RESOURCE: The Sixth King
The rise of Barack Obama to the United States presidency was as unlikely as it was amazing. From the obscurity of a non-accomplished state Senator, to the most powerful political/military position in the world took place in just four years.1 Amazingly, all of this occurred in spite of his having past associations with numerous radical individuals any one of whom could have ended the presidential aspirations of other politicians. But in the case of Barack Obama, the media would suddenly become uninterested in such associations. Consider his amazing rise to power.
The Fix: The Chicago State Senate Seat
In order to qualify as a candidate for an Illinois State Senate seat, there is a requirement to acquire the signatures of at least 750 voters within the district favoring their candidacy. Therefore, in accordance with that requirement, all of the candidates for Senate 9 complied with the mandate, submitting their petitions to the Chicago Board of Elections. (CBOE) However, fully aware of how Chicago politics can work, each gathered many more names and signatures than the law required. Palmer, the incumbent in the race, submitted 1,580 signatures on her petition, more than double what was required to ensure that her name would appear on the ballot. Gha-is-F. Askia, a challenger for the seat, submitted a whopping 1,899 names on her petition. The remaining two candidates submitted 1,286 and 1,100 signatures, still substantially more than the 750 needed.3
The reason why each submitted so many more than the required 750 was to allow for a margin of error in case somebody challenged the validity of any of the signatures. In the event of a challenge, an overkill of signatures would protect their candidacy from being stillborn. And it was a good thing each did this because somebody did challenge the petitions of all candidates seeking State Senate seat number 9 except for one. The only candidate not challenged was the one from Kenwood, Barack Obama.
The challenger to their petitions, one Ron Davis, brought all of the candidates before the CBOE contending that each of their petitions represented massive fraud and should be thrown out. In addition to his challenge there were challenges against other candidates for various offices also… ten in all. But the results from those other ten challenges would be dramatically different from the four filed against senate 9 candidates. Of those ten only one would be disqualified, based on not having enough signatures. Of those ten challenges, the Chicago Board would find an average of 36% of the signatures had to be thrown out. But because those candidates had supplied substantially more signatures than required by law, only one candidate would be disqualified. So, only one out ten was disqualified, representing a rate of 10%, with the average percent of petition signatures disqualified at 36%. Essentially, the impact of the challenges to those ten petitions was minor. However, for some reason the results for Senate seat 9 would be dramatically different.4
Of the 1,899 signatures submitted by Gha-is F. Askia, the Board found 1,211 to be invalid, or 64%, causing her petition to contain only 688 valid names, 62 short of the required 750, resulting in her name not being allowed on the ballot. The incumbent, Alice Palmer, would experience 1,023 of the 1,580 signatures she submitted being rejected, a dismissal rate of 65%, resulting in those allowed to be counted to be only 557, or 193 short. Ironically, even though she was the incumbent running for reelection, her name would not appear on the ballot. The remaining two candidates would experience a 70%, and 48% rate of signature dismissals, resulting in both being disqualified from having their names on the ballot. This resulted in an average rate of disqualification of 62% without one candidate being allowed to place their name on the ballot, or a 100% disqualification rate.5 As a result of this strange anomaly attorney Barack Obama became the State Senator-elect for seat 9 without even having an election. Essentially, thousands of voters in senate district 9 were disenfranchised by having a new state senator chosen for them by default. In fact, those who liked their incumbent Senator could not even vote to reelect her.
But that amazingly good fortune of State Senator-elect Obama would only be the beginning of what would become an unending string of the best political luck imaginable. So much so, that in the ensuing years, numerous political reporters, including syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer, would acknowledge what many political experts were beginning to realize: Barack Obama is the “luckiest” politician alive.
The Smear Campaign:
The Illinois U.S. Senate Seat
We see it every election cycle. The Democrats offer a well-funded candidate for an open U.S. Senate seat and the Republicans do the same. Then in addition to the two main contenders seeking the prestigious office, there usually appear a number of minor candidates whose combined vote will represent a small percent of the overall votes cast. Typically, those minor candidates have little or no money and even less name recognition. The pattern is so consistent that it’s hardly even noticed any longer. However, an unusual exception to this happened in the 2004 U.S. Senate race in Illinois. In this case the exception occurred when a State Senator by the name of Barack Obama, severely underfunded and unknown, became a candidate for that office.
