The not-so-simple story of Barack Obama's youth

[cornermouse]

There are some, a-hem, discrepancies in the Obama myth so I'm pasting a link and part of the story that detail a few of the, a-hem, discrepancies.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-0703250359mar25,1,3490685,full.story

...In his best-selling autobiography, "Dreams from My Father," Obama describes having heated conversations about racism with another black student, "Ray." The real Ray, Keith Kakugawa, is half black and half Japanese. In an interview with the Tribune on Saturday, Kakugawa said he always considered himself mixed race, like so many of his friends in Hawaii, and was not an angry young black man.

He said he does recall long, soulful talks with the young Obama and that his friend confided his longing and loneliness. But those talks, Kakugawa said, were not about race. "Not even close," he said, adding that Obama was dealing with "some inner turmoil" in those days.

"But it wasn't a race thing," he said. "Barry's biggest struggles then were missing his parents. His biggest struggles were his feelings of abandonment. The idea that his biggest struggle was race is ."...

Read the whole article. There's a lot there that you won't see in any "official" Obama biography.

[CatsDogsBabies]

1. I didn't share the content of all my inner childhood

struggles with my friends. Are you relying on the 30 year old memories of one of Obama's friends/acquaintances to reveal the state of Obama's soul when he was a child? Absolutely crazy! I am sorry, but this is just absurd.

Edited to change 40 to 30!

[cornermouse]

2. For one thing they aren't 40 year old memories unless Obama has

aged suddenly and rapidly. Are you calling everyone who knew Obama in his high school years a liar?

[cali]

13. Are you actually claiming that people's memories of conversations

30 years ago are inviolable? How ridiculous. It has nothing to do with anyone being a liar. It has everything to do with the vagaries of memory and perception. duh.

[CatsDogsBabies]

20. Absolutely not calling anyone a liar ...

I just don't believe interviewing a friend about a 30 year conversation really is a very good way to get information about someone. Let Obama say what his experiences mean to him. Let his friend say what these conversations meant to him (the friend). In other words, let each person recount for themselves what their experiences meant for them.

[JoFerret]

9. Makes no sense

.

[otohara]

54. Maybe Your Childhood

was too common - If you have something different, like being 1/2 AA and growing up in a white world - and your friend shares somewhat the same differences - kids bond and share secrets of being different.

[Skidmore]

3. Talk about seeing the world in black and white only.

My friend, there are lots of shades of gray in it. I've raised a son who is much like Obama and he will never divulge all of his feelings or discontent or pain at being excluded willingly. Some people are like that.

[cornermouse]

8. The article talks about the possibility of issues of abandonment.

Actually, I find it interesting that he wrote a book dedicated to a father who wasn't there during his childhood, that he himself wasn't there when his mother was dying because he was running for office and that he has publicly accused the grandmother who helped raise him of being a closet racist, an accusation that is denied by her former co-workers.

Hillary also has flaws and contradictions, as does Edwards, Gore, and Clark. I'd rather know about those flaws and contradictions than remain in blissful ignorance. That said, people are strange critters. It's what makes them interesting.
O8)

[JoFerret]

12. Abandonment and the search for fathers

makes a likely theme for Obama's life. Hence Wright, Daschle, Kennedy and all the rest. Mixed with the search for racial identity then makes this quite complex.

Obama strikes me as someone who will always be looking and seeking that father.
i was curious at first why he wrote about the "fathers" and not aout his quite extraordinary mother. There's a story in that too.

He seeks the father who abandoned him. He does not write the book about the mother who nurtured him.

[cornermouse]

16. Yep.

[Aviation Pro]

28. While President Insane is always seeking....

....to punch his wimpy daddy's lights out.

[JoFerret]

31. Probably true

And Bush junior to win his mother from his father.
(Such horrible aspirations!)

Bill Clinton always searched for his father too. And he also had a remarkable mother.

[gblady]

37. re: abandonment...

having been abandoned by my mother at age 3...
despite all the blessings and wonderful aspects of my life...

it is the single, most haunting aspect of my life...
abandonment at a young age truly shapes your perceptions....
causes great inner confusion and turmoil....

and launches a search for understanding in a most passionate manner.

