Obama's White Grandmother

When I suggested, tentatively, that Obama should find a way to compare his relationship to Wright to a white American's relationship to a bigoted grandparent, it didn't even occur to me that he could do it this smoothly:

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

Well played.

Comments

That won't wash.

Obama chose his church, you don't choose your family.

Posted by Chris | March 18, 2008 11:19 AM

That's Obama's whole point: Wright is representative of a large segment of older black Americans, embittered by the civil rights struggles of the last century. Trinity United was the strongest, most popular black church in Obama's area. In many ways, Obama chose the most representative black church he could find, and Wright was the pastor. For Obama to be deterred by Wright's political screeds, despite good works and passionate spirituality, would have been a radical decision in the black community, one that would have labeled Obama as an outsider. Obama could choose his church, but he couldn't choose the commonly held prejudices of the older African-American community, of which Wright is representative.

Posted by Brian | March 18, 2008 11:28 AM

That's ridiculous. Obama could "denounce and reject" his grandmother; he could stop coming by for Christmas; he could decline to return her calls. He doesn't do this because his relationship with her is defined by more than a few repugnant views that she holds. The same applies to Obama and Wright.

Posted by Zeke | March 18, 2008 11:28 AM

Not sure folks here understand the concept of nuance. Obama's point is that like his grandmother, Wright is a good person with some views he finds repugnant. Life is complicated and if you listen to the whole speech it's clear he's saying the good of Wright outweighs the bad. As a Catholic, I could go on for days on all the things wrong with that church. But it's a part of me and I recognize that along with the Inquisition, pedophilia and other things I have trouble with, the church is a powerful charitable organization whose legacy is ultimately one of good. I see the same with Wright. Obama's grandmother may be family, but the sound bite is pitch perfect and could go a long way to helping him.

Posted by NHCt | March 18, 2008 12:09 PM

Obama chose his church as a way to get involved in Chicago's black community and help them fight for their rights. If you want to get involved in African-American issues in American cities, you need to work with the most respected local black pastors. I guess he could have not gone there and not become involved in community organizing as a way to protect himself in case of a future presidential run, but that would have been ass-covering and cowardly. Wright's views are wrong and bad on the relevant issues, but on balance he has done more good in his life by helping his local community. Meanwhile, McCain has sought the endorsement of a president whose war has killed hundreds of thousand, and possibly now a million, people. Things need to be kept in perspective.

Posted by Reality Man | March 18, 2008 12:25 PM

"Well played?" Boy, Ross, that's pretty cynical. I thought that part of the speech -- by far -- was the most emotional and personal. It brought me to tears. It is precisely because Obama has, as he puts it "all those pieces of America in" him, that he can help us all see each other in our full humanity (although it is up to us to keep our eyes and hearts open). As other commenters have said, Obama believes there is more good than bad in Wright, as well as in his grandmother -- and in all of us.

For the record, I am a white Jewish woman.

Posted by CS | March 18, 2008 12:30 PM

Isn't his grandma alive?

She's the one who raised him when his father abandoned him and his mother put her ideology about living overseas above her duties as a parent.

So he didn't throw Wright under the bus. Instead, by creating an equivalency between Wright and his grandma, he throws her out to the wolves.

Posted by Cal | March 18, 2008 1:51 PM

Cal,

How is pointing out a similiarity between Wright and his grandmother an example of throwing her to the wolves?

He loves his grandmother, but knows she's not perfect, and will not let his love blind him to her shortcomings. At the same time, he's not going to judge her solely by her flaws; he's going to judge her by overall goodness.

He loves Wright as a mentor, but knows he's far from perfect, and will not let his love blind him to Wright's shortcomings. At the same tiem, ne's not going to judge Wright solely by his flaws (the way you do); he's going to judge him by his overall goodness (unlike you, Cal, who wants only to demonize Wright, because your simplistic, bordering on autistic, worldview can't deal with ambiguity).

