Barack Hussein Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign

Senator Barack Hussein Obama began his candidacy for President of the United States on February 10, 2007, in Springfield, Illinois. His announcement speech largely avoided specific campaign issues and focused on his general political message of hope for the future. It also attempted to strongly invoke the memory of Abraham Lincoln and his "House Divided" speech.^[1]

2008 Primary Election[edit]

In 2007-08, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton competed for the Democratic nomination. Hillary Clinton cleverly resurrected the "Born Alive" controversy surrounding Obama that had lain largely dormant since 2004 (notwithstanding the continuing mentions by Jill Stanek), by accusing Obama of not being pro-choice for voting "Present" on a number of abortion-related bills - including the Born Alive ones,^[2][3] and cowardly ducking the votes.^[4] This led to criticism of Obama by two pro-choice organizations, Emily's List, and the National Organization for Women.^[5][6][7] The Washington Post Fact-Checker noted that Obama had actually used the 'Present' voting strategy against 7 different abortion related bills, two versions of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act (SB 230 and HB 382), two versions of the parental notice of abortion act (HB 1900 and SB 562), and three of the "Born Alive" bills (SB 1093, 1094, and 1095).^[8] However, Pam Sutherland, the long-time head of Illinois Planned Parenthood, came to Obama's aid, criticizing Clinton for making the attack, and stating repeatedly that Obama's present votes were part of a broader strategy used by Planned Parenthood to keep Illinois voters from knowing their state senators were voting against the controversial and popular bills.^[9][10]

“

"He came to me and said: ‘My members are being attacked. We need to figure out a way to protect members and to protect women. A ‘present’ vote was hard to pigeonhole which is exactly what Obama wanted. What it did was give cover to moderate Democrats who wanted to vote with us but were afraid to do so" because of how their votes would be used against them electorally. A ‘present’ vote would protect them. Your senator voted ‘present.’ Most of the electorate is not going to know what that means." -Pam Sutherland, President/CEO of Illinois Planned Parenthood Council, 1980-2012[11]

”

This was also reiterated by Steve Trombley, the President of Planned Parenthood Chicago, that it was a strategy to deceive Illinoisans about the controversial bills.^[12] Sutherland further praised Obama for the strategy, saying it made him a "leader".^[13] It is probable that Clinton actually was being sarcastic when she made the remarks about Obama not being as pro-choice as her for voting 'Present' instead of 'No' on the Born Alive bills, since as Jill Stanek noted, "Clinton is being so audacious trying to claim that Obama is less pro-choice when on the very same bill she voted pro-life. It's just astounding." By forcing him to defend his pro-choice record, she made it evident how extreme he was in voting against the Born Alive bills she and the entire U.S. Senate had voted unanimously in favor of.^[2] Clinton also made the claim repeatedly that while Obama was leading in Delegates she was winning the Popular Vote,^[14][15] though this was in part because Obama hadn't been registered in Michigan.^[16][17]

On June 7, 2008, Hillary Clinton withdrew from the Primaries, conceding the race and endorsing her opponent,^[18] when Obama passed the 2,118 Delegates required; winning 2,201 delegates to Clinton's 1,896.^[19] Obama said this was the moment "the planet began to heal."^[20]

VP selection[edit]

In Mid-January 2008, Larry Sinclair posted a video on YouTube regarding his specific allegations of sex and drug use with candidate Barack Obama. On 8 February 8, 2008, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden filed an Indictment against Larry Sinclair charging him with theft of less than $1,000 and, anomalously, for an extradition warrant. In early March Larry Sinclair contacted an attorney for advice as he was receiving death threats after the murder of a homosexual member of Obama's church, Donald Young.^[21] On 18 June, 2008, Sinclair held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., alleging a sexual encounter and drug use with Barack Obama in 1999.^[22] Sinclair was arrested at the National Press Club on the Delaware warrant^[23] and extradited to Delaware five days later. Two months later, on August 23, Joe Biden was named by Barack Obama as his choice as the vice-presidential candidate. Five days later Beau Biden dropped the charges against Larry Sinclair on insufficient evidence and Sinclair was released from custody.^[24]

2008 General Election[edit]

During the 2008 General Election, Obama's voting record on the "Born Alive" bills came once more to the forefront. On June 30, 2008, CNN gave voice to the growing controversy, and revealed the defense Obama had been using since 2004-2008, that the Illinois bills he'd voted against were different from the federal bill, was false, since he'd brought up for a vote a bill word for word identical to the federal bill in the Health and Human Services Committee he chaired, and voted against it, defeating it.

