Spivak 'Splains Obama

I've read about an in-depth article from the Houston Press on Barack Obama on several sites. The investigative reporter, formerly of Chicago, now lives here in Houston and writes for the weekly publication, the Houston Press. I printed out the article and read it, all ten pages of it.

I looked for the current edition of the publication and its section was empty at the local grocery store. I guess I'm not the only one curious about the hard copy. I pick the Houston Press up as I exit the grocery store if the front page teases interest me.

This from the web site in the 'about us' section: "First place for investigative reporting in 1998 John Bartlow Martin contest sponsored by Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, a national citation for environmental journalism; and a sweep of four out of five first place awards at the Houston Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards." The publication is self-described as 'brash and freewheeling.' Readership is 300,000 per week.

The reporter, Todd Spivak, begins the article describing a phone call from Barack Obama screaming at him. Obama wasn't happy with the latest story Spivak published. The one before met with his approval, though. Spivak says a reporter friend told me months earlier that she overheard Obama call him an asshole at a fundraiser. Obama was still a state senator in Illinois and Spivak worked for a string of small newspapers.

So, first I wondered who this Todd Spivak is and what was his agenda. He writes that he lived and worked in Obama's Chicago district for three years, half of Obama's tenure in the state legisature. The district is D-13 and a large part of the city's South Side is encompassed in the district. Spivak goes on to tell the reader that in 2000 he wrote for the Hyde Park Herald and Lakefront Outlook community newspapers. He earned $19,000 and wrote about politics and crime. He spoke with Obama a couple of times a month, regularly. Obama wrote a column occasionally for his papers and it "ran with a head shot that made him look about 14 years old." Spivak had two cell phone numbers for Obama, now disconnected, as well as numbers for Jesse Jackson, his son Jesse Jackson, Jr., and David Axelrod who is now Obama's senior campaign adviser. He notes that Axelrod began his journalism career at the Hyde Park Herald, too, before he joined the Chicago Tribune, then moved on to starting his political consulting firm. Interesting, I thought.

So, as Spivak is stuck in traffic recently here in his current city of residence, Houston, he's listening to talk radio. "Right-wing rants on AM radio" he calls it. It's the Dennis Prager show and a listener called in denouncing Michelle Obama's remarks about her pride in America for the first time in her life. Then, Spivak says, Prager went on to say Obama himself is a blank slate, no record to look at unless you "lived in Barack Obama's old state Senate district." The light bulb goes off for Spivak. He makes his personal connection and this seems to be the motivation of writing the current story.

The interesting thread in the lengthy article is that of the years spent in the state legislature, it was only during his last year that Obama was able to make any progress as a legislator. The Democrats took over leadership of the State Senate and Obama was able to sponsor bills "that expanded children's health insurance, made the state Earned Income Tax Credit refundable for low-income families; required public bodies to tape closed-door meetings to make government more transparent; and required police to videotape interrogations of homicide suspects." Standard stuff.

Emil Jones Jr. became the Illinois Senate Majority Leader. A black man himself and a chain smoker, he was a long time politician in the legislature, three decades worth of service, and represented a district close to Obama's on the South Side. He decided to be Obama's kingmaker when the Senate seat opened up. He appointed Obama "sponsor to virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills." Nice.

So, in his seventh year, the final year in the state Senate, Obama sponsored 26 bills into law. He cites them now as he campaigns for President. Jones' payment from Obama came in the way of "tens of millions" in pork barrel spending in Jones' district.

Spivak sites comments from a veteran South Side community organizer who remembers Obama from the days he claims as his own community organizing days. He only finally decided to vote for Obama on Super Tuesday as he walked into the voting booth. He holds Obama responsible for not doing more as an elected official to improve the quality of life in the community.

"Obama has spent his entire political career trying to win the next step up. Every three years, he has aspired to a more powerful political position."

"Even many of his staunchest supporters, such as Black, still resent the strong-arm tactics Obama employed to win his seat in the Illinois Legislature". Timuel Black is a historian and City Colleges of Chicago professor emeritus living in Obama's state district. Obama hired a fellow Harvard Law alum, and election law expert, Thomas Johnson "to challenge the nominating petitions of four other candidates, including the popular incumbent, Alice Palmer, a liberal activist who had held the seat for several years, according to an April 2007 Chicago Tribune report." Obama ended up knocking off his fellow contenders and running unopposed by challenging enough petition sheets. The petition sheets are signatures from registered voters living within the district showing a total of 757 names needed to run.

"A close examination of Obama's first campaign clouds the image he has cultivated throughout his political career, " wrote Tribune political reporters David Jackson and Ray Long. "The man now running for president on a message of giving a voice to the voiceless first entered public office not by leveling the playing field, but by clearing it." Interesting.

The writer, Spivak, says he admires Obama still today. He relates a story that he wrote about some black legislators who served with Obama in Illinois. They were 'disgruntled' that, as State Representative Monique Davis who attended the same church as the Obamas and didn't support Obama's candidacy complained of "feeling overshadowed by Obama."

In the same article Spivak wrote about the role Emil Jones, the Senate President kingmaker, played in Obama's career. Before Jones stepped in, Obama was a little noticed back bencher. His speeches were "vanilla" and he didn't take steps towards leadership on difficult issues. Needless to say, Obama wasn't thrilled with the article. It prompted the angry phone call. "He said the black legislators I cited in the story were off-base, and that they couldn't have gotten the bills passed without him. I started to speak, and he shouted me down." Obama complained that he should have been given a chance to respond to the article before it was published. Spivak reminded Obama he requested an interview through his communications director. Obama said he should have called the cell phone. Spivak said Obama told him not to use the cell phone due to his busier schedule. Back and forth they went.

The article finishes as follows: "Today I no longer have Obama's cell phone number. I submitted two formal requests to interview Obama for this story through his Web site, but have not heard back. I also e-mailed interview requests to three of his top staffers, but none responded. Maybe he'll call the day after this story runs. I'll get to the office early just in case. And this time I'll have my recorder ready."

So, take from this what you will. I am one who is interested in the motivation of people. I like the back story. Perhaps he is a candidate who aggressively follows political office dreams. Perhaps he is a candidate who runs over others and takes the credit. We simply don't know with someone with such a short career resume.

The press is beginning to turn a bit on Obama. Some of the swooning is coming to a halt and being reported as 'creepy'. One snippet from the Washington Times from 3/7/08 was one of a woman who recoils at the calls by Obama to end arrogance. She told of her first encounter with the freshman Senator. "He strolled out of the Senate chamber, balled up a piece of paper and tossed it at a large trash can - missing. At which point, she says, the senator from Illinois paused and, without saying a word, looked back at his two aides who were trailing him, then continued on his way. One of the aides walked over, retrieved the paper and threw it away."

Interesting.