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PrintJuly 11, 2008
Another Obama fiasco
NRO's Jim Geraghty delivers another example of Barack Obama's glib political opportunism and inability to follow through and deliver hope or change, with a link to a Chicago Sun Times article on how a $100K grant the then State Senator made in 2000 to help his unsuccessful run for Congress came to naught. The idea was to create a botanic garden in one of Chicago's most blighted neighborhoods. This was to be the first step in a $1.1 million dollar affordable housing project that Obama promised to help create. The project was located outside of Obama's state senate district but within the Congressional district he hoped to represent by defeating the incumbent, Bobby Rush, in the 2000 Democrat primary.
"I will work tirelessly in Springfield and in Chicago to raise public and private dollars to fund this worthy endeavor," Obama said then.
The housing development never got past its initial phase. As for the botanic garden that was to be its focal point, the $100K went to an Obama volunteer and campaign contributor who now says he doesn't have the paperwork to prove how the money was spent. According to the Sun Times, a landscape architect from the Illinois Green Industry Association found no evidence of the work that Obama's volunteer said he did. Today the site is strewn with weeds, garbage and broken pavement. And Obama's spokesman stated that the Senator wasn't responsible for monitoring the work. That was the job of Gov. Blagojevich and former Gov. George Ryan and their staffs.
This is another example of how rather than being an agent of hope and change, Obama's record of non accomplishment is one of an egotistical smooth talker completely fixated on making it to the next rung on the career ladder. In Geraghty's words
One of the problems of constantly moving on to the next promotion is that you never get to see the consequences and ramifications of past actions.
