Every Picture Tells A Story (And Answers Questions)

Domenico Montanaro of MSNBC et al have First Thoughts about Hillary's victory in Pennsylvania:

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** The secret to Hillary’s success: So how did Clinton win so decisively last night? The answer is women, specifically white women. They continue to be as important to her success in these primaries as new voters and African-Americans have been to Obama. Per the exit polls, 47% of the Pennsylvania Democratic electorate last night was made up of white women, higher than any other race/gender subgroup. Clinton ended up winning them by more than 30 points, 66%-34%; in Ohio, she won this group, 67%-31%. The question that everyone seems to be asking now is: Why can’t Obama put Clinton away? The AP’s Ron Fournier takes a stab at answering this, and he points to five reasons (race, working-class voters, friends in trouble, inexperience, and mettle). But to us, women seem to be the bigger reason. They continue to rally to her side; nothing has shaken their confidence in her. If Clinton continues to beat Obama by 30-plus points among white women, how can he knock her out?

This picture of Hillary and Chelsea has many of their answers:

There is a real mother-daughter thing going on in that pic.   Campaigns are grueling, endless slogs, but they are also high energy, high adrenaline, back-against the wall brawls which double as an incredible bonding experience.  Hillary is doing this one with her adult daughter (for the first time), and loving it.  And as Professor Dumbledore explained to Harry, a mother's love can deliver some powerful mojo.

Chelsea is also the answer to the oft-asked question, "Why did she stay with Bill?".  Looks loke a good answer right now; something sure did work.

Finally, although I don't think Chelsea can singlehandedly rock the youth vote, any parent who looks at her is going to think better of her mother.

I say this with the benefit of hindsight, stealing from Mark Steyn.

Relatedly, my granny-on-the-ground in PA read "Dreams From My Father", and wondered where the mother, or grandmother, was, and why Barack gave them such short shrift.  Tossing his grandmother under the bus during the Jeremiah Wright speech didn't exactly help reconcile her to Obama.  She will never vote for Barack, she says, and she is a closet socialist.

So, some Bold Predictions:  Chelsea has a TIME cover in her near future.  And a sympathetic reporter asking Hillary about what Chelsea's has meant to the campaign could probably provoke a genuine, grab your hanky moment.  Incredibly, I don't mean that as a cynical  prediction, either - it could be a great and humanizing video clip for Hillary.  Watch out, Obamacons!

IMAGINING THE IMAGINABLE AND CONCEIVING THE INCONCEIVABLE:   Will the Nutroots be daft enough to start trashing Chelsea?  Geez, every other stupid and improbable thing has happened, and this is the Nutroots we are talking about...

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

I'm trying to figure out what Nora Ephron's analysis must be. I believe she said going in that the vote would be decided by white men, and in particular whether they hated women more than they hated blacks. Very incisive. Of course, who is it that the white women hate? Whom do the blacks hate? How about the blue-collar voters? Or is it only white men who hate, and therefore they are the only ones who can determine the outcome.

Of course, since she was married to Carl Bernstein I can understand that she might be carrying around a bit of disturbance.

[Porchlight]

Finally, although I don't think Chelsea can singlehandedly rock the youth vote, any parent who looks at her is going to think better of her mother.

Bingo, to this and the rest of your post, TM. It's a lovely photo.

There was a moment in the Philly debate when Hillary was summing up at the end and the camera cut away to Chelsea. She had an enormously proud look on her face that I found touching. It made me feel more warmly toward Hillary than at any time I can remember. So yes, without a doubt, Chelsea adds quite a bit to Hillary's appeal.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

The world turned upside down; Truth Out actually produces some from a non-wacky (not Sawicky) economist:

Democrats could squander this opportunity if they fall into one of three traps on what they say and offer Americans. The traps are:

* Confusing 2008 with 1929. It's not even close. The overwhelming majority of Americans today are not on the brink of economic catastrophe, and Democrats should not treat them as if they are. In 2006, the median income of working-age husband-wife couples (ages 25-59) was $73,765. Eighty percent of Americans over 40 own a home, and while foreclosure rates have hit historic highs, it's still the case that relatively few homeowners are at risk of losing their homes over the next several years. ....

* Confusing bad times with pessimism. Even during tough times, Americans are optimists and believers in the American Dream. They believe success or failure is within their control. Eighty percent believe you can start out poor and become rich in America. And while they are anxious over the current economic downturn and the broad changes brought about by globalization, they do not see themselves as victims, and are not comforted by politicians who recite a litany of their anxieties.

Most people think the economy is in poor shape and worry about potential misfortune. But this sour mood and their worries are tempered by a strong appraisal of their own financial situation and a low evaluation of personal risk. For example, only 15% think that it is at least somewhat likely that they could be laid off in the next year. Even in the most recent polls, over two-thirds of Americans describe their financial situation and standard of living as either good or excellent.

