HYDE PARK — Barack Obama’s Hyde Park barber has been thrown into some brutal last-minute campaign ads halfway across the country in Georgia.
The solo-named Zariff, who has cut the former president’s hair since Obama first came to Chicago in the 1980s, is finding some of his pearls of wisdom used against a Democratic candidate in a tough special election race Tuesday for Georgia’s 6th District.
When Obama arrived here, he would go to Zariff's shop where he would not only get his hair cut but also hear political discussions. Zariff once described to Obama how politics worked in the city before the election of the city's first African-American mayor, Harold Washington.
Obama repeated Zariff's description in his autobiography “Dreams from My Father” which he later recorded for an audiobook.
“Plantation politics. Black people in the worst jobs. The worst housing. Police brutality rampant. But when the so-called black committeemen came around election time, we’d all line up and vote the straight Democratic ticket. Sell our souls for a Christmas turkey,” Obama repeated for the audio version of his book.
That snippet of Zariff's description in Obama's voice, without the context of the influence of Washington's election, is included in radio and TV ads airing in the Atlanta area in an attack on the Democratic Party.
Before Obama's voice is heard, a black narrator says, “It may seem out of season, but all of a sudden, Democratic politicians have started coming around again. We normally only see them every other November, swarming around and making promises to get our vote. But nothing ever changes for us, does it?"
Zariff could not be reached for comment. But critics say the ad, paid for by the pro-Trump political action committee Great America Alliance, is an attempt to lure black voters away from the party.
Great America Alliance told CNN it was trying to think “outside the box” with the ad in an effort to illustrate that Democrats take black voters for granted.
Eric Schultz, a senior adviser to Obama, calls it “a shameful, indefensible tactic” and a fraudulent use of Obama’s voice.
The fact-checking site Politifact examines the ad and rates it "Pants on Fire!" for its lack of truthfulness.
"The full text from Obama’s book shows that he was arguing that voting can make a difference. Nothing in the section suggests that he thinks Democrats today only pay attention to blacks at election time," Politifact says.
Tuesday's election is being closely watched as Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel battle to replace Republican Tom Price. Pundits have described it as a vote on President Donald Trump's performance in the White House.
Zariff has stayed close to Obama since first meeting him in the ‘80s and regularly flew to Washington, D.C., from his Hyde Park Hair Salon and Barber, 5234 S. Blackstone Ave., to cut Obama’s hair at the White House.