When he entered the race, the Democrats already had a strong, well funded, and well-known candidate running in their primary by the name of Blair Hull. And as such, they were fairly well united behind him. So, essentially, Hull would have to get past the unknown and grossly underfunded Barack Obama to be the party’s standard bearer in the general election. As is typical in such contests, it would take a miracle for Obama to win the primary against him. And if somehow he did win, then he would need good fortune to smile on him again in the general election against the well-funded and also well-known Republican in the race, Jack Ryan. Amazingly, he would get both miracles.6 This according to the Free Republic:
Did not Clarence Page’s own Chicago Tribune and local Chicago newsman Chuck Goudie give unusually heavy coverage of the divorce records of Democrat Blair Hull and Republican Jack Ryan to the benefit of previously invisible, underfunded, candidate with the slenderest of legislative records, named Barack Obama? Was it accidental or a coincidence that the two opponents with the financial resources to bury Mr. Obama in the primary or general elections were relentlessly hammered on “scandals” by the Trib while the same paper ran multipage “puff” pieces on Saint Obama.7
Indeed, both powerful candidates were hammered relentlessly by major Illinois media, with the previously invisible Barack Obama benefiting from “multipage puff” pieces written about him. After a period of time, the telling effects of the unusual media combination began to show.
Eventually, as media pressure built on both Hull and Ryan, each withdrew from the race and Mr. Obama went on to win the United States Senate seat against the extremely weak Republican candidate who appeared to have little chance from the start, having moved to Illinois in order to make the race. Here too, once again, voters were disenfranchised from having a real choice in an election including Mr. Obama. But this time it wasn’t just the voters in Senate 9, but the entire state of Illinois. As such, once again Mr. Obama waltzed into higher public office. Now here is a challenge. Try to find another example of such good political fortune. Good luck, it won’t be easy.
Breaking in Line:
The 2004 Democratic Convention
There is great political benefit derived from being named the keynote speaker for a national political convention. It provides nationwide exposure, as well as a platform for those harboring national ambition. As such, it is coveted by the most powerful politicians in the nation. In 1984, the well-established New York Governor, Mario Cuomo, received the call. He was a major rising star in the Democratic Party. Then in 1988, the political plum went to then, Texas Governor, Ann Richards, another big name Democrat. In 1992, it was Georgia firebrand, Governor Zell Miller. He was a big southern name at the time Bill Clinton was seeking to consolidate the South. In 1996, it went to the popular governor of Indiana, Evan Bayh. He had established his credentials within the party and was a potential candidate for the presidency in 2000.9 In 2000 the party’s actual nominee, Al Gore, handpicked his fellow Tennessean, U.S. Representative Harold Ford to deliver it. And, indeed, such powerful and established rising stars in the party have historically been called upon to deliver the speech time and again. However, at the 2004 Democratic convention, the keynote speaker was not an established national name, but a state senator from Illinois whose distinction was that he was a candidate for the U.S. Senate.10 His name was Barack Obama. It was, perhaps, the oddest choice for that coveted position ever made. So beneficial did it prove to his political career, that he was able to parlay it into running for president just two years later. So after only two years since he had been a state senator with the “slenderest of legislative records,” he became a serious candidate for the U.S. presidency.
An Incredible Coincidence:
The 2008 Presidential Race & 1929 Style Financial Crash
Then after instantly rising as a major candidate in the race for the Democratic nomination in 2008, he managed to defeat heavily favored Hillary Clinton and the legendary Clinton national political machine. His campaign was brilliantly run, its theme of “Change” exactly what the Bush-weary electorate wanted to hear. But in the general election it was a different story. After the choice of Sarah Palin for Vice President by the Republican candidate, John McCain, national polls about seven weeks out from the election showed McCain with a slight lead over the unknown Obama. One of the reasons appeared to be the electorate’s discomfort with how little they knew about him, not long out of being an obscure state legislator. After all, the media appeared incredibly uninterested in his past, and just as in his Illinois senate race, every major media report about him appeared to be a “puff” piece.
Down in the polls, his amazing streak of good fortune appeared to have finally come to an end. And an amazing run that it was. He had attained a state senate seat without opposition. He had won a U.S. Senate seat under the most unlikely of circumstances. He had been the unlikely choice for keynote speaker four years earlier, propelling the then state senator to national attention. Then in his race for the presidency his fawning media allies helped him overcome the Clinton political machine. But in general election against the republican candidate things began to get a little dicey. And then just as it looked like he would not make it, fate appeared again by his side.