* Offering only security instead of success. We're not French. Americans want to succeed, not just get by. They don't dream about a better safety net. They dream about getting ahead. If Democrats default to a traditional recipe of expanding the safety net - and that is all they offer - they will hit the brick wall of public antipathy toward "big government."

[Porchlight]

And TM, damn it if you didn't get that song in my head too: Every Picture Tells A Story

But remember one thing don't lose your head
To a woman that'll spend your bread

[NH]

Chelsea wants a job. She wants a job like mom got. Mom wanted a job like dad got. Dad was President and mom got a job in congress in New York. Mom decided to run for President. Chelsea should probably run for something too. Mom, dad and children making all their money from government work, just like dems do.

The Clintons think they're owed government jobs. Obama thinks he's owed government jobs. Obama's wife thinks she's owed government jobs.

None of these people made any money outside of government jobs. They think government jobs are owed. None of these people have done any government service.

The Clintons are an example of why dems should not think they are owed jobs in the federal government. Like my dad was in the army, so I get a job at CIA, FBI or DoD or Congress. Dems believe government jobs are owed them and their families: the people who do this are pathetic.

If you have worked for the government, bummed off our taxes, for generations; you should be embarrassed and worried about your son's and daughter's tax jobs.

Hillary thinks she has blessed us with her royal daughter. I would rather vote for an immigrant.

[Donna V.]

I would rather vote for an immigrant.

Well, Bobby Jindal is not an immigrant, just the son of immigrants, but I will watch his career with great interest. If he can manage the daunting task of even partially cleaning up the Augean stables of Louisiana politics, he'll be a fit contender for the presidency.

[Foo Bar]

where the mother, or grandmother, was, and why Barack gave them such short shrift.

Regarding his mother, this is what he says in the preface to the 2004 edition:

“I think sometimes that had I known she would not survive her illness, I might have written a different book — less a meditation on the absent parent, more a celebration of the one who was the single constant in my life,” he wrote in the preface to his memoir, “Dreams From My Father.” He added, “I know that she was the kindest, most generous spirit I have ever known, and that what is best in me I owe to her.”

[MayBee]

As it was, she died wondering why her son had indeed given her short shrift in his book.

[bart]

"Hey, where the white women at?"

[bgates]

Awww, what a sweet preface! See, guys, he really did love his mom! And he would have said so in his book if he had realized she'd make him look bad by dying after he devoted his autobiography to the story of chasing a man he never knew but preferred based on skin color.

[Jane]

Yeah, really Maybee. She raised him. Obama was abandoned by his father and he goes all goo goo over the myth of the philanderer, leaving he and his mother out in the cold. I come from a similar background and I cannot for one second imagine honoring my father above my mother. I certainly would never idolize him. My mother is no saint, but she didn't abandon me. There is simply no contest - unless of course you are Obama.

That part of his mythology has always fried me.

[Danube of Thought]

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. What kind of guy writes an autobiography at the age of 33? I know at least a hundred guys who had done more, and accumulated more wisdom, than this strange man by that age, but every one of them would have thought it very presumptuous and unseemly to sit down and write some tract like this at that point in their lives.

This is an exceedingly odd and troubling man, and he will not be elected to the presidency.

[section9]

You realize, folks, that the George P. Bush vs. Chelsea Clinton contest is already in the oven, ready to pop on us with the suddenness of a Kansas twister!

[clarice]

DOT--Publishers are the new political patrons. Undoubtedly Soros spotted him (or someone like him did), greased the skids with the publisher who paid him an outrageous advance and promoted him and the book like crazy.

Another way around CFR.

[JM Hanes]

Good on you, Tom. I agree completely. Every time the camera pauses on Chelsea watching her mother, I get a lump in my throat. Hokey things like Hillary bringing Mom out on the trail with her from time to time can also make a not-so-subtle difference when your opponent is tarring his grandmother for political cover by pretending she's a racist. How do you vote for a guy who leaves you feeling sorry for the woman who raised him? I'll take the way John McCain treats his mom, thanks.

I could be wrong, but I'm also not sure Michelle's incredibly obtuse poormouthing and all the little personal jibes about her husband are likely to stir up much empathy in women who aren't already in the tank for Obama. Calling your husband a jerk may seem like a refreshing change from the usual Stepford fare, but I'm not sure how that translates into votes for the jerk you apparently married either. I really don't need to know about Obama's socks. I don't even want to think about his socks.

Now Hillary has reasons galore to dis her spouse, but does she do it? Nope. I can respect that, regardless of her motives, even if I'd have dumped Bill in a New York minute myself. I don't know if that qualifies as a typical woman's perspective -- but it occurs to me that I don't actually recall hearing guys express their opinions on that subject very often.

