Obama = Walmart

[EvilMonkey]

Seems Obama is just like Walmart, making sure that those in need know how to get access to the social services offered by the government.

 

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117...g_20070330.html

From Obama's Past:

An Old Classmate,

A Surprising Call

In High School, 'Ray' and 'Barry'

Were Friends, Then Took Different Paths

By JACKIE CALMES

March 23, 2007; Page A1

 

Sen. Barack Obama had just come off the Senate floor last Thursday, rushing to get to New Hampshire for a weekend of campaigning for president, when his office patched through a call to his cellphone. On the other end was a long-lost high-school friend, Keith Kakugawa, calling from a pay phone in a rundown part of Los Angeles. Mr. Kakugawa was homeless and fresh from a California state prison facility after a third drug-related conviction.

 

The unexpected phone call marked the surprising re-emergence of a friend from Mr. Obama's past, one of the most compelling characters in Mr. Obama's best-selling memoir of his struggle with his racial identity. In "Dreams From My Father," Mr. Obama described Mr. Kakugawa -- half-black and half-Japanese and native Hawaiian -- as an older-brother figure to Mr. Obama at their exclusive, mostly white Honolulu high school. The two bonded, Mr. Obama wrote, "due in no small part to the fact that together we made up almost half of Punahou's black high school population," in a student body of about 1,700. Mr. Obama called Mr. Kakugawa "Ray" in the book to protect his privacy.

 

Keith Kakugawa, left, and friend Jason 'Bobby Bang' Myles, in front of the Mazda that doubles as their home.

With the voluble Mr. Kakugawa leading the way, the two teenagers played basketball and went to parties with the few other blacks around, at the nearby University of Hawaii campus, or the military bases that were home to black families from the mainland. Through Mr. Obama's freshman and sophomore years, the two were mutual sounding boards. While most whites at the high school remember "Barry" Obama as a carefree, popular student with a megawatt smile, Mr. Obama opened up more to Mr. Kakugawa about his absent father back in Africa, life with his white mother and grandparents, and their school's, as well as Hawaii's, dearth of black role models.

 

"He was going through a tough time," recalls Mr. Kakugawa, now 47 years old. "He'd open up, or I'd drag it out of him. I was probably the only one who didn't always see him smiling."

 

Mr. Kakugawa, who excelled at track and football, graduated in 1977 and left for the mainland with college scholarships. He quickly married, had two sons, finished college and divorced. Mr. Kakugawa says he held a string of jobs and used cocaine. He has been convicted three times for possession and sale of drugs since the late 1990s, according to Los Angeles County Superior Court records. He says he has spent much of the past six years in and out prison.

 

Both men say they lost touch once Mr. Kakugawa, two years older than the 45-year-old Mr. Obama, left Hawaii for the mainland. Mr. Kakugawa says he knew little of Mr. Obama's rise over the years. When he heard from someone about the death in 1992 of Mr. Obama's grandfather, who was popular with the high-school teens, he also heard that Mr. Obama was a lawyer in Chicago. Mr. Kakugawa says he hasn't read Mr. Obama's book, though someone told him several years ago that he was in it. About a year ago he learned Mr. Obama might run for president. "My father woke me up one Sunday morning and said, 'Barry's on TV!'" he says.

 

Reporters began digging through Mr. Obama's life, using his autobiography as a roadmap. They descended on Punahou School and some began tracing the real names of friends Mr. Obama disguised with pseudonyms in his book. On a parallel track, Mr. Obama's researchers began sifting the same ground -- as most campaigns do -- gathering background on past friends and acquaintances who might help, or embarrass, the campaign.

 

On March 10, while Mr. Obama was crossing Iowa in a minibus attending rallies of thousands of supporters, Mr. Kakugawa was released from his minimum-security prison in California and rode a Greyhound bus to Los Angeles. He called his elderly father, who told him several reporters were trying to reach him.

 

Mr. Kakugawa was destitute and homeless. At a Los Angeles social-service agency he met a past acquaintance, an aspiring rap-music writer and performer, Jason Myles, who works as "Bobby Bang." He moved into the rapper's car -- a battered, dulled-silver 1989 Mazda 626, with nearly 156,000 miles on the odometer. At night they park on a street blocks from Skid Row, recline the front seats to sleep and share a quilt. They say they've pawned audio equipment, to help buy additional minutes for a shared cellphone.

 

Reminiscing in an interview about his youth with Mr. Obama, Mr. Kakugawa acknowledged his current troubles, but added: "I don't want anything said or done that will hurt his presidential campaign." In a follow-up email sent from a downtown social-service agency called WorkSource, Mr. Kakugawa wrote: "Please dont [sic] put Sen. Obama in a bad light 4 knowing me."

 

Last Thursday, Mr. Kakugawa called Mr. Obama's Senate office from an outdoor pay phone on an L.A. street corner. According to an Obama staffer, Mr. Kakugawa identified himself as an old friend and was put through to Mr. Obama's personal assistant. He was then patched through to Mr. Obama, who said he'd just left the Senate floor.