[Skidmore]

38. Speaking from my own experience with my son,

it was always easier for him to see the faults of those who were with him everyday while romanticizing and trying to identify with his absent father. It is hard enough for a young boy struggling with identity in an intact home. I don't think this makes these young men somehow bad or dishonest. Interpreting your personal experience is an extremely singular experience for every person and I'm very sensitive to condescention from those who would decide they know what it is to grow up in a blended and mixed family in the context of the greater culture. Who knows what happens behind the closed doors of the family home. I take Obama at his word that he felt alienated and misunderstood at times even within his family. Remember, he was growning up in a different time and place from where society is today. Kids respond to all kinds of messages, overt and subtle, within the environment. Kids misunderstand signals but quite often interpret them accurately. I don't see contradictions in what the man says and his story. It is a story repeated in many homes across the nation in this day, but was not so common a story back then.

[Dogmudgeon]

4. He was born unto a virgin, in a manger ...

... and then his aunt Mimi bought him a beat-up Stratocaster with only five workable strings.

From there on out, Fate took over.

:evilgrin:

--p!

[Prefer]

6. He used to be such a nice boy, he used to cut the grass

turn that down!

[maddiejoan]

22. ...

:rofl:

[merh]

5. My siblings and I have different recollections of our lives when

we were little, my impressions are not their impressions and vice-a-versa.

[Skinner]

7. This is a really lame attack on Obama.

The guy doesn't remember some stuff from his childhood the same way other people remember it, or told some anecdotes in a way that are favorable to himself. Big deal. This is perfectly normal human behavior.

I encourage everyone to actually read the article. Overall, I think it is a very positive profile.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-0703250359mar25,1,3490685,full.story

[JoFerret]

17. Is it an attack?

I didn't read it that way.

[cali]

21. of course you didn't.

how small and sad.

[JoFerret]

23. Your signature line

...is not an attack either.

[cali]

26. My signature line is intended to serve as a reminder

that however much you may dislike a dem candidate, voting for the dem nominee is vital, imo. No, of course it's not an attack on Hillary. It's beyond ridiculous to suggest it is. How does it attack her? It says I really don't like her, but I recognize that she's preferable to McCain.

[JoFerret]

29. Exactly.

It is not an attack.

[Seabiscuit]

34. I'm just tired of the lies, however they may seem inconsequential.

Why can't Hillary talk about Bosnia without making up some dumb lie about it?

Why can't Barack write about himself without making up some dumb lie about supposedly having heated conversations about "racism" with a childhood friend who is also half black (and who denies any such conversations took place)?

Neither of these stories appear significant to this country's future, but can't the Democratic Party do any better than narrowing the race to these two clowns?

[joeybee12]

36. Yeah, but not everyone writes a book about their memories of their childhood

in an attempt to further their political career.

Calling Hillary Shrillary and say she's no better than Bush is an attack.

Pointing out discrepancies in what someone remembers is not.

[cali]

41. ack, sniper fire. ack. Michigan doesn't count. ack. FL doesn't count

ack. I don't know nothin about pardoning Weatherman. and there's so much more, hillbot.

[JoFerret]

46. Correct

It may be insubstantial. But it is not name-calling frontal assault.

[calmblueocean]

43. I'm just amazed that they had to get so many kids together when they wanted to fight him.

One against three is pretty unfair odds. I think physical scraps like that as a kid give you a real longing for justice.

[Cha]

47. Thanks Skinner. n/t

[spooky3]

48. I don't see how it constitutes an "attack" (lame or otherwise) when people recount

factual events, particularly when there is no apparent reason for them to say false things. And where did any of them baselessly insult him, for example? They were asked about whether events happened and they gave their best recollection. Until someone shows that these childhood acquaintances have it wrong, I'm inclined to believe they are right about the events or that there are honest mistakes either on their part or on Obama's, or both.

Contrast this with the Swiftboaters, for example, who made assertions that were shown to be inconsistent with the facts, and who had every motivation to lie and to make John Kerry look bad to enable their preferred candidate to win.

When you are a public figure, write a book and profit from it, you had better expect that people (whether editors, journalists, political enemies, or other parties) are going to fact check it, especially if you are trying to portray yourself in a positive light or make some key point. People have done that to the Nth degree with Clinton and her writing, and in fact have been far more unfair in mischaracterizing what she said, e.g., Carl Bernstein's claiming that it was news that she failed the DC bar exam, when she pointed it out in her own book! See Mediamatters.org for documentation. If journalists did NOT scrutinize the truthfulness of candidates' writings, it would provide yet another example of media's failure. I'm sure Oprah Winfrey learned this lesson the hard way with one of her touted authors.

