Barack Obama's great uncle criticises him over Buchenwald visit

London Telegraph ^ | 29 May 2009 | Alex Spillius

[bronxville]

Barack Obama's great uncle criticises him over Buchenwald visit

The first time they discussed his participation in the war was when Mr Obama wrongly said during the campaign that Mr Payne had "liberated" Auschwitz. Opponents swiftly pointed out that had been done by the Red Army.

[bronxville]

Mr Obama soon called Mr Payne to check the details of his war experience, he said. "He wanted to know where this camp was that I had helped liberate. I told him that it was Ohrdruf and that it was a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. I described a little bit of what I had seen," he said.

[bronxville]

Mr Payne - Obama's great-uncle

[Eagles6]

Ouch! That’s gonna leave a mark.

[bronxville]

“Asked if his great nephew was following in his footsteps, which the White House has suggested as a reason for the trip, Mr Payne told the German magazine Der Spiegel: “I don’t buy that. This is a trip that he chose, not because of me I’m sure, but for political reasons.”

Denting the normally smooth-running presidential public relations machine, he added: “Perhaps his visit also has something to do with improving his standing with Angela Merkel. She gave him a hard time during his campaign and also afterwards.””

This old man is no fool.

I don’t think it’ll leave a mark on Obama though...he’s the ultimate teflon man.

[SolidWood]

Asked if his great nephew was following in his footsteps, which the White House has suggested as a reason for the trip, Mr Payne told the German magazine Der Spiegel: "I don't buy that. This is a trip that he chose, not because of me I'm sure, but for political reasons."

Denting the normally smooth-running presidential public relations machine, he added: "Perhaps his visit also has something to do with improving his standing with Angela Merkel. She gave him a hard time during his campaign and also afterwards."

KUDOS to Charles Payne!

[pepsionice]

I’ve been living in Germany for fifteen years. The last thing that most Germans can stand to have brought up in conversation or in the news...is the concentration camps. The 18-40 year old crowd....won’t even stand to watch a 3-minute clip on the subject.

Most German kids who sit in the history class...now ask why keep bringing this up...that was then, and has nothing to do with today.

Whoever decided on Obama’s staff that this was a great idea...really screwed up. Merkel? She has to be smiling...there are only three appearances in Germany of Obama...at Landstuhl, which drags up the Iraq war which all Germans have a dislike of....then a visit to a concentration camp...that all Germans hate having the topic brought up, and then a visit to a East German region who can’t stand propaganda of any type or variety.

This was a lose-lose-lose trip for the Obama team in the end.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

Geez, is this story overwrought or what. The grand-uncle was asked if Obama is going to Buchenwald because of his service in WWII. He said no, it's for political reasons. And that's supposed to be unprecedentedly withering criticism? C'mon, any of us could find much more withering things to say on any given day.

Okay, grant that he could have phrased it better. "No, this isn't about me, it's about relations with Merkel and Ahmadinejad's insane barking about the Holocaust and enemies saying he doesn't care about Israel and is weak on defense, and all that. Political reasons, lots of them." Now if he'd have added, "And maybe he'll get a clue about where socialism leads from the piles of bones and skulls, before it's too late," then that would be criticism. And deserved.

[Yaelle]

Was this the uncle who was thrown under the Obama Bus by way of the story of how he returned from the war and spent years cowering in the attic???

[Frantzie]

Maybe his great uncle will do his patriotic duty and pull his HI BC. A relative can do it.

[az_gila]

Gibbs was wrong - of course.

The real Zero news does come from the English newspapers...

...waiting for a repeat of this story in the US MSM. /s

[Sacajaweau]

Forgot about the attic thing. I think this is him.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I don’t recall the cowering in the attic part, but I read another interview with him and it sounds like he was an infantry private who had a rough war.

Not everyone who served in the front lines in WW-II enjoyed it.

He seems to have been glad to get out of the Army and lead a quiet productive life. He’s understandably proud of his great-nephew. He’s earned the right to enjoy his remaining years.

[Caipirabob]

Most German kids who sit in the history class...now ask why keep bringing this up...that was then, and has nothing to do with today.

Kind of like how democrats still want to punish all of us for slavery.

I don't blame the kids at all.

However we must make an effort to understand the situations that lead to the darker aspects of our history in order to avoid the same mistakes in the future.

So all the same, the kids need to pay attention in class.

Thank you for sharing that information. Where else would we learn about it? Not from the media, for sure.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Of course, lost in all the hoopla is the fact that Ohrdruf-Nord was a work camp filled with ex-German soldiers charged with constructing Hitler’s final bunker. It was not a concentration/death camp like Buchenwald or Auschwitz. There were few if any Jews or POW’s there.

[kabumpo]

I blame anyone who is divorced from major events in their own history. Being informed is not being punished. Quite the opposite.

[okie01]

Ouch! That’s gonna leave a mark.

Only if a lot of Americans find out about it.

It's been reported by the London Telegraph and Der Spiegel. What are the odds of the story appearing in the New York Times, the Washington Post or on CBS?

Approximately zilch, I'd wager.

[Eagles6]

I agree.

[Salman]

Seems like a nice old guy. I wonder if he voted for his nephew?