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Pick Obama’s Brain
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Remembering Herb Romerstein
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Obama’s Planned Parenthood Love Fest
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Happy Earth Day… and Lenin Day
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Bill Casey’s Centennial
April 5, 2013 | 69 comments
Feature
Letting Obama Be Obama
And in so doing the indispensable Valerie Jarrett insists on being allowed to be Valerie Jarrett, unvetted, unknown, unaccountable. Our July/August issue cover story.
The New York Times calls her Barack Obama’s “old hometown mentor,” “closest friend in the White House,” “all-purpose ambassador,” “skillful envoy,” “emissary,” and the “ultimate Obama insider.” The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank dubs her “the real center of Obama’s inner circle,” with ties to the president that are “deep and personal.” A profile in the Post’s “WhoRunsGov.com,” says she has been involved in “almost all” of Barack and Michelle Obama’s “major decisions.” The Wall Street Journal identifies her as the “essential member” of President Obama’s “inner set.” The Chicago Tribune proclaims her “the president’s right-hand woman.” Rahm Emanuel calls her “a very dear friend” and “valuable ally” to Barack Obama.
And Obama himself calls her one of his “oldest friends,” who is “like a sibling to me…I trust her completely.”
Who is this mystery woman of extraordinary influence? Who is this invisible hand behind Obama? She is Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s close friend, confidant, and secret weapon, known to Washington insiders, but unknown to the folks in the hinterland.
If conservatives will pardon my comparison, when thinking of Valerie Jarrett’s influence on Barack Obama, I’m mindful of the influence of Judge William P. Clark on Ronald Reagan—minus the ideological chasm. Bill Clark was Reagan’s right-hand man, often literally at his right side. It was Clark who coined the conservative rally cry, “Let Reagan be Reagan.” No one was more inclined to let Reagan act on his instincts, protecting the conservative president from the pragmatists and the moderates, from the détente-niks, from the Rockefeller Republicans and RINO reprobates and blue-blood country-clubbers who would separate Reagan from his true beliefs.
That seems to be Valerie Jarrett’s role with Barack Obama. Jarrett is trying to let Obama be Obama, protecting the president from the pragmatists and moderates, from the Blue Dog Democrats and voices of sanity in foreign policy who would tug Obama from his true beliefs.
“We have kind of a mind meld,” Jarrett says of her and Obama. “And chances are, what he wants to do is what I’d want to do.”
And what might that be?
An American in Iran
VALERIE JARRETT was born Valerie Bowman in Shiraz, Iran, in November 1956. Her American parents were Dr. James E. Bowman and Barbara Taylor Bowman. Her father was a geneticist and pathologist who helped run a children’s hospital in Shiraz as part of a U.S. aid program to assist developing countries in health and agriculture. The family left for London when Valerie was five years old, and eventually returned to Chicago in 1963. Because of her international upbringing—something she shares with Obama—Bowman received an excellent education and was speaking Persian, French, and English as an adolescent.
Valerie’s mother, a child psychologist, helped establish the Erikson Institute, which specialized in child development and advocacy. The Erikson Institute received funding from the Woods Charitable Fund, which years later included Barack Obama and Bill Ayers as board members. The institute tapped into not only private monies but the vast pool of public dollars unleashed by LBJ’s Head Start program. Like her daughter would one day, Barbara honed the craft of locating large sums of money (public especially) for her enterprises.
Valerie’s mother’s parents were Robert Rochon Taylor and Dorothy Taylor. Robert was the first African American head of the Chicago Housing Authority, and the son of an esteemed early African American architect. Dorothy, born in Berkeley, California in 1905, was active in Planned Parenthood, undeterred by—or not knowledgeable of—Margaret Sanger’s championing of racial eugenics, Sanger’s 1926 speech to a KKK rally in New Jersey, or Sanger’s Negro Project.
The Old Folks at Home
VALERIE ATTENDED Stanford as an undergrad, living at the African American themed Ujamaa House and earning a B.A. in psychology in 1978. She went on to University of Michigan Law School, where she got her J.D. in 1981.
Valerie quickly sought out jobs with law firms, getting hired at Chicago’s Sonnenschein, Carlin, Nath, and Rosenthal, specializing in the firm’s real-estate branch. She hated the job. “I would sit in that office and just cry,” she said later. “Cry my heart out. I’ve got to get out of here.”
Valerie Jarrett wanted to do much bigger things. She wanted to change the world.
About the Author
Paul Kengor is professor of political science and executive director of The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. He is author of the new book The Communist: Frank Marshall Davis, The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor. His other books include The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism and Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (95) | Leave a comment
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DaveS| 7.5.11 @ 6:59AM
Seven pages, and little to show for it. Some of the points 'made' are suspicions from a connect-the-dots exercise. That said, all you have to know is that Obama and Jarrett are like-in-kind: foreigners and leftists which big chips on their shoulders (though not as big as Michele's.) America IS exceptional - and everyone knows it. America does not contain all the world's experience and wisdom - so what? Who has ever claimed that? Freedom suffers more and more each day as these people occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Alan Brooks| 7.5.11 @ 9:00AM
Maybe you will elect a GOP president 16 months from now. But will he (or she) lower the size of government? no. Just the growth.
It is now the reality.
Stormzeye| 7.5.11 @ 9:41AM
Yes, Alan, thanks to the liberal/progressives who have created a vast underclass of government-dependent constituents over the course of the last 50 years.
Alan Brooks| 7.5.11 @ 9:47AM
But you can't build a time machine to travel back to the year 1933 to assassinate FDR. Or travel to '65 to shoot LBJ.
So what do you do now? vote libertarian? what do propose?
Alan Brooks| 7.5.11 @ 9:49AM
... what do you propose and how do you go about realizing your proposals in reducing the state?
Spike| 7.5.11 @ 11:10AM
One step at a time.
We have to first educate the citizenry, that they are enslaved to the state. Then, we have to, department, by department, entitlement by entitlment, cut back the feeding of the beast.
As the Medicare discussion has shown, ALMOST everyone is indebted to the State for sustinence. Statism is a disease. It must be eradicated.
