Why does Obama keep insisting he was raised by a 'single mother'?

[jannyk]

I'm hoping for insight not insults on why Obama keeps telling the world he was raised by his single mom.

He said it yet again last night when asked about the 'challenges' he had to overcome. Why does he feel the need to perpetuate this falsehood? Has he claimed it so often he now believes it to be true? For the 'sympathy vote'? Because his real, very privileged background is so far removed from most ordinary people's realm of experience, that he has to tell this lie so they can 'relate' to him? Why? Why does he continue to do it when the facts prove otherwise?

His claim that his father abandoned him at 2 is correct of course, but his mother was already remarried and living, with him, in Indonesia by the time he was 6. He could claim, I guess, that his mother 'abandoned' him when he was 10, when she sent him to live with his doting 'white' grandparents where he attended a very expensive, private 'prep' school until he went off to an equally prestigious college, but not that she raised him single handed. Yet he continues to do so - why?

He always makes it sound like they were living on food stamps, in a tenement slum, and he dragged himself out of poverty by his bootstraps - he doesn't say it exactly, but the inference is there and nothing could be further from the truth.

It just makes me wonder what else he is lying about - so I really would like 'insight' as to the justification for this false claim.

[scheming daemons]

1. bitter much?

From the time he was 2 until the time he was 6, he was being raised by a "single mother". From the time he was 10 until he was an adult, he was being raised by his maternal grandparents.

Both statements by him are true.


Don't think like a wingnut.

[cali]

27. not true. His mother returned with him

from Indonesia and they lived for several years in an apt near Punahao before she left for Indonesia again.

[scheming daemons]

35. My bad..... .misread the bio...

...

[Hieronymus]

51. Thanks, one expects these nasty attacks from the likes of Karl Rove, but...

not from a supposed Democrat.

[tabasco]

91. They will continue to slime him even after he wins the nom.

It's pretty clear a great deal of Hillary supporters want Obama to lose if he beats their gal.

They are scraping the scummiest scum off the bottom of the barrel at this point.

[Seabiscuit]

129. That's the kind of sick crap that flies in here that turns people off to Obama.

Obama would be ashamed of you, and would censure that kind of crap if he could, and I wouldn't blame him.

[Lerkfish]

2. wtf? "his doting 'white' grandparents"????

man, haven't you figured out the race card just isn't working?

man, I'm beginning to think hillary and her supporters have a broken chip in their heads that prevents them from accessing any new information.

[Bucky]

32. I'm sure the poster meant " 'so-called' white grandparents." It reads better that way.

Of course if it turns out his mom's folks were really Aborigines who could pass for white, it'd really hype out his narrative.

[TheDonkey]

87. these racist sob will not stop in their desperation.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

3. tons of single mothers can relate

I disagree with the OP.

Obama is describing what many people today grew up with -
being raised mostly by one parent.

Having a step parent isn't most children's idea of a dreamy life.

He was raised by a single parent.

I can relate, I am a single parent like many who wasnt on food stamps.
I didn' take away from him that he was living in poverty.

Compare that to Hillary saying she worked the night shift.
:crazy:

[polpilot]

36. ...and tons of single fathers...

tons...

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

41. he wasnt raised by his father though

Yes tons of single fathers can relate to being the sole caregiver, so they can probably
relate to this story.

In this case, the father left and played little if any part in raising Obama.

[Blondiegrrl]

120. I agree. I was a single mother for a couple of years ...

and I know from experience that is very difficult. I am college educated with a white-collar job. I was never on welfare or food stamps. Regardless, it is tough to raise a child without a father.

Obama never said he was raised in poverty. Why are people putting words in his mouth?

[Seabiscuit]

130. When Obama used the phrase "teen mother" in several speeches before the debate

he himself implied he was raised in poverty. Because the term "teen mother" commonly refers to ghetto teens (younger than 18) who become pregnant early in life.

Apparently some of his advisers read DU and alerted him to stop using that phrase. "Single mom" is a lot more neutral, and not so loaded with suggestions of race and poverty.

[bicentennial_baby]

4. Why are his grandparents 'white'?

They look pretty white to me, no quotes needed.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

11. I like this picture ...it really touches this grandmothers heart

[jannyk]

20. Because I woud never presume to know a persons race by..,

the way they look.

[Hoof Hearted]

28. Wow. He looks just like his grandpa. And no I'm not being sarcastic,

he really does.

