Nat Hentoff: In Chicago and the Illinois State Legislature, Barack Obama made a difference—he did not just 'hope'
"There are those who don't believe in talking about hope. They say, "Well, we want specifics! . . . We've had a lot of plans, Democrats. What we've had is a shortage of hope. And over the next two years, that will be my call to you. "-- Presidential contender Barack Obama, town hall meeting, University of New Hampshire field house, Durham, February 12, 2007
Before Barack Obama became a correctly spelled household name in this nation, back in his early political years on the streets of Chicago and in the Illinois state senate, he did more than engage in the amorphous politics of hope. In the February 16 Kansas City Star, another former Democratic senator in that body, Denny Jacobs, described what Obama was like before his resounding speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and his subsequent bestselling books:
"He's an enigma. [In Chicago and the state senate], he's not the mayor's guy. He's not the alderman's guy. He's not the county board chairman's guy. He's nobody's guy. Usually you're somebody's guy. In Chicago, that's a way of life."
Before being elected to the state senate, Obama, during three years as a community organizer in Chicago—like Jack Newfield repeatedly and successfully reported in the Voice about New York buildings—moved the Chicago Housing Authority to get rid of asbestos in housing. He also pressured the Democratic machine to establish a job-training center in what was then delicately called a "disadvantaged" neighborhood. And he worked in the streets on voter registration.
Then, in the state senate, as reported in the 2006 Almanac of American Politics (National Journal Books), "he played important roles in welfare legislation [and] on the earned income tax credit." This latter involvement resulted, over a three-year period, in over $100 million in tax cuts for families throughout Illinois.
He also helped expand early childhood education, and—in what strikes me as quite an accomplishment—he actually got the support of some law enforcement higher-ups to pass a statute mandating the electronic recording of interrogations and confessions in homicide cases. Prosecutors opposed it, but—like some homicide detectives I've known in New York—there were police officials in Chicago who agreed that such hard electronic evidence was likely to help uphold convictions when they were appealed.
All of this involved Barack Obama working on specifics, not just hope. He's still able—rarely—to be that specific on his road to the White House. In the February 17 Kansas City Star, Steven Thomma reported that Chicago mayor Richard Daley (of that political dynasty) "recently vetoed a City Council proposal to force big retailers such as Wal-Mart to pay a living wage higher than the minimum wage, saying it would hurt jobs. [But] Obama proposed a national living wage in the Springfield [Illinois] speech" declaring his presidential candidacy."
However, on the stump, around the country, and meeting with celebrity and other donors, Obama riffs mechanically on "hope," forgetting that in this age of ceaseless instant-messaging in all forms, his aura as an unusually per- sonable fresh political face will gradually dissolve like the Cheshire Cat's smile in Alice in Wonderland .
Time magazine's Joe Klein precisely skewers Obama's current role as a pastoral harmonizer: "Obama trying to sell 'hope' through rhetoric is like Kerry trying to sell 'strength' through résumé. You have to show it, not just sell it."...
Read entire article at Village Voice
Before Barack Obama became a correctly spelled household name in this nation, back in his early political years on the streets of Chicago and in the Illinois state senate, he did more than engage in the amorphous politics of hope. In the February 16 Kansas City Star, another former Democratic senator in that body, Denny Jacobs, described what Obama was like before his resounding speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and his subsequent bestselling books:
"He's an enigma. [In Chicago and the state senate], he's not the mayor's guy. He's not the alderman's guy. He's not the county board chairman's guy. He's nobody's guy. Usually you're somebody's guy. In Chicago, that's a way of life."
Before being elected to the state senate, Obama, during three years as a community organizer in Chicago—like Jack Newfield repeatedly and successfully reported in the Voice about New York buildings—moved the Chicago Housing Authority to get rid of asbestos in housing. He also pressured the Democratic machine to establish a job-training center in what was then delicately called a "disadvantaged" neighborhood. And he worked in the streets on voter registration.
Then, in the state senate, as reported in the 2006 Almanac of American Politics (National Journal Books), "he played important roles in welfare legislation [and] on the earned income tax credit." This latter involvement resulted, over a three-year period, in over $100 million in tax cuts for families throughout Illinois.
He also helped expand early childhood education, and—in what strikes me as quite an accomplishment—he actually got the support of some law enforcement higher-ups to pass a statute mandating the electronic recording of interrogations and confessions in homicide cases. Prosecutors opposed it, but—like some homicide detectives I've known in New York—there were police officials in Chicago who agreed that such hard electronic evidence was likely to help uphold convictions when they were appealed.
All of this involved Barack Obama working on specifics, not just hope. He's still able—rarely—to be that specific on his road to the White House. In the February 17 Kansas City Star, Steven Thomma reported that Chicago mayor Richard Daley (of that political dynasty) "recently vetoed a City Council proposal to force big retailers such as Wal-Mart to pay a living wage higher than the minimum wage, saying it would hurt jobs. [But] Obama proposed a national living wage in the Springfield [Illinois] speech" declaring his presidential candidacy."
However, on the stump, around the country, and meeting with celebrity and other donors, Obama riffs mechanically on "hope," forgetting that in this age of ceaseless instant-messaging in all forms, his aura as an unusually per- sonable fresh political face will gradually dissolve like the Cheshire Cat's smile in Alice in Wonderland .
Time magazine's Joe Klein precisely skewers Obama's current role as a pastoral harmonizer: "Obama trying to sell 'hope' through rhetoric is like Kerry trying to sell 'strength' through résumé. You have to show it, not just sell it."...