Defender goes behind scenes of Obama’s rise

Congratulations, Mr. President.

Twenty-two months ago when U.S. Senator Barack Hussein Obama made the announcement of his candidacy for the office of President of the United States, the Chicago Defender was there, and we have not only chronicled his historic run, but as the newspaper of record for the Black community in Chicago, we have also participated in the process. In the pages that follow, we’ve included some of the newspaper’s front pages over the past four years that have featured the man who is now, president-elect of the United States.

Now that he is the president-elect, Barack Obama carries the hopes of a nation that has determined that the status quo brings for us status low, and we cannot continue to do the same thing again and again, and expect different results.

He is the first Black president, and while that is certainly a historic achievement, we are most proud that for this time, for this nation, he is the RIGHT president.

The past eight years have given us an economy that is dysfunctional, one war that seems to have no end and another that seems to be just beginning, erosion of personal and Constitutional rights in response to terror, and the looting of our country by special interest groups who are favorites of the current administration.

It is a tall order for this young president-elect, son of a Black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother, raised in Indonesia and Hawaii, graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, and the political proving grounds of South Side Chicago.

As you are aware, this kind of success is the result of the efforts of many people beyond the candidate’s work. In this special post-election edition, we are bringing you some of the behind-the-scenes players: from people who were already struggling and found a way to contribute to the Obama campaign to the outgoing president of the Illinois Senate who is often credited with developing the platform on which Obama stood to rise to the United States Senate.

This Special Edition takes a look at who did what and why.

Glenn Reedus and Sandra Combs contributed to this section.