Nice photo. :-)

[Cameron27]

37. I don't think so,

but his grandfather reminds me of somebody, I just can't figure out who! Well this is going to nag at me for awhile, ROFL.

It's a great pic though.

[buczak]

57. Nigel Powers.

Nigel Powers.

[Alexander]

78. His grandfather looks like Michael Caine to me.

[pnwmom]

84. Henry Kissinger. n/t

[Abacus]

62. I thought so too. /nt

[ginnyinWI]

95. I saw a picture of his grandfather when he was in the military

and much younger--and that picture looked a whole lot like Barack. Sorry I don't remember where I saw it--maybe on the CNN bio on TV.

[LisaL]

104. Personally, I don't see much resemblance.

They don't look alike.

[nutsnberries]

117. I agree too...

I've seen several pictures of his grandfather and in a couple of them I was struck by the same thought. ...kinda cool...

[Blondiegrrl]

121. I think so too. But the resemblance is more pronounced in the

photos of his grandfather as a young man.

Of course, I'm too lazy to search for those photos, but they're out there somewhere. LOL

[PADemD]

137. From the cover of "Dreams from My Father"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreams_from_My_Father

Same long thin face and square chin, straight eyebrows.

[casus belli]

123. Awesome pic...the love really shines through. n/t

[Vektor]

143. I love this picture!

Clearly, his grandparents are so proud of him.

What a lovely photo. :-)

[Pirate Smile]

5. Actually, Michelle mentions in her speech that they actually were on food stamps sometimes.

Your impression of his childhood is inaccurate.

[Bicoastal]

6. "Equally prestigous college"? UH-UH.

He went to my school, Occidental College, and we're just about as unpresitigous as you can get. The campus is in East LA, and most people in SoCal have never even heard of it.

He only got to the Ivy Leagues after excelling in academics and leadership, then making a transfer.

You need to do more studying, my friend. I'm not even sure you're right about the prep school.

[baby_bear]

17. I disagree about Occidental - it is indeed prestigious

My older sister went to Occidental. I was accepted there my single mother didn't have enough to send me as well. Occidental is like an Ivy League college on the west coast. It is in the class of the Claremont Colleges and Stanford.

I am surprised that you went there yet deny that it is prestigious. Just because it's located in Eagle Rock in a smoggy area of east L.A. doesn't mean it's not a great private school.

b_b

[Hepburn]

21. It is hardly in the same league as....

...Harvey Mudd or Standford. Get real, OK?

[Bicoastal]

26. Everything's relative, my friend. My sister went to Stanford and my cousin went to Pomona.

I can tell you for a fact that more people have heard of both of these other schools than Oxy. If it's so prestigious, how come most people say to me "I don't understand--you went to a DENTAL school?'

All I'm trying to point out is that the OP seems to be under the impression that Obama went straight from Prep school to the Ivy Leagues, which nearly EVERYONE agrees are the most presitigious schools in the country. But it's not true. In between, he spent 2 years at a high-acheiving but little known (and tiny) private college that isn't quite as hard to get into.

'Course now I'm attending NYU for Grad School, so maybe I'm being unfair....

[grantcart]

49. Well they just got a whole lot more famous

[flyarm]

96. I taught my son to drive in the Occidental parking lot! it is a good school..

but not like Stanford..

fly

[truedelphi]

67. Thank you for the sanity you exhibited here

And I don't understand why people don't understand that one of the bad things about the single mother thing is that it can be a downer for a child to have only one parent around.

Often it involves an economic downturn in lifestyle as well, but even if it doesn't, the kid is always wondering on some level if they might have driven away the other parent.

[noiretextatique]

74. almost went to occidental

but chose pitzer instead. obama was on scholarship at the prep school... i got corrected on that yesterday;

[pnwmom]

85. Okay, let's just say "equally expensive college." n/t

[Bicoastal]

100. Why is money so important to you? Obama never claimed to be a pauper.

[Vinca]

7. Because he's a mean, nasty man who has never told the truth

a day in his life. Why . . . I don't think he had a mother at all. I think he was deposited here by alien spacecraft to start a cult. Lies, lies, lies. If Barack says he had Cheerios for breakfast, you'd better check the dirty bowl for bits of Wheaties. He's a bad seed I tell ya, a bad seed.:rofl:

[stellanoir]

flaky self deleted dupe

[stellanoir]

8. You obviously have no clue of what it's like to be born and raised through a

broken home. Good for you.

