From Outsider To Politician

For Obama, only one road in Springfield remained blocked. Hendon and Trotter, two leaders in the black caucus, had both been in the state Senate for three years before Obama's arrival. They represented two of Chicago's destitute neighborhoods, and they repeatedly accused the newcomer of failing to understand the issues of the inner city. He cared more about his career than his constituents, they said. Hendon once told a newspaper that Obama was so ambitious he would like to run for "president of the world."

Hendon in particular regarded Obama as a foreigner to black Chicago. A lifelong resident of a blighted neighborhood on the city's West Side, Hendon had marched with the Black Panthers and seen his block damaged by the 1968 race riots. He married at 17 and became a grandfather in his mid-30s. He laughed when he imagined Obama as a child in Hawaii, exploring blackness by reading about racial persecution in magazines, watching Julius Erving play basketball or listening to gospel music.

Obama had spent four years organizing residents in the housing projects of Roseland, on Chicago's South Side, but Hendon considered that little more than a surface introduction. "That's a small start," he said. "But to a lot of people from my area, Roseland almost seems nice."

Said Trotter: "There was a sense for many people in Springfield that Barack wasn't black enough. He was just . . . different. It's like being poor when it's 80 degrees and sunny, and you have plenty to eat. Or like being poor when it's 10 degrees and you're just trying to survive. He didn't understand it the same way we did."

Obama tried to dismiss them as jealous -- of his education, his intellect and his budding relationship with Jones, the black Senate minority leader. Obama nominated Lightford as chair of the black caucus, a tactic that helped mitigate Hendon and Trotter's role in his political future. Still, he sometimes left caucus meetings early or called Lightford beforehand to ask if he could skip altogether. "There were a lot of days when he called and said, 'Sorry Kim, but I just don't feel like taking it today,' " Lightford said.

Obama's poker buddies encouraged him to stand up to Hendon and Trotter, but he refused. Not his style, he said. And why sink to their level? When Hendon ridiculed Obama, his standard comeback was a dismissive shrug and a wave of his hand. Ah, Rickey, you've always got something to say."I never would have called him a fighter," Hendon said. "He used the silk gloves, and I used the iron fists."

The tension between the two men peaked on June 11, 2002, after Hendon made an impassioned speech on the Senate floor urging his colleagues to preserve funding for a child welfare facility in his district. It was, Hendon remembers, "basically the most emotional speech of my life, and I was pulling out all the stops." Every Republican still voted against him. Every Democrat voted with him -- except Obama and three other members who made up a faction known in Springfield as "liberal row."

Incensed by those four votes, Hendon walked across the floor and confronted Obama, who explained by saying "something about fiscal responsibility," Hendon recalls. A few minutes later, after Hendon's proposal had lost, Obama stood up and asked to have his previous vote changed to a "Yes" for the record, saying he had misunderstood the legislation. His request was declined, and Hendon stood to criticize Obama for political maneuvering.

Infuriated that Hendon had embarrassed him publicly on the Senate floor, Obama walked over to his rival's seat, witnesses said.

"He leaned over, put his arm on my shoulder real nice and then threatened to kick my ass," Hendon said.

The two men walked out of the chamber into a back room and shoved each other a few times before colleagues broke them apart, Hendon and other witnesses said. Obama and Hendon never talked about the incident with each other again, but they reached an awkward understanding. Hendon stopped teasing Obama; Obama started voting with Hendon more regularly. Hendon now supports Obama for president.

Some of the legislators on the floor that day believed Obama had finally snapped after more than five years of tolerating Hendon's provocations. But Obama's allies, the poker buddies and other friends who knew him best, wondered if his actions resulted from a deeper calculation. Had he actually reacted, so uncharacteristically, out of pure emotion? Or was his scuffle with Hendon a final, brilliant tactic in coalition-building?