“

Carol Costello, CNN: "In 2001, when Obama was an Illinois state senator, he and his colleagues considered a bill called the 'Born Alive Infant Protection Act', which 'Provided that a live child born as a result of an induced abortion shall be fully recognized as a human person and accorded immediate protection under the law.' The bill caused an uproar in Illinois, fueled by dramatic testimony by a former Chicago nurse, Jill Stanek... And Senator Obama says if he had been in the U.S. Senate in 2002 he too would have voted in favor of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act because unlike the Illinois bill, it included language protecting Roe v. Wade." Bill Bennett, CNN: "The more you look into this, the worse it is for Barack Obama to deny it, 'cause if you look into the record, and Carol did a good job, you will see the 2003 bill had exactly the same language as the federal bill, and Barack Obama voted against it. This was not about Roe v. Wade, this was not about abortion, this was about protecting these babies when they are alive, after 7 months, 5 months, 6 months; whether it be an abortion, or through birth, or through any other means. And Barack Obama, what he is saying is just false, check the record. The more you dig into it, the worse it looks. He should just say - whatever he wants; something else. I was naive, I didn't realize how close it was to the federal act; he cannot say it was different from the federal act, it was the same."[25][26]

”

In July, the National Right to Life Committee began calling attention to Bill Bennett's claim, that Obama had voted against a bill identical to the federal Born Alive Infant Protection Act, and accusing the Obama campaign of a "cover-up".^[27]

On August 16, 2008, CNN's David Brody confronted Obama about the issue during the Rick Warren-hosted McCain/Obama debates, with Obama providing a number of different defenses, including a new one that laws already existed in Illinois to protect newborn children.

“

Barack Obama: ...they have not been telling the truth. I hate to say that people are lying, but here's a situation where folks are lying. I have said repeatedly that I would have been completely and fully in support of the federal bill that everybody supported, which was to say that you should provide assistance to any infant that was born, even if it was as a consequence of an induced abortion. That was not the bill that was presented at the state level. What that bill also was doing was trying to undermine Roe v. Wade. By the way, we also had a law already in place in Illinois that ensured life-saving treatment was given to infants. So for people to suggest that I and the Illinois Medical Society, so Illinois' doctors, were somehow in favor of withholding life-saving support from an infant born alive - is ridiculous.[28][29]

”

When the NRLC publicly challenged the Obama camp on August 17, to declare the new documents forgeries, or admit he misrepresented his voting record and apologize for calling critics liars, the Obama campaign admitted the same day he "misspoke" and had voted against an identical bill to the "federal bill that everybody supported" but focused on Obama's new claim, that Illinois law was already sufficient to protect newborn children. The NRLC promptly declared "Senator Barack Obama's four-year effort to cover up his full role in killing legislation to protect born-alive survivors of abortions continues to unravel."^[30]

“

Indeed, Mr. Obama appeared to misstate his position in the CBN interview on Saturday when he said the federal version he supported "was not the bill that was presented at the state level." His campaign yesterday acknowledged that he had voted against an identical bill in the state Senate, and a spokesman, Hari Sevugan, said the senator and other lawmakers had concerns that even as worded, the legislation could have undermined existing Illinois abortion law. Those concerns did not exist for the federal bill, because there is no federal abortion law.[31]

”

Obama made an effort to portray John McCain as similar to the George W. Bush, drawing attention to McCain's refusal to criticize the unpopular president. McCain was particularly criticized for saying of how many years we should be willing to stay in Iraq, "Make it a hundred."^[32]

“

Barack Obama: John McCain went on television and said that there has been great progress economically over the last seven-and-a-half year years. John McCain thinks our economy has made great progress under George W. Bush? How could somebody who has been traveling across this country, somebody who came to Erie, Pennsylvania, say we’ve made great progress?[33]

”

Racially insensitive remarks[edit]

Obama claimed that Democrats had "monkeyed" around in elections in the past.^[34]

Liberal dominance[edit]

Obama's campaign has been financed largely by leftist donors opposed to the war and to the American military in general. Obama has encouraged this by refusing to wear the customary flag on his lapel during appearances (asserting that he would prefer his patriotism to be represented through his actions rather than an arbitrary symbol) and by other less-than-patriotic gestures and symbols, such as declining to put his hand over his heart during a patriotic recitation.