[blogslut]

9. How about you go through life without a biological parent

and then get back to me.

[emilyg]

44. I did. Turned out OK.

[blogslut]

47. As has my child

But you and I know that the OP is being an ass.

[goodgd_yall]

60. He had it better being raised by his grandparents

His father had a drinking problem. That's why I always shake my head when the Republican say, "every home needs a mother and a father."

[blogslut]

83. I agree that a home is where the love is

However, that does not discount what a child goes through when they realize that the person who should be on their side, isn't.

Mine is realizing it now at age 20. No matter how much love and support you give, the truth still hurts.

[NOLALady]

99. I did.

It probably has a lot to do with my sensitivity and empathy towards others.

[NYCGirl]

10. His background wasn't all as "privileged" as you say. He attended his "prep

school" under a scholarship, and finally he and Michelle were able to pay off their student loans with the advance for his second book.

[spotbird]

12. What is your point,

that he should say, "I was raised by a single mother, with some interruption by her second marriage, and in my mid-childhood I was cared for by my grandparents, who were white, while my mother lived in Indonesia.-"

Why would he mention his grandparents race?

Do you think he remembers his father's care before he was out of diapers?

Couldn't be further from the truth? You think that was a stable childhood?

You have major issues.

[DogPoundPup]

13. Enlighten yourself on Obama more so you don't appear so stoopid...

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/02/21/obama_learned_politics_helping_the_poor/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news

[jannyk]

18. He grew up without religion? That's the only ref to his childhood in the article.

The rest I already knew and is totally irrelevant to the question asked.

[DogPoundPup]

42. You said...

"Because his real, very privileged background is so far removed from most ordinary people's realm of experience,"...yet he taught the nearly destitute and helpless people of Chicago's South Side neighborhoods to fight for themselves against a cold-hearted city.

"He always makes it sound like they were living on food stamps, in a tenement slum, and he dragged himself out of poverty by his bootstraps - he doesn't say it exactly, but the inference is there and nothing could be further from the truth."...yet after graduating from Columbia University, Obama got a dull financial-services job in New York City but soon quit and searched for a community organizing job. Eventually, he got a one-of-a-kind offer: Move to a strange city, earn next-to-nothing and help people in run-down neighborhoods tackle their problems.

Maybe it's just the fact you just don't want to see the picture I'm showing you in answering your questions....hmmmmmmmmm? You're just so dead set against it?

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ingac70]

15. He got a scholarship to go to prep school...

I suggest you do more research before spouting.

[Alexander]

16. Because he was?

Sheesh. Talk about fake outrage.

[MADem]

19. He was blessed with an EXTENDED FAMILY--not quite "It Takes A Village" but that idea....

He had a stepfather who loved him (he didn't divorce Obama's mother until Obama was around eighteen), a younger half sister who still is close, and DOTING grandparents (grandma is still alive), as well as a divorced mother. The father left, and came back for a one month visit, but he was "not present."

He went to one of the best and most prestigious private secondary schools in the United States--small class size, rigorous education, the whole nine yards--what EVERY parent would love to give their kid. He lived in a paradise of a state that has some of the best social services in the nation.

His grandparents even came all the way across country to see him at Columbia--that's a long way for an older couple:




A bit more background: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080214/ap_on_el_pr/obama_hawaii

[goodgd_yall]

58. This pretty much describes his situation

He had a lot of breaks and was fortunate to have a stable and loving family on his mother's side.

[bunnies]

22. unfuckingreal. nt

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cali]

24. You're embarassing yourself.

Obama lived with his mother until he was a young teen, first in Hawaii, then in Indonesia and then in Hawaii again. They were not well to do, and did in fact use food stamps for a time. His mother did not abandon him when he was 10. She returned to Hawaii with him and lived there in an apartment for several years. At the time that she decided to return to Indonesia, he wanted to stay in Hawaii and continue attending Punahao, where he was enrolled on a scholarship. It was worked out that he'd move into his grandparents apartment- note that his grandparents were not affluent enough to own their own home. So, essentially he was largely raised by his mother until he was a teenager. Nothing untrue about his history as he recounts it, and he often speaks of living with his grandparents and how they were a huge part of his adolescent and beyond life.

Now, how about admitting you were wrong.

