emdorsement. As much as I dislike Tillman I can't blame Barack for sticking with those who were with him in the beginning.At least he understands how the game should be played which is more than I can say about Rush or the Shaws. I think Dot will lose anyway.
Cogent and salient as always!
Well Tillman will be the Democratic committeeman after she loses but what usually happens in that she'd serve her term and then someone else get elected committeeman. It doesn't have the pull if you're not holding an elective office, if that is the usual pattern in Chicago, then being a committeeman is not worth it. On the other hand though I wonder if the Democratic Organization of the 3rd ward has any pull enough for her to want to stick around as committeeman.
That said, she isn't political poison to Obama unless Obama runs for president - uh, OH!
Campaigns are about narratives.
One of the narratives being built by Obama's opponents is the one which is "concerned" over his church's stands on black empowerment, his first book's writings on Obama's search for self in his roots, and a concern that Obama is not a bridge between white/black, but a radical black politician instead. His endorsement of Dorothy Tillman feed into this ugly narrative nicely.
Another narrative being built this week is about Obama's uber-liberal political record. This week we have been seeing a regurgitation of this narrative many times. The narrative goes that Obama is left of Ted Kennedy. In the real world, this narrative will work against Obama.
Obama knows this. But he needs to know when he feeds into his opponent's narratives enough to affirm them. Claiming he is a closet radical and a flaming liberal are just two narratives he needs to dispell. Obama has crafted a lot of narratives that have worked for him to the point we see him in the polls today. So the guy knows how to tell a story. Now he needs to know how to avoid writing his opposition's stories.
More narratives are on the way. Eventually someone's opposition will start creating a new narrative about Chicago's corruption and Obama's role in it. This has to happen, whether there is anything to it or not. The more Obama snuggles up to Daley, Blagojevich, Giannoulais, and Chicago Alderman, the harder it will be for him to scrape off the slime of corruption in Chicago.
On and on it will go. The more negative narratives reaffirmed by Obama, the harder it will be for voters to accept him. Some narratives work, other fizzle, and some backfire. We will be seeing all kinds over the next two years.
Obama is the Anti-Hillary. This nomination is Hillary's to lose. Every mistake she makes helps Obama. Right now she would win the nomination. So her job is to hold on while throwing everything she can at Obama. She is definately the source of most of these narratives. It is really silly at this time to blame others for these anti-Obama angles because no one benefits except Clinton. Most of the time, the obvious beneficiaries of political happenings are the people who start them.
So, you can bet the is a team of Obama opposition teams hired by Clinton to comb through ever piece of data that could be used to elect her. Considering her vast quantities of cash, she would be foolish to be sitting passively while Obama gains on her. After 30 years of successful campaigning, the Clintons know how to do a job on the opposition, don't they?
Using "The Empire Stikes Back" line is priceless.
When we last left out hero, young Shywalker (Obama)was being lured to the dark side by Lord Vadar (Daley) using princess Leaha (Tillman) as bait.
I think the problems for Dems will be gracefully getting Obama to take the VP slot without it looking like a snub at their staunchest constituents.
I think that was Obama's original goal anyways, but he's been so successful he's going to convince himself he should be number 1 too, so doing this gracefully a real trick maybe.
But I'm still betting it's Gore-Obama for 08.
And there's a very easy response for the Obama team: The senator doesn't always agree with her, but she's been one of Obama's backers from the early days, over 20 years representing her ward, involved in the '66 freedom movement, in the '65 Selma movement (Was she on the Edmund Pettis Bridge). . . .
If you think this will be some sort of danger spot for Obama you're paying waaaaaay too much attention to Illinois and Chicago politics.
to mind........
She's for reparations? What percent of her ward is for reparations?
There are Right Wing politicians that take goofy stands in opposition to the sentiment in their districts, like getting U.S. of UN, and they never pay a price.
So, why is it a big deal Tillman favors reparations? And isn't any attempt to tar Obama with this brush just guilt by association?
I wanted to believe he was wrong because I too was caught up in Obamma mania even though I am a Republican. As Rezko, Tilman, Todd Stroger, and a growing multitude of poor decisions on Barack's part begin to stick their ugly heads up, I know now what my friend was trying to tell me. It is extremely disappointing for many of us. Obamma is turning out to be simply "more of the same" but in a different cellophane package.
Either he is not black enough.
Or he wants reparations and separatism.
I would not Dorothy Tillman but this is not a big deal vis a vis the Presidential. Againg, Tillman is a racist corrupt buffoon---but it is also politics and people in NH and Iowa don't care.
Her efforts to bring to light injustices from the past otherwise known as her reparations crusade has been replicated across the country. Obviously Rich doesn't read many media outlets outside of his own, because Barack Obama stated years ago that he wanted to take the Reparations movement national. Obviously, this has not happened. But I can't help but to feel that Rich's statement is racebaiting an inciting itself.
What is not written is that most of Tillman's children who work for the Harold Washington Center are unpaid volunteers. The dream to build that center started in the late 1980's. If it were not for Ald Tillman's tireless commitment to develop the 3rd ward it would have languished like many other projects across the city.
As for Jesse, Jr I'm sure there are many elderly people who marched and paid the physical and emotional price during the Civil Rights movement, who are today shedding a tear. These are the people who know Ald Tillman, respect her and will stand beside her to the end. These are also the same people who wrote the first checks for Jesse Jackson, Jr and today are embarrassed and emotionally torn by his misappropriate political greed.
Also, Rich you are mistaken in Ald Tillman's support base. Commissioner Beavers and the Shaw brothers have not openly campaigned for her in the 4rd Ward, neither have they written checks. So I assume this is another attempt to slander the good alderman. The 3rd ward has a lot of political history, so historically you may find a lot of variety in support.
As you criticize Ald Tillman, I encourage you to drive King Dr from 35th to 55th to see for yourself what she has done. And then take a look at Pat Dowell's D2s. It's interesting that most of Dowell's contributions come from real estate developers. Hmmm, I wonder what promises she made then and now.
Another Tillman travesty occurred when she demanded that only African Americans be employed as servers and caterers at her fundraising events at a major downtown Chicago hotel.
Barack Obama may suffer some damage if the video footage resurfaces. He cannot maintain the appearance as a moderate if he is closely linked to the race baiting Tillman. He should have avoided the endorsement. Obama is not particularly well attuned to party matters in Chicago. When his State Senate seat was vacant upon his election to the US Senate, none of the committeemen were interested in Obama's opinion as to who should succeed him in Springfield. Kwame Raoul, who moved from Evanston to accept a job at the City Colleges of Chicago, ended up with the post despite having not been supported by Obama. Reportedly, there was a quid pro quo of sorts as Raoul promised to raise campaign funds for the committeemen and to allow them to spend his reelection cash in their wards.