Alan Brooks| 7.5.11 @ 11:26AM
As it is "one step at a time" as you correctly write, it will take decades; it took five decades to become the way it is today; it might take another five to do what you it is you want (you may in the meantime favor rightwing expenditures). Far more likely we will sell everything, from offshore islands to parks and monumenmts, to the Chinese: I don't predict it, but it is the most likely outcome.
Alan Brooks| 7.5.11 @ 11:44AM
Details, the demon is in the details.
It isn't at all your sincerity that is suspect, it is if you have no clear idea of how you want to procedd, then you are as vague as the leftists you criticize. I'll warrant "one step at a time" means a very long timeframe.
Above all, I suspect you want to substitute the Peoples Republic Of America with the Greater American Co-Prosperity Sphere.
Stormzeye| 7.5.11 @ 12:26PM
First, rather than immediately shutting down a whole cabinet department such as Energy, Education, Commerce or Agriculture (all of which need shutting down), I favor imposing an immediate moritorium on additional hiring of federal employees so that their jobs are lost through attrition. I don't know to what extent their pensions can be converted to 401(k)-type plans but I would favor that. I would also mandate that every administrator of every sub-agency and department cut 10% per year from their budget. As for entitlements, such as aid to the disabled, veterans, etc. we need a national debate on what constitutes disability. Is a disability difficult in most cases to diagnose (chronic fatigue syndrome, bad back, attention deficit disorder, etc.) or is it a "life-style" disability (morbid obesity, alcoholism, drug dependency, etc) or is it multiple scleroisis, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, alzheimer's, etc. or some other horrific condition. As for disabled veterans, service-related disabilities of any kind (unless obviously fraudulent) must be supported. I don't want to get into other entitlements such as Medicaide, Medicare, Social Security because of the time it would take. Don't think the average American is without ideas. It's the legislature that is without cajones that's the problem.
USSAlabama| 7.5.11 @ 12:06PM
Part of the problem with 'educating' the citizenry is that they keep [mis] educating themselves. Re-posting commentary from people like Paul Krugman e.g.
To educate this citizenry, you have to participate in the modes of communication they are using. That means having ready response to ignorant facebook reposts and 'tweets' on twitter.
Specifically, they are not reading these comments.
Occam's Tool| 7.5.11 @ 1:48PM
Gee, his key advisor is a left wing scumbag with a bent towards support of sharia. Who woulda thunk it?
drgene| 7.5.11 @ 4:08PM
Another 1776 is what we propose!
Rebellion is the last, but most moral, refuge of freedom!
masly | 7.6.11 @ 4:30AM
It's time to give the old Dems a new, more descriptive name: the Democratic-Communist Party. Democratic-Socialist Party is too timid.
I am a 28 years old doctor, mature and beautiful.and now I am seeking a good man who can give me real love , so i got a username Andromeda2002 on--s'e'ek'c'ou'ga'r.c óm--.it is the first and best club for y'ounger women and old'er men, or older women and y'ounger men,to int'eract with each other. Maybe you wanna ch'eck 'it out or tell your friends!
LarryG| 7.8.11 @ 12:16AM
Joke!
Alan Brooks| 7.18.11 @ 11:34PM
I have a bad feeling about this.
Can't stand the thought of another 2nd (or 3rd)- rate GOP president elected in 2016- possibly even next year.
We have to go through that again? making the same mistake once, twice, is one thing-- but AGAIN? this decade is going to be a total loss, as the last decade was.
Teaghan| 7.5.11 @ 7:18AM
After page 3, I couldn't read any more. It angers me so that we have these horrible people in our White House chipping away at our way of life on a daily basis. Will we be able to not only remove these communists from DC next year but reverse the damage they have done. It's so surreal that we have been reduced to having commies leading our country.
MM| 7.5.11 @ 9:36AM
Yeah. Glenn Beck already covered it all -- and more.
MM| 7.5.11 @ 9:37AM
Forgot to add: I did read it all.
JohnB| 7.5.11 @ 9:43AM
Do you have a link to where Beck has posted this? It would be great to go back and read it. Thank you.
MM| 7.5.11 @ 10:25AM
It was in his tv shows. He posted a large amount of information as cited references on his website for people to do their own research, but I have no idea if it is available in any way there or how to access the tv show archive other than some segments are on youtube.
MM| 7.5.11 @ 10:29AM
John, go to youtube and put in Glenn Beck Tree of Revolution and Glenn Beck Connecting the Dots.
That will get segments of it.
PattyMor| 7.5.11 @ 7:44AM
What's always so interesting about these Leftists is that while they rail about "fat cats", they are truly obsessed with money. Specifically your money going to more Leftists in vast and increasing piles.
Martine| 7.5.11 @ 10:20AM
Precisely. They are what used to be called Commissars in good ol USSR. Everyone else suffered but they lived the high life.
Michelle Antoinette is a perfect example. Bring on the lobster.
USSAlabama| 7.5.11 @ 10:33AM
Google images for "Michelle Antionette" .
And BTW - they ARE bringing on the lobster. Arugula, ribs, Kobe beef, ribs, ribs, and everything they think they 'deserve' while on the taxpayer dime.
SpiralArchitect| 7.5.11 @ 1:16PM
Interesting how a person that knows absolutely nothing about economics and has been in politics for a lifetime is worth nearly $15 million - that's Obummer I speak of...
Gary| 7.5.11 @ 7:45AM
Talk about a Teflon president. Nothing sticks to this guy. Maybe the 2012 election will stick.
Groad| 7.5.11 @ 11:00AM
Everthing sticks to this guy, it's just that the MSM and the Oborg collective refuse to see it. The rest of us can.
Teaghan| 7.5.11 @ 11:30AM
BINGO Goad!!!
