I toggled back and forth between #1 and #31 half a dozen times before I began to see (possibly) what may have been the elusive interpretation of the remarks vis a vis how "Obama" self-identifies.
Put plainly, if my surmise is correct, the posit is that perhaps "Obama" views not only his spouse, but his children as well, as inferior to himself because his putative bloodline was not subjugated under slavery.
By extension, one could then surmise that he views most American blacks (West African by descent) with contempt, merely stoking their basest fears, desires and grievances for crass political gain, but never delivering anything of lasting value to their betterment as a demographic. Why would he? In his megalomaniacal view, they're the descendants of losers who allowed themselves to be captured, bought and sold like animals, deserving of whatever they get from opportunists of any racial disposition.
Is this anything along the lines you were suggesting?
That is an insight deeper than what I had noticed. Drawing a distinction between the two could be interpreted that way, but I am more inclined to think he simply uses conventional jargon, and probably didn't intend to imply any deeper meaning.
I think edge's comment is regarding his (barack's) true feelings being put forth through his offhand comments, which in my opinion seem to indicate that he doesn't really consider his American roots important at all, and that he sort of considers himself to be a pretend American. (Which is exactly how I regard him as well! :) )
But the possibility that he would have contempt for ordinary African Americans is an angle of which I had not thought. It is my understanding that the Luo are pretty contemptuous of everyone else anyway, and so Obama might simply be expressing the contempt that comes naturally for him regarding everyone else who is not as awesome as he thinks he is.
Of course the joke would be on him if he turned out to be the child of Frank Davis; A condition of which I'm still not convinced one way or the other.
I'm not sure that he directly would consider his wife and children to be inferior (she is bigger than him after all), but he still makes a distinction that shouldn't need to be made. African-Americans are descendants of Africans, so it's redundant to say that his children are descendants of African-Americans AND Africans unless he has a latent belief that there's is prominent difference. And second, by NOT self-identifying as an African-American, he's rejecting his American roots and/or his daughters Euro-American roots and what impact that would have on them. Obama's strongest connection to slavery is by marriage, not by blood.