Obama's "lost" brother found

[J. J.]

As I recall, the right wing blogs and talk shows discovered that John Kerry had "converted" to Judaism and rejected Christianity.  In yet another attempt to smear one of the most honorable men to run for President in my lifetime.

Calling someone Jewish is a "smear?"

No, not at all.  Not by any means.

They said John Kerry converted, because he was ashamed of Christianity.  It was more of the same in the right's continual effort to persuade the masses that liberal Democrats cannot be Christians. 

Never heard that one.

But that is a minor point in the face of one patently obvious fact: The American public knows practically nothing about Obama outside of his own books/public statements. His life is a mystery, and the deeper others research into it, the fewer sources one finds. This reticence will only allow McCain/GOP to define the man to their own satisfaction in their own time.

I disagree.  We know very little about Obama's father. 

The problem is that Obama/the campaign is trying to portray his early life differently than what it was.

Here are some of the myths:

1.  Obama was raise by a grandmother in KS.

Truth:  He was raised by a mother in HI and Indonesia for the first 8 years of his life.

2.  Obama's mother couldn't take care him because she was a single mother with cancer.

Truth:  His mother was diagnosed with cancer in 1994.

3.  Obama's mother couldn't afford to take care of him, so she sent him to live with his grandmother.

Truth:  Barack requested the move so he could go to school in the US (good for him); his mother actually opposed the idea at first.  At the time, she was married to an oil company executive in Indonesia.

4.  Obama was raised poor.

Truth:  He was raised in the households of an up and coming oil company executive, and  of his grandmother, a bank vice president.  He attended a private prep school, the Punahou School, in HI.

Now there are myths out there that Obama was raised Muslim.  Though he was registered in a Catholic run school in Indonesia as Muslim, it was a requirement that he be registered in the faith of his stepfather (who was not observant).  I'm not part of the 12% that thinks he's Muslim.  I'm glad the campaign has tried to debunk this this.

Why have they not also tried to set the record straight on these others?

[J. J.]

On some they have.

Obama attended the Punahoa School, at least initially, on a scholarship.

His mother and stepfather were in Jakarta's 'international/bohemian' class; middle/upper middle-class by western standards. They weren't poor, although as with most middle class fmailies, they had times when they were broke.

And he was raised, for most of his years as a minor, by his grandparents, in Hawai'i.

He was aided in school, but he also had his grandmother aiding him.  And it was basically Obama's own choice to be raised by his grandparents, and not for financial reasons.

I'm roughly a contemporary of Barack Obama.  I'm looking at my life at the same time, roughly 1975-85.  He had more money, and a better education.  His life story was less compelling than mine, even objectively.

I don't there was anything "wrong" with his life story, but he's really trying to hide it, because it doesn't fit the image.

[J. J.]

There's nothing unusual in politicians lying about how ever so 'umble they are. To take one well known example, Margaret Thatcher's father was not a humble grocer, but the owner of a chain of greengrocers, a prominant and powerful local politician for almost two decades (serving as Mayor in the mid '40's) and the head of a very long list of local interest groups and organisations, including the local Chamber of Commerce. And that's not even an especially extreme case. Jimmy Carter was no son of the soil either.

Carter actually was more honest about it.

I think I'd have a lot more respect for Obama if he was a bit more upfront about it.

The guy obviously is not a Muslim and I don't like the claims that he is, but downplaying his background hasn't helped.  He doesn't the most compelling personal story of the top two candidates, but so what!  Neither did Reagan.