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| Barack Obama at the Sun-Times in 2008. Note the tray of cookies to the left. |
You could always tell when somebody important was visiting the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board because they’d set out a tray of cookies and little bottles of spring water. These were visible to the newsroom through the boardroom’s glass wall. Hardened political journalist that I am, one day in 2008 I saw the tray and thought, “Ooh, cookies.”
The VIP wouldn’t miss a cookie or two. I slid in and was just loading a couple into a napkin when there was a commotion in the hall. I tried to flee but was blocked by Barack Obama and his entourage coming in.
What to do? I took a seat at the table, so I was there as Obama explained away a deal he had done with fixer Tony Rezko, one of the countless hurdles he had to clear to get from where he was to where he was going.
When I heard that 2,500 members of what has been dubbed “Obamaworld” are meeting in Chicago this weekend to celebrate this past moment of triumph — election night in Grant Park — I didn’t pout, wondering where my invite was. Like my presence at that meeting, the media just happened to be there, already, when he showed up, although we certainly played a key role in Obama’s success.
Somewhere in the boxes of clips and files that have ended up in my basement is a yellow legal pad with “BARACK OBAMA” scrawled across the top. I still remember waiting in that boardroom — I was on the Editorial Board when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2004 — wondering what kind of person that name might belong to.
I’d be more ashamed to admit who I imagined — some lefty professor in a big Afro and a dashiki, tossing a Black power salute and lecturing us on American imperialism — if it didn’t so perfectly encapsulate the entrenched prejudices Obama had to overcome on his journey to the White House.
What was he like then? I felt sorry for him: a husband who really wanted a cigarette but was forbidden to smoke by his wife.
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I met Obama at some sort of fundraiser early on in his senate run. Before the weird turn if events that had him become an actual contender. He was mesmerizing. You immediately felt there was something special about him though I’d be hard pressed to really explain. . I had only reacted to an individual that way once before…and that was on tv were someone had made the decision that this person was interesting enough to command your attention: . When I first saw Oprah Winfrey on AM Chicago a show which my mom watched and I had thought boring. But the first time I saw Oprah I was transfixed.
ReplyDeleteYeah. I had a doctor’s appointment in Maywood the morning after the 2008 election that involved riding the Western Ave, bus to the blue line at the Eisenhower. Along the way, a woman got on with 4 boys, the oldest maybe 7 or 8, Black children each carrying the morning Sun Times, arguing happily over who had voted for Obama the most times. One of the finest, greatest days in our country’s history, I felt.
ReplyDeleteI had worried that many of the people who had claimed they had no problem voting for Obama would get their ballots, step up to the booth, and then decide that America wasn’t ready for a Black President. After all, John McCain was a decent man, why not…? Obviously, I was wrong, Thankfully, I was wrong.
Still, there was a noted conservative commentator who insisted on referring to the President-elect by his middle name, ‘Hussein’. And the New York con artist who continued to press the issue that Obama was not an American citizen by birth, against all evidence to the contrary. The Republican vice-presidential candidate who snickered at the concept of ‘hope’ that Obama represented, totally ignoring the fact that ‘Hope’ was listed as one of the 3 great virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity (Love) ) cited by St. Paul in the Bible. The Senate majority leader who insisted that he would see the country go down in flames before he would pass any legislation Obama proposed.
So, if for just that one night overlapping into the next morning, America was great. I saw it in the faces of 4 little boys on the Western Ave. bus. Nostalgia, for us realists, (cynics?) is a longing for a utopian past that never actually existed. In fact, it was often the exact opposite. But November 2008, for the majority of Americans, and a good portion of the world, was a time to look back on fondly. An actual time of hope.
Tony Rezko! Now there's a blast from the past. That pustule John Kass kept oozing out one column after another about the Obamas and Rezko. Kass, who apparently has never bought or sold a house in his life, could not get over the horrible, terrible, awful corruption involved in the Obamas buying a house for less than the listing price. Christ, but that man was a ridiculous excuse for a journalist.
ReplyDeleteAww, c'mon, Kass had an amazing shitfit, when the Elite St. column in the Trib published he paid about $250,000 for a house in St. John Indiana. They didn't give an address, but that fool went ballistic on it!
