Disadvantaged Obama?
by Dave McKeeman
Issue 109 - June 11, 2008

While Barack Obama is bright and has accomplished much, his campaign distorts his life circumstances suggesting that he has come from a disadvantaged background. In fact, he was a child of relative privilege.

Here are the facts.

Campaign Speech: My father was a poor Kenyon goat herder who was brought to America to attend college under a John Kennedy education program. Fact: Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was wealthy by African standards, spoke fluent English, excelled in academia and was already a graduate student at the University of Hawaii when he met and married Barack' mother before Kennedy was elected. He eventually went to Harvard University.

Campaign Speech: I lived with my grandparents; they did not have money. Fact: Barack's maternal grandfather managed ever larger furniture stores in Kansas, Texas, California, Washington state and finally in Honolulu. Barack's maternal grandmother always worked, usually in banks and became a Vice President of the bank in Mercer Island. She joined a Honolulu bank in 1960 and was again promoted to Vice President in 1970.

Campaign Speech: My mother was a "Kansan, who grew up in the "dab-smack, landlocked center of the country". Fact: Barack's grandparents moved frequently. Barack's mother, Ann Dunham was born in Kansas but moved while young and lived in four states before high school in Mercer Island Washington. She moved with her parents to Honolulu upon graduation.

Campaign Speech: My mother was "a single parent, impoverished, survived on food stamps." My father abandoned the family after only two years of marriage. Fact: Barack's mother, Ann Dunham, twice married, twice divorced was single by choice choosing education and career over marriage and child rearing. When his father was admitted to Harvard, she refused to move and stayed at the University of Hawaii in her pursuit of a degree in anthropology. His grandparents provided for his mother and infant Barack. Ann met and married Lolo Soetoro, a Muslim Indonesian oil manager on sabbatical to further his education at U. of Hawaii. When Barack was 5, his stepfather returned to Jakarta taking Barack and his mother. Lolo worked for an American oil company and as an educated English-speaking Manager was well paid. Barack chose to return to Hawaii, when he was 10 to live with his maternal grandparents and his mother agreed. Later, his mother returned to Hawaii anthropology graduate school. Following graduation, she was an anthropologist in Indonesia and around the world, divorcing Lolo in the mid 70's. His mother ultimately attained her Doctorate in Anthropology and continued field research until she contracted cancer and returned to the care of her mother. She died of cancer in 1995 at age 52.

Campaign Bio- My mother home schooled the children in correspondence courses in English and the teachings of world philosophers. Fact- In Indonesia, Barack always attended private schools (one Muslim and one Catholic) and lived in a middle class neighborhood with predominantly Dutch residents. He lived with his grandparents from the age of ten. They enrolled him in the prestigious Panahou School which he attended until graduation in 1979. Panahou is a private College Prep school, famous for prominent, successful alumni, including leaders of business, commerce, finance, government, politics, sports and academia. Barack's grandfather died. His grandmother retired, an avid Bridge player, and lives in the same ocean view high rise and continues to be very supportive of her grandson.

Campaign Speech- He said he and his wife Michelle have only recently paid off their tuition loans. Fact- Following graduation, in 1979, from Panahou Prep School, Barrack enrolled in Occidental College, a distinguished Los Angeles liberal arts college that ranks among the top ten liberal art colleges. After two years Barack transferred to Columbia University, New York City, where he graduated with a degree in political science. In 1988, Barack entered Harvard Law School where he graduated with honors in 1991. Michelle LaVaugh Robinson entered Princeton University in 1981 and graduated cum laude with a BA in Sociology with a minor in African American Studies. She entered Harvard Law School and obtained her Juris Doctor degree in 1988.

With 8 and 12 years attending exclusive, expensive universities Barack & Michele Obama surely could have amassed sizable student loans. Failure to pay off student loans, however, appears a matter of choice rather than ability to pay. Student loans are low interest and allow long repayment terms. Michele was a successful attorney when they met and married. She reportedly earns over a quarter of a million dollars per year as an affirmative action lawyer and executive. Barack authored books and has been both a State and US Senator. Both serve as paid board members.

Their tax returns report earnings approximately of one quarter million in 2000, 01, 02, 03 and 04, which escalated to $1.6M in 05, $1M in 2006 and $4.2M in 2007. The newly married Obamas bought a home in exclusive Hyde Park and have now replaced it with a $1.6 million mansion in a transaction that has been questioned as other than arms-length. There have been numerous trips to visit Baracks mother in exotic locales and to grandparents in Hawaii. They dress fashionably, live very well, and have prospered in their comfortable liberal world, which hardly seems to have been disadvantaged.

Dave McKeeman writes from Fort Wayne Indiana