Axelrod Makes An Offering

David Axelrod is having a hard time explaining when Mr. Obama first found out William "Bomber Bill" Ayers was a domestic terrorist.

So when did Obama find out that Ayers had been a member of an organization the FBI called a "domestic terrorist" group, and had been for years a fugitive from the law?

“I don’t know," Axelrod said. "I mean it was sometime after their first meetings. And you know, he became aware of it. I don’t know the exact moment.”

He wasn't aware of who "Ayers" was?

“Yeah," Axelrod said, "I mean, the fact is that like a lot of people who, you know, didn’t live through that era -- particularly those who didn’t live though that era in Chicago -- It just wasn’t. I mean, when he came to Chicago, Ayers was advising Mayor Daley on school reform issues and that was his profile, was that he was an expert on education. “

So did he know who Ayers was when he went to his home in 1995?

“My understanding is that when he went there he did not," Axelrod said.

Reporters noticed that clause -- "my understanding is" -- and pressed further. Did Axelrod ask Obama if he knew Ayers' history when he first met with him?

"Yes," Axelrod said.

And he did not know?

"Yes," Axelrod said. "That’s what I’ve said – I answered the question when I was asked the other day. But no one’s suggesting that he never knew. I mean that’s not - we weren’t offering that.

To paraphrase Groucho Marx "Those are my answers, and if you don't like them... well, I have others." But they are going to be a hard sell. Because about four to eight months before Obama's political debut Ayers was working with Obama on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.

It can't be the meet-and-greet fundraiser where they were "introduced" (As if - per The Politico, the fundraiser was in the second half of 1995; Obama was already chair of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which was kicked off in January 1995).

So Obama is rather incurious about the backgrounds of his associates. I suppose he is not the Bill Ayers he once knew after he found out who he really was.

Cross Posted at Classical Values