Posted by eltoro | March 18, 2008 2:11 PM

Smoothly? Smoothly?? He threw his family member under the bus. He slammed HER for her outdated racist views - while REFUSING to do the same to Wright.

He didn't correct this by saying that her good outweighed her bad. He just left her there. Kicked her old white ass to the curb and left her there.

And you find this admirable. God help us.

Presumably you also found his acknowledgement - with no corresponding apology - that he LIED to us to be admirable.

Posted by vanessa | March 18, 2008 2:12 PM

"He slammed HER for her outdated racist views - while REFUSING to do the same to Wright."

What speech did you listen to, and what is the color of sky in your world? Because that statement does not conform to reality.

Posted by Rorgg | March 18, 2008 2:27 PM

How is pointing out a similiarity between Wright and his grandmother an example of throwing her to the wolves?

There is no similarity, and that's what is so unpleasant.

His grandmother said she was nervous about black men. She may have used a racial stereotype (which Obama has as well, on many occasions).

There are clearly people who consider that "similar" to Wright's hate speech. They are not the people that Obama needed to convince. The people he needed to convinced probably saw him smearing a grandmother who took care of him when no one else would.

Posted by Cal | March 18, 2008 2:52 PM

"There are clearly people who consider that "similar" to Wright's hate speech. They are not the people that Obama needed to convince. The people he needed to convinced probably saw him smearing a grandmother who took care of him when no one else would."

Why would they see it as smearing his grandmother, unless, like you, they were acting in bad faith? You are so determined to demonize the Rev Wright that you refuse to acknowledge that there is more to the man than the caricature that you are promoting.

It's been said that the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common; they don't change their views to fit the facts, they change (or in your case) ignore other relevant facts to fit their views. This describes you exactly, Cal, and the people that you claim he needs to convince.

Obama doesn't need to convince such people; the people he needs to convince are people are the exact opposite of you, people who listen in good faith and form their views in the light of all relevant facts.

Posted by eltoro | March 18, 2008 3:01 PM

I've never met Senator Obama or his family, so I have no way of knowing if his description of his grandmother's attitudes and actions is accurate.

But suppose it is. Suppose that his grandmother, the person closest to him, displayed racial prejudice, even if it was only in small ways.

How do you suppose that would make a little boy feel?

Even if he adored his grandmother, and she him, he'd be reminded constantly in little ways that "I don't REALLY belong here in a middle class white family. I'm not REALLY part of this family."

That's the kind of thing that could send a young man searching for his "real" family, a place where he could feel truly comfortable and accepted (that may also be why he idealized a father who doesn't ever seem to have given him a second thought). If he found that kind of acceptance and comfort in Rev. Wright's congregation, well, he might be inclined to overlook the man's faults.

That doesn't make Obama a bad man- it makes him all too human. I sympathize with him more after hearing his speech (even though I can't and won't vote for him).

Posted by astorian | March 18, 2008 3:33 PM

So Obama is saying he cant disown him.

Posted by Fitz | March 18, 2008 4:25 PM

IMO, Mr. Obama's comments could have been one of the best speeches on civil rights given in this country in a very long while.

Unfortunately, context is important; and the context for this speech, of course, is damage control for any effect on Obama's campaign from the incendiary, racist, anti-American remarks made by Mr. Obama's Pastor and "spiritual adviser" Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

As such, it is the Audacity of Hypocrisy for Mr. Obama, of all people, to be lecturing the American people on race relations. Rev. Wright's remarks and Obama's speech have probably set race relations back a good 40 or 50 years.

He should be ashamed, but I fear he is much too arrogant to feel such shame.

Posted by Area504 | March 18, 2008 5:17 PM

I wonder if instead of questioning his white grandmothers fear of black males she encounters, he can credit her intelligence for doing so.

Blacks are 7 times more likely to rape and pick white targets half the time, vs. whites almost never seeking our black women to rape in living memory. Obama's grandmother would be 15 times more likely to be a victim of armed robbery by a black stranger she met on the street than a white or Asian stranger. (Blacks now commit the majority of armed robberies on all races).

