224 Barack H. Obama: The Unauthorized Biographythe Obama presidential campaign, said that Father Pfleger was “remaking the face” of
Chicago’s South Side and that all of Mr. Obama’s earmarks went to worthy programs like his.
(Jo Becker and Christopher Drew, “Pragmatic Politics, Forged on the South Side,” New York
Times, May 11, 2008.)OBAMA’S BID FOR THE US SENATE
With Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald not getting along with the bosses of the Combine,
Obama it now sensed that the main chance might be in the offing:
With his black base more secure, Mr. Obama began in 2002 to contemplate a run for the United
States Senate. “I had lunch with him at the Quadrangle Club, and we were discussing the
different bases he had to touch. I said, ‘You have to talk to the Jackson boys first,’” Mr. Mikva
recalled, referring to Representative Jackson and his father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson. “Because
Jesse Jackson Jr. had his eye on that seat. He said, ‘I know. I’m working on that.’” Mr. Obama
soon sat down with the younger Mr. Jackson at the 312 Chicago restaurant. Michelle Obama
had attended high school with Mr. Jackson’s sister and been close to the family for years, and
the congressman had attended the Obamas’ wedding. “He said, ‘Jesse, if you’re running for the
U.S. Senate I’m not going to run,’” Mr. Jackson recalled. Mr. Jackson had already decided
against it, and he gave Mr. Obama his blessing. (Jo Becker and Christopher Drew, “Pragmatic
Politics, Forged on the South Side,” New York Times, May 11, 2008.)
With the Jesse Jackson machine neutralized, Obama had removed one significant obstacle on his
way to the world’s most exclusive club.
THE PHANTOM ANTI-WAR SPEECH OF OCTOBER 2002
Obama’s October 2002 speech in downtown Chicago opposing the notion of a US attack on Iraq
furnished the only concrete reason many of his followers could cite to justify his bid to take the
presidency. Unfortunately, this speech is as hard to pin down as ectoplasm. Obama’s antiwar
speech is like the Dao of the old Chinese mystic Lao-Tse: it is everywhere and nowhere at the same
time. There is no film of the speech. There is no audio recording. There is no authoritative text.
The version of the speech that some people believe they have seen is in fact a reenactment which
we can safely assume has been embellished and enhanced to a fare thee well.^86 Naturally, it was
better to be against the Iraq war in October 2002 than it was to be in favor of it. But unfortunately
for Obama, his claim is much broader: he claims that he has consistently opposed the Iraq war from
October 2002 until the present. This is simply a big lie. Obama has gone through any number of
opportunistic transmogrifications in his Iraq position, as in his other positions on virtually every
issue. Most glaring in this context has been his hyper-aggressive proposals to bomb Iran, and more
recently Pakistan.
As for Obama’s much touted openness to the Arab world, even in his dubious allies from the
Chicago Arab community have at length realized that this was a purely opportunistic pose sure to be
jettisoned when expediency dictated:
“He has a pattern of forming relationships with various communities and as he takes his next
step up, kind of distancing himself from them and then positioning himself as the bridge,” said
Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian-American author and co-founder of the online publication
Electronic Intifada, who became acquainted with Mr. Obama in Chicago. (Jo Becker and