What is the connotation of his reference to irony? What is the irony of his living longer in Indonesia than in Kenya? Can this be decoded, anyone?
I distinctly remember in a senatorial debate with Alan Keyes that when Dr. Keys said 0 couldn’t be president 0 stated “well I’m not running for president”. That’s all I needed then and now.
“...and Indonesia, ‘where ironically I actually have more of a childhood than I do in Kenya.’”
Parsing the statement:
(a) He spent some portion of his childhood in Indonesia...
(b) Using the word “more”: “more” describes his amount of childhood time in Indonesia as a comparison to childhood time in Kenya...
(c) The “more” comparison indicates he spent some portion of his childhood in Kenya...
(d) It is known he was with his mother in Seattle, WA from fall 1961 until after Senior’s departure for Harvard in 1962...
(e) It is known he was enrolled in kindergarten in Honolulu in 1966...
(f) It is known he was taken by his mother to Indonesia, to join her husband Lolo Soetoro there, in appx. Oct. 1967...
(g) It is known he returned to Hawaii in summer of 1970 to live with his grandparents...
(h) It is known Senior visited the family in Dec. 1970, staying in Hawaii for a month...
(i) It is presumed Barry lived in Honolulu with his grandparents, continuously - except for a period of time with his mother when she and the half-sister also lived in Honolulu - from 1970 until he left for college in 1979...
(j) His father, Obie Senior, didn’t return to Kenya until after his 2-year master’s degree stint at Harvard: 1962-1964.
(k) His enrollment in kindergarten in Honolulu was 1966...
(l) That portion of his childhood spent in Indonesia was just shy of 3 years: appx. 10/67 - appx. 8/70...
(m) Deduction: whatever length of time it was that he “...had less of a childhood in Kenya than he had in Indonesia” would - by default - have to have been during the time frame between leaving Seattle in 1962 and starting kindergarten in Honolulu in fall 1966. Specifically, if he had more of a childhood in Indonesia than he did in Kenya, his time in Kenya would have been [for - probably considerably - less than the Indonesian 3 years] during the time between summer 1964 [father’s return to Kenya from US] and fall 1966.
The problem with Barry’s indicating/saying he spent any of his childhood in Kenya is the Kenyan relatives. A portion of them insist he was born there - that they witnessed his birth there. Why is it then that none of them have mentioned him having [a portion of] “...a childhood...” in Kenya? The statement he made to Lynn Sweet certainly does sound like he pointedly said he had spent some time of his childhood in Kenya - so when was it? We break down the known facts and come up with the only time “available” for him to have had some of his childhood in Kenya would be some undetermined period of time when he was between the ages of 3 years [father’s 1964 return to Kenya], and 5 years [kindergarten - Honolulu]. Yet none of those Kenyan relatives has said anything about him having been in Kenya while a “kid” - no mention of him living there, or of him even visiting. Nada. Zip. So one could therefore reasonably conclude that based upon what Barry’s Kenyan relatives purport to “know”, the only time he could have had less of a childhood in Kenya than he had in Indonesia - is when the relatives say he was born.
Yeah, yeah - Kenyan birth - nonsense. I’ve never given it serious thought, much less credibility.
Freud gave us one good thing: awareness of the “slip”, which calls our attention to hidden desires, or perhaps truths. With that knowledge, we’re compelled to ask the one very obvious question: At the mention of Indonesia in his conversation with journalist Lynn Sweet, why in hell did Barry’s mind jump from Indonesia to a childhood in Kenya??
How does his use of “ironically” strike others here? I looked it up, to give consideration to his context:
ironical: having the quality of irony; directly opposite to what is or might be expected.
It seems he was being “perfectly clear”: he was saying it would be expected for him to have had more of his childhood in Kenya than in Indonesia.
Well, Barry - why would it be expected for you to have had more of a childhood in Kenya than in Indonesia if you were born in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America? You know - Hawaii - where there doesn’t seem to be a long form birth certificate for you?