Jo Becker And Christopher Drew
31 October 2008
(Page 2 of 2)
Mr Miner was "enormously helpful" in introducing Mr Obama to the liberal coalition of blacks and whites that had helped elect Mr Washington, said Ms Valerie Jarrett, a longtime friend and close adviser. "It brought in a whole new circle of people."
Mr Obama cultivated clients like Bishop Arthur M. Brazier, the influential pastor of an 18,000-member black church and founding president of the Woodlawn Organisation, which focuses on improving conditions for blacks in a neighbourhood adjacent to Hyde Park. The two men began talking politics over tennis games at Chicago's elite East Bank Club, Mr Brazier recalled.
Generous donors
Mr Obama also worked on housing redevelopment projects involving Antoin Rezko, who became one of Mr Obama's most generous donors. Mr Rezko is currently on trial for corruption charges unrelated to Mr Obama.
It was through the law firm that Mr Obama met Marilyn Katz, who gave him entry into another activist network: the foot soldiers of the white student and black power movements that helped define Chicago in the 1960s.
As a leader of Students for a Democratic Society then, Ms Katz organised Vietnam War protests, throwing nails in the street to thwart the police. But like many from that era, Ms Katz had gone on to become a politically active member of the Chicago establishment, playing in a regular poker game with Mr Miner while working as a consultant to his nemesis, Mayor Daley.
"For better or worse, this is Chicago," said Ms Katz, who has held fund-raisers for Mr Obama at her home. "Everyone is connected to everyone."
Business titans
Mr Obama was comfortable attending performances of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with city scions like Newton N. Minow, the father of Martha Minow. Mr Minow, who had served in the Kennedy administration and managed the white-shoe law firm of Sidley Austin when Mr Obama worked there after his first year of law school, began introducing him to Chicago's business titans.
Mr Obama also fit in at Hyde Park's fringes, among university faculty members like Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, unrepentant members of the radical Weather Underground that bombed the United States Capitol and the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War. Mr Obama was introduced to the couple in 1995 at a meet-and-greet they held for him at their home, aides said.
Now, along with Mr Obama's former pastor, the Rev Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Mr Ayers has become a prime exhibit in the effort by Mr Obama's presidential rivals to highlight what could be politically radioactive associations. In 2001, Mr Ayers said he did not regret the Weatherman bombings. Even so, in Hyde Park, he and his wife were viewed favourably for their work in addressing city problems. Mr Ayers was just "a guy who lives in my neighbourhood," Mr Obama said recently.
The two men were involved in efforts to reform the city's education system. They appeared together on academic panels, including one organised by Michelle Obama to discuss the juvenile justice system, an area of mutual concern. Mr Ayers's book on the subject won a rave review in The Chicago Tribune by Mr Obama, who called it "a searing and timely account."
Mr Obama further expanded his list of allies by joining the boards of two well-known charities: the Woods Fund and the Joyce Foundation.
These memberships have allowed him to help direct tens of millions of dollars in grants over the years to groups that championed the environment, campaign finance reform, gun control and other causes supported by the liberal network he was cultivating.
Mr Brazier's group, the Woodlawn Organisation, received money, for instance, as did anti-poverty groups with ties to organised labour like Chicago Acorn, whose endorsement Mr Obama sought and won in his State Senate race.
On the campaign trail, Mr Obama hewed closely to liberal orthodoxy, positions that have become controversial in the presidential race. A candidate questionnaire from one liberal group, for instance, detailed his views on hot-button issues like the death penalty (opposed) and a ban on handguns (in favour).
Today, Mr Obama espouses more centrist views and says a campaign aide had incorrectly characterised his views on those issues -- a shift that does not sit well with some in the group, the Independent Voters of Illinois Independent Precinct Organisation.
Easily elected
"We certainly thought those were his positions," said Mr David Igasaki, the group's chairman, who noted Mr Obama had also interviewed with the group. In any event, the group endorsed Mr Obama, and he was easily elected to the State Senate in 1996.
In the state Capitol in Springfield, Mr Obama was guided through the political thicket by powerful mentors. It was not long into Mr Obama's first term when Mr Mikva recalled getting a telephone call from Paul Simon, the recently retired United States senator. Mr Mikva had become friends with Mr Obama after returning from a stint as White House counsel for President Bill Clinton to teach law at the university.
Mr Simon suggested Mr Mikva play matchmaker between Mr Obama and Emil Jones Jr, the powerful Democratic leader of the State Senate. For the better part of a quarter century, Mr Mikva had played in a golfing foursome that included Mr Jones.
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