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[Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>]

One more interesting site, which I had to find on my own...it's the 
Chicago DSA's version of things. Now I'm off to do my chores...the 
chickens are no doubt hungry.

http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngarchive/ng120.html#anchor414449

Obama Socialist
by Bob Roman
Some months ago, Chicago's In These Times predicted the "red-boating" of 
Obama. DSA, along with ACORN, the New Party, and Bill Ayers are now 
being held up as hate or fear objects for those who might need an 
excuse, at least, to not vote for Obama. The DSA side of this campaign 
has been conducted largely on the web, and the authors of these 
sometimes scrupulous but often scurrilous postings have usually provided 
links to the Chicago DSA web site. It's been great for traffic.

Thus this article is for those visitors curious enough to actually visit 
our site in search of confirmation of various assertions, also for those 
visiting via a web search using Obama and Socialist. It is good that 
you're here because some of what is being written is downright wrong.

Here's the skivvy: The New Party was not established by DSA, nor was it 
established to be a vehicle for socialism in America. In Chicago, the 
New Party was largely started by ACORN. While the New Party welcomed 
support from groups like DSA, the New Party's concern was politics, the 
political economy of working people and the poor, not ideology and for 
this, bringing home the bacon is what counts. Not talk. Not ideas. This 
makes the accounts posted (for example) at
http://rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2008/05/30/obamas-radical-political-alliances/
 
or
http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/2008/10/confirmed-obama-won-state-senate-seat.html
 
or
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2008/10/08/will-msm-report-obama-membership-socialist-new-party
 
or
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/10/07/obama-is-hiding-a-radical-past/
either garbled or deliberately deceptive.

Chicago DSA did indeed endorse Obama for the State Senate, but he most 
certainly did not seek our endorsement. As for Obama using the New Party 
and the Chicago DSA endorsements, possibly, but note that he had no 
opposition in either the primary election or in the general election. He 
basically did not have a campaign in 1996. One might fairly ask which 
party was the real beneficiary?

Did Obama attend a half dozen or more DSA meetings? The only Chicago DSA 
meeting Obama attended was the 1996 Townhall Meeting documented at 
http://www.chicagodsa.org/ng45.html, and that meeting was co-sponsored 
by the University of Chicago University Democrats. The only way one can 
count more than one meeting is by counting every Obama meeting, no 
matter the sponsor no matter the venue, mentioned in New Ground. The 
only way these could be credible as "DSA" meetings is if you believe 
that anyone labeled "socialist" is an amoral, unpatriotic, conniving 
animal; therefore descriptions of the meetings as anything but covert 
DSA meetings is a lie. If you believe that, why are you reading this?

So is Obama a socialist? First you'd better tell me what you mean by 
"socialist". I'm not being cute. There are people who would hysterically 
laugh at DSA being legitimately considered a "socialist" organization, 
never mind Obama. So what is socialism to you? Judging by the comments 
posted on some of these blogs, socialism is anything involving the 
government that the commentator doesn't like. By this standard, I 
suppose he is.

Another way to consider it would be if Obama self-identifies as a 
"socialist" or "social democrat", just as DSA members do. Well, go 
ahead. Ask him. And if he says, "Yes," please let me know. Because in 
that case, he owes us for dues.

And of course, if you think that democracy, civil rights and civil 
liberties trump property rights; if you think that fair trade is a 
better deal for most of us than free trade; if you think that in a 
country as rich as ours education and medical care should be available 
regardless of one's ability to pay; if you think that workers should 
have the right to organize and bargain collectively well, then, it 
doesn't matter what you call yourself. You'll be called a socialist, too.

Isn't it time you joined us?


Ayers and Social Justice Education
"If you want to peer into the world of right-wing school reformers, Sol 
Stern would be a good guide. For almost a decade, this Manhattan 
Institute senior fellow has contributed articles about education reform 
to City Journal, the neoconservative urban policy magazine funded by the 
same free-market think tank. And for the past three years, Stern has 
made it his intellectual crusade to discredit a teaching pedagogy about 
which he seemingly understands very little." More:
http://progressillinois.com/2008/10/16/ayers-social-justice-ed






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