The Nation magazine carried and endorsement in March from Progressives for Obama, a group made up primarily of radical activists and self-proclaimed communists from the 1960s and 70s.^[35]

Motivation[edit]

At a campaign event in Elkhart, Indiana, a seven-year-old girl asked Barack Obama why he wants to be President. He replies, "America is …, uh, is no longer, uh … what it could be, what it once was. And I say to myself, I don’t want that future for my children." ^[36]

Foreign policy[edit]

After the first Democratic presidential debate in Columbia, South Carolina, Obama's image as an "articulate" spokesman came into question after his failure to state right away that he would retaliate in case of further terrorist strikes against the United States.^[37][38]

Speaking regarding his knowledge of the Afghanistan conflict, Obama points the finger at U.S. troops and American policy "...just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there." ^[39] See Video

By August it appeared Obama was running to be left off the ticket completely rather than the much ballyhooed Hillary/Obama ticket the mainstream media was pushing. After a series of ill-advised foreign policy statements, Obama was openly criticized as a lightweight even by liberals, in much the same vein as John Edwards and Dan Quayle had been depicted. First, Obama said he would have face-to-face meetings with two of Florida's most feared enemies, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. Florida is a key state to any presidential ambitions. Then Obama claimed that he would be willing to invade the sovereign territory of a U.S. ally without prior consultation. Finally, Obama broke the cardinal rule of declaring he would not use nuclear weapons, removing the element of bluff U.S. Presidents had vitally depended upon throughout the Cold War era. The incidents all added up to a picture of a candidate ill-prepared and ill-advised, lacking in a basic understanding of the office of the Presidency, and failing to surround himself with appointees able to make up for his deficiencies. However, Obama won the Iowa Democratic caucuses, pushing Hillary Clinton into third place, and went on to become the unofficial Democratic nominee.

Nomination[edit]

Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee on June 3 after receiving a majority of pledged delegates and superdelegates. His only remaining primary opponent, Hillary Clinton, conceded the race on June 7. On August 23, Joe Biden was announced as Obama's vice-presidential nominee. David Wade worked as Biden's press secretary. Obama became the official Democratic nominee on August 27 at the Democratic National Convention, when Hillary Clinton's motion to end the roll call vote of the states and select Obama by acclamation was passed.

Vows lobbying reform[edit]

On June 5, Obama spoke at Briston, Virginia- Healthcare Town Hall forum regarding Political Action Committees and his campaign. "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 Democratic 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."

The rules are well-established for lobbyist donations to the DNC and for the Presidential nominee.^[40] Obama does accept money from lobbyists who do not do business with the federal government and he also accepts money from spouses and family members of lobbyists. And the DNC ban is also not retroactive, which means the DNC will keep lobbyist and PAC contributions it received earlier in the election cycle. Retroactive period being the date Barack Obama started his campaign, February 10, 2007. The DNC possibly the day after the November 2006 Congressional elections until June 5, 2008. In addition, Barack Obama's ban does not apply to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee nor to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Unlike John McCain, Barack Obama has not disclosed the lobbyists working in his campaign.

Senator Obama visited Iraq in 2006 and Afghanistan and Kuwait in 2008^[41]

Campaign financing[edit]

By early April 2007, his campaign generated over $25 million from over 100,000 contributors. $23.5 million of that money will be available for the Democratic Primary.^[42]

Obama is the first presidential candidate to reject public financing. He broke his promise to accept it in the hope that his powerful fund-raising machine would generate far more money than the $84.1 million McCain is getting in public funding. Indeed, on August 14, the Obama campaign announced it had received donations from 2 million individuals, setting new records. Obama raised $272 million for the primaries and expects to raise $300 million for the general election. However the Republican National Committee has been raising much more than the Democratic National Committee and each candidate had about $100 million in cash on September 1. Each expects to spend about $300 million by November. However, Obama is obliged to devote much of his time to fund raising among supporters rather than campaigning among undecided voters.^[43] Among his backers is homosexual pornography baron Terrence Bean.

