Obama tells one story about how he first got to Chicago.
And everyone else has a different story.
I have long found that odd - and intriguing.
In 2005, Obama
, told American Libraries magazine:
‘People always mention libraries in terms of just being sources for reading material or research. But I probably would not be in Chicago were it not for the Manhattan public library, because I was looking for an organizing job and was having great trouble finding a job as a community organizer in New York.
‘The Mid-Manhattan Library had these books of lists of organizations, and the librarian helped me find these lists of organizations, and I wrote to every organization. One of them wound up being an organization in Chicago that I got a job with.’
He said the same thing at Wesleyan's Commencement in 2008.
But the man who hired him - Gerald Kellman (Marty Kaufman in Obama's memoir, and an ardent disciple of Alinsky) -
has an entirely different account - one he related at the DNC Convention in Denver:In 1985, I needed to hire a community organizer. I found myself in New York City, across from a 25-year-old recent college graduate. I wanted to convince him to give up a comfortable life and a bright future to come to Chicago to take up the toughest of challenges for a salary of just $10,000 a year.
It was not difficult to convince Barack to take the job. All I had to do was describe what had happened to people on the south side of Chicago. The region had once been the largest producer of steel in the entire world, but the mills had shut down one by one. Other industries began to close, then stores and offices. Without jobs, neighborhoods unraveled and kids became easy prey for gangs and drugs.
Two weeks later, using $2,000 we gave him to buy a car, Barack arrived in Chicago.
THIS FOLLOWING VERSION COMPORTS WITH KELLMAN'S SPEECH:
BYRON YORK: Kellman set out to find a black organizer. He ran an ad in some trade publications, and Obama responded.
But at first Kellman wasn’t sure Obama was right for the job. “My wife was Japanese-American,” Kellman recalled. “I showed her the résumé, with the background in Hawaii. The name’s Obama, so I asked, ‘Could this be Japanese?’ She said, ‘Sure, it could be.’” It was only when Kellman talked to Obama on the phone, and Obama “expressed interest in something African-American culturally,” that a relieved Kellman offered Obama the job.
- AN AD???
- IN VAGUE PUBLICATIONS?
- HAS ANYBODY SEEN A COPY OF ONE?
- AND IN THIS VERSION, KELLMAN OFFERS OBAMA THE JOB OVER THE PHONE. HMM...
- HE IS ABSOLUTELY NOT SAYING HE GOT A LETTER FROM OBAMA.
KELLMAN HAS BEEN CONSISTENT: HE PLACED ADS AND SET OUT TO GET OBAMA.
And there's another tidbit that I find VERY intriguing:
Obama has EXPLICITLY said and written that when he got to Chicago he "didn't know a soul".
LISTEN TO HIM SAY IT:
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