Hope, change, whatever

How did Obama get his start in politics? By disqualifying everyone else on the ballot:

In real life, it did not matter what Mr. Obama said on the stump or whether South Side voters were impressed. What mattered was that, beginning on Jan. 2, 1996, his campaigners began challenging thousands of petition signatures the other candidates in the race had submitted in order to appear on the ballot. Thus would Mr. Obama win his state Senate seat, months before a single vote was cast.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Obama's petition challengers reported to him nightly on their progress as they disqualified his opponents' signatures on various technical grounds -- all legitimate from the perspective of law. One local newspaper, Chicago Weekend, reported that "[s]ome of the problems include printing registered voters name [sic] instead of writing, a female voter got married after she registered to vote and signed her maiden name, registered voters signed the petitions but don't live in the 13th district."

One of the candidates would speculate that his signature-gatherers, working at a per-signature pay rate, may have cheated him by signing many of the petitions themselves, making them easy to disqualify.

In the end, Mr. Obama disqualified all four opponents -- including the incumbent state senator, Alice Palmer, and three minor candidates. Ms. Palmer, a former ally of Mr. Obama, had gathered 1,580 signatures, more than twice the 757 required to appear on the ballot. A minor, perennial candidate had gathered 1,899 signatures, suggesting the Obama team invested much time working even against him.

Let's also not forget how Obama became a U.S. Senator -- by kissing up to the establishment:

After beating Palmer, Obama brought some of his old organizing lessons to Springfield. His successful career there owed much to a relationship he built with Emil Jones, the South Side machine pol whom Obama later described as his "political
godfather."

...There was another door Obama thought Jones could open. When the Democrats took over the Illinois Senate in 2003, Obama paid Jones a visit. "After I was elected president, he came in to see me one day," Jones told me. "He said, You were just elected president. You have a lot of power now.' What kind of power do I have?' He said, You have the power to make a United States senator.' That sounds good. Do you have anybody in mind?' He said, Yeah, me.'"

This is not to suggest, mind you, that Barack Obama is a terrible person. It does, however, call into question this presentation of him as a break from the ordinary and an agent of change. Remember, Barack Obama is a product of the Chicago political scene, one that is not known for producing angels. The portrayal of him as the one to lead us into a new era of politics doesn't pass the smell test.