When Obama was eight years old, Ayers was taking part in his actions with the WUO. After the WUO disbanded and Ayers was let off the served on a board together advocating for education on behalf of the poor. Later during Obama’s early political campaign for presidency, Ayers was asked by the senator to have coffee with Obama. Obama was welcomed into Ayers’ home and as Ayers points out in the interview below with ABC, that Obama probably visited 20 other homes that day. Obama and Ayers’ relationship was very much so professional and the fact that Obama is conserned with multiple point of views and walks of life (while still having a mind of his own as Ayers points out) should be seen as a positive aspect in his campaign.

Sarah Palin, John McCain and many others have exploited the Obama/Ayers connection. While Ayers may be one of the members of The Weather Underground that has remained very stern in his dedication, with no regrets of the bombs that he planted, Obama’s interaction with Ayers was minimal. Not only was Obama only 8 when Ayers was planting bombs, his neighborhood and charity board affiliation should not be put under such harsh light.

Here is a video from Good Morning America from 2008 of Ayers being interviewed on his interactions with Obama and WUO: 

In researching, countless conservative articles exploit this idea of terrorism. Since 9/11 using the word “terrorist” to describe a militant social group such as The Weather Underground (WUO) is in reality silencing a potentially intelligent debate. By attacking WUO in this manner today, one is refusing to see what you can learn from our past.