[Foo Bar]

Awww, what a sweet preface! See, guys, he really did love his mom! And he would have said so in his book if he had realized she'd make him look bad by dying after he devoted his autobiography to the story of chasing a man he never knew but preferred based on skin color.

From the end of the introduction, which was in the original, 1995 edition (unlike the preface):

It is to my family, though - my mother, my grandparents, my siblings, stretched across oceans and continents - that I owe the deepest gratitude and to whom I dedicate this book. Without their constant love and support, without their willingness to let me sing their song and their toleration of the occasional wrong note, I could never have hoped to finish. If nothing else, I hope that the love and respect I feel for them shines through on every page.

I come from a similar background and I cannot for one second imagine honoring my father above my mother. I certainly would never idolize him

from p342, where he meets another one of his father's ex-wives, Ruth, and her son, Mark (Ruth is speaking first, to Barack Obama, but is referring to Barack's father as 'Obama'):

"You must have gotten some of his brains. Hopefully, not the rest of him, though. You know Obama was quite crazy, don't you? The drinking made it worse. Did you ever meet him? Obama, I mean?"

"Only once, when I was ten."

"Well, you were lucky, then. It probably explains why you're doing so well."

That's how the next hour passed, with Ruth alternating between stories of my father's failures and stories of Mark's accomplishments.

On the next page (p343) (Toot is Obama's grandmother on his mom's side):

I looked out the window, thinking about my mother, Toot, and Gramps, and how grateful I was to them, and for the stories they'd told.

From the context it's clear that the "stories" he's grateful for are the ones that had painted a positive picture of his (almost entirely absent) father for him when he was younger.

[who, me?]

My white-woman radar suggests that the most direct hits have been scored by Mme. Michelle, the sententious self-absorbed faux-brite sorority girl you'd duck around the corner to escape before she could buttonhole you for KP at the pan-Greek tea party she's chairing.

[Topsecretk9]

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. What kind of guy writes an autobiography at the age of 33?

Ah yeah, especially when he explains away all his associations and actions as being/happening when he was a kid at the same touting his superior foreign policy experience from his visits and travels as a kid.

I don't get it. All the bad things people he associated happened when he was a kid, so they don't count. All his foreign policy experience happened when he was a kid so they do count

But writing an autobiography at 33 is BEEzare. And he would apprently like everyone to discount 18 or so years of that 33, except for the travel and visits around the world.

[Barry]

"Only once, when I was ten."

A ringing endorsement, that one.

Anything in that "book" about throwing Grandmother under the bus?

[Topsecretk9]

Posted by: Donna V. | April 23, 2008 at 09:14 PM

Me too. Jindal is the actual real deal and the thing that is so amazing about him is his intellect isn't trumped up, it's a force to be reckoned with.

[Foo Bar]

A ringing endorsement, that one.

Yes, that was precisely the point. I was responding to Jane's incorrect suggestion that the book somehow honored his father above his mother.

[Rick Ballard]

Tops,

After a bit we'll start debating whether BHO is a bigger fantasist than Magic Hat. It's as if these guys received massive blood transfusions from James Thurber.

[Ann]

Tops,

I bet if Jindal wrote an autobiography he wouldn't make millions.

Clarice is right again, "Publishers are the new political patrons" and it's "Another way around CFR." Think about how much Hillary and Bill made on their tomes. Compare that to what McCain made on his book "Faith of My Fathers".

I would love to know what the dollar comparison of book advances were?

[bgates]

Jane's incorrect suggestion that the book somehow honored his father above his mother.
What was that book called again?

[Foo Bar]

What was that book called again?

I don't why would you think that the title "Dreams from My Father" is some sort of honorific.

The back cover of the paperback 2004 edition says the book "begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father- a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man- has been killed in a car accident". It says that when he travels to Kenya "he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father's life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance".

[libocrat]

Jesus Obama didn't really know his father. His mother gave him enough to get him into elite Prep schools, Columbia and Harvard.
Big mistake by Mom.
As an intelligent black man, Jesus Obama filled a vital liberal prerequisite.
He was a token. His peers had a black friend, thereby eliminating their complicity in all of that American racism.
Obama, who in his own words described how he had learned to sucker whitey by playing nice, took to Columbia and the kid gloves condecension of it's liberal establishment, like a fish to water. He learned how to use people and to manipulate a liberal establishment that desperately wanted to be manipulated. He hung with the Marxist intelligencia and sought out the Marxist professors, in his own words.
(who knew that there were Marxist professors?) Wink. He married an angry disaffected Princeton/Harvard grad, whose pay has increased exponentially as her husbands political power has done the same!!
(how surprising). Obama attended a DISGUSTING Race baiting, bigoted, and hate America first church, and further claimed it's HATE LACED PASTOR as his INSPIRATION and "spiritual mentor". Again...how surprising. Then we find he's "friends" with avowed GENTRIFIED TERRORISTS.