My overall impression of the piece was that Obama's past was sadder than I realized.

[Skinner]

49. I was not claiming that the article was an attack.

I thought the article was fair, and overall cast obama in a positive light.

My response was to the original post, which is trying to use this article as an attack. The reference to "ahem, discrepancies" makes clear that these discrepancies are supposed to be something much more insidious than mere discrepancies.

[spooky3]

50. thanks for the clarification.

[cali]

10. your obsession with attacking Obama over his personal life

is not healthy. You had the exceedingly poor taste to attack him for not being present at his mother's deathbed, and now you attack him in this pathetic manner. The amateur psychoanalysis of Obama by some fuy relying on memories three decades old, is just lame. As lame as attacks on hill's marriage. I'm sure you don't like those. What makes you think this is any better.

:thumbsdown:

[cornermouse]

14. cali.

I'm sorry, but I'm not going to put him or Hillary on a pedestal.

[cali]

18. I'm sorry, but this has nothing to do with putting him on a pedestal

attack him for his policies or campaign tactics or what you believe is his lack of experience or temperment to be president or whatever is germane to this election and country, but attacking him on his personal life is simply sick. Again, do you think attacking Hillary for not leaving bill and for her marriage is fair game? Or attacking her for being head of the College repukes at Welllsley?

[JoFerret]

33. Don't drink the booze

Don't take the drugs.

[cali]

53. what are you babbling about, ferrret?

[sniffa]

15. Post No. 8 says it all

:eyes:

[cali]

19. what does it say?

I know what I think it says. I'm curious what you think.

[JoFerret]

25. About fathers and abandonment you mean?

Obama wrote a whole book about it.
A well-written book too. In the end I wondered what it was about and why he needed to bother. And I did wish he had chosen to focus more on his mother who sounds quite remarkable. But it is well written, tells a good story and is way better than the majority of books on the shelf.

[cornermouse]

30. His grandmother is remarkable too.

She did several things that girls/women just didn't do at that time.

[JoFerret]

32. not a surprise

.

[JoFerret]

24. Stop being silly.

.

[cali]

27. nothing silly about it. Do you think attacks on hillary's marrriage

are fine and dandy? Just answer that.

[JoFerret]

45. Speculation is not an attack.

Attacks on either Clinton or Obama are not fine with me.

(Stay off those drugs and don't drink the booze.)

[EFerrari]

11. Not only do people's recollections change, but people look at their lives

through different prisms as they grow older and as their experience accumulates.

It's a good article. Obama has had an amazing life and he's still a young man.

[joeybee12]

35. Typical Barry BS....lies and distortions depending on the particular

crowd he's trying to lie to. Such an empty suit.

[cali]

39. lol. pathetic as always

and for hillworlders to accuse Obama of being such a terrible liar is truly funny- for obvious reasons.

:rofl:

cognitive dissonance thy name is hilldroid.

[cliffordu]

40. This was circulated through here a couple of months ago.

You folks need some new material.

[FlaGranny]

42. They sure wish they could find some new

material. I'm just waiting for the next lame "big" story. They're probably researching his high school days, as we speak, for a girlfriend who dumped him or vice versa - or maybe a fight or argument he once had as a boy or young teen.

These would be very good reasons he wouldn't make a good president. :sarcasm:

[OzarkDem]

44. He was an abandoned kid

who appears to have a lot of latent anger and hostility, pariticularly towards the white people who raised him - his grandparents.

He has a lot of issues that will not be helpful as a leader. Maybe he can resolve them and run again some day, but POTUS these days is not a job for those who are angry, insecure and thin-skinned.

[ginnyinWI]

51. And if you had read the book more carefully---

you would have read the part where Obama explains that some characters in the book are composits of more than one person, and that conversations are not to be taken as verbatim, only as representing the gist of what he remembers them to be.

Give me a break.

[peoli]

52. Is this Ray-Gate, Keith-Gate or Kakugawa-Gate? I cant figure it out.