Johnny H| 7.5.11 @ 7:53AM
I did my homework on The One in the runup to the election in 2008. At that time I was excited to think that racial healing might be just around the corner. But as I learned more about him from radio and the web (with NOTHING from the major media but fawning and a stunning absence of critical thinking), it became clear to me that a vote for BHO would be a betrayal of my homeland and its core values and traditions. The litany of supporting examples of the corrupt, bankrupt philosophies of this administration grows longer every day (again, ignored by the leftist media) and I am determined to do what I can do to ensure that these traitors are kicked out of positions of power every election cycle until I die. My wife, slow to the (TEA) party, no longer laughs when I suggest that our energy problems could be solved if science could find a way to harness the power of dead patriots spinning in their graves....
martin j smith| 7.5.11 @ 7:55AM
So what is your point ?
My reaction--a gut reaction is this. The Mainstream Republican Party has failed to address the growth of a Hard Core Socialist Movement ( read Marxist,Communist etc. ) in this nation and I suppose the Independence Day weekend is as good a time as any to reflect on that.
Mainstream Republican Leadership in my view has been cowardly in not attacking thru counter propaganda( that is what it is folks ) the vast majority of the LEFT> Only thru the blog world,talk radio etc. --the alternative media has there been ANY counter attack at all and in my view--IT IS NOT ENOUGH. So to write seven ( 7 ) pages on this Jarrett character really for me does little. Noww it is legitimate to ask what should Republican Leaders do ?
Here are a few ideas of my own ( not necessarily original ):
During the Bush years: Repubs shoud have attacked Socialists for undermining the War in Iraq and even undermining Bush's foreign policy.
Repubs should NOT have participated in the spending spree of Bush.
and Bush, well forget Bush...
Now,Repubs should go on TV have press conferences and talk to the AMERICAN PEOPLE ( VOTERS ) and tell them about the deficit and what it means to THEM and for this country
Repubs should have protested the forcing thru of Obama Care and the currution around it. I.E. Bribery.
Repubs should renounce Obama's class warfare and show his Bolony based on his own high life activities such as flying his own private jet and
lots of golf.
Repubs should challenge Socialists to DEBATE THE ECONOMY and speaking of shared sacrifice
address this issue of the Socialists high life while
we are going thru difficult times
Repubs should directly challenge the MSM lies and challenge them to tell the truth.
Oh these are just a few things that go thru my head.
As for Valarie Jarrett and other czars they should all have been exposed as to who they are and what their political leanings are as well.
Finally Repubs should not waiting e for the Presidential campaign but should ( have been )
questioning the so called Democrat Party ideological basis and its destructive aspects to this nation.
Then. let the voters decide.
On this Independence Day weekend-Repubs should show they DO CARE ABOUT OUR
SURVIVAL--so far, not enough at least for me. And one other point.
Instead of sniping and dumping on those who you are running against ( ort in the case of certain media folks smear because a candidate is not to their liking ) state your case as to why you should be elected and what you believe in.
Grzmlyk| 7.5.11 @ 11:17AM
The sad truth is that the GOP is complicit in the demise of this country.
Regardless of your party affiliation, as a politician, you get reelected by doling out the dollars to constituents, lobbyists, corporate cronies and other people who will keep you in power.
The federal government today is a creature of socialism, and, at the functional, day-to-day level, it is manned overwhelmingly by greedy Democrat party apparatchiks who want to feather their own nests.
Therefore, even honest Republicans who arrive in Washington have to kiss the rings of the socialist powers that be. Very quickly, they become virtually indistinguishable in deed from their liberal counterparts.
That is one of the many reasons the entire Leviathan must be dismantled or it will choke the life out of this country - it's already happening, and there is precious little time left in which we can take corrective action.
In the meantime, the vast majority of Republicans - either because the playing field is tilted against them or because they want to bring home the bacon - continue to play Kick the Can Down the Road.
The federal government doesn't need paring down or surgical cuts; it needs wholesale amputations of virtually all of its unconstitutional limbs. The patient is riddled with cancer that has metastasized and invaded every organ of the body politic.
And the prognosis is not good.
SpiralArchitect| 7.5.11 @ 1:24PM
Term Limits & ban lobbiest.
There is no other fix.
Grzmlyk| 7.5.11 @ 4:31PM
I'm not opposed to either of those, but I don't think they'll solve the problem, sadly.
If term limits are enacted, it just means even more power will accrue to the ever-burgeoning class of permanent, professional staffers. Every politician in Washington already has bloated a staff and various hangers on who do the real writing of all the legislation (witness Obamacare).
So while it would delight me to see crooks like Nancy Pelosi unceremoniously drop-kicked out of DC after one or two terms, my guess is that the legions of nanny state teat suckers who make up her, and every congressman's/senator's staff, would barely miss a beat before resuming their destruction of America.
Second, I agree that something has to be done about the lobbying; along with the faceless worshippers of totalitarianism jockeying for their piece of the power pie in DC, these vermin are also responsible for writing a lot of the legislation that becomes law - without the politicians having to skip one fundraiser or ribbon-cutting ceremony to trouble themselves with reading any of it.
And it's so incestuous - the minute most politicians loses an election these days, their golden parachutes carry them right over the K Street.
I know lobbying is in the constitution, and some form of "petititioning government" mustt to be allowed, but if K street were obliterated by a terrorist bomb today, I would dance a very merry jig indeed.
But, sadly, money will always find a way to buy politicians, who will in turn buy credulous constituents, influencers, crony capitalists and, yes, more lobbyists.
And if they destroy this country in the process of getting fabulously wealthy, what do they care? Such a nice bunch of people, liberals.
Ken (Old Texican)| 7.5.11 @ 8:08AM
Paul,
I read your article on paper in the magazine. Bottom line, Valerie and Obama made a LOT of money being slum-lords didn't they?
SpiralArchitect| 7.5.11 @ 1:25PM
Bottom line is they are corrupt & despise the basis of America - personal freedom for all.
MM| 7.5.11 @ 1:42PM
Did you all notice?
Thank You AS! For removing the troll who posted ads here everyday. On every thread.
Reagan Loyalist| 7.5.11 @ 6:31PM
But Alan Brooks is still here...