[Skidmore]

25. Single parenting is single parenting.

Obama's mother's story is very similar to mine. A husband who absents himself does not a marriage or a family make. How much do think women made back then? Do you think there was any sort of parity close to what exists now? You might just want to actually talk to someone who has experienced a broken home and a blended family. Right now you just sound ignorant.

[thoughtcrime1984]

29. This is garbage- just don't vote for him then

It is not incumbent upon Obama supporters to talk the radicals in off the ledge.

[Seabiscuit]

30. It's better than calling her a "teen mother".

The phrase "teen mother" was never meant to apply to adults, like Obama's mom, who was almost 19 and a sophomore in college when he was born. It connotes 15 year old girls living in a ghetto.

He pandered to the poor black population with that phrase, and makes him appear to be prentending to be someone he isn't (someone raised in a ghetto by a teen mother).

"single mother" at least doesn't transgress into the stereotyped langage of "teen mother".

It's not entirely accurate, though. His father left when he was 2, and the divorce was final before he turned 4, but his mom remarried a few years later, and during a good part of his childhood his grandparents took care of him. They were white and middle class. As was his mom.

I know there are a lot of Obama supporters here at DU that think anyone talking about this is ridiculous, and some feign outrage over it. Don't any of you know that the Repukes would be 100 times harder on Obama than this? The shock of what they'd put him through is going to be a lot worse if you don't prepare yourselves.

[scheming daemons]

39. 18-year-old mothers are TEEN mothers....

The teen years are 13 to 19.

Sheesh, you're dense.

[cali]

46. pathetic.

you're engaging in this crap again after being deservedly excoriated for it. You really must love scorn directed at you. And you are flat wrong about the phrase teen mother. His mother was 18 when he was born and that is considered, obviously, to be a teen mother. YOU are projecting in a really disgraceful way when you assert that he's pandering. You don't have a clue as to how he regards his childhood. Yes, his mother was middle class. But during part of his childhood the family was on food stamps. And yes, his grandparents were middle class. His grandfather was a furniture salesman. YOU talk about pandering when your previous candidate wove son of a mill worker into every speech? That's a laugh.

[DarienComp]

50. horseshit.

the phrase "teen mother" connotes mothers in their teens. Not fifteen, thirteen, or seventeen. Teen. Nor does it connote a 'black' or 'ghetto', unless of course you believe that all teenage mothers are black and live in the ghetto. Do you?

[Kaylee]

66. Ugh, not this again.....nt.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

93. Uh what?

"It connotes 15 year old girls living in a ghetto."

It connotes that to whom?

[Seabiscuit]

126. Wow.

My post attracted 5 "ignoreds". Kneejerk denial reactions, no doubt, and surely not worth reading.

[Bongo Prophet]

132. Weren't you just going on about the "not a teen mom, only 18" a day or so ago?

Made no sense then either.

teen = teen.
Not "connotes 15 yr olds living in ghetto" Just x=x.

Man, just promote your candidate, maybe give money or something.
No need to go all crazy, just because "the repubs will do it too"

that is just weird.

[IronLionZion]

138. What's your obsession with this? You beat this dead horse but it will never run. nt

[KhaOZ]

31. Why is this even an issue?

[rodeodance]

68. take a quess--looking the truth?

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[polpilot]

34. Your post shows a total ignorance of parenting and child issues.

TOTAL

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

43. AMEN!

thank you! My thoughts as well.

[AtomicKitten]

38. Single mothers everywhere shake their heads at the ignorance and insensitivity of your post.

[polpilot]

40. ...and single fathers...

[AtomicKitten]

45. of course

:thumbsup:

[Steely_Dan]

48. Just Like Clockwork...

You ask a question and you get attacked. Amazing. I remember when Biden was still in the race. He got plenty of criticism and people questioning his record. Except for one Duer who seemed to have it in for Biden, we NEVER attacked other DUers. We calmly set the record straight and LET IT GO. The kind of attacks I read from the Obama camp is a further indication of their immaturity and lack of class.

-P

[Barack_America]

56. It was more of a statement than a question.

That intended to suggest that Obama was being dishonest, rather request more information.

[katty]

52. he was raised by his mom's parents-photos on net look

like he was happy and OK with it-very loved.

[cali]

63. No he was not.

He was raised by his mother until he was a teenager, and she again left Hawaii and returned to Indonesia. At that time he moved in to his grandparents apt and lived with them.

