The first chink in Obama's armor

[abcdefz]

From CNN:

Obama pays parking tickets: 17 years late


Obama paid $375 in unpaid parking tickets before launching his White House bid.
BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama got more than an education when he attended Harvard Law School in the late 1980s. He also got a healthy stack of parking tickets, most of which he never paid.

The Illinois Senator shelled out $375 in January -- two weeks before he officially launched his presidential campaign -- to finally pay for 15 outstanding parking tickets and their associated late fees.

The story was first reported Wednesday by The Somerville News.

Obama received 17 parking tickets in Cambridge between 1988 and 1991, mostly for parking in a bus stop, parking without a resident permit and failing to pay the meter, records from the Cambridge Traffic, Parking and Transportation office show.

He incurred $140 in fines and $260 in late fees in Cambridge in all, but he paid $25 for two of the tickets in February 1990.

Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign, dismissed the tickets as not relevant.

"He didn't owe that much and what he did owe, he paid," Psaki said on Wednesday. "Many people have parking tickets and late fees. All the parking tickets and late fees were paid in full."




Yeah, now, I know that's not a huge deal, but it is a little funky that it wasn't until he decided on a presidential run that he decided to do the right thing. That does say something.

[Dorothy Wood]

whatever, it's pretty common for college students to rack up a ton of parking tickets. he probably forgot about them. it's probably just one of those things on a list you go through when you're running for office. you have to tie up all your loose ends so that people can't use it against you later...although apparently you are.

when I became a substitute teacher, I had to sign a thing that said I didn't owe the city any money, so I had to pay my parking tickets.

my university gave out tons and tons of tickets. it sucked. it was a "no car" campus, so they had all these crazy restrictions on parking. like, say you went grocery shopping and wanted to pull up throw on your flashers and drop your groceries off. if you were inside too long, you'd come out and there'd be a ticket on your windshield. stealthy bastards. I probably got around 10 over the years. my dorm roommate got tons. we just put them on our bursar accounts and forgot about them though. heh. I used to keep a ticket on my windshield sometimes so they'd think, "oh, she's already got one". it worked a couple of times, but a couple of times it didn't :(

[afronaut]

As an asian, this offends me.

[Dorothy Wood]

no no, he's not talking about the chinese man obama keeps in his armoire.

[abcdefz]

As an asian, this offends me.


Yeah, I wondered about that.




whatever, it's pretty common for college students to rack up a ton of parking tickets. he probably forgot about them. it's probably just one of those things on a list you go through when you're running for office. you have to tie up all your loose ends so that people can't use it against you later...although apparently you are.

when I became a substitute teacher, I had to sign a thing that said I didn't owe the city any money, so I had to pay my parking tickets.

my university gave out tons and tons of tickets. it sucked. it was a "no car" campus, so they had all these crazy restrictions on parking. like, say you went grocery shopping and wanted to pull up throw on your flashers and drop your groceries off. if you were inside too long, you'd come out and there'd be a ticket on your windshield. stealthy bastards. I probably got around 10 over the years. my dorm roommate got tons. we just put them on our bursar accounts and forgot about them though. heh. I used to keep a ticket on my windshield sometimes so they'd think, "oh, she's already got one". it worked a couple of times, but a couple of times it didn't :(




I can sort of understand being careless enough to get a parking ticket, but can't imagine just "forgetting" about it. However you slice it -- willful avoidance or sheer irresponsibility -- it's indicative.

God knows if I ever ran and this was the worst someone could dig up on me, I'd be a very grateful puppy. I hope Obama gets the nomination, but this already tells me he's not Abe Lincoln.

[MC Moot]

I'm thinking this is a little more damaging: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/us/politics/07cnd-obama.html?ex=1330923600&en=cf1bf00c73f622a2&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[QueenAdrock]

Yeah, now, I know that's not a huge deal, but it is a little funky that it wasn't until he decided on a presidential run that he decided to do the right thing. That does say something.

...That he's a politician? :p

[abcdefz]

Nah, I can totally see that. A lot of people have their broker just handle the money while they stay ignorant of the portfolio. I mean, yeah, it's disingenuous to think that a broker recommended by a business fat cat might not happen to buy stock in said fat cats company as a thank you for the referral, and Obama probably could have specifically instructed against that right from the get go. But I can see how this could be relatively innocent.

[Dorothy Wood]

Yeah, I wondered about that.









I can sort of understand being careless enough to get a parking ticket, but can't imagine just "forgetting" about it. However you slice it -- willful avoidance or sheer irresponsibility -- it's indicative.

God knows if I ever ran and this was the worst someone could dig up on me, I'd be a very grateful puppy. I hope Obama gets the nomination, but this already tells me he's not Abe Lincoln.


