The Blago Trial

Stanford Alumni Blow the Whistle on Valerie Jarrett

November 16th, 2009 7 Comments

All is not lost in the Ivory Tower!

In September/October, Stanford Magazine ran a lavish softball profile of Valerie Jarrett (Stanford ‘78) on her role as Barack Obama’s confidante (h/t – reader Ed R.):

Jarrett has been an ever-present figure throughout Obama’s improbable ascent and has become a star in her own right. She appears regularly on national television advocating the president’s position on an array of issues. She was profiled in July on the cover of the New York Times Magazine, and earlier in Vogue. She is that rare political appointee who becomes a public figure, known to millions despite working in what would typically be a behind-the-scenes role.

Political savvy, extraordinary personal skills and intense loyalty established Jarrett as a central member of Obama’s inner circle long before she arrived at the White House. She was co-manager of the presidential campaign, but more appropriately she was its guiding light—the person in every room who best knew the Illinois senator, and who held the most sway. Considered a candidate for Obama’s vacated Senate seat, Jarrett declined the opportunity. “I want her inside the White House,” Obama insisted. “She is family,” the president told the Times; “. . . she is someone I trust completely.”

The piece appeared in the wake of the Jarrett-engineered Van Jones debacle and the Obama/Jarrett/Chicago crony Olympics flop. Like the massive New York Times profile published earlier this year, the Stanford Magazine piece was mum on Jarrett’s hardball days and failed developer record as a slum lord.

But Stanford alumni made sure the magazine’s readership knew the rest of the story.

Rush Limbaugh Discusses Steve King Video

November 13th, 2009 3 Comments

Yesterday afternoon, Rush Limbaugh mentioned the video of Rep. Steve King (R-IA) discussing Valerie Jarrett that was broken here on Tuesday.

Here is what Rush had to say:

RUSH: Steve King, Republican from Iowa, continues to tell it like it is. And, frankly, we need more Republicans like this guy. The Washington News Observer interviewed Steve King and a reporter said, “What is your opinion of Valerie Jarrett, who is the female consigliere for Obama?”

KING: Valerie Jarrett is a product of Chicago politics, the Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama, son and daughter of Saul Alinsky, linked up with Mayor Daley, the Chicago machine, we know what it is. Someone called it gangster government. In Chicago you have gangster government. Valerie Jarrett’s been in the middle of that and the links she has with William Ayers and other nefarious characters in Chicago tell us what we’ve got in the White House itself. I mean she’s there, there are a number of links directly to Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett, and they go back to Chicago.

RUSH: And don’t forget it was Bill Clinton who used this term — “thug politics” — when talking about Obama. It was during the 2008 presidential primaries. Montel Williams, you know, there’s a lot of lunacy on the left. Chris Matthews is actually losing it I think, and I don’t say this to get a laugh. I think, folks, we are driving ‘em nuts. They are more afraid of or consider us their biggest enemy, no foreign enemy comes even as close to frightening them and worrying them as conservatives do in this country.

Valerie Jarrett’s “Gangster Government”

November 12th, 2009 2 Comments

“They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way.”—Jim Malone, The Untouchables.

Call it “gangster government”—an over-glorified protection racket that favors those who tow the party line, and viciously retaliates against those who dare to depart from the dogma of the Dear Leader.

Said Congressman Steve King in an exclusive interview with the Washington News Observer, “In Chicago, you have gangster government. Valerie Jarrett’s been in the middle of that—she’s been brokering power for a long time—and the links she has with William Ayers and other nefarious characters in Chicago tell us what we’ve got in the White House itself.”

In other words, either you pay tribute to Obama, or you pay the price—Chicago-style. As Jarrett recently stated at the recent World Economic Forum in Switzerland that, “I think knowing Chicago is essential to knowing America and our new President.”

That’s it, a racket. And Jarrett is at the heart of it. According to CNN, “Obama says he runs every important decision by Jarrett, trusts her completely and considers her family.” And, you never go against the family.

Valerie Jarrett’s Health Care Travesty

November 10th, 2009 9 Comments

On November 2, 2009 White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett gave a video web-chat on “Health Reform and Underserved Communities.”

During the web-chat Ms. Jarrett claimed that “we are the richest country in the world,” and the fact that there are millions in our country without health insurance is a “travesty.” We think she meant “tragedy,” but we won’t dwell on that.

