CNN on the Obama - Ayers Connection

The story of a connection between Barack Obama and former domestic terrorist Bill Ayers is not new. But late on October 7, CNN weighed in on the topic with an update to their Election Center web page.

Barack Obama probably thought the issue of his "association" with Bill Ayers had died down. Then Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin raised the Ayers question again recently at a campaign rally. The central issue is whether or not Obama has good judgment when it comes to the people he associates with.

For all the late comers to the party, Bill Ayers is a former domestic terrorist who has not only remained unrepentant, but once claimed he wished he had done more to end the Vietnam War. Ayers is now a professor in Chicago.

Barack Obama has maintained that his "association" with Ayers was in passing. CNN says that during a debate in April, Obama said Ayers was "a guy who lives in my neighborhood." Under pressure, CNN says, Obama revealed that he and Ayers had "...served on a charitable board together."

And here's where it gets interesting. According to CNN, "...the relationship between Obama and Ayers went deeper, ran longer and was more political than Obama - and his surrogates - have revealed, documents and interviews show."

CNN conducted a review of board minutes and records and found that "...Obama crossed paths repeatedly with Ayers at board meetings of the Annenberg Challenge Project. For seven years, Ayers and Obama - among many others - worked on funding for education projects, including some projects advocated by Ayers."

The report goes on: "While working on the Annenberg project, Obama and Ayers also served together on a second charitable foundation, the Woods Fund." People receiving funds from the Woods Foundation included none other than the most honorable Reverend Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church. My, what a small world we live in.

The Annenberg position was a good move for Obama, for, as CNN notes, it "...helped vault him from a South Side lawyer to political player. And there, too, is an Ayers connection."

In 1995, CNN says, at Obama's political coming out party, the Senator from Illinois and Democratic presidential candidate was introduced by state senator Alice Palmer. The party was held at the Ayers home. The Obama camp's response: just coincidence.

In fact, the statement on the CNN site went like this: "A Democrat state senator organizes the meeting at the home of one of her supporters. What is the problem here?" Well, the problem seems to be that Ms. Palmer told CNN she didn't organize the event. Who's lying?

Now that the ball is rolling, let's keep it going, shall we? According to CNN, Obama senior adviser David Axelrod told the Politico earlier this year that "...the two men were friendly."

And, lastly, CNN says Obama and Ayers were also connected through another event: "In an event organized by Obama's wife Michelle, then-Illinois state Senator Obama was listed as a panelist along with Ayers on a discussion involving juvenile justice issues."

So much for the "guy who lives in my neighborhood" line.