Chicago Daily Observer

Conservatives shouldn’t chortle too much over the beginning appointments made by Barack Obama, jibing that they are re-treads from retaining George W. Bush’s secretary of defense Bob Gates to picking Hillary Clinton for secretary of state, recycling Paul Volcker (an original Jimmy Carter appointment) to plucking up Larry Summers and making him a White House adviser. I had feared from the outset that the appointments would be denizens of the Harvard or University of Chicago faculty lounges…theorists with no experience whatever, similar to those Franklin Roosevelt picked and who paralyzed the recovery.

I would damn sight rather be governed by Bob Gates as defense chief, Paul Volcker as head of an economic commission and Larry Summers than some of the names who were suggested. At any rate, Obama will turn leftward in time…which will upset us all: with appointments to the federal bench and regulatory agencies.

Sometimes conservatives bother me…as ... Read More...

Before her death, Barack Obama’s grandmother in Hawaii gave his campaign $2,300, which is precisely $2,300 more than Obama himself donated to his $639 million, record-breaking war chest.

And in this practice, Obama is in good company. Buried in federal election records is a curious fact: Candidates often don’t financially support their own campaigns.

Records show that John McCain, he of the seven houses, did not donate to his presidential campaign. Neither did Sarah Palin. Joe Biden didn’t chip in for his own national run either. Mayor Richard Daley also has a closed wallet when it comes to funding his or anybody else’s campaign.