Occam's Tool| 7.5.11 @ 1:50PM
Worse than that, O defender of all things Great and Texan---The Michelle earned her hundereds of thousands as a hospital administrator by preventing poor folks from accessing U of Chicago's clinics.
davelnaf| 7.5.11 @ 8:17AM
The article ends with something of a whimper rather than the promised bang. Even so, it adds to the overall picture of the kinds of people we currently have in the White House. In no small way this picture is interesting for the methods and means these people used to get where they are today. How often have we read accounts of the life of a prominent Democrat that sleazed his or her way through life only to end up on top? Not that every sleaze dem gets as far as Jarrett and Obama have, but many seem to do well enough, particularly by not being caught at it. And indeed there is an ever growing dividing line between liberals and conservatives in regard to such chosen paths. Conservatives tend to have genuine real world experience while a typical dem will have derived their most tender experiences from feeding, too often criminally it seems, in the public trough. We can’t get rid of the Bamster and his minions soon enough.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 7.5.11 @ 8:43AM
The Valerie Jarrett syndrome is Democratic politics has been around for a long time.
One of the more humorous aspects of it occurred during the 2008 campaign cycle when Democratic insiders started trading jabs over who had more corrupt friends, Obama or Hillary.
An interesting corollary occurred during the Clinton administration when Commerce Secretary Ron Brown was accused of falsifying financial disclosure documents which had concealed the fact he was invested in government financed slums in Landover, Md. It sounds like the same scheme, receiving millions of taxpayers funds for maintaining public housing, while the housing slipped into a state of disrepair. At the time of Ron Brown's death in 1996 he was under investigation for corruption but all that was dropped. Although there was a serious investigation there was never an indictment. At the time this was revealed a congresswoman, Mary Rose Oakar was indicted for virtually the same thing.
Instead, On January 8, 2001, Brown was presented, posthumously, with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bill Clinton. The award was accepted by Brown's widow, Alma Brown. President Clinton also established the Ron Brown Award for corporate leadership and responsibility. The Conference Board administers the privately funded award. The U.S. Department of Commerce also gives out the annual Ronald H. Brown American Innovator Award in his honor.
Under Democratic guidelines not creating wealth, but creating slums is an honor.
This followed a theme of the Clinton administration where officials were caught with the pants down, including President Clinton, and were never indicted thanks to Janet Reno who apparently preferred attacking American citizens and burning them to death if they were not politically connected.
An example of this is Hazel O'Leary, another corrupt African American. In 1997 Johnny Chung, a Democratic political donor, claimed that O'Leary met with Chinese oil officials after he gave $25,000 to O'Leary's favorite charity Africare in 1995. FBI director Louis Freeh urged an independent investigation. Attorney General Janet Reno determined there was "no evidence" of wrongdoing by O'Leary. O'Leary resigned from the Department of Energy when it was revealed that she had exceeded her official travel budget by millions of dollars
Suffice it to say the corruption in the Democratic party is deep and has long escaped any real threat from criminal prosecution.
There is little reason to believe any criminal connections will be sought courtesy of Eric Holder, probably one of the most corrupt Attorney Generals ever in our history. While he coddles terrorists and does little about public corruption, he also ignores criminal activities involving radical blacks like the Black Panthers who threatened whites at polling locations.
There was probably never any real threat that Valerie Jarrett would get a Senate seat. Her financial disclosures would have been too revealing.
Here is what is known:
(From Wikipedia)
Jarrett's previous year's income, in a 2009 report, was a $300,000 salary and $550,000 in deferred compensation from The Habitat Executive Services, Inc. The Wall Street Journal also reported she disclosed payments of more than $346,000 for service on boards of directors that reflect her political ties, and work in Chicago real estate and community development. She was paid $76,000 for service as a director of Navigant Consulting, Inc. a Chicago-based global consulting group with governmental clients. She received $146,600 from USG, and $58,000 to serve on the board of Rreef American REIT II, a real estate investment trust based in San Francisco. The Chicago Stock Exchange, Inc., paid her $34,444
USSAlabama| 7.5.11 @ 12:18PM
Bill, that 2008 income report likely would not have affected any decisions coming out of Illinois I think.
How much federal $$$ was issued to these organizations and where did it ALL go?
MM| 7.5.11 @ 12:31PM
How HAS this money been accounted for?
That would have made a much more interesting paragraph in the article rather than just quoting _The Globe_.
Minuteman| 7.5.11 @ 1:15PM
I find it striking that the Left terms what we see as communities (a word they co-opt for interest groups) and neighborhoods as "Habitats". I guess that soulless description is more apt when there is no allowance for self governance.
For me, animals live in their habitat, I live in my house in my neighborhood.
jay mayer| 7.5.11 @ 8:49AM
Whenever I read a piecce on what the MSM ignores or covers up , I am reminded painfully of the damage that Hitler and the Nazi apparatus did with a hand-in-glove complicit press . Thank God for the Internet and talk radio .
Louis Jenkins| 7.5.11 @ 9:32AM
We can only hope and pray that the 2012 election will see the "bums" thrown out on their ear. Like the numerous public houses in Chicago the USA is slowly decaying before our very eyes. (How much proof does one need?) Meanwhile the Administrative crowd parties like it is 1999. A poet who speaks of killing while in the White House? Grandmother and grandchild groped before flying? Car milage at 56 miles per gallon? A war on coal? Open borders? The price of food? QE II and QE III? Under reported unemployment? Obamacare? Vacation after vacation all at the public's expense? The list goes on. The USA is not the center of worldly wisdom. Chicago styled politics certainly isn't either.
russel| 7.5.11 @ 8:44PM
L.J. I was going to reply to Griz but you'll suffice . Instead of a thesis it boils down to the Tea Party . All us un-washed in fly-over country . We're up to here . Now , I predict that all the White Hairs in congress will soon have an agenda - get with the people's agenda , or retire . That's a polite way of putting it as our Founders did . Look over the congressional accumulation and one sees a sea of white hair , as if that conotates some wisdom , some authority , as the powdered wigs of old , a hold over from our British roots of governing . The Tea Party will assume control , however annoying a time it will take . The old White-Hairs wil be recognized by their appearance as the eliist get-alongers , and this means YOU , Mr. R. who's too stuck in the District Of Colombia and waffle's at what we demand . The last election was a shot across the bow .