Perhaps the Auburn student feared the black thug who tried to rape, then kill her. Or the Student Body President Eve Carson might have had some fear when she realized the two Durham thugs meant to rob her and dispose of her..

White woman's fear of blacks is not bigotry, but a rational self-defense behavior. What is surprising is there is not more resentment of blacks by whites, Asians, hispanics who are nornally the victims of serious inter-racial crime, not the perps.

And if she once used some hard language on blacks, I daresay that with his proximity to many black racists in S Chicago that also attend TUCC or Nation of Islam Mosques, that Reverend Wright was hardly the only black he knows who has vile and bigoted things to say about whites. And Obama had to think long and hard about remembering any of his white friends or relatives ever said something openly slurring blacks to his face, while from Michelle to his NOI Senate staffers to his self-loathing liberal white Gentile and Jewish acquaintences, I imagine hearing slurs or criticism of whites is a fairly regular happening, leaving Wright out of it....

Posted by chris ford | March 18, 2008 6:06 PM

"Blacks are 7 times more likely to rape and pick white targets half the time, vs. whites almost never seeking our black women to rape in living memory"

Because white rapist like to rape white women, and most white victims of rape are raped by white men.

Therefore, the rational thing for white women to do would be to fear white men far more as rapists, and fear black men as rapists far less.

Posted by eltoro | March 18, 2008 6:34 PM

Obama actually writes about this in his 1995 book Dreams From My Father. It's a really good read.

Posted by Korha | March 18, 2008 7:47 PM

Is "smearing" the only word you people know how to use when you're talking about criticism? Could it be that you're starting from the assumption that Wright and his ministry is really as 2-dimensional as Fox News would have you believe, and therefore a comparison that is CLEARLY meant to argue for the existence of an imperfect human condition in all of us SUDDENLY means calling his grandma an crazy old racist?

Vanessa, who got slammed here? I would say nobody because the point of that paragraph was not to accuse people of being racist, but to understand that two older, loved participants of Obama's life are not perfect and are products of their environment. I'd love to see if you had grown up in different circumstances, how fundamentally different you would be.

And, Area504 - copy and pasting a generalized statement does nothing for your point.

Posted by Aaron | March 18, 2008 8:05 PM

Getting yourself pastored for 20 years by a radical hater shows bad judgment. Lying about it when asked by the media shows dishonesty. Now we know the real reason why you refused to wear a flag lapel pin and why your wife has never before been proud of America. Request for presidency denied.

--klqtzz

Posted by poetryman69 | March 18, 2008 9:16 PM

No, Ross, Obama just threw his own living grandmother under the wheels of the BS Express.

The story, on pp. 88-89 of Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance is that Obama's white grandmother, who was raising him and earning most of the money in the family while his own mother was off in Indonesia working on her 1067 page dissertation on peasant blacksmithing, rode the bus each morning to her job as a banking company executive. One day, the 16-18 year old Obama wakes up to an argument between his grandmother and grandfather. She wants her husband to driver her to work because she had been hassled by a bum (and potential mugger) at the bus stop:

"Her lips pursed with irritation. 'He was very aggressive, Barry. Very aggressive. I gave him a dollar and he kept asking. If the bus hadn't come, I think he might have hit me over the head."

Obama's lefty white grandfather doesn't want to give his wife a ride because she was being prejudiced:

"He turned around and I saw that he was shaking. "It is a big deal. It's a big deal to me. She's been bothered by men before. You know why she's so scared this time. I'll tell you why. Before you came in, she told me the fella was black." He whispered the word. "That's the real reason why she's bothered. And I just don't think that right.

"The words were like a fist in my stomach, and I wobbled to regain my composure. In my steadiest voice, I told him that such an attitude bothered me, too, but reassured him that Toot's fears would pass and that we should give her a ride in the meantinme. Gramps slumped into a chair in the living room and said he was sorry he had told me. Before my eyes, he grew small and old and very sad. I put my hand on his shoulder and told him that it was all right, I understood.