According to Opensecrets.org, of the 671,269 contributions to Obama between 2003 and 2008, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley are among the Top 20 biggest money donors to Obama's campaigns. [4][5] All four subsequently received approximately $70 billion in taxpayer assisted bailout money from the TARP program.^[44] UBS AG, a foreign bank and the 12th largest donor to Obama,^[45] was fined $780 billion in February 2009 in a U.S. Federal Court on charges it helped thousands of wealthy Americans evade taxes.^[46]

FEC filing[edit]

Obama's Campaign paid over $800,000 to ACORN for Get-Out-The-Vote efforts, but "mistakenly misrepresented" their work to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC). According to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review,

“

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign paid more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now for services the Democrat's campaign says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports. An Obama spokesman said Federal Election Commission reports would be amended to show Citizens Services Inc. -- a subsidiary of ACORN -- worked in 'get-out-the-vote' projects, instead of activities such as polling, advance work and staging major events as stated in FEC finance reports filed during the primary."[47]

”

Secrecy[edit]

The Democratic party feels it necessary to keep all questions about Obama at a safe distance. It is an unprecedented move to keep secrets about a presidential candidate. The following questions remain sealed from the public.^[48][49]

1. Certified copy of original birth certificate (see certificate controversy below)
2. Columbia University transcripts
3. Columbia thesis paper
4. Campaign donor analysis requested by 7 major watchdog groups
5. Harvard University transcripts
6. Illinois State Senate records
7. Illinois State Senate schedule
8. Law practice client list and billing records/summary
9. Locations and names of all half-siblings and step-mothers
10. Medical records (only the one page summary released so far)
11. Occidental College Transcripts
12. Parent's marriage Certificate
13. Record of baptism
14. Selective Service registration records
15. Schedules for trips outside of the United States before 2007
16. Scholarly articles
17. Access to his grandmother (Obama's grandmother has since passed away from cancer [6])
18. List of all campaign workers that are lobbyists

Obama keeps donations secret by exploiting a loophole that allows campaigns to refuse to divulge donations under $200.00. This is useful to the candidate because many of his contributions are from dubious foreign or illegal sources. It is described as the "largest pool of unidentified money that has ever flooded into the U.S. election system, before or after the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reforms of 2002." ^[50]

Obama hired Robert Malley as a senior foreign policy adviser. Malley told the Times of London that he had been in regular contact with the terrorist organization Hamas. In April 2008 Hamas made its endorsement of Obama for President.^[51] Malley is the son of a key member of the Egyptian Communist Party.^[52]

Tax pledges[edit]

Obama's tax plan calls for increasing taxes on the wealthiest 1% of Americans, while cutting taxes for the middle class. According to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, most Americans would pay less taxes than under Senator McCain's plan.^[53] According to another non-partisan group, Americans for Tax Reform, tax-payers would clearly be burdened by an Obama Presidency.

During the campaign Obama repeatedly claimed he would “cut taxes for no less than 95% of "working families."”. The Wall Street Journal asked, “how does he conjure this miracle, especially since more than a third of all Americans already pay no income taxes at all?” ^[54] In truth, Obama was calling government handouts “tax credits” and counting those as tax cuts. The Wall Street Journal wondered why McCain “allowed Mr. Obama's 95% illusion to go unanswered”.

Tone[edit]

Many observers have criticized Obama's campaign for its incivility. For instance, John McCain's wife Cindy noted that Obama is running "the dirtiest campaign in American history."

Obama's smears usually fall into two categories: race-baiting and distortions. On October 10, 2008, Obama surrogate Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) typified the campaign by comparing Sen. McCain to racial segregationists and Klansmen. "Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division," Lewis exclaimed before comparing Sen. McCain to segregationist Democrat George Wallace, further noting that he, "...never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged [the attacks in which] four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama." ^[56] This is particularly harsh to Sen. McCain because he fondly admires Lewis.^[57]

As for the distortions and personal attacks, Obama mocks Sen. McCain for his age and Gov. Palin for being a woman and an outsider. For instance, Obama responded with a subtle reference to Alzheimer's disease when Sen. McCain criticized his foreign policy in May 2008, alleging that Sen. McCain "lost his bearings".^[58] Senior Adviser Mark Salter noted, "He used the words 'losing his bearings' intentionally, a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain's age as an issue. This is typical of the Obama style of campaigning.".^[59] In reference to Gov. Palin, Obama was caught for his quiet hiring of Winner & Associates to disseminate a sexist smear video against her.^[60] Some argue this is a FEC violation because it lacked obligatory label denoting it was sponsored by the Obama Campaign (Ethan Winner has made a claim that he alone produced the video) ^[61][62] One of the biggest distortions by Obama is that 95% of all taxpayers will get a tax cut.^[63] Without the distortion, Obama is proposing income re-distribution because those families that pay no taxes, one-third, will get money from the wealthy top 5%.

