The Wall Street Journal
From Obama's Past: An Old Classmate, A Surprising Call
In High School, 'Ray' and 'Barry' Were Friends, Then Took Different Paths
By JACKIE CALMES
March 23, 2007; Page A1
Sen. Barack Obama had just come off the Senate floor last Thursday, rushing to get to New Hampshire for a weekend of campaigning for president, when his office patched through a call to his cellphone. On the other end was a long-lost high-school friend, Keith Kakugawa, calling from a pay phone in a rundown part of Los Angeles. Mr. Kakugawa was homeless and fresh from a California state prison facility after a third drug-related conviction.
The unexpected phone call marked the surprising re-emergence of a friend from Mr. Obama's past, one of the most compelling characters in Mr. Obama's best-selling memoir of his struggle with his racial identity. In "Dreams From My Father," Mr. Obama described Mr. Kakugawa -- half-black and half-Japanese and native Hawaiian -- as an older-brother figure to Mr. Obama at their exclusive, mostly white Honolulu high school. The two bonded, Mr. Obama wrote, "due in no small part to the fact that together we made up almost half of Punahou's black high school population," in a student body of about 1,700. Mr. Obama called Mr. Kakugawa "Ray" in the book to protect his privacy.
(snip)
Mr. Kakugawa, who excelled at track and football, graduated in 1977 and left for the mainland with college scholarships. He quickly married, had two sons, finished college and divorced. Mr. Kakugawa says he held a string of jobs and used cocaine. He has been convicted three times for possession and sale of drugs since the late 1990s, according to Los Angeles County Superior Court records. He says he has spent much of the past six years in and out prison. Both men say they lost touch once Mr. Kakugawa, two years older than the 45-year-old Mr. Obama, left Hawaii for the mainland.
(snip)
Reporters began digging through Mr. Obama's life, using his autobiography as a roadmap. They descended on Punahou School and some began tracing the real names of friends Mr. Obama disguised with pseudonyms in his book. On a parallel track, Mr. Obama's researchers began sifting the same ground -- as most campaigns do -- gathering background on past friends and acquaintances who might help, or embarrass, the campaign.
(snip)
At Mr. Obama's suggestion, Mr. Kakugawa says, he called Devorah Adler, a campaign researcher who maintains contacts with Obama family and friends who might get press inquiries, to advise them and act as a go-between. Tensions rose when Mr. Kakugawa asked for some money to be wired to him via Western Union, according to both him and Ms. Adler. Ms. Adler brought in senior adviser Robert Gibbs, and together they phoned Mr. Kakugawa last Saturday. "Sen. Obama really does want to help," Mr. Gibbs told Mr. Kakugawa, according to both men's recollection. The advisers suggested Mr. Kakugawa get help from social-service agencies, and that the Obama office would help with that. But he would not get money, Mr. Gibbs said. The exchange left Mr. Kakugawa upset. "Everybody's just abandoned me," he says.
(snip)
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