Book from former Obama state Senate rival out in January

State Senator Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) has written a book, Black Enough, White Enough: The Obama Dilemma, it will be published in January.

Hendon, who ia also an independent filmmaker, was not friendly to Obama when he came to Springfield. He was close to Obama's predecessor, Alice Palmer, who Obama forced off the ballot after successfully challening her ballot petions.

The New Yorker recounted this exchange between the two state senators:

HENDON: Senator, could you correctly pronounce your name for me? I’m having a little trouble with it.

OBAMA: Obama.

HENDON: Is that Irish?

OBAMA: It will be when I run countywide.

HENDON: That was a good joke, but this bill's still going to die. This directory, would that have those 1-800 sex line numbers in this directory?

OBAMA: I apologize. I wasn’t paying Senator Hendon any attention.

HENDON: Well, clearly, as poorly as this legislation is drafted, you didn’t pay it much attention either. My question was: Are the 1-800 sex line numbers going to be in this directory?

OBAMA: Not—not—basically this idea comes out of the South Side community colleges. I don’t know what you’re doing on the West Side community colleges. But we probably won’t be including that in our directory for the students.

HENDON: . . . Let me just say this, and to the bill: I seem to remember a very lovely Senator by the name of Palmer—much easier to pronounce than Obama—and she always had cookies and nice things to say, and you don't have anything to give us around your desk. How do you expect to get votes? And—and you don’t even wear nice perfume like Senator Palmer did. . . . I'm missing Senator Palmer because of these weak replacements with these tired bills that makes absolutely no sense. I . . . I definitely urge a 'No' vote. Whatever your name is.

The New Yorker goes on to describe a shouting match between the two man, one that almost came to pysical blows.

It should be a good book, although based on the title, I suspect the good stuff might be omitted. He tells the Chicago Sun-Times:

I admit in the first chapter of the book that I was not an early ally of Barack Obama and I pulled no punches when it came to disagreements we had while serving together in the Illinois Senate. But once I came on board, I went all out to help make him the first black president.

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