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Former Weather Underground member William Ayers, whose
relationship with Barack Obama was subject to much debate in the presidential
race, downplayed the association Friday. “I knew him probably as well as thousands of other
Chicagoans and like millions and millions of other people worldwide,” Ayers
said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I wish I knew him better right now.”
Ayers, in his first interview since the election, also
downplayed assertions that the president-elect’s political career was first
launched from his Chicago living room.
“I was asked by the state senator to have a coffee for
Barack Obama when he first ran for office. And we had him in our home,” he
stated. “And I think he was probably in 20 homes that day as far as I know. But
that was the first time I really met him.”
He added: “The truth is we came together in Chicago in
the civic community around issues of school improvement, around issues of
fighting for the rights of poor neighborhoods to have jobs and housing and so
on. And that’s the full extent of our relationship. So this idea that we need
to know more like there’s some dark, hidden secret — some secret link — is just
a myth.”
Ayers was portrayed by Sen.
John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) campaign as an unrepentant terrorist during the race
for the White House. But he said his link to Obama, with whom he also served on
a board, should not have been an issue in the campaign.
“I don’t buy the
idea that guilt by association should be any part of our politics,” he stated.
Ayers also called
his portrayal a “dishonest narrative,” although he said he was a “militant” in
the anti-Vietnam War movement and did not regret his actions.
“Let’s remember
that what you call a violent past, that was at a time when thousands of people
were being murdered by our government every month,” he argued. “And those of us
who fought to end that war were actually on the right side.”
Ayers denied that
the bombings carried out by the group amounted to terrorism.
“We tried to end
that war. And in trying to end it, we did cross lines of propriety, of
legality, maybe even of common sense. But we never committed terror,” he
stated.
Ayers claimed that
the actions taken by his group were not terrorism because they did not “target
people.”
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