[casus belli]

124. You're wrong...sorry.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3545343528928314588&q=Biography+Obama&total=387&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

[Infinite Hope]

140. As he says...love as well as education and hope got him through. n/t

[Debi]

53. For five years my son was raised by a single mother

even though it was 'only' from age 2 to 7.

What's your beef with what is factually accurate?

[AGirl]

54. I totally agree. K and R

[cali]

65. You just agreed with something completely and demonstrably false

that says a lot. And I know just why you agreed with that vile OP.

[EFerrari]

55. This is how I populate my ignore list. Thanks. n/t

[NashVegas]

59. It Gets More Sympathy Than "And I Had an Oilman For a Stepfather"

I suppose.

[cali]

70. He's doing nothing but

telling the truth. And he did not have an Oilman for a stepfather. His stepfather was hardly some wealthy oilman. But you know that, and you're choosing to simply say something untrue.

[MoonRiver]

61. He's a pandering liar?

:shrug:

[goodgd_yall]

69. That's harsh

but he's doing what politicians do---try to show people he can relate to their problems. Some can legitimately do that and others have to spin a little.

[Kaylee]

73. It's a testament to his mom and grands that he turned out as

well as he has considering his childhood. It can be labelled as anything but stable. He had a father who left him at 2 yrs., then he moves to Indonesia at 4, sent back to Hawaii alone at 10. I can't remember how old he was when his mom and sister came to Hawaii, but it wasn't for a few years. That's a lot for a child.

[cali]

72. No.

only hillbots filled with hate would say such a thing.

[MethuenProgressive]

80. He's just living the self-authored fairy tale.

Legend, I mean legend.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

94. Ooo, look at that.

Clinton supporters disparaging single mothers.

Who'd have thunk it?

[goodgd_yall]

64. He needs to get people to believe he's seen tough times

His life wasn't really that tough---loving mother and grandparents and enough to get by at the very least. It seems to me his difficulties in growing up were nothing unusual---identity issues that many adolescents go through.

[Kaylee]

75. I disagree...

now, my life was uneventful.....my parents never divorced, had all four grandparents until I was an adult, I grew up middle class, etc, etc.

His father left when he's 2 years old. His mother remarries and moves him to Indonesia at four. Moving to Indonesia is not like moving to California, this is a big change for a four year old. Then at 10 he moves back to Hawaii...alone. Yes, grandma and granddad were there, but they are not your mother. That's pretty brave for a 10 year old. Then the confusion of having a father, you don't know, come back into your life for a month and then just disappear.

[goodgd_yall]

82. I have to disagree

He had loving and stable guardians---his grandparents the whole time. And a loving mother. Moving is a stress, but as long as you have stability and loving, sane guardians, you get through it without trauma.

My own life wasn't uneventful and included many moves and school changes. If I had stable healthy guardians or parents, I would have been just fine. Not saying it would be without difficulty, but there wouldn't have been longlasting scars. Obama's richness in having caring, nurturing people around him is what I find remarkable about his life. Many in his situation would fare less well.

[Kaylee]

90. I think we both are saying it was his wonderful mom and

loving grandparents that got him through. But I wouldn't say that his childhood is unremarkable and had to be "embellished" to make it more than it is. Someone with lesser support wouldn't have faired as well, and he acknowledges and is thankful for that.

[goodgd_yall]

107. I'll give you that

He doesn't talk that much about his upbringing and he doesn't make it into a central part of his narrative in an exploitative way.

[intaglio]

71. Hey, you were doing fine

until your OP turned to complete slime with the last 2 sentences. If you don't want insults - don't post them

[noiretextatique]

76. obama is not the product of the mythical "typical american family"

and that's a big plus for him. a lot of people share his experience.

[Bluerthanblue]

102. best answer here-

:hi:

peace~

[Ano Genitus]

77. What? How many mothers do you think he had?

One. This is basic biology.

[MethuenProgressive]

79. It tested better in focus groups than "exclusive private Honolulu high school"

[cali]

86. never let it be said that there aren't cllinton supporters

who aren't hateful.

[Mezzo]

81. I think you're being unfair...he was raised by her or her parents

and that's pretty much the story of every single mother there is. There's a bigger story about him writing a book for a father who abandoned him, but I am confident the sequel to "Song for My Father", "Symphony for My Mother" since she deserves it more imho, will be coming out soon.