Another feature of the Obama campaign is the unruly audience. CNN reported in October 2008,^[64] that people are calling John McCain a terrorist at these events. According to Sen. McCain, "I've heard the [label terrorist], unfortunately, at Senator Obama's rallies being said about me. There's always a fringe element." Other eyewitness reports are harsher.

Even stranger, Obama's campaign consistently produced fascist imagery in its propaganda throughout its duration. A prime example was the poster produced for the July 24, 2008 rally in Berlin. Journalist Dr. Melissa Clouthier described these disturbing tendencies in a post written not long after its unveiling: "A note about the picture juxtaposition: This is about artistic tone. The profile view. The serious expression. The shading. When I saw the Obama flier picture, my mind immediately called up this Hitler image and I was struck by how similar they are in feel the color choice differences aside. Unnerving really." ^[65]

The Obama campaign's strategic direction, communications management, research and policy in print and electronic media was carried out under the guidance of Anita Dunn,^[66] an affirmed Maoist.^[67]

Condemnation from African-American leaders[edit]

On April 11, 2007, staff writers of The Boston Globe reported the criticisms of several black commentators regarding Obama's apparent hesitation to join the race to condemn acclaimed radio personality Don Imus,^[68] who made a racially insensitive remark^[69] on the air during the April 4 broadcast. Obama did not comment on Imus's remarks until well after prominent civil rights leaders Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson had called Imus to account and after Imus was suspended by MSNBC and CBS Radio. Obama later weighed in on April 10 by saying, "The comments of Don Imus were divisive, hurtful, and offensive to Americans of all backgrounds."

The Globe reported that Obama's perceived delay in addressing Don Imus's remarks was described by Melissa Harris Lacewell, a professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University, as "miss[ing] an opportunity to prove himself to blacks and white liberals who would have wanted Obama take the lead in denouncing Imus."^[68][70]

NRA criticism[edit]

Executive vice president Wayne LaPierre of the NRA accuses Barack Obama of "mouthing pro-Second amendment words and pandering to gun owners" on the campaign trail.^[71]

McCain Aide Says Obama Has Sept. 10 Mind-Set "an extremely dangerous and extremely naive approach toward terrorism" ^[72]

Relationship with millionaire slumlord[edit]

In June 2007 the Chicago Sun-Times reported Obama had actually received nearly three times more campaign cash from indicted slum landlord Tony Rezko^[73] and his associates than Obama has publicly acknowledged.^[74]

Aunt is in the United States Illegally[edit]

At the end of October 2008 it came to light that Obama's aunt is in the United States illegally and has been since 2004 when her request for asylum was turned down. She has been living in public tax payer funded housing in Boston. This may have some bearing on Obama's immigration policy given that a member of his own family is in violation of current US immigration law. There are also questions about how much Obama knew about this.^[75] The Obama campaign issued a statement to the effect that they had no knowledge of this situation and returned the donation she made to his campaign; in the United States it is illegal to accept campaign contributions from people who are not currently citizens or legal residents of the United States.^[76]

Gaffes[edit]

During a fund raising event in Virginia in May 2007 Obama told donors,

“

This week there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died. An entire town destroyed.[77]

”

In reality, the tornado which touched down in Kansas cost the lives of nine people in the town of Greensburg, and twelve overall in Kansas.

Election[edit]

Senator Obama won the 2008 Presidential election, with over 52% of the popular vote. He carried every state that John Kerry won in 2004, in addition to Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Florida, and Indiana. Of the 127 million votes cast, Obama beat John McCain by 8 million total votes.^[78] See county breakdown map ^[79]

In the weeks leading up to the election, MSNBC reported the FBI was looking into ACORN voter fraud in several states.^[80] Obama's staff worked to delay investigations into Obama's former employer. In this way, hundreds of thousands, if not many more, votes may have been overcounted. [7]

See also[edit]

• ACORN
• Barack Obama and liberal elitism
• Barack Obama birthplace controversy
• Birthplace of Barack Obama
• New Party
• Progressives for Obama
• Political positions of Barack Obama
• United States Presidential Election, 2008

References[edit]