"We remained like that for several minutes like that for several minutes, in painful silence. Finally he insisted that he drive Toot after all, and I thought about my grandparents. They had sacrificed again and again for me. They had poured all their lingering hopes into my success. Never had they given me reason to doubt their love; I doubted if they ever would. And yet I knew that men who might easily have been my brothers would still inspire their rawest fear."

Then Obama drives over to his grandfather's friend Frank's house, an old black CPUSA member, for counseling, who tells him:

"What I'm trying to tell you is, your grandma's right to be scared. She's at least as right as Stanley is. She understands that black people have a reason to hate. That's just how it is. For your sake, I wish it were otherwise. But it's not. So you might as well get used to it."

"Frank closed his eyes. His breathing slowed until he seemed to be asleep. I thought about waking him, then decided against it and walked back to the car. The earth shook under my feet, ready to crack open at any moment. I stopped, trying to steady myself, and knew for the first time that I was utterly alone."

Man, what a family full of drama queens! And now Obama is equating his own grandma, who was the main breadwinner in his dysfunctional family circus, and who is still alive, with Rev. Dr. God Damn America.

Classy.

http://isteve.blogspot.com/2008/03/obama-throws-his-own-living-grannie.html

Posted by Steve Sailer | March 18, 2008 9:38 PM

Steve,

You seem not to have noticed several points. One, Obama's grandad Stanley points out she had been bothered by bums, before, and never was deathly afraid of them until she encountered a Black bum. I could be wrong, but I think a husband would be better aware of the flaws and shortcomings of his wife's thinking than her grandson. Second, when black Friend Frank says that Toots is right because black people have reason to hate (and presumably harm an innocent white woman, even one raising a Black child), he's telling Obama from a perspective not just of a Black American, but of a Black American COMMUNIST. Now, last time I looked, Communists do have a tendency to view and frame societal issues in distorted, simplistic terms, and you do have to take their perspectives with a grain of salt. Third, Obama's first reaction when hearing his grandfather's criticism is not to get mad at the grandmother he loves dearly, but to put her mental well-being first; he tells his grandad to drive Toots to work anyway, just to give her peace of mind. Yes, the revelation does sting him inside at first, but his love for his grandmother is the most important thing to him at that moment.

Therefore, you are wrong to say he was demeaning his grandmother by comparing her to Wright. Instead, he was rehabilitating Wright's image by comparing him to his beloved grandmother. Obama put his grandmother's needs above his own momentary pain at that moment described in the passage. For you to imply that Obama is an ungrateful grandson then shows that you really didn't read the passage that you quoted.

Posted by eltoro | March 18, 2008 11:38 PM

Because white rapist like to rape white women, and most white victims of rape are raped by white men.
Therefore, the rational thing for white women to do would be to fear white men far more as rapists, and fear black men as rapists far less.
Posted by eltoro

The majority of reported rapes of white women are now by blacks. Same with Asians.

Since blacks are only 12% of the population, black males only 6%, and black thugs implicated in most violent crime of only 2% of the US population of black males aged 15-40, the rational thing is to fear any young male black stranger you do not know if you are a woman of any race (black thugs also rob and rape 97-98% of black women so victimized).

Eltoro - Therefore, you are wrong to say he was demeaning his grandmother by comparing her to Wright. Instead, he was rehabilitating Wright's image by comparing him to his beloved grandmother.

No, the Black Messiah was attempting to exculpate his bigoted mentor by drawing moral equivalency between him and the white lady that he then betrayed in her old age - the woman who raised him put down at his racist Pastor's level.

Nowhere in his speech did Black Messiah note his own flaws in not speaking out - no blame should be affixed to the man who says he is the superior judge of all, THE ONE we have waited for. That includes being silent when his bread&butter provider confided she feared black thugs over white and Hawaiian Asian panhandlers, and staying in the pews when his black mentor ranted.