But he's running a campaign right now, so I keep my expectations low. :)

[unc70]

92. Obama is somewhat fluid with facts, prefers compelling narrative

When delivering the compelling narrative of his life story, Obama is often quite flexible with facts and timelines. I posted earlier today about Obama's Selma speech last year where he said/implied that the marches of Selma and Birmingham led to his father being brought to American and his education being paid by the Kennedy Foundation. That sequence of events was impossible since his father came to the US in 1959, and he had already abandoned little Obama to attend Harvard before those marches in Alabama.

Obama's father seemed to have relatively little interest in any of his 7 or 8 children. When his father came to Hawaii for school, he left his pregnant wife Kezia and their first child in Kenya. He had married her when she was 16. Now 23, the senior Obama soon me 18-year-old Anna and they had Barack. Barack, Sr. again left a wife and small child to go to Harvard to graduate school. There he met and married another student, Ruth, who returned with him to Kenya where he used his family connections to gain a government position as an economist. He and Ruth had two sons, and he also had two more children with Kezia. Ruth eventually divorced him for his drunkeness and abuse. He eventually died in a car crash driving home after another night of drinking.



"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

-- "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence"

"He was the bravest of them all"

-- sung by Gene Pitney

[Mezzo]

108. what does "fluid with facts" mean?

'cause from where I come from, that's called lyin'.

The story you tell of his father, if true...that guy sounds like an asshole.

[unc70]

112. It is the story Barack's siblings, other relatives tell.

Obama has a complicated family. Much of his family now lives in the UK so the British press has run various articles on his siblings, pub crawling with his brother-in-law, etc. Some interviews from Kenya, too. It all gives a much fuller story of his family than does his book or do most of the articles here in the US.

I agree overall with your assessment of his father. Around these parts, he would be described as "a piece of work". He had a lot of promise but wasted it with his drinking. The grandfather appears to have done fairly well working for the British and had land and several wives. He was educated and sent his son Barack to schools and was able to get him selected for the exchange student program for college in the US.

Obama's father was apparently a charming womanizer who was quite intelligent, but not very disciplined and who traded on his ready smile and quick wit. After he returned to Kenya, his wives Ruth and Kezia did not know about each other until he was severely injured (losing his legs) in a drunken car crash. They met at the hospital. Surprise! Surprise! With six children between them!

Barack the father is reported to have lost his government appointment because of his gambling and drinking. When he drank, he was verbally and physically abusive. Ruth divorced him apparently after being repeatedly beaten by him. He finally died in one of his many drunken car crashes.

I can understand putting a positive spin on unpleasant aspects of ones family. I probably would not have written a book about it, though.

BTW I have been labeled a freeper by others in this thread which is really strange since I voted for Jesse Jackson in 1988 and I have over 40 years of liberal activism I can document. I supported Edwards and have not chosen between Obama and Clinton, and I have issues with each of them.

[Johnny__Motown]

88. Click, Watch, Learn (popcorn might be good too)

This was great. I strongly suggest you watch it all


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3545343528928314588&q=Biography+Obama&total=387&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

[Control-Z]

89. My question is

what exactly is the message.

Is he telling us how hard his life was for him but that if he could pull himself up anyone of us can and that he is going to help?

Is he telling us how difficult life can be for women, as was his mother's - that he will make a change to better the lives of women and families?

Clearly he hasn't had the ideal life (childhood), but he has had more opportunity than so many people that it is difficult to know exactly what he is trying to say. He talks about the love of his grandparents but he doesn't really talk a lot about gratitude.

I get the feeling that he is angry with both his father and his mother and that is why he limits his statements about them both. I may be way off base. That is just how it feels to me.

[LadyVT]

97. He's courting the female vote, esp. the female African-American vote, because

that population has a much higher than average rate of single motherhood (fathers who leave the family, or were never part of the family to begin with). The proportion of single mothers in the US overall is quite high, and a huge voting block.

Also, he is running as an archetype (The Wounded King), and so he continues to need to assert his woundedness in order to keep himself a viable screen for that projection from voters. People identify with the woundedness (after the last 8 years, who doesn't feel wounded?), the absent father (which is part of that archetype--and since mothers, overall, are far more present than fathers in their child's lives, even now), and the hope of being able to succeed and be loved in spite of this.

He is not a wounded king, however, he's just a guy with a great marketing strategy.

If he doesn't change the story soon, though, he then has to face the danger of the archetypal story: wounded kings are always betrayed, killed, and nearly always die young.

[Bluerthanblue]

101. who is the handless maiden?