And this doesn't disqualify him as a serious candidate??

[Topsecretk9]

Rick

BHO is a bigger fantasist than Magic Hat.

Don't forget dogfood over meds, internet wiz kid Gore....

Ann
I bet if Jindal wrote an autobiography he wouldn't make millions.

Because his book will contain ideas and solutions. "THE Audacity of IDEAS, SOLUTIONS - feel good pandering left behind, because I don't think U R STOOOPID and BIDDER"

[Topsecretk9]

learned how to use people and to manipulate a liberal establishment that desperately wanted to be manipulated.

Amen.

One analogy comes to mind when I think of western academia - liberal establishment ...it's like they purposely drop the bar of soap in the pokey.

[bgates]

a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man
Describes:
A) a college student's view of John Kennedy
B) a baseball player's view of Jackie Robinson
C) a Zepplin fan's view of John Bonham
D) someone who is obviously not being honored

FB, you're answering D here?

The 'bitter truth' about Obama's father is presumably that he died a failure. But why did that happen, and why would it preclude Obama romanticizing him?

[Jane]

Jane's incorrect suggestion that the book somehow honored his father above his mother.

What was that book called again?

Yeah really.

he's grateful for are the ones that had painted a positive picture of his (almost entirely absent) father for him when he was younger.

So he writes a book invoking the absent father in the title? That makes no sense. My mother never spoke ill of my father either. I guess I should have found some time to wax poetic about him while working my way thru school. Give me a break.

I can see dedicating your autobiography to a father that say was a naval pilot, captured and detained while you were growing up. Because that's a man you can be proud of. But a bigamist philandering drunk who you don't know and have no contact with? I think not.

[Jane]

Hey Good Morning everyone! The sun is shining, the air is crisp, and the day is young! Want some coffee?

[Soylent Red]

Morning Jane. Morning all.

"Hi guys. Maaaaaary...."

OT, Gen Petraeus new CENTCOM commander. Gen. Odierno takes over in Iraq. Good news.

[Jane]

Very good and well-deserved news too.

[Foo Bar]

I can see dedicating your autobiography to a father that say was a naval pilot, captured and detained while you were growing up. Because that's a man you can be proud of. But a bigamist philandering drunk who you don't know and have no contact with? I think not.

Unfortunately, I can only post my comments. I can't make you read them. I already posted this, but here it is again:

It is to my family, though - my mother, my grandparents, my siblings, stretched across oceans and continents - that I owe the deepest gratitude and to whom I dedicate this book

a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man
Describes:
A) a college student's view of John Kennedy
B) a baseball player's view of Jackie Robinson
C) a Zepplin fan's view of John Bonham
D) someone who is obviously not being honored

If the writer is aware that the early image he had of his father is a myth and in the same book illustrates his father's flaws in detail(e.g. irresponsible philandering, alcoholism, inability to provide for his many children, etc.) then the book is not honoring him. It's not even primarily about the father, anyway. It's about his own life.

[clarice]

How saleable is a book about the ordinary-- a deserted white woman and her parents taking care of an abandoned mixed race child?
OTOH, a boook about a mysterious, communist from Africa who, it turns out was a philanderer,polygamist and a drunk as well as a feckless father is a more compelling read these days.

[Rick Ballard]

"It's about his own life."

Written at the ripe age of 33, some 8 years after he had completed his indoctrination education, with a list of achievements which included.... breathing?

[MayBee]

Foo Bar- from the http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1729524-7,00.html>Time Magazine article about her:

Before her death, Ann read a draft of her son's memoir, which is almost entirely about his father. Some of her friends were surprised at the focus, but she didn't seem obviously bothered. "She never complained about it," says Peluso. "She just said it was something he had to work out." Neither Ann nor her son knew how little time they had left.

His mother thought it was something Obama had "to work out", and her friends (hearing about it from her) were surprised at the focus. Tell her it was about her.

[Sue]

and at last reconciles his divided inheritance".

So, I was under the impression it was non-fiction. Obviously they put it in the wrong category.

[Sue]

He added, “I know that she was the kindest, most generous spirit I have ever known, and that what is best in me I owe to her.”

I would have thought he got that from the grandmother that raised him, not the mother who also abandoned him.

[Sue]

Incredibly, I don't mean that as a cynical prediction, either - it could be a great and humanizing video clip for Hillary.

Incredibly, the one thing I have always given Hillary high marks on is Chelsea. Other than some of the examples she has set, which might or might not have been passed on to her daughter, we shall see, Hillary did a great job raising her daughter. At least the public persona of her daughter.