Pundits after his speech raved about his oratorical brilliance at betraying and condemning those closest to him while of course exculpating them with a rhetorical brushoff of seemingly sincere Obama the Great sufferance and love - and in the whole speech not admitting there was any failure of Obama the Magnificent Himself to speak out at what he witnessed and cheered at the time.

Would we give Spitzer a pass on his criminal and vile acts if he had "arisen to inspiring, soaring oratory" on how the whore might have tempted him beyond his comfort level to resist, but his own wife also deserves to be thrown under the bus for frigidity and also failing the Great Orator Spitzer and his impeccable judgment?

Eltoro - black Friend Frank says that Toots is right because black people have reason to hate (and presumably harm an innocent white woman, even one raising a Black child), he's telling Obama from a perspective not just of a Black American, but of a Black American COMMUNIST. Now, last time I looked, Communists do have a tendency to view and frame societal issues in distorted, simplistic terms

Cute, every place you turn over a rock over Barack's past you find Communists, pomo wealthy Jews, Black Muslims, Middle Easterners, black racists involved.

Posted by chris ford | March 19, 2008 1:18 AM

If I were Obama's grandma, I wouldn't care about this statement. It's not all that unflattering and reflects the views a lot of people had back then.

Anyone consider the possibility that Obama ran this speech by both Wright and his grandmother before giving it.

Threw his grandma under the bus... you guys are really reaching on this one.

Posted by Seth R. | March 19, 2008 11:36 AM

What kind of a guy throws both his pastor and his poor old granny under the bus?

Posted by newslamp | March 19, 2008 3:20 PM

Ross, a day later, it should have now dawned on you that you're pretty much out there by your lonesome in your opinion about the Grandma equivalency.

Posted by Cal | March 19, 2008 5:03 PM

Well played? Ross, you're kidding right?

Posted by Hans | March 19, 2008 9:59 PM

And since your view isn't widely held, Cal thinks it should be obvious to you that you're wrong and must correct this flaw immediately.

Hello! I'm new here. Is Cal typical of the crowd?

Posted by Laertes | March 19, 2008 10:00 PM

Uh, no. He's not required to correct anything. It's his opinion. I just figured he's noticed by now that he's all by his lonesome and might find it interesting.

Posted by Cal | March 20, 2008 12:16 AM

How did Obama manage to change the discussion from his racist, nutty pastor? At any rate, what the hell kind of grandfather raised Barack? What kind of man would rake his own wife (the primary breadwinner, no less!) over the coals because of a rational fear of young black males at the bus stop? I wonder if "Stanley" would lecture Jesse Jackson for the fact that he prefers to hear white footsteps behind him in the dark than black ones? There simply can be no dialogue on race because that's not what blacks (or white leftists like "Stanley" want); the want to lecture whites whom they expect to sit silently in abject shame and humiliation. This is pointless anyway. Barack doesn't have a chance to win the general election. The mainstream pundits will declare it a national tragedy and blacks will be angrier at whites than they were before.

Posted by Nietzschean | March 20, 2008 2:21 AM

"The majority of reported rapes of white women are now by blacks."

Wrong as usual, Chris Ford. According to US Dept of Justice statistics compiled in 2005, only 33.6% of rapes committed against white women were done by black offenders, while a plurality (44.5%) were done by white offenders.

My point still stands. White men commit far more rapes against white women than black men do, so white women should fear white men more if they fear being a victim of rape.

The group that should fear black men more than white men are BLACK WOMEN. 100% of rapes committed against black women in 2005 were done by black men.

Posted by eltoro | March 20, 2008 11:47 PM

"What kind of man would rake his own wife (the primary breadwinner, no less!) over the coals because of a rational fear of young black males at the bus stop?"

