AP Lies About Obama's Red Mentor
By Cliff Kincaid
August 5, 2008
Page 3 of 5
Which of course raises the disturbing questions that must be asked:
- Did Davis recruit Obama?
- Was Obama, like Davis, Bridges and Robeson, ever a secret CPUSA member?
- Could Obama's possible secret relationship with the CPUSA help explain why the first person ever to publicly mention that "Frank" was Frank Marshall Davis, and that he had a relationship with Obama, was Gerald Horne, a writer for a CPUSA publication?
Interestingly, Horne made this disclosure or boast at a reception for the CPUSA archives at Tamiment Library at New York University. The interesting title of his talk was, "Rethinking the History and Future of the Communist Party." (web site)
Horne referred to "Frank Marshall Davis, who was certainly in the orbit of the CP―if not a member..." Of course, we know he was a member.
So how and why was Horne in a position to disclose this blockbuster information about Davis and Obama? Did he have inside information?
Two things are clear: All of Davis's personal papers should be immediately released in the name of the public's right to know. And Davis's FBI file, also in the possession of Tidwell, should be released as well (AIM has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the same file).
These are questions that must be answered because, other than Obama's recent Berlin speech, (web site) where do we find any solid evidence of his opposition to the communist philosophy?
The Delay
Coming more than five months after AIM ran its first story exposing Davis's influence over Obama, there is no excuse for AP's blatant dishonesty. It seems to represent another example of what Andrew Walden of the Hawaii Free Press has referred to as a campaign to create a CPUSA-free version of Hawaii history. (web site)
It is noteworthy that the AP writer, Sudhin Thanawala, who is based in Honolulu, wrote a previous (web site) story about Obama's upbringing which began, "Growing up as a young man of mixed race, Barack Obama benefited from the spirit of tolerance that defined Hawaii's racial climate." Nothing about the CPUSA, which was a major influence in Hawaii, was in that story, either. This piece quoted Takara as well.
Some supporters of Davis and Obama, including Davis's self-proclaimed son, have been waging a vigorous defense of Davis, even on Obama's official website, and this pressure could have gotten to AP. But this alleged son, Mark Davis, has no credibility, having written erroneously that his father was not a CPUSA member and not Obama's mentor.
If the AP wire service were doing its job, it should have broken this story, rather than running something five months later trying to distort and obscure the truth.
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