The Bishop| 7.5.11 @ 9:33AM
Isn't it interesting that all of these corrupt associates of The One would (thanks in no small measure to taxpayer subsidies) as the "millionaires and billionaires" who need to be taxed at higher rates? But why wouldn't they go along with that tax increase? It would (in their thinking) expand the trough for them to gobble up even more taxpayer dollars.
And, on an historical sidenote, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick was once a resident of the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago.
The Bishop| 7.5.11 @ 9:34AM
Typed too fast above. "...associates of The One would...QUALIFY as the ..."
Stormy| 7.5.11 @ 10:50AM
To use a Game of Thrones reference, Valerie Jarrett is the Hand of the King.
Thomas Wilbur| 7.5.11 @ 10:59AM
Once more, Paul Kengor patiently piecing together a story the MSM ignores. Another small fact re Jarrett - her Stanford house "Ujamaa" - was not just African themed but named (when she was there - 1976) after the then trendy "African Socialism" program of Tanzanian dictator Julius Nyerere. I remember late '70's "Ujamaa" students as being hard leftwing...
W| 7.5.11 @ 11:56AM
Does anyone here know why or how Obama, born and raised in Hawaii-California, went to Chicago?
USSAlabama| 7.5.11 @ 12:23PM
Maybe because Michelle was "raised on the Southside of Chicago"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Obama
W| 7.5.11 @ 12:41PM
I thought O and M met in chicago, don't know
Groad| 7.5.11 @ 1:04PM
Where Obama was born is open to question. He was raised in Indonesia and later in Hawaii by Marxists and America hating mentors. What else do you need to know.
Minuteman| 7.5.11 @ 1:17PM
I believe there may some connection to Frank Davis on this, since that's where he came from.
MM| 7.5.11 @ 1:43PM
Rumors FMD may have been the 'real' father.
USSAlabama| 7.5.11 @ 12:52PM
Right. Little other than sources friendly to him:
Jan 11, 2009 – As a young man recently out of college, Obama went to Chicago, a city some call the “capital of black America,” to work as a community ... PBS
"Two years after graduating, Obama was hired in Chicago as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), " his wiki.
As with most things having to do with facts related to him - doubtful to find much that is truthful, much less a fact.
Pat| 7.5.11 @ 1:10PM
She prefers flowered wallpaper, is allergic to cat dander and can yodel in Persian – just a few more amazing tidbits left out of this incredibly long, and somewhat tedious, screed. But the desired reader effect was achieved a few paragraphs in when Conservative blood began to boil – the dawning realization this woman is obviously not a Conservative (gasp) and what is also obvious is Valerie filling Obama’s head with Liberal nonsense, assuming that would even be necessary in Obama’s case.
But why are Conservatives constantly served this meat and potatoes diet of hatchet jobs on Democratic Party “playahs” - wouldn’t you rather learn some relevant facts, get your blood boiling by discovering how much you are paying your government employee? Someone who works for you but after patiently plowing through paragraph after paragraph of direct quotes, likes and dislikes, lists of Facebook friends, etc., you still know absolutely nothing relevant about your employee – like the fact she earns more than you do, has better health care, a taxpayer provided pension, easy to come by wealth now and extending into the foreseeable future - a publicly funded annual compensation package which you can only dream about.
And why is it Conservative condemnations are always so long on facts but so short on relevant facts? For instance, Obama currently has a White House staff where in excess of 100 employees earn over $100,000 annually, employees like Jarrett probably earn in the neighborhood of $175,000 per year – so do you actually believe Valerie is doing this Senior Advisor gig solely out of loyalty to and in support of Liberal ideology? 100 employees earning over $100,000 a year with a 9.1% unemployment rate – seems like some Conservative pundits should be asking questions along the lines of “how much for me?” in terms of White House pay scales. Maybe the hard economic facts aren’t as emotionally titillating as discovering Valerie’s favorite breakfast cereal is currently Lucky Stars, but Conservatives would have a clearer picture of political reality, along with a much sharper cause and effect understanding, if only their leading authors would stick to analyzing basic Democratic Party motivations like: “what’s in this for me - and I’m not referring to some new curtains for my White House office”.
MM| 7.5.11 @ 1:25PM
It's always more -pages and pages more - of the same old stuff we know.
Have the journalists just become lazy?
Or are they all just pundits with opinions on the quotes of others?
Where are the intellectuals?
Do we have any? With information we don't already know? And ever more forums where we all agree?
Anyone thinking they will find information to 'educate' the lefties in their lives will be hard pressed to find much in the way of new hard facts, and NO ONE seems to be asking the right questions.
Pat| 7.5.11 @ 2:31PM
MM: Many of us are gaining the same understanding of those issues which frustrate you. Our First Amendment beneficiaries, well-paid pundits of both the Left and the Right, unconsciously support a very corrupt political system. Jarrett is obviously a professional “Black Intellectual” and her wealth, like so many other “professional thinkers", isn’t from creating more manufacturing jobs or inventing new technology we can sell to the entire world, rather it’s based solely on favors bestowed by a corrupt governmental system. TAS reader Bill Hussein, in his comments above, notes her other income sources, from foundations or consulting firms no one has ever heard of and most likely with incomes from deliberately unnamed sources, although more and more of us harbor a suspicion these sources are directly or indirectly tied to some form of taxpayer funding.
Recently, politicians on both sides have become alarmed that Americans have lost faith in government – distrust and suspicion have replaced patriotism – but what’s so all fired new about that? In 1860, the North and South differed violently in their view of our government’s role in everyday life. In truth, our politicians have worked very hard these past decades to heal longstanding rifts among the populace and encourage us to love one another. And these combined efforts of our politicians have born some serendipitous monetary benefits – somehow all this love and respect talk has conveniently worked to their financial advantage. Politicians and their well-connected friends have done alright by themselves, even as the citizens they supposedly serve haven’t done well at all.