[PeterUK]

A mother's love is a wondrous thing. But the kids often grow up like mommy.

[Jane]

Foo Bar,

You are right, the book was named for his father. His dedication came later. It's still odd as hell. The pages should be blank. Obama wasn't privy to those dreams. He met the man once.

My guess is Obama knows that the only thing he got from dear old Dad is the color of his skin. (Maybe that is where his bitterness comes from.) I smell agenda. It all goes to his need for black cred. Like Reverend Wright. Let's make Dad look like a good guy. After all the black community has got that abandonment thing down pretty pat.

Bill Cosby must be shuddering.

I don't find that part of him particularly admirable, but maybe you do.

[DebinNC]

Does his book explain why Obama chose Occidental College after reportedly graduating from his private hs "with honors"?

[Sue]

PUK,

::grin::

[bio mom]

Chelsea works for a hedge fund. She definitely is not living off the government as suggested above by a poster. Considering the Democrats demonization of capitalism frequently, it is a wonder they do not condemn her choice of employment. Of course, the hedge fund is run by one of her mother's biggest supporters.

[M. Simon]

Hedge fund?

Who knew there was good money in shrubbery?

[DebinNC]

Jesse Jackson's relatively well-to-do father lived next door with his wife and their children. He and Obama's father were similarly indifferent to their sons.

CALVIN MORRIS: Somehow, his father did not have to "Tom." The father did not have to grovel. The father had an ability to relate to_ to white people, as much as one could be in the segregated South, as an equal. He's very appreciative of that in his dad and very proud of his father and very proud of his father's success. ..I think there were some other things that was ambivalent because much of that success Jesse was not an immediate recipient of because he didn't live in the house. He didn't have the father's last name. He was not one of the privileged children of the father. But he still identified with_ with his dad.

And an explanation from JJ's life of why Obama was drawn to Jeremiah Wright:

ANDREW YOUNG: One of the things that Jesse wanted and needed more than anything in the world was the support and approval of Martin Luther King. Jesse's quite open and honest about this, that growing up as a child, seeing your father in another family, there's almost an irrepressible need for the support from the father that you never got as a child.

[clarice]

Do you suspect that a boy who idolizes his abandoning father and wants his love, has any respect for his mother? I suspect many boys feel if their mother wasn't good enough to hold father's interest and respect, why should she get his?

[Danube of Thought]

I think Foo Bar is in love.

[Walter]

M Simon,

That should be shrubbery, shouldn't it?

[TWNobody]

AH, now I get it!

"Dreams from My Father" by Barack ObaMITTY!

[Porchlight]

Considering the Democrats demonization of capitalism frequently, it is a wonder they do not condemn her choice of employment.

Michelle Obama did just that, albeit obliquely, in her confab with the working class women of Zanesville:

“We left corporate America, which is a lot of what we’re asking young people to do,” she tells the women. “Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we’re encouraging our young people to do that. But if you make that choice, as we did, to move out of the money-making industry into the helping industry, then your salaries respond.” Faced with that reality, she adds, “many of our bright stars are going into corporate law or hedge-fund management.”

So according to Michelle, young people ought to go into the "helping industry," but if they don't, it must be because they're greedy. Unlike the Obamas.

[PeterUK]

"I suspect many boys feel if their mother wasn't good enough to hold father's interest and respect, why should she get his?"

This man wants to be CIC ?

[PeterUK]

"“We left corporate America, which is a lot of what we’re asking young people to do,” she tells the women. “Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse."

"You men over there,the rest of you over there,I will liberate the Presidential Palace"

[bgates]

It's not even primarily about the father, anyway. It's about his own life.
Right. And he thought the most important part of his life was the time spent chasing a man he never knew but preferred based on skin color. Obama took his father's name, not his mother's. Obama wrote about his father's life, not his mother's. Obama decided to quit advertising his mother's race - he has a book-length advertisement for his father's.

And why does he prefer his father? What did that man have to offer? Say it loud.

[Jane]

I suspect many boys feel if their mother wasn't good enough to hold father's interest and respect, why should she get his?

Boy I hope not. More likely he blamed it in part on himself and wondered what would happen to him if she left too.

Kids are pretty accepting of realities I think. Obama's parents got divorced at a time where it wasn't all that acceptable - but better than it had been, and he had the race thing going on. Luckily for him it was also the time of the onslaught of AA. My guess is he worried a lot. That can go two ways I guess. One can feel empowered because they can succeed in spite of stuff, or one can feel entitled because they had it tougher than some. Obama chose the latter. His loss.

[boris]

Don't forget dumping the white girlfriend because he didn't want to be absorbed into white culture.

If the races were reversed it would be a classic example of trying to pass for white. It's as if Obama is passing for black.

