Occupy Obama in Chicago; Big Labor AWOL (Photos)

For the second time in five months, President Obama returned to his adopted hometown of Chicago to raise money for his reelection effort and the Democratic Party. And as with his last visit, there was no official presidential business involved with this taxpayer-funded trip.

Will the Obama campaign reimburse the government for the expenses incurred today?

Obama first visited his campaign headquarters on North Michigan Avenue, his second stop was for a fundraiser at the UIC Forum, which is on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago, where his unrepentant terrorist friend Bill Ayers was a professor. All of the pictures for this entry were taken outside of the Forum.

Occupy Chicago said they would protest Obama's UIC event and they followed through on their promise.

Where is the change? Well I want to change it back.

But where were the unions? Unlike the other major Occupy Chicago rallies I attended, there was not a Big Labor presence tonight. In fact, I didn't see any union signs, hats, or jackets. Yet Big Labor, especially SEIU, has boasted of its ties to the Occupy Wall Street movement. The unions were AWOL. Is that because Obama placated them by naming three board members to organized labor's favorite federal agency in phony recess appointments last week? It could be...

"The people united, will never be defeated" is a favorite chant of the Occupy movement. Last month on its web site, SEIU proclaimed, "Occupy is NOT dead..it's just the beginning." Hey occupiers: The unions are using you guys in order to gain "street cred" with young people.

Bill Ayers was nowhere to be seen outside of the Forum, but I did find anti-war activist Andy Thayer, he's on the right. Thayer's home was raided by the FBI in 2010. The feds were seeking "evidence relating to activities concerning support of terrorism," according to the World Socialist web site, which I read every day. However, Thayer was not arrested and has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Ten years ago today the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba opened. On his first full day in office, Obama signed an executive order calling for the closing of Gitmo within a year. Another Obama failure--but one that I am pleased with. But Gitmo was the theme of tonight's protest...but wait, I thought Occupy Wall Street was about greed and sharing the wealth. Right? The guy in the pic is wearing a Gitmo-style orange jump suit, he later donned a black hood.

Odd...didn't the Democratic Senate pass the National Defense Authorization Act? And of course Obama signed it. But the president says he will not use his power to indefinitely detain anyone. But he did promise to close the Guantanamo Bay jail. Oh, jumpsuit guy is on the right.

Buy your own planet with your profits.

Members of the Cult of Change lining up to see Obama. Tickets to this "budget event" were anywhere from $44 to $100. But more extravagant supporters of the president, the one-percenters, could attend events at private homes for $7,500 a ticket at one party, or $38,500 per couple at another.

This guy is absolutely clueless about the Abu Ghraib crimes. Eleven American soldiers were found guilty in court martial trials.

Hope and change, hope and change....

There were at most 150 people outside the UIC Forum tonight. Only half of them were protesters, the rest were curiosity seekers. I saw only two pro-Obama signs.

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