Well, the United States may be the richest country in the world on some barometer, but if we are, then we are also the richest country in the world with a ballooning national debt (currently at nearly $12 trillion), an ever weakening national currency, and steadily increasing unemployment, which currently stands at 10.2%. Given that the workforce in the U.S. is roughly estimated at 154 million persons, that comes to about 15.7 million persons unemployed.

Now, Ms. Jarrett and the White House claim that there are millions uninsured ― they don’t seem to be sure whether it is 30 or 45 million. Now that is not 30 or 45 million who are not getting necessary medical care, but 30 or 45 million who do not have insurance. But there are at least 15.7 million that do not have a job, i.e., the income necessary to take care of themselves and their families. And as Ms. Jarrett says, “One of the major reasons why people don’t have health insurance is because they can’t afford it.” The roughly 15.7 million unemployed are persons who cannot afford health insurance as well as mortgage payments, education, food, clothing, heat…

But here’s the real “tragedy.” Unemployment has been steadily on the rise since the President took office in January. So while more and more Americans are losing their jobs, Ms. Jarrett and the White House are spending all their time trying to make sure that people who may or may not need health insurance get health insurance, while allowing the number of Americans who need jobs to steadily increase.

Now that’s a “travesty” of good government.

Rep. Steve King Discusses Valerie Jarrett

November 10th, 2009 22 Comments

Mrs. Jarrett, I Don’t Think That Means What You Think It Means.

November 9th, 2009 17 Comments

In January of 2009, President Obama sent Valerie Jarrett to represent him at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Her speech was supposed to be on “The New US Agenda.” However, she spent half the speech talking about who Barack Obama is. (Side note: so half of the US agenda is the President himself?) And the one thing the audience understands clearly about Barack Obama after her speech can be summed up in one word: Chicago.

“I think knowing Chicago is essential to knowing America and our new President,” she told them. Chicago was the city where he got his start as a community organizer. And since, she claimed, all that most of the audience (at the World Economic Forum, no less) knew about Chicago was Oprah and Michael Jordan, she proceeded to tell them that it is the heartland of America, with a hardworking, pragmatic populace. She neglected to mention that it is also infamous for its widespread culture of political corruption.

She passed over the fact that in the past 30 years 79 local officials have been convicted of corruption. That would have sounded awkward given her claim that “Chicago was a natural for the president.”

The panegyric continued, “In so many ways, he embodies those timeless values that sum up the spirit of the city.” For example, the persistent tradition of machine and thug politics (mostly extinct elsewhere in the country) in the midst of which the President got his start in politics, evident in his electoral tactics: prior to the 2008 presidential election, the only election in which his opponents were not either thrown off the ballot because Obama’s campaign challenged their required signatures, or hit by scandals from sealed divorce records, was his 2000 primary challenge against Democrat Bobby Rush (which resulted in a resounding defeat for the President). Or perhaps his espousal of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, a book the author dedicated to Lucifer, aka, Satan and the Devil.

Thank you, Mrs Jarrett. Your admission, ahem, insight has been illuminating.

Valerie Jarrett: The Next Van Jones

November 5th, 2009 42 Comments

From Ben Johnson at Front Page Mag:

Many have wondered how anyone as extreme as Obama’s “Green Jobs Czar” Van Jones – a self-described “Communist” obsessed with racial conspiracy theories – could have been named to head a federal agency. David Horowitz described the radicalization of the Democratic Party as the appointment’s subtext. Closer to the fore, Jones owed his elevation to another new factor: the unparalleled influence of Valerie Jarrett. To call Jarrett a presidential adviser, even a close adviser, is misleading. She is an alter ego, an inner conscience, a touchstone of clarity for both President Obama and first lady Michelle. In the frenzy of the presidency, she reminds both Obamas of their identity and deepest-held beliefs. In exchange, the president makes no decision without her and has said she can “speak for me.” Unfortunately, she is also a racially polarizing elitist. She obtained her first foothold in Chicago politics through the patronage of a former SDS radical who regrets “nothing” about her role in the Days of Rage and ventured in 2003 that she “would probably reject violence as a useful form of revolution.” The same radical tried to persuade Rod Blagojevich to name Jarrett to Obama’s empty senate seat. Instead, Jarrett has served as a conduit of far-leftists into the administration.

