My Chicago connections keep rearing up and biting me on the bottom, this time when Hillary Clinton’s attack machine clubbed Barack Obama with his not-for-profit connection to Bill Ayers. In the 21st century Bill and wife Bernardine Dohrn had become mainstream political fixtures in Chicago, doing good work around education and children’s issues. They have led a positively tame life. Bill and his late father frequently took Bill’s kids to Cubs games, and Bill and Bernardine burst with pride when their kids made it to the Ivy League–and won a Rhodes Scholarship. But in the eyes of media and political scandal-mongers, mere “association” with aging radicals is enough to taint one for life. This has me worried. It also has me grinning at the irony.
I worry because my husband Monte recently “associated” with Bill Ayers at a dinner in Chicago. The host is a relative of Bills, and Bill had dropped by for a visit. Recalling the dinner, I immediately fretted that Monte’s recent “association” with Bill might imperil my chances of election to the PTA .
I grin, however, at the irony of at my own long-ago “association” with Bill and Bernardine. I met them at an election night party in November 1992 celebrating Bill Clinton’s Presidential victory returning a Democrat to the White House. Bernardine was distracted by residual pain from a wisdom tooth extraction, but Ayers was ebullient, and chucked our infant daughter under the chin. Both cheered elatedly when the networks called it for Clinton.
Oh, and where was Barack Obama in 1992? Spearheading a voter registration drive in Chicago–to help elect Bill Clinton.
