Obama Wants ‘Common Ground’
In a 1995 video interview unearthed by this reporter, Barack Obama advocated using an economic agenda to achieve a “common ground” that would be “good for all people.”
While Obama does not define what he means by “common ground” during that interview, in another video interview from the same year – publicized by this reporter last week – Obama specifically defined “common ground” as a society built on collectivism, including unions and collective bargaining.
Obama made his controversial remarks on “Connie Martinson Talks Books,” a show that airs on public television. The future politician was promoting his just published book, Dreams From My Father. At the time, Obama was a community organizer planning to launch a political career.
During a discussion about race relations, Martinson asked Obama whether economic can be used to advocate for liberalism. “Liberalism seems to fly out the window when people are nervous about their economy,” Martinson contended.
Obama replied, “Well, I think that that is true. What I do think, though, is that there is the possibility of building common ground around an economic agenda that would be good for all people.”
Just before those comments, Obama also advocated for using community organizing to bypass the U.S. court system while nudging for social change. Obama explained that it was increasingly difficult to bring employment discrimination lawsuits in civil rights cases, claiming public interest groups were “outgunned” and that the U.S. judiciary was “not sympathetic to the cause of civil rights.”
“Progress is probably not gonna come through the courts these days. We are not going to see a Brown vs. the Board of Education type of decision anytime soon.”
He continued: “What we are gonna have to do is to sort of work at the grassroots level and the community level and also rediscover some sense of mutual responsibility between black and white American if we are gonna make progress into the 21st century.”
Has Al Qaeda Infiltrated Libya’s Security Apparatus?
An Egyptian security official told this column that there is information about large-scale infiltration by al Qaeda and its affiliates within the Libyan security apparatus.
The claim comes amid speculation about how Islamists who targeted the U.S. mission in Libya seemed to have inside information about the movement of American diplomats in the country as well as the location of a supposedly secret U.S. safehouse in Libya.
KleinOnline.com has documented that the U.S. supported Libyan rebels in 2011 against Muammar Khaddafi despite widespread reports that al Qaeda groups were incorporated in the rebel ranks. The U.S. provided direct assistance, including weapons, and finances, to the Libyan rebels.
At the time, rebel leader Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi admitted in an interview that a significant number of Libyan rebels were al Qaeda fighters, many of whom had fought U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He insisted his fighters “are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists,” but added that the “members of al Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader.”
Adm. James Stavridis, NATO supreme commander for Europe, admitted in 2011 that Libya’s rebel force may include al Qaeda: “We have seen flickers in the intelligence of potential al Qaeda, Hizbullah.”
Former CIA officer Bruce Riedel went even further, telling the Hindustan Times: “There is no question that al Qaeda’s Libyan franchise, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, is a part of the opposition. It has always been Khaddafi’s biggest enemy and its stronghold is Benghazi. What is unclear is how much of the opposition is al Qaeda/Libyan Islamic Fighting Group – 2 percent or 80 percent.”
In Syria, meanwhile, the U.S. may be currently supporting al Qaeda and other jihadists fighting with the rebels targeting Assad’s regime. Last month, KleinOnline quoted a senior Syrian source claiming at least 500 hardcore mujahedeen from Afghanistan, many of whom were spearheading efforts to fight the U.S. there, have been killed in clashes with Syrian forces last month.
Also last month, this column reported that Jihadiya Salafia in the Gaza Strip, a group that represents al Qaeda in the coastal territory, had declared three days of mourning for its own jihadists who died in Syria in recent weeks.
The New York Times, Reuters, and other news outlets, have also reported on an al Qaeda presence among the Syrian rebels.