Posted on 10/19/2009 5:20:48 AM PDT by kellynla
Looking for evidence of Obama's past, Fox News contacted 400 Columbia University students from the period when Obama claims to have been there, but none remembered him.
Wayne Allyn Root was, like Obama, a political science major at Columbia who also graduated in 1983. In 2008, Root says of Obama, "I don't know a single person at Columbia that knew him, and they all know me.
I don't have a classmate who ever knew Barack Obama at Columbia. Ever! Nobody recalls him. I'm not exaggerating, I'm not kidding." Root adds that he was also, like Obama, "Class of '83 political science, pre-law" and says, "You don't get more exact or closer than that. Never met him in my life, don't know anyone who ever met him.
At the class reunion, our 20th reunion five years ago, who was asked to be the speaker of the class? Me.
No one ever heard of Barack! And five years ago, nobody even knew who he was. The guy who writes the class notes, who's kind of the, as we say in New York, the macha who knows everybody, has yet to find a person, a human who ever met him. Is that not strange?
It's very strange." Obama's photograph does not appear in the school's yearbook and Obama consistently declines requests to talk about his years at Columbia, provide school records, or provide the name of any former classmates or friends while at Columbia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Allyn_Root#column-one
NOTE: Root graduated as Valedictorian from his high school, Thornton-Donovan School, then graduated from Columbia University in 1983 as a Political Science major (in the same class as President Barack Obama WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN IN)
The man has no actual history — no birth certificate, no grades from one college, was invisible at another college, etc. It’s as if he just appeared one day like the pod people. Or the anti-Christ.
What do you mean *was* Zeb?
He very alive and dangerous. He as NWO as it gets.
He was on faculty at Columbia when Obama was attending.
They are, in fact. I get the alumni magazine. He was all over the issue just before the election, as well as the one right after inaguration.
They also published some photos of him when he attended, though there weren't many of them. He kept a low profile and doesn't appear to have been very social, which is not all that uncommon.
About the only visible thing he did was write an op-ed in the student paper once.
The fact that no one remembers him isn't all that strange. It's a big school. It's easy to get lost in the crowd and be anonymous, if that's what you want to do.
re: how big was this particular class.
Columbia College is part of Columbia University. The college only has 4,100 students.
Class of ‘83 political science, pre-law Columbia University — 400 students — that’s why Fox interviewed 400.
Obama’s not in the yearbook. Columbia couldn’t find a picture of him at school.
Wayne Allen Root was BMOC — he knew everyone and everyone knew him.
He wasn't a brilliant student. The fact that he did not graduate with any honors is in the public domain.
Columbia is a big school. There are lots of big classes. It's relatively easy for a mediocre student to remain anonymous, it that's what he wants to do.
There are a few small core classes limited to under 25 students that he would have had to take. But even there, if he didn't participate and earned only average grades, it's plausible that the instructors wouldn't remember him.
Also, a lot of the profs who teach the core classes are old and near retirement, so it's entirely plausible that his core profs are dead. One of mine passed away recently.
“PATRICK GASPARD went to Columbia University but never graduated.”
Hmmmmmmmmmmm....
(1) ACORN’s man in the Obama White House is longtime ACORN operative Patrick Gaspard. He holds the title of White House political affairs director, the same title Karl Rove held in President Bush’s White House. He’s the President’s fixer and the man who gets ACORN projects and money. Gaspard once worked for ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis.
(2) Patrick Gaspard’s brother Michael Gaspard works for The Advance Group. Michael Gaspard works for ACORN’s registered lobbying organization and with ACORN’s national spokesman. Michael apparently keeps a lower profile than his brother. He does not appear on lobbyist disclosures for The Advance Group NY State. Nonetheless, he works there. Ms. Lewis’s contacts list confirms Michael Gaspard’s employment there.
More at link:
http://209.157.64.200/focus/news/2349990/posts
See also:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/decisionmakers/dm/39/
Patrick Gaspard
Department: White House
Position: Assistant to the President and Director of Political Affairs ( Appointed )
202-456-6257
Age: 41
Childhood State: Overseas
Previous State: New York
Campaigned For in 2008: Obama
Gaspard got his start in politics organizing demonstrations in New York City for social justice in Haiti in the mid-1980s, and that talent eventually led him to storied Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union. He was born in Kinshasa, Zaire, after his father, a political opponent of the Duvalier regime in Haiti, fled there. Gaspard’s organizing prowess caught the eye of veteran Democratic operative Bill Lynch, who enlisted him to work for Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins, who later became New York mayor. In 1999, Dennis Rivera, president of Local 1199, recruited Gaspard, and he eventually became the union’s executive vice president. The local granted him a leave to work as deputy national field director for Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential bid. Gaspard, 41, never imagined himself working in the West Wing; citing his responsibilities at 1199, he had turned down several overtures to join the Obama campaign before becoming political director last June. Gaspard attended the School of Visual Arts and Columbia University.