 

"He was utterly amazed," Mr. Kakugawa says. "I told him how proud I am of him." He says the senator asked about Mr. Kakugawa's father and brother. Mr. Kakugawa says he didn't want to talk about his problems; Mr. Obama indicated he knew. "I'm really sorry," the senator said, according to Mr. Kakugawa. "How bad is it for you?"

 

Mr. Kakugawa said he was struggling and needed help. Later, he summarized the exchange as "short, sweet and to the point. He really acted like he didn't have a lot of time to spend with me." Mr. Obama said he had to get to New Hampshire for a weekend of campaigning, according to Mr. Kakugawa, and cautioned him against talking to reporters.

 

Mr. Obama declined to be interviewed about the conversation but said in an earlier interview that he recently became aware that Mr. Kakugawa had "serious issues."

 

A campaign spokesman confirms the two men talked, adding, "It was a nice conversation between folks that knew each other a long time ago."

 

At Mr. Obama's suggestion, Mr. Kakugawa says, he called Devorah Adler, a campaign researcher who maintains contacts with Obama family and friends who might get press inquiries, to advise them and act as a go-between. Tensions rose when Mr. Kakugawa asked for some money to be wired to him via Western Union, according to both him and Ms. Adler. Ms. Adler brought in senior adviser Robert Gibbs, and together they phoned Mr. Kakugawa last Saturday.

 

"Sen. Obama really does want to help," Mr. Gibbs told Mr. Kakugawa, according to both men's recollection. The advisers suggested Mr. Kakugawa get help from social-service agencies, and that the Obama office would help with that. But he would not get money, Mr. Gibbs said.

 

The exchange left Mr. Kakugawa upset. "Everybody's just abandoned me," he says.

 

"Obviously [sen. Obama] feels badly that Keith, 30 years later, has fallen on hard times," says Mr. Gibbs, the Obama campaign aide. "There's a sadness to this, a distinct human sadness to this story."

 

So bottom line is, Obama's 'big brother' , who was so important to him growing up, asked for some help, and he said no. And before you all try to say 'Well, X wouldn't have sent money either', that's not the point. Just pointing out that the Democrats compassion has a limit, and here you see it.

[Texsox]

Seems Obama is just like Walmart, making sure that those in need know how to get access to the social services offered by the government.

 

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117...g_20070330.html

 

 

So bottom line is, Obama's 'big brother' , who was so important to him growing up, asked for some help, and he said no. And before you all try to say 'Well, X wouldn't have sent money either', that's not the point. Just pointing out that the Democrats compassion has a limit, and here you see it.

 

You are stretching here.

[EvilMonkey]

You are stretching here.

Stretching how? Obama certainly isn't stretching his compassion by helping his best bud out with some cash. He certainly can afford it. Or is it just a case of tough-love? If you are refering to the Walmart comparrison, ok, you got me there, it was just I saw a Walmart ad just as I read that, and with him havnig his staff point his bud the right way to the social services availabel, it just reminded me of the evil Walmart.

[Texsox]

Stretching how? Obama certainly isn't stretching his compassion by helping his best bud out with some cash. He certainly can afford it. Or is it just a case of tough-love? If you are refering to the Walmart comparrison, ok, you got me there, it was just I saw a Walmart ad just as I read that, and with him havnig his staff point his bud the right way to the social services availabel, it just reminded me of the evil Walmart.

 

Are you suggesting that the best way to help someone is to just give them money?

[EvilMonkey]

Are you suggesting that the best way to help someone is to just give them money?

I thought that was the liberal way of thinking? Oh wait, it's give them someone elses's money. Nevermind. Seriously, I am not suggesting that is the BEST way, but considering what an important role this guy payed in his life, and the prominent place in his book, you would think he would be a little more generous, if not with his money, then with his time. Especially considering the negative view he will get for shunning a friend in need. This is such an overwhelmng display of compassion he is displaying towards a great childhood friend. NOT!

[thedoctor]

I thought that was the liberal way of thinking?

 

no, that's a conservative's interpretation of a liberal way of thinking.

[Gregory Pratt]

Obama clearly wants nothing to do with him because he's a bum and has all these problems. Not saying that not giving him money is bad -- just that Obama clearly doesn't want to be involved at all and so he's trying to pawn it off on his staff by telling them to get him to a social agency or something but the truth is he doesn't want to be associated with this guy.

[thedoctor]

Obama clearly wants nothing to do with him because he's a bum and has all these problems. Not saying that not giving him money is bad -- just that Obama clearly doesn't want to be involved at all and so he's trying to pawn it off on his staff by telling them to get him to a social agency or something but the truth is he doesn't want to be associated with this guy.

 

yep.

 

if obama sends him some cash and the next day the guy gets busted buying an eight-ball you can guess someone will be posting a link about how obama is financing his friend's drug problem.

 

obama did absolutely the right thing here.

[Texsox]

And getting back to the WalMart and social services comment.

 

If you disagree with all social programs for the working poor then anything after this you will disagree with. But I see two groups of people getting social services in this country.

