Young Mr. Obama - By Edward McClelland Page 0,61
Bronzeville, when the Palm Tavern was the hangout for Billy Eckstine and all the jazz greats, and when apartments since chopped up into flophouses were home to writers and teachers.
When Trotter shook hands at a senior citizen center, an old man asked, “Are you related to Reverend Trotter?”
“He was my grandfather,” Trotter responded proudly.
“I know the Trotter family,” the old man noted after the senator had moved on. “The Trotter name is well-known in Chicago. His auntie was the wife of Joe Louis.”
Obama’s state senate district encompassed empty black neighborhoods with abandoned shopping centers and brownstone row houses standing alone among fields of weeds. But as a congressional candidate, his forays outside Hyde Park rarely addressed serious ghetto problems. Once, he called a press conference to condemn bidi cigarettes—hand-rolled, highly carcinogenic smokes from India. He was joined by Father Michael Pfleger, a rabble-rousing white priest who led a mostly black congregation, and Alderman Terry Peterson, one of the few black politicians who supported Obama’s congressional run. Only one reporter showed up.
One-third of the First District’s residents were white, and Obama aggressively courted their votes, opening a campaign office in Beverly, a neighborhood that was home to Irish cops and firemen who did not appreciate being represented by a former Black Panther.
“I think it sends a message to our young people that you can be a big-time rabble-rouser and be in a position of importance later,” said a Beverly accountant who shared the anybody-but-Rush sentiment of so many South Side whites. “What incentive does that kid have to behave? He went way beyond the bounds of legitimate dissent. If we’re going to say the seat should be occupied by a black person, I’ve got to believe there’s someone better.”
A month before the election, death once again halted the campaign. Bobby Rush’s seventy-two-year-old father, Jimmy Lee Rush, took ill in Georgia. Rush canceled his appearances and flew down south. He wouldn’t return for a week, until after the funeral, where he read a poem he had composed himself. Rush’s father was eulogized in the Tribune, and the congressman’s office issued this statement: “With less than six months between the burying of my son, Huey, and my father, I know my faith is being tested. However, it is only that faith and the loving support of my wife, family, and friends that supplies me with the strength to keep going.”
Obama made his first use of electronic media during the congressional campaign: a pair of thirty-second radio ads. He didn’t have much money, and in Chicago, it was too expensive to buy a TV ad for a race that concerned only a small percentage of the viewers. Instead, Obama advertised on black-oriented radio stations, with spots that emphasized issues and barely mentioned his biography. When they did, he was a “civil rights lawyer” and “head of Project Vote!,” not a Harvard grad. The first ad, aimed at senior citizens, promised that Obama would fight for cheaper prescription drugs in Congress.
VOICE-OVER: State senator Barack Obama, candidate for Congress, speaking with a group of frustrated South Side seniors.
SENIOR CITIZEN: Senator Obama, because the prescription drugs have gotten so high, sometimes I can’t afford the medicine I need.
SENIOR CITIZEN: You know, I’ve always backed Bobby Rush, but I don’t see him doing anything about these high prices.
OBAMA: Let me tell you something. The profits of drug companies are at record levels. Meanwhile, we’ve got seniors who are having to choose between their food, their rent, and their prescription drugs. That’s not right. I’m running for Congress to fight for First District families and our seniors on prescription drugs and HMO reform.
VOICE-OVER: Barack Obama. Civil rights lawyer. The head of Project Vote! As our state senator, Barack Obama has taken on the drug and insurance companies with his fight for affordable health care.
OBAMA: America’s health care system locks out too many people. I’m fighting to change that.
SENIOR CITIZEN: Barack, we need a congressman like you who will do more than just talk.
[Applause]
VOICE-OVER: Barack Obama, Democrat for Congress. New leadership that works for us.
OBAMA: Paid for by Obama for Congress 2000.
The second ad attempted to burnish his black credentials by pointing out that he had sponsored a bill to ban racial profiling in traffic stops.
COP: Hand over your driver’s license!
MOTORIST: But, officer, I wasn’t speeding.
COP: Don’t talk back to me. Get out of the car.
MOTORIST: But what did I do?
COP: I’ll worry about that. Now open the trunk.
VOICE-OVER: It could happen to you. Or to someone you love. Stopped