OBAMA: WHO IS HE NOW?

Before Barack Obama became a correctly spelled household name in this nation, back in his early political years on the streets of Chicago and in the Illinois state senate, he did more than engage in the amorphous politics of hope. In the February 16 Kansas City Star, another former Democratic senator in that body, Denny Jacobs, described what Obama was like before his resounding speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and his subsequent bestselling books:

"He's an enigma. [In Chicago and the state senate], he's not the mayor's guy. He's not the alderman's guy. He's not the county board chairman's guy. He's nobody's guy. Usually you're somebody's guy. In Chicago, that's a way of life."

Before being elected to the state senate, Obama, during three years as a community organizer in Chicago—like Jack Newfield repeatedly and successfully reported in the Voice about New York buildings—moved the Chicago Housing Authority to get rid of asbestos in housing. He also pressured the Democratic machine to establish a...
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