DeleteProving once more what a real jerk he is.
Does anyone actually go to his webpage to read his bullshit anymore?
"Note the plate of cookies at left."
ReplyDeleteThe photo in the online edition of the S-T has this cropped out.
Because of this the caption was a bit confusing.
The last sentence made me want to cry
ReplyDeleteBest President in my lifetime....I didn't have to agree with everything he did either, but man was he good. I can't believe the absolute 180 degree turn this country decided to take. The inconsistent and lack of leadership is really ruining what was momentum toward peace, environmentally friendly, pro middle class and steady progress as a society. Let the era of AI take over....
ReplyDeleteLongtime reader here. Neil, today's column made me weepy. Can't explain exactly why -- maybe because we're living in/sharing such an emotional mess right now -- but it did. Thank you. Alan Solomon/ex-Tribune (alsolly@aol.com)
ReplyDeleteWe all went to Grant Park that night. There's was something exilarating in the air.
ReplyDeleteRe Obama’s election in 2008 vs Trump in 2016. In this case the darkness came last.
ReplyDeleteI once dropped a passenger at The Cart. A few people were in several small groups as I finished my business and I got an unexplained strange feeling. I heard none of the conversations, nobody was making any unnatural motions, and the crowd was small, less than 20 people fairly spread about. Yet the aura was quite palpable so I approached one group to ask what was happening. "He's here" someone said, and before he added "The Champ's here" I knew it was Muhammad Ali. At the time I was unaware that he was living in Chicago, but his presence was a powerful thing. My nephew felt a similar power when Michelle Robinson Obama visited his students in Florida. We were blessed to have such an exceptional pair occupying the White House and I have heard countless examples of foreigners expressing new found admiration for America and our President. The backlash that produced The Cowardly Liar proves that racism and petty hate never left us. The spirits of George Wallace, Lester Maddox and Bull Connor are still haunting us, still defying truth and righteousness. The likes of Jim Jordan, Steve Bannon and Herr Drumpf want to emulate Oswald and tear down Camelot. Will we let them?
ReplyDeleteNice
DeleteThanks for this today. What an amazing time that was. My husband had recently retired and decided to volunteer with Obama's campaign. We cried that night watching the gathering in Grant Park. We really thought the country had turned a corner. So sad where we are today.
ReplyDeleteYeah, so did I. Turns out that when we turned the corner, we ran right into a brick wall in a dead end alley. A red brick wall. Sometimes I think those years were just a pipe dream. But man, oh, man...that was some righteous smoke...
DeleteI remember reading about Obama when he was running for Congress and lost, and vowing to support him if he ran for anything again. We were early supporters of his Senate run. At one fundraiser my son got in line to shake his hand, he said, because he wanted to shake the hand of the man who would be president one day. A political seer. One of the few times, I have whole-heartedly voted for a candidate, and not just against the lesser of two evils. Tammy Duckworth is the other.
ReplyDeleteOh, how I miss President Obama.
ReplyDeleteHe was my State Senator and I first heard of him when he made that wonderful Convention speech .I then looked online and found out about the book he wrote just after law school- Dreams of My Father- which was out of print. I hounded Krocs till they let me know it was reprinted with the speech in front. As a full time lawyer and part time writer and avid reader ( after many false starts I recently finished Proust! And am now reading O Henry - because of you) i acquired it and read it. I hate bad writing and go crazy over good writing
ReplyDeleteHis was the latter. Wow! So I brought it to a NAWBO luncheon where Michelle was to speak and sure enough, he waved to the crowd when asked to stand up and I chased him out into the lobby clutching the book and told him how I felt about his writing. He blushed and grinned ( I understood- dont care about compliments re my legal skills, but about my writing.......we had a talk, he signed the bookOand I was hooked. Told him I was " one his constituents" and when I saw him a year later at a silent auction he said " I rememberbyou- you are one of my constotuents" I volunteered for his campaign.watched West Wing reruns Over and over( the actor playing Matt Santos designed his character around Barak after being introduced by Axelrod) and I was inside that fence that night crying and drinking a wine cooler and then I too walked slowly down Michigan Avenue grinning ear to ear. ( and now people see djt as Presidential material!!!!! Damn!!!!)