Obama's Assemblyman Hopes to Be Taken More Seriously Now
By Azi Paybarah
Almost all New York elected officials were lining up behind Hillary Clinton when Assemblyman Michael Benjamin of the Bronx announced he would support Barack Obama in the summer of 2007.
Now, he'd like to be recognized for that.
“I’m not just some wacko on the outside,” Benjamin said in a brief telephone interview. (Unrelatedly, it’s his fifth wedding anniversary today!). “Hopefully people will trust more of my judgment and political knowledge.”
Benjamin said he’d like to be taken a little more seriously when he weighs in on topics like “whether it’s party politics and what direction our party is going, or policy measures.” In general, he hopes his colleagues now “give me a little more freedom.”
As for being a go-to guy for anybody wanting to reach the incoming Obama administration, Benjamin said that’s not really what he's in for. “I don’t see myself as a gatekeeper.”
He added, “My mission now is to help Senator Obama be the most successful president and do my share locally.”
Another early Obama supporter was 20-year-old fund-raiser Arthur Leopold. “I have no expectations,” he said, asked if he was also hoping to be rewarded for his foresight. “I don’t know how it works.”
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Some Bronxites were courageous and were out there in the primaries, despite the clinton sycophantic gangs, that if they won, you just know they would have been going for blood against the electeds and grassroots people that campaigned for Obama...
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