[pagar]

"You know, become teachers"

"Like an unrepentant domestic terrorist"

Article

"University of Illinois, Chicago. Instead of planting bombs in public buildings, Ayers now works to indoctrinate America’s future teachers in the revolutionary cause, urging them to pass on the lessons to their public school students."

"Indeed, the education department at the University of Illinois is a hotbed for the radical education professoriate. As Ayers puts it in one of his course descriptions, prospective K–12 teachers need to “be aware of the social and moral universe we inhabit and . . . be a teacher capable of hope and struggle, outrage and action, a teacher teaching for social justice and liberation.” Ayers’s texts on the imperative of social-justice teaching are among the most popular works in the syllabi of the nation’s ed schools and teacher-training institutes. One of Ayers’s major themes is that the American public school system is nothing but a reflection of capitalist hegemony. Thus, the mission of all progressive teachers is to take back the classrooms and turn them into laboratories of revolutionary change."

"Unfortunately, neither Obama nor his critics in the media seem to have a clue about Ayers’s current work and his widespread influence in the education schools."

Anyone want to bet how many of Ayer's students are voting against Obama?

[clarice]

Why do you suppose the boys in the ghetto have so much disrespect for women ("hos") when it is women who raised them, except that they've absorbed the lesson from their absent fathers that the women are not good enough.Jane?

Yes. He might have supposed HE wasn't good enough. but it appears he quickly put that thought out of his mind.

And, then, the ultimate, betrayal:His mother's choice of village blacksmiths in Indonesia over raising him.

Either both of them were working for a better thing than raising him, or he was not much of a kid to hold their interest.

[PeterUK]

"To lose one parent in unfortunate. To lose two could be considered careless." Lady Bracknell.

[Ranger]

The back cover of the paperback 2004 edition says the book "begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father- a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man- has been killed in a car accident". It says that when he travels to Kenya "he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father's life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance".

Posted by: Foo Bar | April 24, 2008 at 01:10 AM

Foo Bar, I have to say that this is the passage that I would highlight and interigate from the back cover:

and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.

That claim is interesting to me because I don't see any evidence of reconciliation.

What I see is a man who grows up wondering if he is truely white or truely black, and ends up deciding that he is black. Where is the reconciliation?

He breaks up a significant romantic relationship with a white woman because he fears he is losing his "blackness" by being with her.

He finds a home in a church that is founded on Black Liberation Theology, an outlook that puts Africa and African-ness first and foremost.

He marries a woman with ardent Afro-centric views.

He doesent reconcile at all, he chooses.

One might argue that this was a political decision based on where he was going to launch his political career. But that isn't entirely consistant with his life story. He made key decisions on his most personal relationships (romantic and religious) based on color.

The effort to rehabilitate the role of his mother and grandmother now, and ro claim to be a "multi-racial" candidate that can bridge the racial divide sound very hollow based on the life he has actually led.

That is why the book is "Dreams of my Father", because that is the part of himself he chose to be. He renounced his "whiteness" until it became politically expediante to reclaim it.

[Jane]

Either both of them were working for a better thing than raising him, or he was not much of a kid to hold their interest.

I should bow out of this conversation because it's personal for me on some level. (Of course I won't) It sounds like his mother wanted to pursue her life regardless of the fact that she had a son. I have no idea if that was a net plus or minus for Obama. All kids are worthy of interest, and many kids lose their way because others don't think they are worthy of interest. I don't think that happened to Obama. By all accounts he's pretty successful. He's smart and at some point he learned how to suck up and get everything he could from whoever was offering it.

I'd just like to see some history of earning something in his lifetime. You know, being a waiter in college, or laying brick in the summer to buy books, so there was an indication that he got the point of work and didn't get everything because it was owed to him.

[boris]

IMO Beau Bama has daddy issues, mommy issues and gramma issues. Clearly.

[clarice]

Yes, Boris. Of course Gods can spring full blown from Zeus' brow or something, can't they? Rather than acknowledging the debt to those who raised him why not live in fantasy land where the raising was not really needed.

[centralcal]

Well, Clarice, speaking of "Gods" I found this by Mort Kondracke at Roll Call:

"The best political joke of 2008 was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) at the Washington Press Club Foundation’s dinner in February — about how the Democratic race featured Hillary Rodham Clinton, a New York Senator born in Illinois, and Barack Obama, an Illinois Senator “who seems to have been born in a manger.” "

[clarice]

Never let it be said that Mitchell doesn't know what he's talking about.

Obama suffered two major narcissistic wounds and has dealt with them by pretending he didn't need raising --that that part of his life is not as important as his tracking down of his virtually non-existent in HIS life (Joseph?) father.While he adopted his father's race and made his own life story revolve around this search, it does seem that he's telling us in a way that he is really great even if his father wasn't much to brag about and his mother was barely around.

