Federal

Slow-Building Controversy

October 10, 2008 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Commentators on the political right have fueled much of the controversy over connections between Sen. Barack Obama and 1960s-radical-turned-education professor William C. Ayers. Key moments as the story gained attention this year include:

• Feb. 2, 2008: The Daily Mail, a British newspaper, makes the Ayers-Obama connection in a column by Peter Hitchens, kicking off interest among bloggers on both sides of the Atlantic.

• Feb. 15: Bloomberg News reports that Sen. Obama and Mr. Ayers served together on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago, a philanthropy.

• April 15: At a time when the connection had become a topic on conservative radio and TV talk shows, two hosts—Sean Hannity, on his national radio show, and Steve Malzberg, on his New York radio show—raise its profile even further. In separate interviews, they suggest to George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that he ask a question about Mr. Ayers at the next night’s Democratic presidential debate in Philadelphia.

• April 16: In a debate between Sen. Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mr. Stephanopoulos asks Sen. Obama about Mr. Ayers. The Illinois senator says he is a “guy who lives in my neighborhood” and not someone “who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.” Sen. Clinton says this will be “an issue that people will be asking about.”

• April 17: Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley issues a press statement calling Mr. Ayers a “valued member of the Chicago community.”

• April 20: On ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, says the Obama-Ayers association is “open to question” and calls Mr. Ayers a “friend” of Sen. Obama’s who helped “kick off” the Democrat’s state Senate campaign.

• April 22: University of Santa Clara law professor Stephen F. Diamond, who will become a prolific blogger on the subject, makes his first blog post about it, saying the real issue is whether Sen. Obama follows the education reform ideas of Mr. Ayers.

• April 23: Sol Stern, of the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal, writes that Sen. Obama’s real problem is that Mr. Ayers is a “radical educator with influence.”

• Aug. 1: Jerome R. Corsi’s book The Obama Nation, which includes a chapter on Mr. Ayers and Sen. Obama, debuts and will end up on The New York Times bestseller list.

• Aug. 21: The American Issues Project, a conservative political action group, starts airing a television ad in parts of battleground states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania that asks: “Why would Barack Obama be friends with somebody who bombed the Capitol and is proud of it?”

• Aug. 26: The University of Illinois at Chicago sparks news stories with its release of documents from the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school improvement project in which Mr. Ayers and Mr. Obama were involved.

• Sept. 16: A “Support Bill Ayers” Web site is launched, with signatories including New York University’s Deborah Meier, a prominent school reformer who also co-writes a blog hosted by edweek.org.

• Sept. 23: Stanley Kurtz, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, writes an The Wall Street Journal commentary-page article headlined: “Obama and Ayers pushed radicalism on schools.”

• Oct. 1: The Judicial Confirmation Network, a conservative group, launches a television ad in some markets linking Sen. Obama to an unnamed associate who “helped bomb the Pentagon and said he ‘didn’t do enough.’ ”

• Oct. 4: The New York Times publishes a front-page article about the “crossed paths” between Sen. Obama and Mr. Ayers and says the two “do not appear to have been close.”

• Oct. 4: GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin uses the Times article in a campaign appearance to accuse Sen. Obama of “palling around with terrorists.” The Obama campaign responds that Gov. Palin’s attacks are “desperate,” “offensive.”

• Oct 8: In an interview with ABC News’ Charlie Gibson, Sen. Obama says of Mr. Ayers: “This is a guy who engaged in some despicable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old. ... All these statements are made simply to try to score cheap political points.”

• Oct 9: Sen. McCain cites the Ayers-Obama link in an ABC interview with Mr. Gibson, and in a campaign speech in which he refers to Mr. Ayers as “an old washed-up terrorist.”

• Oct 10: The McCain-Palin campaign launches a television ad saying Sen. Obama worked with a “terrorist” and then “lied” about it.

SOURCE: Education Week

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the October 15, 2008 edition of Education Week as Slow-Building Controversy

Events

Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal How Medicaid, SNAP Changes in Trump's Big Budget Bill Could Affect Schools
The bill will stress a major funding stream schools rely on, leading to ripple effects that make it harder for schools to offer free meals.
6 min read
President Donald Trump signs his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts at the White House on July 4, 2025, in Washington.
President Donald Trump signs his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts at the White House on July 4, 2025, in Washington. The bill cuts federal spending for Medicaid and food stamps—cuts that stand to affect students and trickle down to schools.
Evan Vucci/AP
Federal Opinion A D.C. Insider Explains What’s Changed in Education Policy
The biggest thing that people don’t understand about federal education policy? How much the details really matter.
7 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Federal What Superintendents Think About a Steady Clip of Federal K-12 Changes
A state superintendent and two district leaders shared their thoughts on the latest changes coming from Washington.
4 min read
From left, Quentin J. Lee, superintendent of Talladega City Schools, Keith Konyk, superintendent of Elizabeth Forward School District, and Eric Mackey, Alabama's state superintendent of education, discuss the latest K-12 policy changes at the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 on July 2, 2025.
From left, Quentin J. Lee, superintendent of Talladega City Schools in Alabama; Keith Konyk, superintendent of Elizabeth Forward School District in Pennsylvania; and Eric Mackey, Alabama's state superintendent of education, discuss the latest K-12 policy changes at the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 on July 2, 2025.
Kaylee Domzalski/Education Week
Federal The Senate Passed a Federal Voucher Program. What's in It?
The measure would create a national program funding private school tuition through tax credits, though states would have to opt in.
7 min read
The Senate side of the Capitol is seen in Washington, early Monday, June 30, 2025, as Republicans plan to begin a final push to advance President Donald Trump's big tax breaks and spending cuts package.
The Senate side of the Capitol is seen in Washington early on June 30, 2025, hours before Republicans narrowly passed President Donald Trump's big tax breaks and spending cuts package. The bill includes the first major federal private school choice program.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP