Judge Obama by the friends he keeps

Your friends reflect who you are. Does anyone out there remember the early 1960s and the Students for a Democratic Society?

This was a radical association of faculty and students who fomented uprisings on campuses across the United States.

The leaders told the members how to think, what to say and what to do to provoke certain responses from the established governing bodies of our state and local governments.

I remember the SDS. My roommate in school belonged to this group and would travel out of state to attend their meetings.

She was also very left leaning in her politics, if not actually a Communist. Her family had albums of the Red Army marching band on shelves in their home.

The SDS must have been a perceived threat to our country, as the FBI even questioned me about my roommate and her family long after I had left school.

Soon after, the Weather Underground was formed, a group that utilized violent methods to achieve their goals.

Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dorn were a part and parcel of this group. They are and-or remain neighbors of and friends with Obama.

Now, Obama strikes me as a person of some intellect. However, when he says he didn't realize who Bill Ayers was, after making speeches with and co-chairing on boards of associations with him, as well as being in his home, I think Obama is being less than candid.

Do we know if the FBI had a chat with Obama as they did with me?

My roommate was assigned to me as a young student. Barack Obama as an adult is fully capable of choosing his friends and associates. He should be judged by the company he keeps.

Sharon Eilert

Prospect Heights