Borderfire Report

Former U.S. congressman, John LeBoutillier

  President Obama’s diatribe against the Cambridge cops about the arrest of his “friend”, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates contains perhaps more than the so-called Mainstream Media is reporting.
 
  In fact, Barack Obama had his own ongoing ‘problem’ with the Cambridge police while he attended Harvard Law School.
 
  As first reported in March 2007 by the Somerville Times, Harvard law student Barack Obama accumulated 17 unpaid parking tickets between 1989-1991 - and never paid the fines ad associated penalties totaling $375 until a few weeks before announcing his presidential campaign.

  In other words, as a practicing lawyer in Chicago, he allowed these tickets and penalties to remain unpaid; as an Illinois State Senator he allowed these tickets and fines to remain unpaid; and as a United States Senator he allowed these almost-two-decade-old signs of his disdain for the law to remain unpaid.
 
  As the WASHINGTON POST  reported in 2007,
“Obama received 17 parking tickets in Cambridge between 1988 and 1991, mostly for parking in a bus stop, parking without a resident permit and failing to pay the meter, records from the Cambridge Traffic, Parking and Transportation office show.”
 
  Only when he was afraid that the media would dig this up as he launched his presidential campaign did he swallow his scofflaw attitude and pay what he owed to Cambridge.
 
  Indeed, the MSM all but ignored this incident; they have been “in the tank” for Obama since he spoke at the 2004 Democratic Convention. Of course they were never going to reveal <I>anything</I> unflattering about their new ‘Post-Racial Hero.’
 
  But the unexpected diatribe at Wednesday evening’s press conference reveals a long-standing and perhaps deep-seeded attitude toward the Cambridge police department - and maybe toward authority in general.
 
  (Having lived there for six years, I can attest that the Cambridge Police are professional, courteous and respectful of the tens of thousands of students and foreigners and people of color who inhabit their city.)
 
  Here is what we now have learned:
 
  At the mention of Professor Gates, Obama could not contain himself; his self-discipline eroded and he slurred the Cambridge police as “stupid.”

  He stepped all over his health care press conference - to the point that the network news has - for over 24 hours - focused more on the Gates-Obama story than the progress of the health care bills in Congress;

  At a time when his poll rating are declining steadily, the last thing President Obama wants are stories exploring the whys of his decades as a scofflaw;

  Perhaps all of this reveals much about our new President: not only his attitude toward the police, but why he developed a cool exterior to hide much underneath.
 
  Clearly we do not know Barack Obama as well as we should. Criticizing the first black President is a risky endeavor. But he has now opened the door - just a smidgen - but it is open at last.
 
  We have a right to know this fellow’s true opinions - not just about the “stupid” police - but about many other things he so far has cleverly and cynically kept from us.
 
  Let us hope we learn these things - soon - before he leads us to places we cannot come back from.

John LeBoutillier is a former U.S. congressman and a nationally recognized political commentator. LeBoutillier has been a prolific writer and he has contributed to many major newspapers and magazines. In 1980, LeBoutillier was elected to represent New York's 6th District becoming the youngest member of the 97th Congress. He also has been a frequent commentator, host and guest of many media programs.

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