 

Those that are doing nothing to help themselves. They aren't going to school, looking for work, etc. And quite frankly I'm tired of them getting any social help.

 

The working poor, in my book, is the easiest to give to. They are at least grabbing a low rung on the working ladder and trying to move up. I don't have a problem helping them with child care, education, health care, etc. They are getting off the earlier kind of social services and hopefully breaking the cycle. These programs are easy for me to believe in and I don't mind writing that check. The problem is, as I learned first hand at a child care seminar, the programs are difficult to understand,difficult to find out about, and difficult to get. If an employer wishes to help their employees to obtain this help, I think they should be thanked.

 

The best parallel I can think of is college financial aid. No one seriously complains that Universities have large departments trying to lure kids in to take this money. No one is telling them to reduce their tuition instead of living off of these programs.

 

As far as liberals wanting to give them someone else's money. Well, the GOP wants to run huge deficits to stimulate the economy and make it grow. The money has to go somewhere so we can not collect the taxes and then borrow from foreign banks. So the Dems want to tax and send it to the people and the GOP wants to borrow from China and give it to them.

 

Now I have friends from High School. Several where very close to me, at the time. Do you seriously think if someone you haven't heard from in decades turns up and asks for money you would just give it to them. GMAB.If this was a REP you would be tripping over yourself to defend the action. Perhaps call it compassionate conservatism or some nice catch phrase like that.

[EvilMonkey]

If this was a REP you would be tripping over yourself to defend the action. Perhaps call it compassionate conservatism or some nice catch phrase like that.

And you, and every other liber in here, would be screaming "Where's that compassionate conservatism at?" should the R not give him help, and you know it. Obama couldn't even stand to talk to the guy on the phone, he rushed him off because he has no time. I agree with your assessment of the two groups of people getting aid. And come on, have you ever seen a problem yet that the Democrats HAVEN'T said could be fixed by spending more money? Grades are down! Oh, more money for teachers! Crime is up! OK, more money for cops. Polling numbers down! OH, more money for pork projects! (To be fair, that last one goes for both parties).

[NorthSideSox72]

And you, and every other liber in here, would be screaming "Where's that compassionate conservatism at?" should the R not give him help, and you know it. Obama couldn't even stand to talk to the guy on the phone, he rushed him off because he has no time. I agree with your assessment of the two groups of people getting aid. And come on, have you ever seen a problem yet that the Democrats HAVEN'T said could be fixed by spending more money? Grades are down! Oh, more money for teachers! Crime is up! OK, more money for cops. Polling numbers down! OH, more money for pork projects! (To be fair, that last one goes for both parties).

You're right on the complaining of course, it would work the same the other way around. And 10 or 15 years ago, I would have agreed that tax-and-spend was the biggest, most annoying problem for the Democrats. But since about 2000, that is simply no longer true. The GOP has spent like there is no tomorrow, and worse, did it on credit. So if you really want to see where spending is a problem, don't look t parties - just look at Congress as a whole.

[Texsox]

And you, and every other liber in here, would be screaming "Where's that compassionate conservatism at?"

 

I would not. I am very consistent with behavioral issues and never draw a distinction between parties. There is no way I would expect anyone to offer money in this case. I know I wouldn't.

[EvilMonkey]

I would not. I am very consistent with behavioral issues and never draw a distinction between parties. There is no way I would expect anyone to offer money in this case. I know I wouldn't.

Then in your case, i stand corrected. You would, however, be in the very small minority. Not that that is a bad thing.

[Mplssoxfan]

I liken this situation to one that occurs quite often in the realm of sports. Whenever an athlete is running with some buddies and he's caught smoking weed, carrying weapons, etc. (think Tank Johnson), the reaction of a lot of people is, "What an idiot! He needs new friends!" Some people, though, say that he's "keepin' it real" by not abandoning his pals from his youth.

 

It was probably painful for Obama, and I'm sure it'll fuel the "He's not Black enough" talk, but I think he made the right choice.

[CanOfCorn]

Alpha...this guy showed up after almost 30 years!!! C'mon, man. I'm not a religious man, but I do believe that God helps those who help themselves...except replace God with, well, anyone. If he was clean, working, but needed some help to pay his rent, then MAYBE I give him money. But, just asking for cash...fergit it.

 

I don't blame Obama and I wouldn't blame a Republican for doing the same thing.

[southsider2k5]

Personally I would have told the guy to go get help as well...

[Texsox]

Personally I would have told the guy to go get help as well...

 

And I'll bet you would have also gone the extra mile and offered to help find him help.

[kapkomet]

Personally I would have told the guy to go get help as well...

 

Now I know what you're going to do to me when I crack up and have to go to the old fogey's home...

 

[Texsox]

 

Now I know what you're going to do to me when I crack up and have to go to the old fogey's home...

 

 

You can call President Bush, Jeb Bush

[southsider2k5]

 

Now I know what you're going to do to me when I crack up and have to go to the old fogey's home...

 

 

Who told you?