Just What Is Obama’s Connection to Bill Ayers?

As many people have already discussed, Barack Obama has extensive connections to Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, former members of the terrorist group Weather Underground. Power Line has more details on the topic, thanks to the investigative work of Stanley Kurtz for the National Review.

The most notable paragraph:

The problem of Barack Obama’s relationship with Bill Ayers will not go away. Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn were terrorists for the notorious Weather Underground during the turbulent 1960s, turning fugitive when a bomb – designed to kill army officers in New Jersey – accidentally exploded in a New York townhouse. Prior to that, Ayers and his cohorts succeeded in bombing the Pentagon. Ayers and Dohrn remain unrepentant for their terrorist past. Ayers was pictured in a 2001 article for Chicago magazine, stomping on an American flag, and told the New York Times just before 9/11 that the notion of the United States as a just and fair and decent place “makes me want to puke.” Although Obama actually launched his political career at an event at Ayers’s and Dohrn’s home, Obama has dismissed Ayers as just “a guy who lives in my neighborhood,” and “not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.” For his part, Ayers refuses to discuss his relationship with Obama.

As Kurtz points out, however, Obama served for some time as chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a group of which Ayers was a co-founder, and worked closely with Ayers during that time. When Kurtz went to investigate the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, this is what ensued:

Just before my plane took off, I received an e-mail from the special-collections librarian informing me that she had “checked our collection file” and determined that “access to the collection is closed.” I would be permitted to view the single CAC-related file from the Office of the Chancellor records, but nothing from the CAC records proper. I quickly wrote back, expressing surprise and disappointment. I noted that I had arranged my trip based on the library’s assurances of access, and followed up with questions about whether access was being denied because I was unaffiliated with UIC. I also asked who had authority over access to the collection, suggesting that I might be able to contact them and request permission to view it.

After arriving in Chicago, I found a message, not from the special-collections librarian, but from Ann C. Weller, professor and head, Special Collections Department. In answer to my question of who had authority over access to the collection, Weller said, that “the decision was made by me” in consultation with the library director. Weller stated that no one currently has access to the collection and added that: “The Collection is closed because it has come to our attention that there is restricted material in the collection. Once the collection has been processed it will be open to any patron interested in viewing it.”

It gets much, much more ridiculous – go read the full article.


Posted

in

by

Comments

One response to “Just What Is Obama’s Connection to Bill Ayers?”

  1. […] Earlier coverage: Just What Is Obama’s Connection to Bill Ayers? […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *