274 Barack H. Obama: The Unauthorized BiographyAs in other recent campaigns, lawyers account for the biggest chunk of Democratic donations.
They have donated about $18 million to Obama, compared with about $5 million to John
McCain, according to data released on June 2 and available at OpenSecrets.org. People who
work at securities and investment companies have given Obama about $8 million, compared
with $4.5 for McCain. People who work in communications and electronics have given Obama
about $10 million, compared with $2 million for McCain. Professors and other people who
work in education have given Obama roughly $7 million, compared with $700,000 for McCain.
Real estate professionals have given Obama $5 million, compared with $4 million for McCain.
Medical professionals have given Obama $7 million, compared with $3 million for McCain.
Commercial bankers have given Obama $1.6 million, compared with $1.2 million for McCain.
Hedge fund and private equity managers have given Obama about $1.6 million, compared with
$850,000 for McCain. When you break it out by individual companies, you find that employees
of Goldman Sachs gave more to Obama than workers of any other employer. The Goldman
Sachs geniuses are followed by employees of the University of California, UBS, JPMorgan
Chase, Citigroup, National Amusements, Lehman Brothers, Harvard and Google. At many of
these workplaces, Obama has a three- or four-to-one fund-raising advantage over McCain.
(David Brooks, New York Times, July 1, 2008)OBAMA FINANCED BY THE MERCHANTS OF DEATH
Obama’s ties with Wall Street are bad enough, and then there is the matter of his strong support
from certain defense contractors who deal with the Pentagon, otherwise known as the merchants of
death. Among Obama’s strongest backers in the defense contractor community, we must of course
again mention the Crown family of General Dynamics fame, who belong to Obama’s intimate circle
of Chicago supporters. General Dynamics builds nuclear submarines and some light tanks that have
not given a very good account of themselves in Iraq. The Washington Post pointed to crown is a key
component of the Obama lucre cartel:
The Chicago contingent also includes James Crown, a director of General Dynamics, the
military contractor in which his family holds a large stake. The company has been the
beneficiary of at least one Obama earmark, a request to spend $8 million on a high-explosive
technology program for the Army’s Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The program got $1.3 million.
The descendants of Henry Crown, architect of a great American fortune, James Crown and his
family donated more than $128,000 to Obama’s U.S. Senate race in 2004. Crown was among
the first people Obama approached as he contemplated a White House run Crown said he and
Obama never discussed General Dynamics, which, with its focus on Army programs, is a
defense contractor that has benefited directly from the Iraq war. Obama’s opposition to the war
never meant that he wanted the armed forces to be poorly equipped, Crown said. “I stand in
agreement with what he has said [about the Iraq war.] Those who work in the defense industry
are extremely focused on the national defense,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we want to be
fighting wars.”^120CROWN’S BRADLEY FIGHTING VEHICLE: AN “EXPLODING COFFIN”
Crown is one of the bosses of General Dynamics, which produces the woefully inadequate
Bradley fighting vehicle. Here is the opinion of an experienced military man about what this
vehicle, a cross between a light tank and armored personnel carrier, is worth.