About seven weeks before the election, an event that had not happened since 1929 began unfolding.11 Financial institutions that were the bedrock of the American banking system began to collapse in rapid succession, with the Bush Administration taking the brunt of the blame. What precipitated the suddenness of it was unusual. The Bush Administration had been bailing out multiple financial institutions over the course of the previous year to keep the nation’s system from cascading into a total meltdown. But then, and completely out of line with their previous approach, they refused to bail out the investment giant Lehman Brothers. This sudden shift in approach just six weeks before the 2008 presidential election would change the direction of the race and, ultimately, who would win.12
The reason Bush Administration officials had been dedicated to bailing out those reckless institutions was because the whole system had become so interconnected, creating the potential of giant financial dominos toppling one after the other. But for some strange reason they chose not to bail out Lehman Brothers, and the results were twofold and immediate. First, those feared financial dominos did begin coming down, just as had been feared, precipitating the worst crisis since the Great Depression and causing panic among an electorate that was preparing to elect a new president.13 Secondly, the fear that resulted guaranteed the election of unknown Barack Obama to the presidency. From the moment the crisis broke, the electorate appeared to no longer care about how little they knew about him, preferring “change” without much thought given to its direction. Thereafter, he pulled ahead of McCain, never to look back.
Exactly why the Bush Administration decided to suddenly change its approach to dealing with those weak financial institutions at that precise moment is not known. But what is known is the ultimate impact it had on the election. And across the world, the devastating impact of the financial meltdown on the lives of countless people would reverberate for years to come.
Charmed & Protected
Throughout the election Mr. Obama would avoid questions about his association with the most questionable types of characters, past and even current associates, any one of which could bring down the national potential of any politician. But he would walk through it all completely unquestioned, and as a result, his campaign was, amazingly, unfazed by such threats. Such characters would include William Ayres and his wife, Bernadine Dorn, former members of the Weather Underground, America’s first terrorist group, which bombed the Pentagon in the 1960s. There would be enough connections between the two former terrorists and Mr. Obama to keep several journalists busy for a long time. But strangely, none would question Obama’s career-killing relationship.14
Although the Communist Party in the United States is a speck on the map, somehow Mr. Obama would find a way to locate it in a person whom he would acknowledge in his book, Dreams of My Father, as his mentor, Frank Marshall Davis. And this relationship too, would go undisclosed to the public during the campaign. Even his pastor, the virulently anti-America Jeremiah Wright would not impact him, the mainstream media leaving the public unaware of the strong relationship there, with Obama once again able to escape career-killing media coverage.15 The list of such characters would go on and on. Anita Dunn, eventually to become White House Communication Director, would openly avow the late Chinese Communist leader, Mao Zedong, as someone whose political writings were a guide for her. The problem in mentioning him was that in the warlike 20th century, Mao historically fits best with such infamous characters as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, all mass murderers. Unimaginably, no harm would befall Barack Obama from his relationship with her as well. And the reason why was simple: the mass media would, strangely, ignore such hot stories one after another granting a pass of historical proportions to the unknown Obama.
Strange & Uncanny Luck:
The 2012 Presidential Election
One must realize that in the 2012 presidential election, three separate an unpredictable events unfolded which probably saved President Obama from being voted out of office. Two of those events were storms that possessed amazing timing and the other was a computer system called “Project Orca.” First, consider the storms.
Conventions are designed to be a grand send-off for the presidential candidates of the two major parties in America. They are designed to showcase individuals and ideas with an eye on the future. And the 2012 convention cycle was no different. Except this time an unpredictable event occurred that placed the Republicans at a distinct disadvantage. As the Republican Convention was being held in Tampa, Florida, a Hurricane named Isaac popped-up and took aim at the city. The timing of the storm was terrible, causing one of its four precious days of intense national exposure to be lost. It also shifted the national focus during the convention from the event to the storm.
However, in spite of that shaky sendoff the Republican candidate began catching up with the president on the shoulders of a debate performance that served as a catapult for his campaign. And as the race entered the final week, the most reliable polls indicated Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama were in a very tight race but with Mr. Romney slightly ahead and with momentum. However, just as a loss appeared to be closing in on the president, fate injected itself again. Another storm, the likes of which caused it to be referred to as the “Perfect Storm,” suddenly struck the Northeast coast. It was the very late season Hurricane called Sandy making landfall just a few days before the election. And worst of all for Romney, its timing and devastation placed a strange kind of freeze on the election ending the clear momentum Mr. Romney had going into the final few days of the campaign. With the presidential election in a strange kind of limbo it allowed the president to regain his political footing.
How impactful was this oddball storm striking just before the election? Consider what The New York Times polling guru Nate Silver had to say after seeing the sudden shift in polling results after the surprise storm struck.