Note: Connections to WORKING FAMILIES PARTY (WFP)
~~~~~~~~~~
September 29, 2009
Categories: White House
ACORN attack misses mark
(JENNIFER CUNNINGHAM, SEIU - Gaspard’s boss)
I hate to put a damper on the day’s firestorm on the right over a White House staffer, but an American Spectator report making the rounds this morning that White House political director Patrick Gaspard used to work for ACORN in New York just isn’t true.
The Spectator (accurately) quotes ACORN founder Wade Rathke claiming that Gaspard was political director at the group’s New York chapter at some point before 2003.
I covered New York politics at the time, and that was news to me; the also White House denies it.
But just to be sure, I checked checked just now with Gaspard’s former boss, whom he ultimately replaced as the political director of the giant New York SEIU local, 1199, Jennifer Cunningham. Cunningham confirmed to me that he’d worked for her starting in 1999; that he’d worked for a City Council member before that; and before that, for the Dinkins Administration.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0909/Acorn_attack_misses_mark.html?showall
~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE: Working Families Party is ACORN front group
Wade Rathke lied, Patrick Gaspard worked for ACORN founded Working Families Party
The left is very excited that Wade Rathke “corrected” his statement that Patrick Gaspard didn’t work for ACORN. Liberals are demanding apologies from Glenn Beck and numerous other outlets who were foolish enough to take a founder of ACORN at his word. Rathke’s “mistake” is all too convenient for man so detail oriented and well connected. Nobody of his caliber would make that kind of mistake in this political climate. Many took his bait however and the predictable calls of “You lie!” (I’ve heard that somewhere..) are sanctimoniously being screeched by liberals everywhere.
Too bad they won’t get their way. Some may retreat, but others will simply point out that A) Wade Rathke was the source and B) Patrick Gaspard was a member of The Working Families Party, an ACORN front. You can call it a subsidiary if you like, but I am going with front. From ACORN’s own website:
“ACORN members spearhead formation of the Working Families Party, the first community-labor party with official ballot status in New York state in more than 50 years.”
The account of Bertha Lewis and Patrick Gaspard working together, is true. Wade Rathke can play all of the semantics he wants, but he knows what he did and so do plenty of others in D.C. This is the kind of game liberals will play in trying to falsely discredit their critics who are figuring out who President Obama is a year too late.
When ACORN creates the front group Working Families Party and ACORN’s founder claims the group they created doesn’t work for them, there is a phrase for that. Rep. Joe Wilson can help you out with it.
Note: State Senator Eric T. SCHNEIDERMAN (NY), quoted below, is Jennifer CUNNINGHAM’S former husband
The WFP Supremacy — WORKER FAMILIES PARTY
By Azi Paybarah; October 6, 2009 | 3:24 p.m
On Oct. 1, the labor-backed, ascendant Working Families Party helped organize a rally in Foley Square, ostensibly to urge city lawmakers to pass a law requiring employees to get paid when they call out sick to work. It was also a show of brute force: the party’s first high-profile rally since the Sept. 15 primaries, when six of their candidates won Council races, sweeping four incumbent Democratic lawmakers out of office, and their two endorsees for citywide office finished first in competitive, multi-candidate fields.
Despite having nearly every seat in the City Council, two of the three citywide offices, both houses of the State Legislature and every statewide office, New York City Democrats are finding out it’s not actually their party anymore.
“To a certain extent, there’s been a long process of transformation where local organizations have been losing power,” said State Senator Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat from Manhattan. “We entered a much more candidate-centered age a long time ago.” He said the job of “putting together grass-roots operations have shifted away from party organizations and towards individual candidates.”
And toward the Working Families Party, which has filled a vacuum left by the receding Democratic organizations.
http://www.observer.com/5565/wfp-supremacy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SCHNEIDERMAN appears to have run on both tickets; although he is referred to as a DEM when quoted in articles, he has strong progressive ties and lists WORKING FAMILIES PARTY on his website under “Friends & Allies” -— see next post for SOROS connection
Senator Eric T. Schneiderman (NY)
Current Office: State Senate
Current District: 31
Party: Democratic, Working Families
https://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=22875
SOROS Connection
“Schneiderman has good PROGRESSIVE credentials and is also a strong fundraiser with ties to deep-pocketed left donors like GEORGE SOROS. He has a lot of work ahead of him to fund a statewide race, however. As of mid-July, Schneiderman had just $92,120 on hand in his campaign committee.”
