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They know each other as a result of meetings/ working with one another and living in the same neighborhood since the mid 1990s.
Barack Obama launched his Illinois Senate campaign from a fund raiser-at Ayers home. They had a meeting in 1995 while working with an independent organization on a huge public school improvement project. They were both on the board of a fund that gave money to schools, legal counseling centers, and churches from 1999 to 2001, but rarely encounter each other outside a professional environment.
On that note....William Ayers chose Barack Obama to distribute $50 million in Chicago to "raise political consciousness" in Chicago's public schools. Between 1995 and 1999, Obama distributed the $50 million and raised another $60 million from other civic groups to augment it. In doing so, he was following Ayers's admonition to grant the funds to "external" organizations, like American Community Organizations for Reform (ACORN).
The relationship Between William Ayers and Barack Obama is controversial because Ayers is one of the founders of the Weather Underground, a Vietnam-era anti-war group that claimed responsibility for several bombings which to this day, as he told FOX News correspondent James Rosen in a recent 2004 interview, he was "on the side of justice."
Ayers also holds the belief that the US government is responsible for terrorism around the world and hints that such attacks as 9/11 were brought about by this country itself. In an interview, conducted three years after the September 11 attacks, Ayers argued the U.S. government had carried out "many other acts of terror … even recently, that are comparable."
Barack Obama has distanced himself from the relationship of William Ayers and says now that he finds Ayers past acts to be "detestable"
See: Who is William Ayers
He wants to keep our enemies close if you ask me! Isn't that smart?
Obama-Ayers Controversy
Main article: Bill Ayers presidential election controversy
During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, a controversy arose regarding Ayers' contacts with then-candidate Barack Obama, a matter that had been public knowledge in Chicago for years.[52] After being raised by the British press[52][53][54] the connection was picked up by blogs and newspapers in the United States. The matter was raised in a campaign debate by moderator George Stephanopoulos, and later became an issue for the John McCain presidential campaign. Investigations by The New York Times, CNN, and other news organizations concluded that Obama does not have a close relationship with Ayers.[55][56][57] In an op-ed piece after the election, Ayers denied any close association with Obama, and castigated the Republican campaign for its use of guilt by association tactics.[36] In a new edition of his memoirs, Fugitive Days: Memoirs of an Anti-War-Activist, he added a new afterword describing their relationship as "neighbors and family friends".[58] But in an interview with Good Morning America, Ayers said the afterword was "describing there how the blogosphere characterized the relationship."[59]
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoThey served on an educational board in Chicago beginning in the 1990s. In 2008, during the election, Republican Sarah Palin tried to connect Ayers to Obama earlier than that-- she said that Obama had "pals" who were terrorists: Bill Ayers was a 1960s anti-war radical, and at that time, he was a very controversial figure. But when he was engaged in his actions on behalf of the Weathermen (later called the Weather Underground), he was on the east coast; Barack Obama, who was between five and nine years old at that time and living first in Indonesia and then in Hawaii, never met Bill Ayers and had no idea who he was.
By the time he met Bill Ayers, decades had passed and Ayers had reinvented himself as a college professor and an expert on the education of poor children. He was a member of a foundation that advocated for educational policy, and was by many accounts a different person from the radical of the 1960s. But to some people, he will always be identified with his group's violent anti-government actions, and for those people, the fact that Mr. Obama served with him on a board in Chicago and became a colleague of his is proof that Mr. Obama is friendly with terrorists. However, there is no evidence the president has friends who are terrorists, and he never met Bill Ayers, nor any other radicals from that era. Still, some people continue to try to make his casual friendship with Bill Ayers in the 1990s into a bigger deal than it really is. I enclose a link to the story of how the two served together on an educational board, an organization made up of both Republicans and Democrats.
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Is bill ayers good friends with barack and Michelle Obama?