Americans are a practical people and many of us are becoming aware that the greatest system of government on earth, perhaps the greatest in human history, is nothing more than a massive bureaucracy riddled with corruption, an ongoing conspiracy of politicians on both sides to line their pockets under the aegis of “public service”. We can only hope our Conservative authors will put aside their personal stake in preserving our present political system and write extensively about the intuitive understandings many of us have formed - but, personally, I wouldn’t hold my breath while we’re waiting.
Occam's Tool| 7.5.11 @ 1:55PM
Yeah, Valerie Jarrett is a moderate---like I'm a Ron Paul supporter and Clint is a super-Zionist.
Drunken Sailor| 7.5.11 @ 4:47PM
Ouch, a 1-2 punch. Nicely done
Clint| 7.5.11 @ 11:02PM
You're A Screwball Fanatiic Israel Firster Traitor Bastard Neo-Chickenhawk Tool Bob.
Ya Got A Fixation On Dr.Ron Paul & Any of Tea Party Patriot,Who doesn't Asskiss Your Personal Obsessive Israel Firster Agenda.
DaveS| 7.5.11 @ 2:25PM
She goes to Hah-vud Law, and her first job is in real estate? And crying? Must have been for the money and not the challenge.
Then came, gap in time unexplained, community activism. I need to talk to either Hah-vud or the law school accrediting institutions - or maybe that's what these particular graduates are best prepared to do. It says Hah-vud: they must be top-notch.
Obama was a guest lecturer on constitutional law. Heck, even I can get that gig - but a Hah-vud sticker on my sheepskin would certainly open a door.
DaveS| 7.5.11 @ 2:28PM
Oops, kinda, she went to merit-based University of Michigan (at least at THAT time.) LOL. That would explain the real estate job.
shipley130| 7.5.11 @ 1:24PM
The entire Obama administration seems like a bunch of radicals that have been crammed into a balloon that has been slowly leaking it's air out. They will all soon be suffocated. I have a feeling the final breath will be Obama's birth certificate fraud.
Ken (Old Texican)| 7.5.11 @ 1:49PM
Folks,
we have a treasonous prick in the Whitehouse. I'm speaking of Michelle of course.
Barack has no prick.
...Nevertheless, the "potato-heads" elected him, and just maybe they out-number us now.
...If in fact they do...what are YOU personally going to do about it?
KennesawJack| 7.5.11 @ 1:49PM
Maybe less like Clark/Reagan and more like Rasputin/Alexandra? Clark and Reagan cared about the country, this duo doesn't. This duo is all about them, nothing or no one else.
voted against carter| 7.5.11 @ 2:23PM
So you want to "fix the Problem"? Do you?
I say, a RESOUNDING YES.
How you ask?
Repeal the 16th AND 17th amendments brought to us by the ORIGINAL Progressive DemocRAT administration, the 1913-1921 Wilson Administration.
The 16th created the IRS. DE-fund the Government across the board.
The 17th created direct election of senators, instead of APPOINTING senators by their STATE REPRESENTATIVES. If a senator is appointed by a STATE elected official, that senator works FOR the ELECTED STATE representative. And CAN be fired by same. WE elect the senators BOSS every 2 to 4 years. If the STATE representative changes, then SO will the SENATOR.
So the senators have a vested interest in LOOKING out for the STATE.
Which at this point they DO NOT.
Obamacare would NEVER even reached the comity stage had the 17th amendment been in play.
It IS not in the best interest of the states.
Nor for the whole of the U.S.A. for that matter.
And then ASSHATS like Valerie Jarrett will not have any were near the power they do now.
Fairbanks99| 7.5.11 @ 3:16PM
From the time Obama appeared on the national stage and folks other than the Democrat Media looked into his background, there has been much use of “Marxist”, “Socialist”, “Fascist” and “Muslim” to describe him. “Narcissist” is bandied about, and for good reason. His intelligence has also been called into question given his difficulty speaking when not on teleprompter and apparent cluelessness on economic issues.
All this applies, based on a clear pattern of behavior. Much digital ink has been poured out trying to understand his actions – is he a true believer in collectivism and thinks what is he doing will make the US a better place, or is he acting maliciously? Yes to all of the above. Yet there is more going on than belief in destructive ideologies or mere malice. At his heart, he is a Vandal. Except for the scale and damage done, not a lot different than a 12 year old sent into an antique shop with a baseball bat and told to do as much damage as possible before the police arrive. He is full of rage and with great glee swings the bat and enjoys the results. Always the outsider, he has been programmed from a small child to resent others and blame whites and America for all the world’s ills. No amount of logic, reason or declining poll numbers will alter his course. He is the Terminator – he will not stop unless Sarah Conner arrives on the scene.
George Soros and others like him knew exactly who they were getting when they chose Obama to head the Democrat ticket. While Hillary would have advanced the cause of world socialism with bad policies and overspending, she would not have done nearly the damage to our country in eight years that Obama has done in three. World government cannot be achieved with a strong United States in existence. Trigger our collapse and the entire world economy follows.
We MUST awaken our neighbors and family members. Too many of them are sound asleep or in denial. Our freedom and our very lives depend on it.
Patriot| 7.5.11 @ 5:42PM
Yes, they could sacrifice him, a relative unknown for a possible one-termer -- which he says may be fine for him. (I'm sure he is missing the good life in Chicago)
Not sure about him being the Terminator. After all, Conner would have to kill him.
drgene| 7.5.11 @ 4:03PM
Valerie, like Eric Holder, among others are merely part of the Barack Hussein Obama II's effort to shed his WHITENESS for a total AFRICAN BLACKNESS like Barack Hussein Obama I.
He's a racial version of a transvestite!
As James Cone, (Un)Rev Wright would say, in echo of the teachings of Louis F's Nation of Islam:
Blacks were/are the original humans--they made
inferior whites by mistake. Now they need to correct it( Noble Timothy Drew's myth).
John II| 7.5.11 @ 4:17PM
Mr. Kengor's piece, like Angelo Codevilla's take on "The Ruling Class" last year, belongs in a future TAS anthology on the topic of corrupt politics in service to corrupt ideology.