I don't know. I think he's a pretty busy man and paying old parking tickets from college isn't really something he probably thought about every day.

somebody bring up the stats on lincoln's driving record!

[abcdefz]

You get a ticket, and it has deadlines on it. You miss the deadline and I assume you get a notice in the mail, but maybe not.

The point is: if you can't even manage your life well enough to pay a ticket by the deadline -- intentionally or not -- that says a little bit about either your management skills or disdain for "the rules" or whatever. It's just lame.

[ms.peachy]

LOL I think you may have a slightly more virtuous attitude towards parking tickets than many, a-z. I know quite a few people who owe the City of Jersey City several hundreds of dollars in unpaid fines. (Not me though, in case anyone from JCPA is reading *walks away whistling quietly,looking innocent*)

[abcdefz]

Maybe. To me, it's like paying taxes. You really don't want to and maybe even have a legitimate gripe about why it's unfair, or maybe you have a hardship and can't do it on time. But as soon as your ship is aright, you take care of that shit. If for no other reason than you don't get your ass in a sling because you were jaywalking and they ran your ID and book you because you have outstanding parking tickets or whatever.

[Bob]

You get a ticket, and it has deadlines on it. You miss the deadline and I assume you get a notice in the mail, but maybe not.

The point is: if you can't even manage your life well enough to pay a ticket by the deadline -- intentionally or not -- that says a little bit about either your management skills or disdain for "the rules" or whatever. It's just lame.

but it was 17 years ago. surely his attitude towards the rules could have changed during that period? i don't think it's unreasonable for someone to forget about something relatively minor like parking tickets over a period of 17 years, especially when those 17 years involve the hectic schedule of a political career.

i don't think that it's too suspicious that he waited until 2 weeks before running to pay them. he probably just legitimately forgot about them, then someone on his campaign staff in charge of researching his past for lame things that the media might try to bring up found out about them and said "oh hey obama, you've got these parking tickets, you want me to take care of that before you're a presidential candidate? the media might latch onto that" and then obama says "haha, yeah right, even the media wouldn't be that lame. sure, go ahead and take care of that, i forgot about those, thanks"

parking tickets. and i thought the kerfuffle over kerry's war record was lame.

[abcdefz]

but it was 17 years ago. surely his attitude towards the rules could have changed during that period? i don't think it's unreasonable for someone to forget about something relatively minor like parking tickets over a period of 17 years, especially when those 17 years involve the hectic schedule of a political career.



Fair enough, though most of those years were a legal career, I think.

[abcdefz]

Oops. Roughly half of those years. He was first elected in 1996.

[Dorothy Wood]

but it was 17 years ago. surely his attitude towards the rules could have changed during that period? i don't think it's unreasonable for someone to forget about something relatively minor like parking tickets over a period of 17 years, especially when those 17 years involve the hectic schedule of a political career.

i don't think that it's too suspicious that he waited until 2 weeks before running to pay them. he probably just legitimately forgot about them, then someone on his campaign staff in charge of researching his past for lame things that the media might try to bring up found out about them and said "oh hey obama, you've got these parking tickets, you want me to take care of that before you're a presidential candidate? the media might latch onto that" and then obama says "haha, yeah right, even the media wouldn't be that lame. sure, go ahead and take care of that, i forgot about those, thanks"

parking tickets. and i thought the kerfuffle over kerry's war record was lame.


way to repeat what I said. albeit more better. :/

[Bob]

way to repeat what I said. albeit more better. :/

i only pay attention to things that i say

[Dorothy Wood]

well, a-z took you more seriously anyway.

[abcdefz]

I think Bob's crucial contribution was the idea that maybe he felt (dismissive?) about them in the past, which is how he could have forgotten for this long. That was my way in, anyway.

I still think it's lame, but on the moral turpitude scale gets about a .5 out of 10. He's going to have to try harder.

[marsdaddy]

Yeah, now, I know that's not a huge deal, but it is a little funky that it wasn't until he decided on a presidential run that he decided to do the right thing. That does say something.It also says that he knew some dirt slinger would hunt for EVERY LITTLE DETAIL that might paint him in a less than flattering light. On the other hand, all Henry Paulson did was convince Goldman Sachs to give him the largest CEO payout ($328M for one year) in history before he left for the Secretary of the Treasury post. Meanwhile, CEOs continue to make more and more money while the companies they lead lose money and have to lay off workers. And the average worker makes less. And the Secretary of the Treasury has been asked to help rein in out of control CEO pay.

But back to those $375 in unpaid parking tickets!

[abcdefz]

It also says that he knew some dirt slinger would hunt for EVERY LITTLE DETAIL that might paint him in a less than flattering light.



