Why did Obama choose to associate with Bill Ayers when he launched his senatorial campaign?

Was Bill Ayers prominent in community or party leadership? Did he have resources to help Obama run? Why would Obama rely on any advice Ayers' would have to offer? Why does Ayers and the Weathermen Underground believe in using violence?|||How many friends does Obama actually have that will come out and say this is a actually good man and he will lead our country well. I think the fact that he seems to have no friends except for william ayers, reverend wright adds even more to his "mysteriousness" ways


nothing is more scary than the unknown and i think thats what you are getting with Obama since he repeately is contradicting what he previously said and denys everything.|||Ayers is quite prominent in the community. Obama has repeatedly discussed that he is not in any way someone that Obama will be getting advice from.





I guess the the Weathermen believed in violence because the whole peace marches were not getting anywhere, young men were being picked off by the draft and sent to a useless war and dying. I imagine they started feeling desperate. It was the wrong thing to do. As was going into vietnam. As was going in to Iraq.





Didn't gw make the statement that nothing you do before age 40 counts??|||As someone who followed the tactics of Saul Alinski who was a real in your face radical, Obama did not mind associating with him or calling a 60s bomber a 'good guy'





At that time former FBI agents said in 2001 that Ayers only wished he did more of the kids iof things he did before. There is no possibility a CHicago politician would not be aware of Ayers dangerous leanings. What you are seeing is the Obama strategy team willing to clean up the mess around Obama ... put some lipstick on the pig as he says





It does call into question Obama's honesty, judgment and discernment. Clearly not the stuff making for good national security|||A] he was Chicago's Citizen of the Year


B] he was [ still is ] a Professor with a Child education degree and contacts with a wealthy REPUBLICAN [ whose wife is now part of McCain's campaign ] through which Ayers and ONE HUNDRED others [ including Sen. Obama ] were given $50 MILLION dollars to develop an alternate education system/plan








|||"Why does Ayers and the Weathermen Underground believe in using violence?"





You mean, why DID they believe in using violence. They aren't doing those acts of violence now, do you really think they are still active? Name me the last domestic bombings you heard about. They performed a handful of violent acts almost 50 years ago (... 50... years). You don't hear/read/see them doing these violent acts now, do you? And the main guy is a university professor and doing many good things.





Back in the 60's, these people obviously saw it as the best means to get their feelings across. They acted like extremely passionate patriotic citizens. They probably felt deeply their country was being hurt by the government in their day.





Look at it from another perspective. You have a population of human beings in a free society. If you allow for free speech and free demonstrations, you will have them. People became opposed to something big (the vietnam war), therefore people protested. Being an organic swarm (the human population), you will have extremes occur. So if you allow regular protestors, you MUST expect there will be radicals and that more bigger/dangerous acts will occur too. It's the law of nature. If you want freedom to continue, you have to allow for unwanted extremes. That doesn't mean you ignore bombings and give people a get-out-of-jail-free card for violent acts, it just means you have to realize that it comes with the program. Otherwise we're robots.





Why isn't anyone talking about why they did those things? They were opposed to the Vietnam war and the US government pushing it and the things that the government did at home (in the states) to make it pushable.





Now, why, in current day... does this stuff matter when it comes to Obama running for president... let's see. Sure he maybe met this guy casually, they lived in the same neighbourhood and were connected through university professor circles, etc. Why is that a big deal? And why is it a big deal that Obama chooses to sidestep questioning about it? OF COURSE HE WOULD, he is running for president DUUUH, and he knows how most of the US population is, they jump on any little shred of information. How many "bad connections" does everyone have? TONS. Even McCain. Even you. Even me. Why is this a make-or-break piece of information, with regards to Obama?





It's impossible to be squeeky clean.





For me, if anything, Obama knowing Ayers... this makes me want to vote for Obama even more !!!!!!|||Well, my experience provides a rather simple answer, and since you seem to be looking for a grand conspiracy.





For Scout planning meetings, local get-out-the-vote postcard addressing, and church committee meeting the reasoning was easy: if you had a big living room or dining room (depending what we needed) you were chosen. My guess is that was the reason, if such a meeting occurred.|||Because actually Obama believes in the same ideas as Bill Ayers. Everyone needs to educate theirselves because they decide on which one to vote for. |||If any other is damaging to your campaign in any way, you will not associate with them.|||He wanted to start things off with a "BANG!"