Obama’s Mentors - The Weatherman Who Helped Author Obama's Legislation

Redacted from an in-depth article by Patti Villacorta

Pajamas Media

Despite being profiled early on in Glenn Beck's czar series, Jeff Jones — who helped author the ObamaCare bill — has received far less scrutiny than Van Jones and some others. By now, though the barrage of radicalism may have inoculated you to the fact that a member of Obama's team is best-known for his mug shots, Jeff Jones does indeed warrant the country's attention. Some people, not enough, are aware that Jeff Jones co-founded the Weathermen, led the Days of Rage in Chicago in 1969, and then went underground for the next eleven years with fellow revolutionary and current wife Eleanor Stein (who teaches "climate change" at Albany Law School). But, how many know that as late as 2007 Jones organized a re-branding of the SDS? Jeff Jones tried to reconstitute the SDS just two years ago.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969. SDS was the organizational high point for student radicalism in the United States and has been an important influence on student organizing in the decades since its collapse. Participatory democracy, direct action, radicalism, student power, shoestring budgets, and its organizational structure are all present in varying degrees in current national student activist groups. Though various organizations have been formed in subsequent years as proposed national networks for left-wing student organizing, none has approached the scale of SDS, and most have lasted a few years at best.

The Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) became official at a conference at The New School. Fellow travelers on the left were giddy, though one nominated board member couldn't make it that day: Rashid Khalidi.

Who is Rashid Khalidi?

"In The 1970s, Rashid Khalidi taught at a university in Beirut, He Often Spoke To Reporters On Behalf Of Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization."
“Khalidi Now Occupies A Prestigious Professorship Of Arab Studies At Columbia." "Many Of Khalidi's Opinions Are Troubling To Pro-Israel Activists, Such As His Defense Of Palestinians' Right To Resist Israeli Occupation And His Critique Of U.S. Policy As Biased Toward Israel."

"While Teaching At The University Of Chicago, Khalidi And His Wife Lived In The Hyde Park Neighborhood Near The Obamas. The Families Became Friends And Dinner Companions." "The Woods Fund In 2001 Gave A $40,000 Grant To The Arab American Action Network (AAAN), A Group Co-Founded By Anti-Israel Columbia University Professor Rhashid Khalidi. The Fund Gave AAAN A Second Grant Of $35,000 In 2002." (Editorial, "Obama's Terror Ties," Investor's Business Daily, 4/15/08) At The Time Of The Grants, Khalidi’s Wife, Mona Khalidi, Directed The Arab American Action Network. (Christopher Wills, "People Who Might Complicate Obama's Campaign," The Associated Press, 6/5/08)

Obama Offered A Testimonial At Khalidi’s 2003 Farewell Dinner; Other Individuals Giving Testimonials On Khalidi Included William Ayers And Bernadine Dohrn. (Sol Stern and Fred Siegel, "Mideast Parley Takes Ugly Turn At Columbia U.," The New York Sun, 2/4/05)

It was a bitter day in New York City (February 17, 2007) but did not prevent the Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) from holding a well-attended conference at New York City's New School University with about 100 “progressives” were in attendance. Organizers were pleased with the turnout and excited about the election of Manning Marable as Chair of the new Board. Of course, nothing about the progressives is free of a connection to George Soros. It so happens Manning Marable heads the Soros-funded Center for Contemporary Black History at Columbia University.

Jeff Jones also hosted an event the previous week for the Rosenberg Fund [which didn't get much coverage despite the star power of guests Susan Sarandon and Ed Asner. And yes, the Rosenberg Fund is about those Rosenbergs.

Thai Jones, the son of Jeff Jones and Eleanor Stein, wrote about his life as the son of revolutionaries in a 2004 memoir. He writes of a father who can't seem to let the movement go. When the Weathermen re-grouped in the early 70s, changing its name from the Weather Underground to the Weather Underground Organization (WUO), Jeff Jones led the way by penning an underground manifesto.

Jeff had become an adult while he was underground. Fighting the war had been his primary purpose. With it over, he could have claimed victory and abandoned militancy. He might have surfaced, held a press conference, copped a plea bargain and gone on to pursue politics in the evenings like the rest of the movement people. But, neither he nor the others considered it. They had gone too far down the path to turn around and come home.

In fact, they would become more fanatical, study Marxist-Leninist theory, and talk more seriously than ever before about toppling the government, though the chances of succeeding were now slightly higher than they had been at any other time since 1968. By 2006, Jeff Jones, Bernadine Dohrn, and William Ayers had authored a book: Sing a Battle Song: The Revolutionary Poetry, Statements, and Communiqués of the Weather Underground, 1970-1974.

More on Obama’s revolutionary background, mentors and his appointed Czars to follow.

Patti Villacorta