Republikanernes forsøk på å nagle Barack Obama til Bill Ayers er tåpelig. Obama var aldri tett på Ayers. Derimot burde de ta en titt på hans åtte år i lokalpolitikken i Chicago. Det var ikke mye «change» over hans linje. Det var pragmatisk tilpasning til den rådende politikken, også korrupsjonen til borgermester Richard Daley.

Obama viste at han var en realpolitiker som gjør det som trengs for å vinne venner og innflytelse. Ikke noe galt med det, men det passer dårlig med imaget som den store forandrer og reformator.

A more promising avenue for Republican investigators might be Mr Obama’s eight-year career as a state politician that began with that «coffee» in Mr Ayers’ house. Mr Obama seldom talks about that period, perhaps because it sits awkwardly with his image as a political reformer.

Critics say that the ambitious young senator became an astute practitioner of old-style politics and that, far from opposing Chicago’s political machine, notorious for corruption and patronage, he embraced it. «I have seen no proof in Barack Obama’s past that he’s an agent of change or that he’s a reformer,» said Delmarie Cobb, a Democratic political strategist from Chicago.

Mr Obama won a seat in the state senate in 1996 by the unorthodox means of having surrogates successfully challenge the hundreds of nomination signatures that candidates submit. His Democratic rivals, including Alice Palmer, the incumbent, were all disqualified. For Mr Obama’s first six years as a senator the Democrats were the minority party, hampering his ability to push through legislation, but he learnt the political arts, joining a weekly poker school and took up golf as a means of networking. He collaborated in «redistricting» — the shameless redrawing of congressional districts for partisan advantage.

Critics suggest that political calculation may have influenced his decision to join the Trinity United Church of Christ, an African-American mega-church led by Jeremiah Wright, the fiery minister who subsequently married the Obamas, baptised their children and became his spiritual adviser. The church — 15 minutes south of Hyde Park — was favoured by the black intelligentsia. «It was a good church for an aspiring, upwardly mobile politician to join,» Ms Preckwinkle said.

If that was the reason, it backfired badly during this year’s presidential primaries when a video showed Mr Wright accusing the US Government of creating Aids to kill blacks and shouting: «God damn America.» Mr Obama first stood by Mr Wright, then left the church. Mr Wright has also stood down.

The young senator also developed a close relationship with Tony Rezko, a Syrian-born property developer (and slum landlord) convicted in June on several corruption charges. The benefits were mutual. Mr Obama supported tax incentives for developers like Rezko to refurbish low-income housing. Rezko gave and raised money for Mr Obama’s election campaigns. This friendship also backfired. In 2005 the Obamas bought their handsome Hyde Park home for $1.65 million — $300,000 less than the asking price — while Rezko’s wife, Rita, simultaneously bought the vacant lot next to it from the same owner for the full price of $625,000. This raised suspicions that Rezko was either buying Mr Obama a bigger garden or helping to reduce the cost of the house. Even Mr Obama’s supporters do not defend the malodorous arrangement. «He should never have allowed that to happen,» Barbara Flynn Currie, the local Democratic congresswoman, said. Mr Obama has admitted the deal was «boneheaded» and given Rezko’s campaign contributions to charity.

Obama tok heller ikke noe oppgjør med borgermester Richard Daley, som gjentatte ganger er tiltalt for korrupsjon. Tvert om: han støttet hans gjenvalg i 2007.

Before he was famous: the truth behind Obama’s meteoric ascent