Nietzschean,

I am disappointed that a superman like you didn't read the passage carefully. Toots was accosted by a bum, not by a group of unruly black youths. Stanley noted that this wasn't the 1st time a bum had approached her in an aggressive manner; the difference was that this bum was black. Stanley could very well been incorrect in his interpretation of his wife's actions, but I have a feeling that Stanley's interpretation would be a lot more reliable and accurate than yours or mine.

However, whether Stanley was right or not is not the most important aspect of this incident in Obama's past. The most important aspect is the young Obama's reaction to this incident; Obama tells his grandfather to drive his grandmother to work anyway, since the most important thing was to allay his grandmother's fears and give her peace of mind. Obama put aside whatever momentary hurt he felt at the time, and focused on his grandmother's well-being. Calling Obama a disloyal grandson is an interpretation completely at odds with the facts, and reflects an irrational determination to hold onto the image of the Reverend Wright as some treasonous monster, instead of judging this man of the cloth by the totality of his life.

Posted by eltoro | March 21, 2008 12:04 AM

Such tender sentiments from some of you for poor, misunderstood Barry. For the record, He didn't, and never will apologize for Wright's hateful and lunatic accusations, because reverse-racism is something that he will never admit to existing, and all you affirmative action savants will be the first ones burned on the altar of expediency if you're able to hand him what he wants. And Mrs. Madelyne Dunham, (a typical White Person) who allegedly confessed fears of an agressive black panhandler ONCE to him will join you in the ashes of his cowardly, despicable, "Pay no attention to the crazy Whitey hating pastor speech". Were this a White man, running for President, and defending a Pastor that raved on about how AIDS was engineered by Blacks to kill us all, and Ranting about the US of KKK A, the outrage and shock from you very same supporters would deafen us all. Barry is the most pathetic excuse of unjustified self-righteousness that has ever stood before us, and that includes Jackson and Sharpton, who at least were Men enough to take responsibility for their Black Supremacist positions. Obama admits to nothing, except that he lied about being present in the first place. Oh yeah, and his white Grandma that raised him (and paid for his first rate education) is a big old racist... He's punking all of you and you're too obtuse to realize it. You deserve one another. and FYI? Partaking in organized anti-American Activities is ILLEGAL for a sitting U.S. Senator.. News you can use.

Posted by Rubyblue | March 21, 2008 1:47 PM

Partaking in organized anti-American Activities is ILLEGAL for a sitting U.S. Senator is it really ?? how about this then ??

FROM REUTERS POLITCAL PAGE
Obama’s Awful Week Gets Worse
Obama Church Published Hamas Terror Manifesto
The Hamas piece was published on the “Pastor’s Page” of the Trinity United Church of Christ newsletter reserved for Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose anti-American, anti-Israel remarks landed Obama in hot water, prompting the presidential candidate to deliver a major race speech earlier this week.

Hamas, responsible for scores of shootings, suicide bombings and rocket launchings against civilian population centers, is listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department.

AND it was published in JULY 2007

Posted by Swannie | March 22, 2008 7:52 PM

"The majority of reported rapes of white women are now by blacks."

Wrong as usual, Chris Ford. According to US Dept of Justice statistics compiled in 2005, only 33.6% of rapes committed against white women were done by black offenders, while a plurality (44.5%) were done by white offenders.

My point still stands. White men commit far more rapes against white women than black men do, so white women should fear white men more if they fear being a victim of rape."

This was really idiotic, eltoro. "only 33.6%" and then "white men commit far more rapes [44.5%] against white women than black men do"---far more? only 33.6%?

Posted by Sean S | April 8, 2008 12:02 AM

Oh, also, regarding interracial rape statistics, one must also consider geography and demographics. The stats eltoro quotes no doubt include all of the rapes in areas of the country that are almost 100% white; however, if you were to isolate rape statistics to urban centers and other integrated areas, I'll bet over 70% of the rapes of white women are committed by blacks. I used to live in Oakland and I can tell you that EVERYONE was afraid of black males, and with good cause. Not terribly PC to say but it's the truth.

Posted by SeanS | April 8, 2008 12:09 AM