http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2009/Obama-Strange-Rise3jan09.htm The Strange Rise of Obama Progressive Review 3jan2009 As we have noted, one of the unanswered questions about Barack Obama is how a young politician of such little achievement got so far so fast — from state senator to president in four years. Bill Blum provides new light on the subject. To understand this phenomenon, it is important to recognize that if a young Obama was vetted or otherwise used by the CIA, it was not all that unusual. From the 1950s on, the agency repeatedly interfered in the education of the talented young by recruiting or co-opting them for its own purposes. Yale's Skull & Bones Club, for example, was a classic case of a recruitment camp for future intelligence types. The purpose — for the short run — is more information, and — for the long run — a supply of US future government officials whom the agency trusts and can use. And it often begins with a bright college student an insider thinks