“We Have Kind of a Mind Meld”

One thing is beyond question: Jarrett’s unprecedented sway over the president. An Obama 2008 campaign official told the New York Times, “If you want him to do something, there are two people he’s not going to say no to: Valerie Jarrett and Michelle Obama.” Susan Sher, who helped Jarrett recruit Michelle Obama to the Chicago mayor’s office before Michelle married the president, said, “I don’t think either of them [the Obamas] made major decisions without talking to her,” adding that Jarrett failed to appreciate “how incredibly instrumental she’ll be in virtually everything” in the White House.

The president confirms Jarrett’s tremendous cache with him, personally and politically. In July, Obama told New York Times reporter Robert Draper, “I trust her completely…She is family.” Obama trusts Jarrett “to speak for me, particularly when we’re dealing with delicate issues.” When asked, he admitted he runs every decision by her.

If Jarrett failed to anticipate her power, she acknowledges her closeness to the leader of the free world. “We have kind of a mind meld,” Jarrett said about Obama. “And chances are, what he wants to do is what I’d want to do.” Chicago tycoon Martin Nesbitt identified the source of Jarrett’s power in the fact that she establishes both Michelle and Barack’s “whole notion of authenticity.” Nesbitt relates she channels the Obamas’ inner voice, telling them: “That’s not you. You wouldn’t say that. Somebody else is saying that. Barack Obama wouldn’t say that.” Jarrett admitted to Vogue, “I kind of know what makes them who they are.”

Remember, Mrs. Jarrett, those who live in glass houses…

November 5th, 2009 No Comments

Let’s return to Valerie Jarrett’s interview with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, and her comment that Republicans were “becoming more and more extreme and more and more marginalized,” shall we? She cited as evidence of this that “moderate” Republican Dede Scozzafava had been “force[d] out” of the race for the NY-23.

So, Republicans are extreme for preferring a candidate who opposes abortion and believes in fiscal responsibility. And these positions are mainstream in American conservatism, which is a mainstream political viewpoint shared by, according to the latest Gallup poll, 40% of Americans.

That makes sense.

So Republicans are outside of the mainstream. Unlike former White House Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones, self-avowed former communist and 9/11 truther whom Valerie Jarrett “was so delighted to be able to recruit to the White House.” Or FCC Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd who claims that the conservative dominance of talk radio stems not from the free market, but from deliberate control by media moguls, or, in other words, the vast right-wing conspiracy.* Or Science Czar John Holdren, who advocated placing sterilizing agents in drinking water to prevent overpopulation.

Because those, Mrs. Jarrett, are all mainstream views.

*This links to an audio file of a forum on Media Reform and Social Change. Listen from 8:48 to 10:24.

So Who’s Marginalized Again, Mrs. Jarrett?

November 4th, 2009 2 Comments

It depends on what the meaning of marginalized is…

Another claim put forth by trusted Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett in her interview with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday was that Republicans are “becoming… more and more marginalized.”

Well, of course, you’re right, Mrs. Jarrett. And yesterday’s elections prove this beyond a doubt. Like in typically deep blue New Jersey, where Republican Chris Christie just ousted incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine by four points —which Pres. Obama carried by nearly 15 points —we see a 19 point shift in favor of the “marginalized” GOP.

And in Virginia, the crown jewel of Pres. Obama’s 2008 election victory ― which he carried by 6 points ― we see that Republican Bob McDonnell won the governorship by nearly 20 points, carrying his home county of Fairfax in supposedly blue Northern Virginia. Furthermore, Republicans swept the statewide elections, and padded their majority in the Virginia House of Delegates. That, Mrs. Jarrett, is a 26 point shift in favor of the “marginalized” Republicans.

And key to both Obama’s 2008 victories and McDonnell and Christie’s 2009 victories was the independent vote. In New Jersey Christie won independents 60% to 30%, after Obama won them 51% to 47%. In Virginia the independent vote went 66% to 33% for McDonnell, after going for Obama 49% to 48%. Those are 13 and 18 point shifts for the GOP, respectively.

Clearly, Mrs. Jarrett, the facts bear it out: the Republican Party is becoming more and more “marginalized” every day. Hang on… “marginalized” means “relevant”, right?