Dan Riehl has a much more detailed post on Obama’s Marxist ties here, but for a short reference, check out Stanley Kurtz’s article discussing Obama and his links to ACORN, a neo-Trotskyite group active in far-left wing politics among the low income inner city population. His links to this group and its Chicago surrogates such as the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America runs deeper than one could truly be comfortable with.

Pundita also serves up some delicious details about Obama’s run in 1996 for Illinois State Senate under a Marxist party line.

Concerning the Chicago DSA mentioned above, of particular noteworthiness is their 1996 endorsement of Obama suring his IL state senate run:

Chicago DSA Endorsements in the March 19th Primary Election
Barack Obama

Barack Obama is running to gain the Democratic ballot line for Illinois Senate 13th District. The 13th District is Alice Palmer’s old district, encompassing parts of Hyde Park and South Shore.

Mr. Obama graduated from Columbia University and promptly went into community organizing for the Developing Communities Project in Roseland and Altgeld Gardens on the far south side of Chicago. He went on to Harvard University, where he was editor of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated with a law degree. In 1992, he was Director of Illinois Project Vote, a voter registration campaign that made Carol Moseley Braun’s election to the U.S. Senate much easier than it would have been. At present, he practices law in Judson Miner’s law firm and is President of the board of the Annenberg Challenge Grant which is distributing some $50 million in grants to public school reform efforts.

What best characterizes Barack Obama is a quote from an article in Illinois Issues, a retrospective look at his experience as a community organizer while he was completing his degree at Harvard:

“… community organizations and organizers are hampered by their own dogmas about the style and substance of organizing. Most practice … a ‘consumer advocacy’ approach, with a focus on wrestling services and resources from outside powers that be. Few are thinking of harnessing the internal productive capacities, both in terms of money and people, that already exist in communities.” (Illinois issues, September, 1988)

Luckily, Mr. Obama does not have any opposition in the primary. His opponents have all dropped out or were ruled off the ballot. But if you would like to contribute to his campaign, make the check payable to Friends of Barack Obama, 2154 E. 71st, Chicago, IL 60649. If you would like to become involved in his campaign, call the headquarters at (312) 363-1996.

Scary what you can find when you scratch the surface, no?