Obama's mom: Not just a girl from Kansas

Chicago Tribune ^ | March 27, 2007 | Tim Jones

[george76]

Chip Wall can't help but zero in on the little stuff whenever he watches Barack Obama on TV.

It's his old pal Stanley.

For Wall and a few dozen others, Obama on the campaign trail often brings to mind Stanley Ann Dunham, Obama's mother and a strong-willed, unconventional member of the Mercer Island High School graduating class of 1960.

"She was not a standard-issue girl of her times...

"She touted herself as an atheist, and it was something she'd read about and could argue,"

the only child was a ... daughter of a father who wanted a boy so badly that he named her Stanley -- after himself.

Stanley Ann Dunham's formative years, spent not on the Great Plains but more than 1,800 miles away on a small island in the Pacific Northwest.

Stanley Dunham died in 1992, and the Obama campaign declined to make Madelyn Dunham, 84, available.

In 1955, the chairman of the Mercer Island school board, John Stenhouse, testified before the House Un-American Activities Subcommittee that he had been a member of the Communist Party.

The marriage failed. Stanley Ann filed for divorce in 1964 and remarried two years later, when her son was 5. The senior Obama finished his work at Harvard and returned to Kenya, where he hoped to realize his big dreams of taking a place in the Kenyan government.

Years later, Abercrombie and another grad school friend looked up their old pal during a trip through Africa.

At that point, the senior Obama was a bitter man, according to the congressman, feeling that he had been denied due opportunities to influence the running of his country. "He was drinking too much; his frustration was apparent," .

To Abercrombie's surprise, Obama never asked about his ex-wife or his son.

[ncalburt]

The guy has murkier past than a Chicago mob boss .He is a stooge for the Daley and Soros machines.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Bump.

[Doc91678]

Sounds like he was a devout Muslim and inseminator.

[justiceseeker93]

I can’t get the whole article because there’s a problem linking to the Chicago Tribune web site, so I’m missing something here.

Who is Madelyn?

[justiceseeker93]

From that angle, Obama’a mom is good looking (despite her ugly political ideology). Kind of reminds me a little of Judy Garland. Too bad they had to name her “Stanley.”

[justiceseeker93]

From that angle, Obama’a mom is good looking (despite her ugly political ideology). Kind of reminds me a little of Judy Garland. Too bad they had to name her “Stanley.”

[Das Outsider]

Madame Joan, I think you'll get a chuckle out of this: Friday silliness and intellectual indignation in one.

Its ironic that people in here are getting angry because they say we are trying to say that Obama learned his radicalism at his mama's knee. Everyone seems to agree that Obama is a radical Marxist and it is known that his mother was a radical Marxist. Could it possibly be safe to say he learned it from his mother? Or would that be too politically incorrect?

The charge of irony is like a loaded gun in that it should be used with caution. I am neither angry nor in the least concerned about meaningless Marxist academic-influenced terms such as "political correctness" with regard to Mr. Urkel--or as you say, Obama.



Whether he learnt his brand of Bolshevism--and I have to retract an earlier (perhaps too moderate) statement comparing Obama to Leon Trotsky--from his mother or anyone else is really beside the point.

Is he or is he not a Marxist radical? Judging from his own statements, past and present, I would say that he certainly is.

If anyone on FR is on the fence with regard to Obama, then perhaps they should take up another hobby.

[Cacique]

btt

[GOPJ]

I can see why Obama’s getting the under 30 vote - - he’s the first adult “child” raised by a boomer mentality parent. That’s a connection. It also makes sense now that he married the rather rough, but honest and outspoken Mrs Obama...

[george76]

Madelyn Dunham is Obama’s only living biological grand mother...and mother of Stanley Ann Dunham.

[wardaddy]

I can only imagine....a social revolutionary mom out to change the world through reproduction.

Hideous Kinky comes to mind....a movie folks.

[wardaddy]

ouch....i can only imagine the PC horde here has lambasted you over that morsel..lol

[wardaddy]

lol

but, where one comes from is telling

not to mention how much nature was inherited

more than folks like to admit I can tell anyone that as a responsible father of five

[Smokin' Joe]

bfl

[wardaddy]

He’s a wild eyed maniac radical running for President.

He cozies up to black nationalists, 60s terrorists and Hugo Chavez just for starters.

Who cars if his radical mommy hugged him?

I bet I can find picks of mommma rocking Adolph or Stain somewhere too if I try.

Both Obama and his whiney wife represent precisely where we went wrong in America by creating a land of folks with excuses looking for handouts.

That is why he is running for President, not because his cuckoo mommy hugged him in one pic you’ve seen.

and noone leaves thier kid abroad for 8-10 years period unless they are in jail.

geez...his mom was some sort of radical nut...chasing foreign men around the world and getting dumped pell mell in that era.....folks today jave no idea how few women would have contemplated that back then....the shame...dumping your kid

[wardaddy]

FReepers are just talking it up.

No one except those defending her/him are saying anyone here thinks it needs to be a campaign issue but it is as telling about him as Bush’s patrician background is about him

Fools here get vexed over this and his middle name because he’s mixed race and quais Islamic and they think it’s bigoted to bring up any aspect.

It’s part of what he is. Being sorta black is probably the only reason he’s anywhere close to being what he is.

The Great Black Hope....plain and simple.

folks here do it too....they salivate over mediocre Condi or Colin for the same reason

it’s like a malaise with weak minded whites

[wardaddy]

These threads bring out the PC bunch.

especially the though shalt not criticize anything remotely black bunch

they work together and apparently many of them like Science Fiction monikers.

i often wonder if they are just the same agent provacateur here...maybe working to find dirt for O’Reilly

Obama is a black radical and his momma was a neglectful crusader....it is what it is and it is part of him

I guess his angry PC black nationalist slash overpaid lawyer wife is off limits too

no one complained back when the media lambasted Southerner Jimmy Carter over his evangelical freedom rider mom Miss Lillian

or Clinton’s floozy mom that he prevailed in spite of

[wardaddy]

yep his Ciggie habit is one thing I like about him

[wardaddy]

I’ll try to remember to spell check next time...that was awful

;>)

incredible isn’t it what the Dems are offering this go around.

and folks thought McGovern and Mondale were libs..lol