[Rick Ballard]

Ranger & Jane,

Thanks for the penetrating comments. You two have helped me isolate the answers to a couple of aspects that have been puzzling me.

He has never, ever walked the "middle path" (contrary to MSM gargle) and he's a "disposable". The disposable aspect explains a bit about the lack of athletic prowess. A disposable kid never gets the 20 minutes a day of coaching necessary to learn the basic skills. He won't be throwing out any first pitches.

[Foo Bar]

Tell her it was about her.

Where did I claim it was about her? The first passage I posted here acknowledged that it was more a meditation about his absent father than about his mother.

I've been arguing against the assertions that the book honored his father above his mother or somehow failed to express love or gratitude towards his mother.

And why does he prefer his father?

I'm sorry. There is no basis for this. As Maybee's Time piece says, the issues surrounding his absent father were something he had to work out. That doesn't mean he "preferred" him.

"Mommie Dearest" has the mom in the title, but that doesn't mean that the book praised the mother any more than Obama's book praised his dad. You wouldn't be able to tell from the title, without knowing who Joan Crawford was or what she was like, whether the book reflected on her positively. That's not to say that Obama's father is portrayed nearly as negatively as Crawford- just that you can't infer from the title or even the amount of time spent in the book on his father that he had some sort of preference for him.

Obama was born with his dad's last name. The idea that because he didn't change his surname to his mom's later that this is some sort of preference for his dad doesn't make much sense.

[Jane]

Rick,

Phew,

I was thinking I was sounding a bit deranged there. Thanks

[PeterUK]

Barack Hussein Obama is simply an empty vessel,he is whatever is poured into him.He got this far by being charming,anodyne and all things to all men.Pinning him down is like plaiting fog.

[MayBee]

Actually, Foo Bar, you were arguing against this from TM's post:
where the mother, or grandmother, was, and why Barack gave them such short shrift.

Which none of your quotes do, nor does the fact that his mother apparently felt she got short shrift. Her friends were surprised at the focus of the book, but she felt it was something he needed to work through.

[Barney Frank]

All this pscho-stuff is pretty darn interesting but who the heck wants to elect a guy to spend the next four or eight years working out his Oedipus complex in the WH? Wasn't it bad enough having to spend the nineties with BJ vomiting his personality disorder all over us?
If Obama is elected I foresee a remake of "The President's Analyst" in our future.

[bgates]

There is no basis for this.
There is no basis for anything else. He is more interested in his father, because his father is black, and he wants to be black. He won't advertise his mother's race, he dumps the white girl because she is white, he raises his kids in the black liberation church - what would count, in your mind, as an expression of preference for one parent over the other? One race over the other?

[centralcal]

From NYT's caucus blog, an excerpt from Moyer's interview with Rev. Wright:

"He did not apologize or back away from his remarks in the interview, instead saying that people wanted to paint him as “some sort of fanatic.”

“It’s to paint me as something — Something’s wrong with me. There’s nothing wrong with this country … for its policies. We’re perfect. Our hands are free. Our hands have no blood on them,’” he said. “That’s not a failure to communicate. The message that is being communicated by the sound bites is exactly what those pushing those sound bites want to communicate.”

When asked what the people who aired the clips “wanted to communicate,” Mr. Wright said, “I think they wanted to communicate that I am unpatriotic, that I am un-American, that I am filled with hate speech, that I have a cult at Trinity United Church of Christ. And by the way, guess who goes to his church, hint, hint, hint? That’s what they wanted to communicate.”

Words fail! Uh, yeah, that IS what they wanted to communicate - in other words, the truth!

[clarice]

Jane, the day you start to sound like a deranged fanatic is the day I'm definitely pitching my meds.

[Gmax]

Well I cant stand the smarmy Bill Moyers who is intellilectually dishonest right to the core, so I wont be watching even to see a freak show. But dont count on Moyers asking much in the way of tough questions and expect a lot of head nodding and other none verbal communication that shows a similar mindset in Moyers, which of course there is.

Shame is that on PBS, any of you with 6 year olds are more likely to see it ( if Sesame Street is on just before it ) than voters who need to understand this long standing "mentor" of a man who wants to be President.

[bgates]

The message that is being communicated by the sound bites is exactly what those pushing those sound bites want to communicate.
Those pushing those sound bites? What about the guy who is speaking in those sound bites? Wright is complaining about being SwiftQuoted!

[Ranger]

The message that is being communicated by the sound bites is exactly what those pushing those sound bites want to communicate.

Those pushing those sound bites? What about the guy who is speaking in those sound bites? Wright is complaining about being SwiftQuoted!

Posted by: bgates | April 24, 2008 at 01:56 PM

What makes this even more astounding is that these came to light because Wrigth's own church was selling DVD's of the sermons!

