Spread the wealth indeed
Barack Obama’s aunt was found living in a “rundown” Boston home.
While he was a U.S. Senator and his wife was a high paid hospital administrator making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, while he was busy raising more than half-a-billion dollars for his campaign, Barack Obama’s aunt was living in a Boston slum. No this isn’t a long lost half-brother he barely knew living halfway across the globe. This is a woman he spoke glowingly about in one of his books.
The most damning part of the story is this (emphasis added):
Speaking outside her home in Flaherty Way, South Boston, on Tuesday, Ms Onyango, 56, confirmed she was the “Auntie Zeituni” in Mr Obama’s memoir. She declined to answer most other questions about her relationship with the presidential contender until after the November 4 election. “I can’t talk about it, I just pray for him, that’s all,” she said, adding: “After the 4th, I can talk to anyone.”
His campaign obviously found her. It shouldn’t have been hard, in spite of being an apparent illegal immigrant, she and her husband have been cited in several newspapers over the years. But once they found her, rather than help her, the Obama campaign shut her up.
Spread the wealth indeed.
Oh, and since I’ve already mentioned illegal immigration, let’s talk about “Jobs that Americans won’t do”: It took a London paper to break this story.
Could this be the October suprise?
UPDATE:
TigerHawk makes a good point about how Obama is not necessarily responsible for the upkeep of every distant relative . . . however:
He has used these people — his grandmother, his aunt and uncle, and so forth — as props in his political narrative. He wants us to measure him in part by his relationship to these Kenyans, but — and here is the harsh part — only as that relationship is described by him. What if his characterization of that relationship is misleading? What if it turns out that while he is delighted to cite these people as evidence of his humble beginnings — that is what I mean by using them as props — he is not so delighted to consider them as part of his family? Is that not at least a potentially useful insight into the character of this man about whom we know so little?
October 30th, 2008 at 4:33 am
You miss the whole point of spreading the wealth: It’s someone ELSE’s wealth. You really can’t accuse The Big O of hypocrisy – he never said or implied anything else.
Don’t worry though. It’s not YOUR wealth, either. It’s someone else’s. No, not the Mayor of Chicago’s wealth, either. (Fat chance.) Someone ELSE.
Name some names. I’ll let you know when you hit the right ones.
October 30th, 2008 at 4:36 am
[...] because he has to raise taxes and spread the wealth around. That is the only way to help his poor aunt, found living in a run-down Boston slum: While he was a U.S. Senator and his wife was a high paid [...]
October 30th, 2008 at 5:11 am
[...] Krumm has more on this. He states that after Obama found out his aunt was living in a slum he did nothing to help her, but told her not to speak to anyone before the election was over. While he was a U.S. Senator and [...]
October 30th, 2008 at 5:38 am
Plus if she is illegal, the campaign knowingly received an illegal donation if they were told she donated.
October 30th, 2008 at 6:07 am
ACORN and Bill Ayers not working for you anymore?
October 30th, 2008 at 6:29 am
[...] Even the AP gave Obama a poor review. It sounds like the money he blew on the expensive infomercial would have been better spent on his aunt. [...]
October 30th, 2008 at 6:59 am
So do ya’ think that Tigerhawk might be on to something?
Does Obama hang with anyone who is inconvenient for him once the word gets out?
He’s a people user. Ask Alice Palmer. (But she can’t really talk until after the election either — after all he’s a Democrat and you have to wave his flag from under the bus.)
*Of course* we have only *his* description of the relationships!
Well, that’s what good reporting is for. Not to destroy everyone’s pet narrative and family story — not just anyone who makes it Oprah’s favorite book list (and she’s picked some winning liars, hasn’t she)? — but to check out those who want us to chose them to be POTUS.
It gets complicated when the narrative of the Press and the reporting the People are looking for are at cross purposes.
Is he responsible for every relative? Of course not. But the wealth and influence he and Michelle have should be good for some trickle down benefit for relatives he has identified for his benefit.
Of course if he gave his auntie something to boost her standard of living, it would affect her financially and she then would not longer qualify for some / all of the assistance she is getting from the people of Massachusetts and the Federal governemt and the rest of America’s rich working stiffs. So he’d be assisting to his own detriment. ..
“If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8
I’m just sayin’.
October 30th, 2008 at 7:12 am
[...] Obama relatives showing up Posted by Barracuda Fan on October 30, 2008 Barack Obama Check out this post by Bob Krumm discussing how Obama has more relatives living in poverty – but this time they’re in America. [...]
October 30th, 2008 at 9:14 am
[...] Apparently, the long-lost Obama aunt living in the Boston slum isn’t supposed to talk to anyone until after the election. Wonder [...]
October 30th, 2008 at 9:35 am
[...] it’s not like Obeelzebub hasn’t paid his aunt a visit quite recently: Speaking outside her home in Flaherty Way, South Boston, on Tuesday, Ms Onyango, 56, confirmed she [...]
October 30th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
[...] in his memoir, is living in squalor in Boston. While his campaign officials were diligent in tracking her down and instructing her not to talk to the press, neither they nor he has done anything to alleviate her plight. I suppose that it’s the [...]
October 31st, 2008 at 4:11 pm
[...] to the press until after the election, but they didn’t try to help her.” He has a post here to that [...]
November 1st, 2008 at 1:34 am
[...] Krum notes that rather than help the aunt Obama used as a prop, his campaign has shut her up. Mark Steyn sums up the moral: The London Times story of Barack Obama’s Aunt Zeituni – like that [...]
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:42 am
[...] Krum notes that rather than help the aunt Obama used as a prop, his campaign has shut her up. Mark Steyn sums up the moral: The London Times story of Barack Obama’s Aunt Zeituni – like that [...]