Let's all learn at least this much from the Obamanation. There is a Gresham's Law at work in political philosophy to the effect that, like debased coinage, bad ideas drive good ideas out of circulation. And the practice of bad ideas is corrupting: it makes the people engaged in the practice even worse than they were for being attracted to the ideas in the first place.
This is what we are up against in the present crisis: bad people. And all the efforts of those conservative commentators who, apparently to preserve a kind of discursive chic, sidestep such time-honored insight into the connection between character and political pose--all those efforts do nothing but muddy the waters and thus further enable the bad people to behave badly.
The Christian injunction against judging others is itself corrupted into a dangerously languid smugness when it's applied falsely as an easy means of cutting slack for oneself. We are obliged never to fail to judge the conduct of others, and Professor Obama's bad ideas and rotten politics are intimately tied up with the plain fact that the Professor himself and his retinue are severally jerks.
And now back to "Independence Day" (1996), a Clinton-era sci-fi spectacle in which the smug liberals cast as the earthlings fighting against a vicious alien invasion are of such a character as to leave the viewer wondering which side he's supposed to root for. Spielberg's remake of "War of the Worlds" (2005) suffered with the same dramatic problem, though few critics seemed able to put it into words.
Patriot| 7.5.11 @ 5:48PM
Sorry to disagree with you, John. While both were very long, Codevilla's piece had much more to say that was cogent and applicable, still and oft quoted.
Although both ultimately leave the reader hanging - going nowhere, offering nothing but "Here's the ugly baby, deal with it." Codevilla's article gave us a start by organizing all the whirlwind that had taken us by sudden surpise into something we could do something with.
This article is still "Here's the ugly baby, deal with it."
John II| 7.5.11 @ 6:26PM
Yo Patriot. Both articles, among dozens of others, say "the baby's ugly, and here's what I mean by 'ugly.'" One cannot, in the words of the Countess Rousillon to her son, "be able for thine enemy," unless one knows one's enemy.
Neither article, nor any of the others I'm acquainted with, has even a whiff of in-your-face "deal with it." Your description is incorrect, and your allegation therefore ungrounded.
Now stop interrupting me while I'm gawking at "Independence Day."
USSAlabama| 7.5.11 @ 6:54PM
Can't fault your Independence Day joy, John, but Patriot is right that this article falls far short of Codevilla's.
For any of the 3 or 4 million people who watched Beck, it was a re-run.
I've read better from you. You must be distracted indeed.
John II| 7.5.11 @ 9:58PM
Well, anyway, this time I can't complain about being interrupted in my viewing of "Independence Day." You took me away from a scene dominated by the insufferable Jeff Goldblum. ("I really don't like that man" --Sir Richard Attenborough in "Jurassic Park" [1993])
But it seems we've been here before--I distinctly recall a long thread of "we've seen this all before" in response to the long Codevilla last year. I think I may have made Sam Johnson's point that, in serious education, men need more to be reminded than to be informed. So I'm making the point again. As Augustine says in his catalog of the effects of original sin (Book 21 of the City of God), what we learn with difficulty we forget with ease. So we need the work of folks like Codevilla and Kengor, and never mind fine-tuning their differences, ferchrissake.
Anyway, does anyone know whether Jeff Goldblum has been inducted into the Obama administration? He's a perfect fit.
Ah, the film artists. Like all artists, they can't help speaking the truth, even when they don't realize they're doing so. Allow me now to stumble back to "Independence Day," which is fairly bristling with inadvertent truth about the character of the jerks we Americans have put in charge of us. I'm starting to root for the aliens, God help us.
Lloyd Braun| 7.5.11 @ 4:18PM
Okay folks, nothing more to hear or see here, move along!!!
Seems funny, but I always thought Valerie Jarrett was the inspiration for that simian scientist in "Planet Of The Apes," but alas, she's nothing but a communist, working in concert with others of like mind, nothing to worry about???
Demand Obonehead's resignation, yesterday!!!
Drunken Sailor| 7.5.11 @ 4:49PM
Sure is quite here today. Not a word from the trolls? Maybe they are still recovering from the Republican propoganda 4th of July celebrations.
Patriot| 7.5.11 @ 5:51PM
Or perhaps your very diligent web editor, who reads emails and got rid of 'Lydia' too.
Naturalborn Texican| 7.5.11 @ 7:25PM
Wahoo!!! "Lydia" is gone!!!
Now Obummer needs to go...........anywhere he wants............ as long as it's NOT n the USA!!!!
Bob Grant| 7.5.11 @ 9:36PM
Say it aint so!! You mean 28 yearS old Lydia? The Doctor? ....oh man. She was growing on me.
Nite| 7.5.11 @ 10:25PM
Wow! The White House is nothing more than a nest of radicals, communists, socialists etc. Now we have a better idea of how Obama wants to change America and it is not for the better. Glen Beck has been right on the money.
POST American| 7.5.11 @ 10:33PM
----Son of CIA connected establishment Ann Dunham, Harvard-Princeton 'innie' -and eager
Kissinger helpmate --'Left field wildcard' Barack
Obama continues to 'mystify us' ---EVEN AS
the Globalist controlled and directed destruction
of our economy, culture and sovereignty
steams quietly on.
The 'continuity of agenda' is UNDENIABLE.
UTTERLY----------------------
ABSOLUTELY---------------------
Andy Texan | 7.5.11 @ 10:57PM
It's time to give the old Dems a new, more descriptive name: the Democratic-Communist Party. Democratic-Socialist Party is too timid.
Tina B| 7.6.11 @ 11:55AM
Once again, I have learned a lot from Mr. Kengor as well as from most of the responders.
As a European child growing up in this wonderful country, I was taught the evil that is Communism by my dad, a Polish engineer who ended up working on the mighty Apollo Program. I never doubted him for a moment.
He didn't see a Commie under every bed, but he called some American politicians Commies when he knew what they were up to was no good. I didn't listed to that much, after all this was America, home of only the brave and land of only the free.