If President Obama wins re-election on Tuesday, the historical memory of the race might turn on the role played by Hurricane Sandy. Already, some analysts are describing the storm as an “October surprise” that allowed Mr. Obama to regain his footing after stumbling badly in the first presidential debate and struggling to get back on course. Some Republicans seem prepared to blame a potential defeat for Mitt Romney on the storm, and the embrace of Mr. Obama by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and other public officials.17
Indeed, not only did the storm stop Romney’s momentum dead in its tracks, but it also provided the president an opportunity to shift the focus from election issues to the storm. In addition to that incredibly beneficial turn of events for Mr. Obama, a popular Republican governor of one of the states hardest hit, New Jersey, was seen on national TV embracing the president as he made a presidential visit to the state. And a picture is worth a thousand words. It gave the temporary appearance that the president was one who could work with Republicans, even though his first term was marked by strong partisanship. But as helpful as the oddball storm was in restoring the political fortunes of the president, fate wasn’t finished yet.
The Romney campaign had invested over $40 million in a computer system designed to get the vote out. And on the day of the election, there were over 30,000 volunteers ready to call millions of voters identified as favorable to their candidate to encourage them to go and vote. The computer system was called Project Orca. Then fate injected itself again. The computer system experienced a major breakdown on election-day leaving legions of volunteers unable to access millions of voter records and, thus, unable to call them. The title of an article after the election would say it all: “Insiders Explain How Mitt Romney’s Campaign Completely Fell Apart On Election Day,” by Business Insider.18 As a result of the breakdown, some percentage of the Romney vote did not turn out on election-day.19 With the combination of well-timed storms, along with the collapse of Project Orca, the incredible luck of Barack Obama secured him reelection.
*****
Having secured the most powerful office in the world after a meteoric rise from obscurity, the reelection of President Obama to a second term, strangely, appeared to also be touched by the hand of fate. And the entire litany of incredible luck and lack of scrutiny all begs the same question: What is it all leading to? Is there some action that fate has set aside for him to accomplish?
There is something else associated with each of these fortuitous events that propelled Barack Obama into the presidency, and this common denominator may offend some. Consider the litany from another perspective.
When he ran for the state senate seat, misfortune came the way of the four others seeking to fulfill their dreams of service to the people of that district, one of whom was the incumbent. There is no telling how much of their personal funds and time was already spent by the time they were disqualified. And there were probably other negative impacts on their lives going forward from suffering the stigma of not even being able to qualify to run for public office after making a big show of it all. Additionally, the citizens in that district experienced misfortune by being prevented from exercising their right of choosing their representative. Instead, essentially, one was chosen for them by default.
When he ran for the U.S. Senate, it was again the misfortune of others that played out uniquely in his favor, allowing him to win the coveted position with little opposition. In this case the misfortune struck the two favorites in the race and was especially personal and, no doubt, painful. Here too the electorate would share in that misfortune by not really having a choice in the election.
When he ran for the presidency in 2008, his campaign would be a juggernaut in the Democratic primaries, overcoming the powerful Clinton machine and going on to take the nomination. However, in the general election it would be a different matter. About six weeks out from the election, Senator John McCain would be leading, with Obama appearing to have stalled. But suddenly, all of that changed with the global financial meltdown. That misfortune which took place on a global scale propelled Senator Barack Obama past McCain and into the White House.
When running for reelection, the president had a lot of handicaps. The economy was still down, and his opponent was well-funded. And as the election headed into the finish line, Mr. Romney appeared to be slightly ahead of Mr. Obama in the polls. However, Hurricane Sandy, which brought great misfortune to many people who were struck by it, completely ended Mr. Romney’s momentum, greatly aiding the president in getting reelected. An additional misfortune struck on the day of the election, and it was focused on Mr. Romany in the complete collapse of his $40 million get-out-the-vote computer system. Both misfortunes contributed heavily to the president’s reelection win.
There is one overriding common denominator associated with the rise of Barack Obama: the misfortune of others. Literally, without misfortune befalling a litany of other people, his political career would have been stillborn long ago. Although such an observation is one many would prefer not to acknowledge, it is also undeniably the common denominator that if removed alters everything. Would he have won that state senate race had the incumbent and three other challengers been running? Would he have overcome powerful candidates, one a Democrat, and the other a Republican, seeking that Illinois U.S. Senate seat? It is difficult to argue that he would have won either race. And both were critical to launching his career. Would he have defeated John McCain for the presidency had the global financial meltdown not happened exactly when it did? It is possible, but maybe not. Would he have won reelection to the presidency had Hurricane Sandy not struck when it did, and project Orca collapsed? It is possible, but maybe not.
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