Obama's "lost" brother found

[Storebought]

I actually agree that Obama is under no moral obligation to provide any financial assistance to his half-brother, whether Obama knew him or not. That said, Obama's lack of concern does make him a look like a hypocrite in the face of (1) his own personal wealth (2) his own repeated insistence that "the rich" should be compelled by the state to help those in need, notwithstanding the fact that his own relative(s) living on a dollar a month (!) has yet to receive any such help from him.

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.

[Storebought]

I actually agree that Obama is under no moral obligation to provide any financial assistance to his half-brother, whether Obama knew him or not. That said, Obama's lack of concern does make him a look like a hypocrite in the face of (1) his own personal wealth (2) his own repeated insistence that "the rich" should be compelled by the state to help those in need, notwithstanding the fact that his own relative(s) living on a dollar a month (!) has yet to receive any such help from him.

This supposed relative is only living on such a small amount because he is Kenyan. He is no exception among Kenyans.

If he were American, he would be benefitting from those social programs that Obama champions. As to Obama's supposed lack of compassion, this person may be a relative by blood but it's clear they don't consider themselves 'relatives' in the sense of real family. It's clear Obama's father didn't even consider himself a real father to Obama, or else he would have been present in Obama's life after the second year, but hey, doesn't matter "relative" is "relative" right? Obama must chase down his blood to the ends of the earth even if they mean nothing to him nor him to them.

In any case, social programs are fundamentally different from charity. The former is an entitlement written into the social compact, whereas the latter is a private benefit that can be withdrawn at any time. The former is far more valuable because while entitlements may be withdrawn by law, they are not dependent on the capricious whims of one individual and the recipient's relationship to them.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The most mysterious parts of Obama's life all occurred before he reached the age of 10, and as this story shows, his biological father has definitely had a limited impact on shaping who he is.

I will overlook my personal detestation of sperm-donor "fathers" and say that I agree with you: Obama is under no legal compulsion to find or support adult relatives unknown to him (but that changes completely if it were discovered that he has a 'baby momma', but that's beside the point). But I will point out to you Americans seem to have made a hobby out of finding long-lost relations, given the popularity of geneology, adopted children of tracing down their biological parents, searching government databases for unknown siblings, etc. Family relations, no matter how distant, seem important to people.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I think you underestimate both the scope and the scale of American private charitable giving, considering the number of philanthropic and tax-free organizations that already provide services either done poorly (in the estimation of the person doing the giving) or not at all by state or federal government welfare programs. And, in the case of Obama's indigent relative, no US international aid, federal or private, seems to have reached him, which indicates that there is still some need for even person-to-person donation.