Wright's problem is that he was the one pushing these soundbites, but only to certain people (fellow Black Liberation Theology congregations). These words were never meant to be heard by "white" America.

[Elliott]

Wright is complaining about being SwiftQuoted!

bgates, that's awesome.

[DebinNC]

Wright is scheduled to speak at the National Press Club Monday morning. I hope that someone has gotten a pile of back issues of TUCC's Trumpet magazine. Wright's current rehabilitation tour can't negate what he and his fellow travelers proudly espoused for the past 20+ years.

[DebinNC]

Wright is complaining about being SwiftQuoted!

bgates, that's awesome.

Ditto ..lol

[PeterUK]

The spiritual father of Obama - Ayers

[clarice]

Very awesome,bgates.

[Ranger]

He has never, ever walked the "middle path" (contrary to MSM gargle) and he's a "disposable". The disposable aspect explains a bit about the lack of athletic prowess. A disposable kid never gets the 20 minutes a day of coaching necessary to learn the basic skills. He won't be throwing out any first pitches.

Posted by: Rick Ballard | April 24, 2008 at 12:38 PM

Your point is a good one Rick.

In a way, I get the feeling that Obama is an example of how one dysfunctional relationship can effects future generations. I have the odd feeling that Obama's mom's attraction to foreign men of color was the result of her dad taking out his own "white guilt" on her mother. Obama's mother tried to please her father by seeking out men that would prove her own anti-racist and radical outlook to him.

[centralcal]

OT for a moment, now that Obama has agreed to an interview with Chris Wallace (sit down Saturday, air Sunday) do you think Chris will ask tough questions?

After all the hoohaw countdown clock, I am wondering if he will go easy now that Obama agree to it.

[boris]

If Wright's America baching and white bashing is patriotism and respect, then Write bashing is just demonstrating our admiration.

[Jane]

Centralcal,

I was thinking about that. My guess is he stays clear of Wright and Ayers and asks him specific policy questions, which BO will avoid like the plague. When pressed BO will refer us to his website.

[DebinNC]

I hope Wallace reads: Debunking Obama's Ayers "Fact Sheet" and takes notes.

[MikeS]

do you think Chris will ask tough questions?

I hope he does that, "silly little smirk," "hit job," stuff.

[MikeS]

do you think Chris will ask tough questions?

I hope he does that, "silly little smirk," "hit job," stuff.

[DebinNC]

I also wish Wallace would ask Obama if his family subscribed to TUCC's Trumpet magazine and, if so, for how long? There's zero chance imo that Michelle didn't make sure they were on the mailing list. It's one thing to claim he didn't hear a particular sermon, but another to claim he didn't read the church's glossy monthly magazine edited by Wright's daughter and full of choice Wrightisms.

[Jane]

What on earth makes you think he'd tell the truth?

A better question would be: Given your literary prowness on the Harvard Law Review, how often did you take the opportunity to contribute to the TUCC Bulletin?

Or something along those lines. Ya gotta swab his ego and massage his guilt, methinks.

[JM Hanes]

What is so surprising about a young black man, being reared by white grandparents, embarking on a quest to "discover" who his father was and in doing so make some sense of where he, himself, fits into the social picture? What on earth is wrong with that? To tar him for slighting his irresponsible mother in that process too seems a little disingenuous to me.

[boris]

a quest to "discover"

And deliberately distance himself from white culture and American tradition.

[clarice]

Nothing wrong with the quest, the problem is where his heart was at the end of the quest..and it was with Ayres and Wright.

[M. Simon]

PeterUK,

Excellent. I'm a fan of Charlie's Aunt.

I had forgotten that one.

[M. Simon]

boris,

Oh. Mama.

[Ralph L]

Wasn't it bad enough having to spend the nineties with BJ vomiting his personality disorder all over us?
An apt description, but don't forget the other orifices.

[Foo Bar]

Actually, Foo Bar, you were arguing against this from TM's post:
where the mother, or grandmother, was, and why Barack gave them such short shrift.

Which none of your quotes do, nor does the fact that his mother apparently felt she got short shrift. Her friends were surprised at the focus of the book, but she felt it was something he needed to work through.

No, I was obviously not arguing against the notion that his mother had gotten "short shrift" in the sense of less attention in his book than his father. That should have been clear, given that the quote from the preface acknowledges that the book is more of a meditation about his absent father than about his mother.

The implication of TM's post, however, was that his mother- because she was the subject of less discussion (not praise but discussion) in the book than his father was- ought to have felt slighted. The suggestion was that other mothers and grandmothers are likely to feel less positively about Obama because his book, by virtue of spending less time on her, expresses insufficent gratitude or admiration for his mother. This is what I was arguing against, by citing the preface in which he says that what is best in him he owes to her, plus the dedication in the intro and the other quotes.