...so the point is: do the right thing so you don't get caught?

[marsdaddy]

...so the point is: do the right thing so you don't get caught?I think the point is, "even honest Abe wasn't as honest as history remembers him." Afterall, we're all imperfect beings, right?

Again, I suppose this is worse than skipping out on the Vietnam war and Kerry's transgressions as a war hero -- what he'd do wrong, again? Drive a swiftboat?

[g-mile7]

I think the point is, "even honest Abe wasn't as honest as history remembers him." Afterall, we're all imperfect beings, right?

Again, I suppose this is worse than skipping out on the Vietnam war and Kerry's transgressions as a war hero -- what he'd do wrong, again? Drive a swiftboat?
Honest Abe would've allowed slavery 2 continue if werent 4 the Civil War

[marsdaddy]

Honest Abe would've allowed slavery 2 continue if werent the Civil WarDamn! Now that's an accusation!

[g-mile7]

Damn! Now that's an accusation!
I wasn't trying to be funny. It is something I learned in my course in college. Abe might have disagreed with slavery, but he wouldn't have attempted to end it if not for the Civil War (with Slavery being a secondary issue). The whole Emancipation Proclamation was a tactic to weaken the South (given Slaves, only in the South, were granted freedom). I was adding to your point that no one is perfect.

[Echewta]

This compared to a guy who had duis, did coke, was assigned to the national guard (when he was there) and has a wife that ran a stop sign and killed someone.

Parking tickets and trouble with some investments? I think Obama has a long way to go to top the current president who was "voted" in.

[g-mile7]

This compared to a guy who had duis, did coke, was assigned to the national guard (when he was there) and has a wife that ran a stop sign and killed someone.

Parking tickets and trouble with some investments? I think Obama has a long way to go to top the current president who was "voted" in.
Im more suprised that his tickets didnt rack up more money

[marsdaddy]

Im more suprised that his tickets didnt rack up more moneyAffirmative Action!

[g-mile7]

Affirmative Action!
Ok then

[skra75]

mark my words, he's out of the race because of this f-up.
the conservative right won't ever let it die.
honestly, it does say a few things about him, they ain't virtuous.
too bad, I liked the guy.

Edwards is the new president!

(lb)

[g-mile7]

mark my words, he's out of the race because of this f-up.
the conservative right won't ever let it die.
honestly, it does say a few things about him, they ain't virtuous.
too bad, I liked the guy.

Edwards is the new president!

(lb)
Edwards will be the John Kerry of this election...but Obama has a great chance of winning though even with the likes of Sean Hannity trying to bring him down

[Auton]

why's that, now?

[abcdefz]

This compared to a guy who had duis, did coke, was assigned to the national guard (when he was there) and has a wife that ran a stop sign and killed someone.

Parking tickets and trouble with some investments? I think Obama has a long way to go to top the current president who was "voted" in.


Yeah, no shit.

So the parking tickets were paid back in January, which was probably the inciting incident rather than the tickets themselves. I'm wondering if this is the opening salvo from a Democrat opponent or Republican. It's also been a couple of weeks since the Geffen dustup, which probably would've been the time for a Democrat to have sprung some dirt in public.

Obviously, this isn't much of a black mark on his record -- even as news, it got buried. Kind of wonder if Obama's own people leaked it, as if to say, "This is the worst you can find on him."

I doubt it's the Republicans. I think they're going to sit back and let things go until Clinton gets the nomination, then unleash all kinds of hell.

[skra75]

This compared to a guy who had duis, did coke, was assigned to the national guard (when he was there) and has a wife that ran a stop sign and killed someone.

Parking tickets and trouble with some investments? I think Obama has a long way to go to top the current president who was "voted" in.

You underestimate the power of the Right chew-chew.
Imagine, for a second that guy in college you knew who had a strange tick and always tucked his shirt in. He always had a chip on his shoulder. He was a hacker way before it was cool or funny to be a hacker. His parents forced him to go to mass every week and he hates them for it but realizes God will punish him if he thinks otherwise. He fights dirty and often disregards logic, gathering a big group of like minded shirt-tucking dorks to chant on the campus green against abortion.
The fucker still exists and is now loaded to the gills with corporate dough, those dickheads will use any spur of evidence to throw the opponent.

[BangkokB]

I hope that I'm the 1st to say that as long as he's dealing with chink's, I hope she's at least Thai

[marsdaddy]

I say Edwards is going to get caught with Ann Coulter's panties.

[buddylee]

I say Edwards is going to get caught with Ann Coulter's panties.

what wering them?

[marsdaddy]

what wering them?She may have to start selling them, if papers keep dropping her.