Obama an Inspiration

The Obama backlash starts at home in Chicago. Via the LA Times:

As the 24-year-old mentor to public housing residents, Obama says he initiated and led efforts that thrust Altgeld's asbestos problem into the headlines, pushing city officials to call hearings and a reluctant housing authority to start a cleanup.

But others tell the story much differently.

They say Obama did not play the singular role in the asbestos episode that he portrays in the best-selling memoir, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance." Credit for pushing officials to deal with the cancer-causing substance, according to interviews and news accounts from that period, also goes to a well-known, pre-existing group at Altgeld Gardens and to a local newspaper called the Chicago Reporter. Obama does not mention either one in his book.

"Just because someone writes it doesn't make it true," said Hazel Johnson, a longtime Altgeld resident who worked with Obama on the asbestos campaign, and who began pushing for a variety of environmental cleanups years before he arrived.

Rep. Bobby Rush backs her up. Another agrees, but says, "we did all the work, but he was our inspiration". But Hazel Johnson's daughter asks, "why did he paint us all as so pathetic?". The answer from another community organizer---"It's his movie".

Quite a testimonial.


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