Not then and especially not now. I was wrong, and my dad and then my late hubby were right all along. I have been learning, having incredulously watched the meteoric rise of this unknown quantity, BHO, from CO to POTUS and almost god (little g).
To TAS, and those of you who post to educate, I seem to post to ponder publicly, but to those who share to educate the rest of us, thanks.
The only reason BHO does not scare me is that I know who holds the future and I know who holds my hand. Knowing Him personally removes the fear. It's the only way I can get through this crazy and getting crazier world we find ourselves in, where up is down and black is white. Everyone does not do His Will, but His Will will be done.
Margie| 7.6.11 @ 12:40PM
Well said, sis.
My husband's parents both came over from Russia, then Germany after having been in the Nazi slave camps (Mom in law just died on the 4th, 2 days ago).
Father in law worked as an engineer too, first in Canada while waiting on a list for 10 yrs. to come here. Once here he engineered the machinery that engraved gun stocks, among other things.
He was pals with Stalin's son for a while, and even met the murderous Stalin once. Like many an individual at that time, they pretended to be Communist in order to join the Air Force and become an officer in order to become a fighter pilot to fight the Nazis.
My husband told me once that he (I never got to meet him) told him that he couldn't stand him watching that pitiful t.v. show Hogan' Heros because of how very lightly they portrayed the prisoners of war and the Germans, as he was shot down, and spent time as one and escaped by bribing one of the guards. Hubby was 13 then, and it was the first time his eyes were opened to the reality of the world, and the truth about vile, hateful, murderous Nazis.
I love your posts, Tina B.
Tina B| 7.7.11 @ 8:54AM
I am honored Margie and back at ya.
And the Eastern European connection through your hubby is like mine through my dad - worldview changing.
My dad was also captured by the Germans in WWII. He was a Captain in the Polish army, so he was held in comfort along with his aide-de-camp and other captured officers. He said it was his duty to escape and get back in the fight. So he did. Great story about hiding in a large trash can at the Hungarian train station, covered in refuse. He could hear the Nazis looking for him as they walked right past the filthy bin. He escaped successfully and lived to tell the tale.
Many Americans with no connection to the Nazi Socialistic or the Soviet Communist regimes have NO CLUE about either. Especially Hollyweirdites. Isn't it a pity. And, possibly, so goes the U.S.A.
John II| 7.7.11 @ 2:36PM
Marge: I hope your husband shrugged and continued to watch "Hogan's Heroes," loosely based on the 1953 William Holden vehicle "Stalag 17."
Two of the principals in that six-season dark-comedy series had been Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany: Werner Klemperer, who played the camp commander Colonel Klink, and John Banner, who played Sgt. Schultz. Both had known the sting of Nazi persecution first-hand, and both refused to take on the roles unless they were permitted to play their characters as buffoons--which they did brilliantly and hilariously (Klemperer took a series of Emmy Awards during the program's run).
Another character, one of the prisoners, is Le Beau, played by Robert Clary, who had spent several months in a real Nazi prison camp in France during the war. Although it started getting a bit old and lame late in the fifth season, the show was not at all "pitiful," and was often brilliant--one of the truly superior sit-coms in the history of the genre.
The father of a college friend of mine served during the war and spent the last six months in a German prisoner-of-war camp. I recall his telling me how much he enjoyed "Hogan's Heroes": "Day to day, that's pretty much the way it was, including the dark humor."
The camps were generally run by Luftwaffe functionaries who, like the great majority of Germans, were not Nazis. In fact, there were never more than about a hundred thousand sure-enough Nazi thugs in Germany at the height of the Third Reich, just as there were never more than about the same number of Commies in the Soviet Union. The really scary thing is that Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union both were, like all other social orders, heavily populated with millions of self-protective get-along get-ahead opportunists prepared to do the bidding of whoever's in charge. Any honest person who's worked in a corporate environment such as academia knows the type well--they often seem to constitute a majority; perhaps they do.
In one of the episodes of "Hogan's Heroes," a typical exchange between Hogan and Schultz runs thus:
Hogan: "Schultz, if they find out you've been sleeping on guard duty, they'll have you shot and sent to the Russian front!"
Schultz [dismissively]: "Colonel Hogan, even THEY couldn't shoot me AND send me to the Russian . . . [hesitates and stares off into the middle distance] . . . yes, they COULD do it . . ."
The Devil, Erasmus tells us, is the "proud spirit": he cannot endure to be mocked. And effective mockery is a precisely appropriate response to the Nazi renegade as well as to the crypto-commie Obamanation.
And now back to "Stalag 17" (1953), a refreshing antidote to the ghastly "Independence Day," which I'm still trying to wash out of my brain cells.
Marc Jeric| 7.6.11 @ 2:10PM
Having lived in a communist hell until I was 24, I recognize the roles of Mullah Obama (or, as I prefer to call that marxist Muslim Abu Hussein al-Mombassa) and comrade Valerie. He is the Secretary General of the new Communist Party USA, and she is the boss of the Agit-Prop section of the Party.
weddingdress | 7.7.11 @ 5:17AM
To TAS, and those of you who post to educate, I seem to post to ponder publicly, but to those who share to educate the rest of us, thanks.
D. Wade| 8.15.11 @ 6:39AM
My God. Will the madness of this presidency ever end?
Ronald Christopher| 9.2.11 @ 8:38PM
She is just another snake, a diamond back to be sure. I do not understand how these people, making their millions off the capitalist nation of America sets out to destroy the nation that funded them. Strange.
Jane| 9.5.11 @ 7:01PM
This is a powerful article. Unfortunately, few have really focused on Valerie Jarrett and more's the pity. These are dangerous times for America, especially so with Jarrett, Obama, et al, in the White House. Even more frightening is the fact that American citizens put them there. (well mostly citizens)
Bernie Haley| 4.3.12 @ 4:12PM
Unvetted, Unknown and unaccountable - without responsibility for her actions, speech, anything. Typical leftwing attitude - let someone else take the blame. Coomunists. Wake up America and VOTE in Nov. 2012.