Hotmail
Ayers says he's not friends with Obama
Former radical says relationship is more of a professional one
 | During an ABC interview Friday, Bill Ayers, left, said his relationship with President-elect Barack Obama was based on things like improving schools in their Chicago neighborhood, not on Ayers' political views. |
Keysha McGrady / ABC via AP |
 | Video: White House |
 Jarrett: We welcome critics of economic plan Dec. 3: Senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett talks with TODAY’s Meredith Vieira about the White House job summit as well as the White House’s role in the security breach at last week’s dinner. |
Clinton & Gates on 'Meet the Press' |
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates join David Gregory to discuss President Barack Obama's plan to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. |  Getty Images file |
Tweets from inside the Beltway |
|
Click here for more tweets from NBC's D.C. bureau. |
 | Interactive |
 |
| White House visitor logs |
 | Public records Help figure out who has been visiting the White House during the first eight months of the Obama administration. |
CHICAGO - Vietnam-era radical Bill Ayers said Friday he doesn't know President-elect Barack Obama any better than "thousands of other people" and the two never talked about Ayers' anti-war activities.
In a television interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," the college professor disputed the contention that in the new afterword of a paperback edition of his 2001 memoir "Fugitive Days" he describes himself and Obama as "family friends."
"I'm describing there how the blogosphere characterized the relationship," Ayers said. "I would really say that we knew each other in a professional way, again on the same level as say thousands of other people."
Ayers, an education professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, helped found the radical group the Weathermen that carried out bombings at the Pentagon and the Capitol.
His name came up repeatedly in Republican Sen. John McCain's campaign, with McCain wondering about the closeness of the relationship. McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, talked about how Obama would "pal around with terrorists."
In fact, Ayers said he didn't even know Obama when he hosted a coffee early in Obama's political career at Ayers' home in the Chicago neighborhood where the two live. Ayers added that he agreed to have the meet-the-candidate event after a state senator asked him to.
"I think he was probably in 20 homes that day as far as I know," he said. "But that was the first time I really met him."
Ayers and Obama also served together on a Chicago school reform board and a foundation board, but their discussions were limited to the issues before those boards.
"The truth is we came together in Chicago in a civic community around issues of school improvement, around issues of fighting for the rights of poor neighborhoods to have jobs, housing and so forth," Ayers said.
Ayers said his name was brought up in the campaign as "this character that was created in this election" to make people fear Obama, but that the election showed the nation rejected what he saw as a tactic.
Ayers also defended his own actions during the Vietnam war.
"Let's remember that what you call a violent past that was at a time when thousands of people were being murdered by our government every month, and those of us who fought to end the war were actually on the right side," he said.
"I never hurt or killed anyone," he said.
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE |
 The White House Section Front |
| Add The White House headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links
Resource guide