Keeping together. TY again.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-mxa0322magazineobamapg6mar22,0,4776413.story
Law professor Geoffrey Stone’s best Barack Obama story has gotten better with age, acquiring an extra measure of ironic punch with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s antic tumble from power. Stone was dean of the University of Chicago Law School back in 1992 when its faculty was trying to recruit the sleek and all-around stellar Harvard Law student who had once worked as a community organizer on the city’s South Side. Sniffing out Obama’s plan to return to Chicago after graduation, Stone and Douglas Baird, who was chairman of the faculty appointments committee, cooked up a plan of their own: They created a faculty fellowship slot custom-tailored for Obama and then invited him to apply for it. When Obama visited the campus for his initial interview, he spent a few minutes outside Stone’s office chatting with Stone’s secretary, Charlotte Maffia.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/us/politics/30obama.html?pagewanted=2
He positioned himself early on as a protégé of the powerful Democratic leader, Senator Emil Jones, a beneficiary of the Chicago political machine. He courted collaboration with Republicans. He endured hazing from a few black colleagues, played poker with lobbyists, studiously took up golf. (“An awful lot happens on the golf course,” a friend, Jean Rudd, says he told her.)
(snip)
One of the first was campaign finance reform. Illinois had one of the least regulated campaign finance systems in the country and a history of corruption. Paul Simon, the former United States senator, was running a public policy institute at Southern Illinois University and asked each of the four legislative leaders to name a trusted lawmaker to work on a bipartisan ethics bill.
Mr. Jones recalls receiving a call from Abner J. Mikva, a former Chicago congressman, federal judge and friend of Mr. Simon. Judge Mikva, who had once tried to hire Mr. Obama as a law clerk, suggested him for the job. Mr. Jones says he knew that the new senator was hard-working and bright and that few others would want the assignment.
“He caught pure hell,” Mr. Jones said of Mr. Obama. “I actually felt sorry for him at times.”
Early ties and connections:
Betty Lu Saltzmann (... Fenton)
Pritzkers (... Soros)
Jarrett
Ayers
Khalidi
Wright
Emil Jones (... Chicago Machine, ... Simon ... Axelrod, Chicago Trib)
Abner Mikva (... Jackson)
“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.
But Mr. Jackson had already decided against it, and he gave Mr. Obama his blessing.
A Pivotal Moment
Betty Lu Saltzman, a Democratic doyenne from Chicago’s lakefront liberal crowd, convened a small group of activists, including Ms. Katz, in her living room to organize a rally to protest the United States’ impending invasion of Iraq. It was late September 2002, and Mr. Obama was on the top of Ms. Saltzman’s list of desired speakers.
She first met him when he ran the black voter registration drive in the 1992 election, and was so impressed that she immediately took him under her wing, introducing him to wealthy donors and talking him up to friends like Mr. Axelrod. But with just a few days to go before the rally, Ms. Saltzman was having trouble reaching Mr. Obama. Finally, she said she left word with his wife.
(snip)
In courting families like the Crowns, Mr. Obama was gaining entree into the upper echelon of the city’s corporate boardrooms, a ripe source of campaign money. But he was also seeking to broaden his appeal to Jewish voters, and he was wading more deeply into one of the touchiest issues in American politics: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
For years, the Obamas had been regular dinner guests at the Hyde Park home of Rashid Khalidi, a Middle East scholar at the University of Chicago and an adviser to the Palestinian delegation to the 1990s peace talks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/us/politics/11chicago.html?pagewanted=5
//
http://www.barackbook.com/Profiles/JeanRudd.htm
133 posted on Monday, April 05, 2010 8:43:42 AM by maggief (Not everything is what it seems.)
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Payback???
(no link)
Obama pick may have Chicago link - Supreme Court nominee may share his school ties
Chicago Tribune (IL) - Sunday, May 3, 2009
Author: John McCormick and Jeff Coen, Tribune reporters ; Tribune reporter Ray Gibson also contributed to this report.
Ever since Barack Obama ‘s election as president, there has been anticipation among scholars at the University of Chicago’s Law School that one of their own could be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court bench in the next few years.
That anticipation was heightened late last week with news that Obama , who taught constitutional law at the school from 1992 to 2004, soon will be making his first Supreme Court pick.
Almost every short list of possible nominees to succeed Justice David Souter includes three individuals with strong ties to the Hyde Park law school: U.S. Appeals Court Judge Diane Wood, Obama regulatory czar Cass Sunstein and U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan.
Even if Obama does not pick one of the past or present faculty members this year, feelings run strong on campus that he will before he leaves the White House.
“It’s more likely than not that at least one of these three will be nominated within his tenure,” said U. of C. law professor Geoffrey Stone , who was the law school’s dean when Obama was hired.
“There’s definitely extra buzz on campus,” said Douglas Baird, a law professor who recruited Obama to the faculty. “They will be naturally on the short list, but not because he is sentimental about the law school, but because they fit the ticket.”
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http://newsmax.com/Newsfront/Obama-Kagan-Stevens-court/2010/04/05/id/354741
Obama Mulls Kagan, 2 Others for Stevens Seat
Monday, 05 Apr 2010 08:51 AM
President Barack Obama is short-listing three candidates to succeed Justice John Paul Stevens, according to a Bloomberg report.
Heading the list is U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan Kagan, the first woman to serve in that post — the federal government’s top Supreme Court advocate. She formerly served as the first female dean of Harvard Law School, where she graduated.
Also reportedly on the list: federal appellate judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland.
Keeping it all together, feel free to add or connect dots already on thread.
Obama and the Chicago New Party (10/10/08 for all to see)
Red County ^ | 10/10/08 | Dr. Richard Swier
Posted on Thursday, April 08, 2010 8:55:23 AM by blueyon
On Monday Google, celebrating its 10th birthday, opened it’s earliest archives for one day of searching the past. Some astute researchers found the old newsletters from the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Guess who was in their Spring 1996 newsletter, making a soaring Marxist presentation at a Chicago Socialists rally?
According to Bruce Bentley from the DSA Update, “About 50 activists attended the Chicago New Party membership meeting in July. The purpose of the meeting was to update members on local activities and to hear appeals for NP support from four potential political candidates. The NP is being very active in organization building and politics. There are 300 members in Chicago. In order to build an organizational and financial base the NP is sponsoring house parties. Locally it has been successful both fiscally and in building a grassroots base. Nationwide it has resulted in 1000 people committed to monthly contributions. The NP’s political strategy is to support progressive candidates in elections only if they have a concrete chance to “win”. This has resulted in a winning ratio of 77 of 110 elections. Candidates must be approved via a NP political committee. Once approved, candidates must sign a contract with the NP. The contract mandates that they must have a visible and active relationship with the NP.
The political entourage included Alderman Michael Chandler, William Delgado, chief of staff for State Rep Miguel del Valle, and spokespersons for State Sen. Alice Palmer, Sonya Sanchez, chief of staff for State Sen. Jesse Garcia, who is running for State Rep in Garcia’s District; and Barack Obama, chief of staff for State Sen. Alice Palmer. Obama is running for Palmer’s vacant seat.”
(Excerpt) Read more at redcounty.com ...