Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Oct. 16, 2008

Not to be indelicate (much less needlessly provocative), but I wonder when news is reported about the US election in Vietnam, do they refer to GOP Presidential nominee Sen. John McCain as (say…) "a former terrorist bomber during our war with the US, who killed many innocent women and children from his airplane until he crashed in Hanoi and was captured and held by our forces."

Now, strong political differences with McCain aside, I do not regard him as any sort of a war criminal…but, seriously, what about that statement could you dispute from a Vietnamese point of view? And what does the Senator’s return from war captivity (and, frankly, growth from a reckless, playboyish "youth" that lasted into nearly his 40s) to become an often-crusading, generally reform-minded politician say about the old adage about "second acts" in an American public life?

Which brings me around to Bill Ayers. John McCain and (apparently more so) Sarah Palin want to paint Ayers as a past "terrorist" against the US…AND then, because of some occasional past neighborhood and charitable / organizational board proximity, they are broad-brushing Sen. Barack Obama as a guy who "palled around" with a domestic terrorist.

Here’s my first question: Aren’t some people in those growingly rabid – but limited – McCain-Palin crowds at least wondering why this "domestic terrorist" (that they likely have never heard of) is walking around Chicago’s Hyde Park a free man? Hmm – enquiring minds want to know…

Yes, Ayers was a leading member of the 1960s / ’70s student radical group, the Weatherman (often referred to collectively as "the Weathermen"; later, they became known as the Weather Underground Organization). This group was named after a Bob Dylan lyric ("You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the winds blow") and sought – very actively and, at times, violently – to bring an end to the Vietnam War.

During this period, Ayers – and his then future-wife Bernardine Dohrn – were believed to have participated in devising and planting bombs as extreme war protests. Even though evacuation warnings were regularly issued before these explosions – and it is believed that no one was seriously injured during the bombings that Ayers and Dohrn were involved with – federal charges (with limited evidence) were issued against both of them.

Yes, yes, you may be saying – so WHY aren’t they (or even WEREN’T they) in prison? Because several years later – while both were "underground" after the more violent escapades (and even deaths) of some of their one-time associates – federal charges were dropped over former prosecutorial misconduct (related to the Nixon-era cranking up of the FBI’s questionable COINTELPRO infiltration and "dirty tricks" program against any leftish, protest, or suspicious groups). In 1980, after having two children, Ayers and Dohrn resurfaced and turned themselves in; later, they also took in imprisoned former counterpart Kathy Boudin’s son and raised him to adulthood.

So…what of Ayers’ second act?

Since the early 1980s, he has done the following: Apologized for and tried to analyze and explain his youthful protests and actions (although he has not completely rejected his past); worked for and obtained multiple advanced degrees in education; written several books and many articles on education theory and practice; worked with Mayor Daley (that noted cuddler of terrorists) in successfully and historically reforming the city's public school system (including co-authoring a grant proposal that brought in millions for public schools; he received Chicago’s "Citizen of the Year" award for this work in 1997); served on the Board of Directors of an anti-poverty, philanthropic foundation (this was his most durable contact with fellow board member Obama – some 12 times in two years); became a "Distinguished Professor" in education at the University of Illinois at Chicago; and, perhaps most notably recently, issued a memoir in 2001, released just before 9/11, which resulted in interviews with him that came out right after the tragedies.

The resulting articles from those interviews were notable – and, to many, notorious – because Ayers not only talked about regrets, but also expressed the thought that "We didn’t do enough" during the Weather days – meaning (he later explained) that he believed they could have worked harder and in different ways to oppose the war…NOT that he thought they should have done more bombings.

Of course, to those that completely opposed him and his prior actions, the expressed regrets were ignored and the musings about what they could have done during that conflicting, complicated time were interpreted as meaning he wished he had caused more damage or hurt people.

And – as for "Ayers & Obama"? Yes, they were fellow charity board members, but also relative neighbors (in a large, broad neighborhood)…oh, and in 1995, Ayers hosted a coffee meeting supporting Obama’s initial political run…and in 2001, he made a $200 contribution to IL State Sen. Obama’s re-election fund. And that’s it.

So…not only do McCain supporters and current undecided voters have to decide: A) Does all this mean that Ayers was / is indeed a domestic terrorist (or, perhaps rather a protesting youth who took things way too far…but now regrets those actions and has dedicated the majority of his adult life to helping and teaching others)?; B) Is the limited contact he had with Sen. Obama (almost nothing beyond perhaps passing each other on the street since 2002) anything close to "palling around"?; and C) No matter the answers to A) and B) – even if the worst possible answers are assumed (i.e., yes, Ayers was a late-‘60s / early-‘70s terrorist; and, yes, he and Obama were "pals") – what the hell do those questions have anything to do with Sen. Obama and his qualification to become President?

…Oh, it’s a matter of appropriateness and choices, you say? As if every act some older acquaintance may have committed WHEN YOU WERE ONLY 8 YEARS OLD should determine your complete opinion of them? And…as if no maturing, no rehabilitation, no rededication to "better" causes to perhaps balance out youthful mistakes is ever possible? Is that what those at-times frothing McCain-Palin crowds are thinking and feeling?

Well, then – if so, I guess it’s a good thing that THEIR man didn’t redirect HIS later years in reformist directions that his earlier, more reckless younger self may have never anticipated or thought important. Oh, wait…ahh, it gets complicated, doesn’t it? I suppose we could ask the Vietnamese for their opinions – or perhaps we could all just take a breath (or two) and attempt to see through mere solipsistic talking points…

For more coverage of Illinois politics, look for my regular, weekly posts (usually on Wednesdays) here on The Stonecipher Report. (And, for a free subscription to my twice-weekly e-mail column on politics and pop-culture, "And, in the News…" send a note to: m_l_sweeney@hotmail.com)