Yes and no. This question usually arises from a 2008 Sarah Palin claim that Barack Obama had "pals" who were terrorists. He did not, and he does not. Thus, if you are asking about the Bill Ayers who was a domestic terrorist in the 1960s, the answer is no, Mr. Obama never met him and did not know him. Barack Obama was living in Hawaii (and was a young child) when Ayers and the Weathermen (later the Weather Underground) were using violent tactics to protest the Vietnam War. But if you are asking about the Bill Ayers who, forty years later, had completely changed his life, gotten a Doctorate Degree in Education and had served on the boards of several charities, especially those that helped the poor, then the answer is yes, but the two were not really "good friends." Barack Obama was appointed to one of the same boards that Bill Ayers was on. (Interestingly, it was a Republican who appointed both men.) Ayers and Obama shared a desire to improve education in Chicago and help the poor, and they worked together on some projects. Bill Ayers believed in Barack Obama as a potential political candidate, and Barack Obama believed in Bill Ayers' deep commitment to helping the poor. But that seems to be the extent of their relationship, contrary to myths you may read online.
What proof is there that Barack Obama associates with terrorists?
No proof at all. It was a political accusation, made during the 2008 campaign by Sarah Palin, who accused him of being friends with terrorists-- which was totally false. (She was referring to a famous domestic terrorist from the 1960s named Bill Ayers. But when Ayers was protesting the war and using violent means, Barack Obama was a little child, and he never met Bill Ayers. 25 years later, after Ayers had totally changed and become a college professor, he and Mr. Obama served on an educational foundation together.) Also, some people did not know who Mr. Obama was and found his middle name confusing-- they did not understand that it was a family name which he inherited from his father, Barack Hussein Obama Senior (Hussein is a very common name in many Muslim countries), so they thought he was related to Saddam Hussein. But he was not.
What terrorist was Barack Obama associated with?
None. His political enemies made that accusation, but the terrorist they referred to (Bill Ayers) was around when Obama was eight years old; the president did not know Ayers until many years later when the two men served together, along with a number of other people from both political parties, on an educational board in Chicago.
Did Barack Obama pal around with any terrorists?
No. This is an accusation made by former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in the 2008 election, and it is false. She referred to the fact that Barack Obama was friendly with Bill Ayers, a former anti-Vietnam war protester, who led a violent anti-war group first called the Weathermen (later called the Weather Underground) during the 1960s. The problem with Mrs. Palin's assertion is that Barack Obama was six years old when Bill Ayers was committing violent acts. He did not know Bill Ayers, nor ever hear of him. In fact, he only met Ayers many years later, after the former domestic terrorist had dramatically changed his life and had become a professor and an expert on education. Most credible sources say that Barack Obama met Bill Ayers when both men served on the same charitable board in Chicago. Both were appointed by Walter Annenberg, as part of his educational foundation. Interestingly, the Annenbergs are Republicans, who were supporters of Ronald Reagan, and longtime friends with the McCains. But Walter Annenberg accepted the fact that Bill Ayers had long since changed his life, and he had no problem appointing him to the board to work on improving the schools in Chicago. Thus, Sarah Palin's politically charged accusation is false: the Bill Ayers that Mr. Obama met and worked with was not a terrorist, nor were the two men close friends or "pals."
Do you know of any truthful statements by Barack Obama regarding his past?
On the contrary, I do not know of any untruthful statements by Barack Obama regarding his past.
What prior political and leadership experience does Barack Obama have that makes Barack Obama qualified to be the next president?
none that i know of-amazing
Does Barack Obama know Denise Helms?
No he dosent
What were Barack Obama's problems?
i don't know you tell me.
Who endorsed Bill Thompson's mayoral candidacy?
i know quite a few who are barack obama, chuck schumer,kirsten gillibrand, david yassky and ......................
Does Barack Obama know every person in The US?
no, he doesn't know me.
Who is the President Barack Obama or mitt Romney?
As I write this answer, Barack Obama is the president. But on November 6th, 2012, there will be an election. We do not know who will win it, but after it is over, we will know if Mr. Obama is re-elected or if Mr. Romney is the new president.
Who is the new elect us president?
Barack Obama how do you not know that