~~~~~~~
Oct 6, 2009
Ravitch Raising For Schneiderman (eyeing run for Attorney General)»
By Elizabeth Benjamin
New LG Richard Ravitch will take a break from budget wrangling to be the special guest at a fundraiser for Sen. Eric Schneiderman - one of a growing number of Democrats eyeing a run for the office AG Andrew Cuomo will vacate if he runs for governor in 2010.
This is, to my knowledge, the first campaign event Ravitch has done for anyone since the Court of Appeals ruled that his appointment to the No 2. post by Gov. David Paterson was indeed legal.
“The Senator has admired Mr. Ravitch for a long time and they’ve had the opportunity to work closely since his appointment as lieutenant governor,” said Schneiderman spokesman James Freedland.
“We’re absolutely honored that Lt. Gov. Ravitch is showing his support for Senator Schneiderman at this event. As of now, this is the only one scheduled with him.”
(snip)
This is fascinating on so many levels, not the least of which has to do with the speculation that Paterson might not only eventually succumb to pressure from the White House and give up his 2010 quest, but step down early - provided there’s a soft landing for him somewhere - leaving Ravitch in charge until Jan. 1, 2011. (Remember, Ravitch has said he has no interest in running).
(snip)
Schneiderman is widely acknowledged to be the brains behind much of what goes on in the Senate Democratic conference and is often the go-to guy for Conference Leader John Sampson - especially when it comes to debating bills on the chamber floor.
(SNIP)
Schneiderman has good progressive credentials and is also a strong fundraiser with ties to deep-pocketed left donors like George SOROS. He has a lot of work ahead of him to fund a statewide race, however. As of mid-July, Schneiderman had just $92,120 on hand in his campaign committee.
Maggief: good find, Michael Gaspard, & ping to post #247
re: Kathleen Gaspard (position with & registered lobbyist for Columbia Univ)
could find nothing else about her other than what is in post #247
You are wrong about 0bama not “vetting” his czars. They are thug commie pervents, just like him. He just hopes the public doesn’t find out about them.
I don’t know why people keep saying he didn’t vet his czars. Nonsense. They are just the kind he wants.
pinging to post #159 — the question that started the research
Follow posts from thouworm, Piranha, maggief
May be ping-worthy to some researchers on ping list:
Re:
activist 80’s in NYC & Chicago;
SEIU;
ACORN;
WFP (Workers Family Party);
Patrick Gaspard;
Jennifer Cunningham (Gaspard’s boss at SEIU);
NY State Sen Eric Schneiderman (Cunningham’s former husband);
George Soros (connection to Schneiderman)
There's no way there were 400 students in a single major. Until recently, Columbia College had only around 800 students in a graduating class (they increased class size around a 1000 a few years ago).
It seems that they contacted approximately 50% of the graduating class to see whether anyone knew him.
It's quite plausible that, for a student who kept to himself and wasn't very social, more than half his classmates wouldn't know him. That appears to be what happened here.
As to the yearbook, well, I don't remember there being one when I graduated. Maybe they had one in 1983, but if they did, I doubt it was very many people paid much attention to it.
The alumni magazine, however, did publish a photo or two of him from his college days earlier this year.
And note the conjoined two hands on Sadiq’s knee. People on another thread blew it up and you can see nine fingers, some pointing down, some pointing up.
They’re holding hands.
He lives in Seattle doing fundraising for local theatre groups or something. Supposedly.
http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/jan_feb09/alumni_corner
Apparently, he lived off campus and commuted. That would explain his relative absence from campus life.
LOL. You think professors have unlimited storage space in their offices?
Let me assure you, we generally keep assignments are records only as long as we are required to. At most schools, it's one year. After that, we shred them.
Why in the world would I want to keep old graded final exams and papers students never bother to pick up? If I did that, I wouldn't have any room in my office for anything else. This is especially true of a school in New York City, where space is espcially at a premium.
Interesting. Do you have a link to the blown-up picture?
ping
http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/jan_feb09/alumni_corner
Apparently he lived off campus and kept mostly to himself, which would explain his relative anonymity.
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