[Greyskye]

98. Single mom from age 2 to 6, and from age 9 on.

Single mom from age 2 to 6, and from age 9 on. And you call this a lie? :wtf:

The following is excerpted from MSNBC's profile of Obama (they also did one on Hillary)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23257295/

Obama's parents, Ann Dunham and Barack Obama, Sr. meet at the University of Hawaii, where they are both students.

They get married in 1960, but separate when Obama is only two and eventually divorce. His father leaves the island to attend Harvard University on scholarship to get his Ph.D and leaves Obama and his mother behind.

Obama will not see him again until he is 10 years old, when his father visits the family for a month. They stay in touch, but 11 years later, his father would die in a car accident. The visit will be the last time he sees his dad.

In his 1995 memoir, "Dreams From My Father," which became a Grammy winning audio book, Obama recalls his mother giving him insight into the father he barely knew.

AUDIO BOOK: He hadn't cut corners, though, or played all the angles. He was diligent and honest, no matter what it cost him. He had led his life according to the principles that demanded a different kind of toughness.

When Obama is 6 years old, his mother remarries an Indonesian man, Lolo Soetoro and the family soon moves to Jakarta, Indonesia. Obama quickly adapts to his new surroundings, a skill that will serve him in the years to come. His early experiences expose him to a melting pot of races and cultures.

OBAMA: I grew up not only in Hawaii, but also in Indonesia in South East Asia. I've got a half-sister who's half-Indonesian who just married a Chinese-Canadian so I've got a new niece who has my DNA, but looks completely different. And so I'm constantly reminded of the fact that I'm connected to the people I see. I know their stories because they're my story too.

KELLMAN: His mom challenged him academically. I mean she just wanted him to learn as much as he could.

AUDIO BOOK: Five days a week she came into my room at 4 in the morning, force fed me breakfast and proceeded to teach me my English lesson for three hours before I left for school.

At age nine, Obama’s mother separates from his stepfather. She moves the family back to Hawaii and Obama attends the very prestigious private school Punahou Academy.

[TexasObserver]

103. Boys abandoned by their fathers at age 2 are very much at risk because of those formative years.

Age 2-6 set the framework for the child's life, and if a boy ever needs his daddy, it is when he is age 2-6.

The guy that mom might marry or live with when the boy is age 6-9 may be a good influence, or may be just the opposite. He may resent the child of another man, may resent having a child that divides the mother's attention. Those little boys are very much at risk for that reason, and are often the object of abuse by such men. Ask any CPS worker and they will tell that little boys whose daddies disappear are often at risk from mommy's new boyfriend or husband for physical or emotional abuse.

And when that little boy turns 9 or 10, and he gets shipped to live with grandma and grandpa, it can be his salvation and often is, but the sense of loss and abandonment is often overwhelming and permanently damaging.

Shame, shame, shame on you for this mean and thoughtless thread.

[unc70]

106. Unfortunately, Obama has often been the "absent" father

In several articles on the Obamas (I think one was in Vanity Fair), it is interesting that Barack has often been absent from their home, even before he formally began his run for President. He lived in DC and commuted to Chicago. Before that, he similarly commuted from Springfield while in the Illinois legislature. Michelle has made a couple of pointed comments on this topic and doesn't seem happy about raising the children while providing most of the family income.

In an eerie echo of his fathers gambling and drinking, Obama is proud of his poker playing ability in Springfield where he played with other legislators and with lobbyists. The story of how the other players took him down his last night playing with them tells me he was really the fish and didn't know it and wasn't as good as he thought he was.

[TexasObserver]

109. Get lost, character assassin.

I waste zero time with the likes of you.

[unc70]

114. Not an assassin.

I can tell you have little time to waste given your 3500 posts in under a month.

For the record, I will find and post the links to the interviews with Michelle and the story about the poker games in Springfield.

[scheming daemons]

110. Welcome to my ignore list, freeper...

..

[unc70]

113. My friends will find that amusing. Absurdly so.

My liberal creds are still secure. For the record, I will try find the links to the interviews with Michelle.

[cali]

134. not here they're not. Talk like a freeper

get treated like one. If you think you have ANY credibity, think again. That was a repulsive post. You have 0 liberal credibility.

[unc70]

142. Why was it repulsive? The Obamas talk about these things openly

Why do you consider my post to be repulsive and freepish? Michelle Obama regularly discusses the difficulties dealing with Barack's extended absences from the family. He talks about it in his books. In the recent Vanity Fair article I mentioned:

That equanimity has been hard-won, however. Earlier in their 15-year marriage, she was often furious with her husband. “I have chosen a life with a ridiculous schedule, a life that requires me to be gone from Michelle and the girls for long stretches of time and that exposes Michelle to all sorts of stress,” Barack wrote in his best-seller The Audacity of Hope. By the time their second child was born, he reported, “my wife’s anger toward me seemed barely contained. ‘You only think of yourself,’ she would tell me. ‘I never thought I’d have to raise a family alone.’ ”

Mrs. Obama finally got tired of being enraged and miserable. “One day I woke up and said, ‘I can’t live my life mad. This is just no fun,’ ” she reports. “For a period in my life, I thought the help I needed had to come from Barack. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, but he wasn’t there. So I enlisted moms and babysitters and got help with the housecleaning, and I built that community myself.”

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/12/michelle_obama200712

Barack is proud of his poker abilities. The article on the poker nights in Springfield was from the AP and ran in USA Today among other places. The last sentence of my post was my opinion that he might not have been as good a player as he thought is based on my own experiences around poker games and in how the other players described his play. I can't see how questioning his poker abilities would make my post repulsive. There obviously must be something I am missing in all this.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-09-24-233876745_x.htm

[still_one]

105. Not true, Barrack came about through a virgin birth /nt

[Radical Activist]

111. How long did John Edwards dad work the mill before he became the manager?

And why does John always refer to him as though he were some grunt worker?

[mtnsnake]

115. You think thats something? I have a buddy who claims that his father died 2 years before he was born

:shrug:

[unc70]

116. Sounds like a difficult pregnancy

or maybe a clever use of a modern fertility clinic

or maybe your buddy is just arithmetically challenged.

[nutsnberries]

118. these days, I spend a very little while in this forum every day. This thread

is the first one I visited tonight and I think it'll be the last.

I'm really astounded... what possesses you to post something like this? I'd really think that you were looking for answers instead of ripping into him if you worded your post very differently.

I read Barack's second book and am currently reading the first. What I've read of it so far makes me realize what it must feel like to have to really work out where you belong in the world, more than just the usual struggles of adolescence. In looking for his own place, he seems to come to a better understanding of his mother and her journey. I think in his speeches he says it just like he feels it. He was born to a young woman who was briefly married to his father(although his first marriage status was questionable), was remarried years later and then divorced. He always felt the love of his grandparents and he acknowledges that they raised him too. I don't see the inference/false claim you are talking about.

[DefenseLawyer]

119. You have confused Sen Obama's life with an episode of "Good Times"

Easy mistake. One we have all made I'm sure. Temporary layoffs, Barack. Easy credit ripoff, Barack.

That Barack Obama is Dy-No-Mite!

[BenDavid]

122. damn! i had my eyes closed and sounded like what bill clinton

said in his 92 acceptance speech....I know obama is running the clinton campaign of 92...

[ErnestoG]

125. You guys are clearly out of ammo, arent you.

[Obamaman2008]

127. When you start attacking single moms, parentless children, and grandparents, you know that. . .

you are at the end of your arguments.

[incapsulated]

128. Because he's full of shit and a pandering politician

Not that anyone here cares.

[ErnestoG]

131. Oh you're a real whizkid aren't you.

how long did it take you to come up with that one? It's a major original.

[cali]

135. wow. brilliant analysis.

and no one gives a shit about what you have to say.

[casus belli]

133. Uh...he was...

He lived in Indonesia from ages 6-10 with his mother and step-father (and half-sister) then moved to Hawaii with his grandparents. His mother moved back to Hawaii shortly after that, when her marriage to his step-father dissolved.

[Mass]

136. He was raised by a single mom. Sorry that it bothers you but it is the truth, with the exception of

the 4 years he lived in Indonesia.

His family was not rich (about the same as John Edwards and may be less rich at some times) and he did definitively not have a privileged background. He went to private schools on scholarships and it helped him get a good education, but he lived without his father, with a single mother and two grandparents.

[NoBorders]

139. He knew it would get under your skin

And cause you to obsess on it rather than focusing on helping your candidate. He's a brilliant strategist that way.

[MethuenProgressive]

141. Becuase "exclusive private prep school, Columbia, Harvard" don't fit the Fairy Tale.

He's the most false, packaged, and produced, Presidential product since Reagan.