Barack Obama wrote Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance more than ten years ago. However, the writings in the book do tend to show the side of Obama that would make him choose a church like the one pastored by Jeremiah Wright. One reviewer of the book stated on the Barnes and Noble website (find link below): “He idolizes a black father who deserted him, but seems to ignore a white mother responsible for his greatness.” And then this addendum to his book from Barack Obama, himself, ten years after he wrote the book and had received unfavorable responses, by many, about the lack of respect and discussion of a white mother who raised him after his black father abandoned him at two years old: “I think sometimes that had I known she would not survive her illness, I might have written a different book — less a meditation on the absent parent, more a celebration of the one who was the single constant in my life. In my daughters I see her every day, her joy, her capacity for wonder. I won’t try to describe how deeply I mourn her passing still. I know that she was the kindest, most generous spirit I have ever known, and that what is best in me I owe to her. “
I wonder why he would have only written more respectfully about her and her white family if he knew she was dying? Was this not a woman who made sacrifices for him? Made sure that he was taken care of when a black father deserted him? Yet, he idolized a black man and basically cast his white mother aside. How demoralizing for this poor woman. He can say whatever he wants, but as a mother of a twenty-two year man, I would be very hurt if he began to idolize a man that had abandoned him and myself. I would be very hurt to see him spouting racist remarks against whites in a book that he himself had written. I would be very hurt to hear him say disrespectful things about my mother, his grandmother, who helped to care for him and provide him with the education that made it possible to be a black man running for President of the United States. I would be very hurt to have him attend a church for 20 years and then not be honest enough to admit he CHOOSE that church because of the agenda they had against white people.
I will say it for his mother, “Shame on you Barack Hussein Obama. Shame on you for not respecting me and my family enough while I was living.”
For even more enjoyment, listen to Barack Obama in his own words:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Dreams-from-My-Father/Barack-Obama/e/9781400082773#EXC
til later,
from the mind of…
[...] exemployee created an interesting post today on Barack Obamaâ [...]
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Obama speech ,,,, Not sure if you caught Not only did Obama,,, Refuses to denounce him,, but even More,, He say in his own words,,,
Barack Obama was in church when Jeremiah Wright,, was spewing Anti-American, Racist ism ,,,, Those were his own words,,, barack was there
After going on keith Oberman ,Show obama said he would denounce that if he heard that language he would leave and not tolerate it , and denounce it
After he went on MSNBC,, he went on FOX CNN ABC< all the news station saying he was never there,,, in his church when he said these things,,
But Now today during his speech,,He states flat out Say’s HE was there,,, Last week Barack Obama Lied,, went on all the news stations, and Lied,,
But your not reporting that,,,, You can rest assure,,, cnn ,,, Fox , ABC,,, Msnbc,, are getting more on this ,,, they will be reporting on this, and we will see
If you chose to report, Obama Lying on tv,,, If this was Hilary clinton lying and caught lying on all the new station,,, you can be sure,, you would talk about it every hour
people will be on your station debating this,,,, people analysing , if it is hilary clinton but it was not her it was Barack Obama, ,, it bad enought He lied, about being in church
With Jeremiah Write, when he said these anti american ,,,,,and still refuse to denounce him…all the news agency want to do is speak on how good his speech was,
Not that he lied,,, Last week on all the news agency ,, He was never there today in how own speech He say I was there,,,,should play all Obama videos from last week
stating he was not there,,, or heard any of the anti-american Jeremiah Write, said in his churc then play his speech today saying he was there and he did hear him in church and refuse to denounce Jeremiah Wright,,,,
I would certainly agree with you if Dreams From My Father were written as an autobiography, but it is far from that; it is a story about a specific part of his life.
I believe he has no responsibility to include equal praise for his mother. This story is not about his mother, and praising her just to be fair would detract from the book.
I believe that, in saying he would’ve written a different book, he was saying that he would’ve chosen to write a story about his mother, rather than his father. It does not represent a change of emotion, but rather, a change of priority, similar to a cancer patient who decides to spend more time with her family once she realizes she has just months to live. Her family is no more important than it was before, but in light of the limited remaining time, priorities shift.
Comment by Jake | June 17, 2008
4. Jake you are wrong on several issues here. Let me respond:
The definition for biography is: an account of the series of events making up a person’s life. This definition is found at:
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Which makes sense to state that an autobiography is an account of the series of events making up a person’s life written in first person by that same person.
So, Dreams From My Father is an autobiography. So, you most certainly do agree with me according to the very first sentence you wrote in my comment area. Thank you for your support.
Secondly, the book starts off with his exploring his “roots” and upbringing by his mother’s family in Kansas and their move to Hawaii, so why wouldn’t he be compelled to continue to write about a woman and her parents who made sure he had a roof over his head and food to eat. Certainly his loser father who abandoned him when he was one year old didn’t care about that. In fact, I believe he only saw his son once when he was in fifth grade. Wow, a really stand up guy, raising his child. So, yes, there should have been more consideration by a son for a mother who raised him and made sure he received an education that enabled him to become the man he is today.
Thirdly, why is it that people always reconsider what they would have done only after they have lost something. I am a mother. I would be seriously offended if my son did this to me, especially when he was idolizing a jerk that left me when I needed him the most. She must have been deeply hurt by all of this; why do you think his grandmother remains quietly in Hawaii, not talking to media? He certainly hasn’t attempted to show his white grandma around now has he?
In conclusion, a loser is a loser no matter how warm and fuzzy you try to make it sound. Barack Obama idolizes a man that he should have wanted to never speak to because of what he did to his mother and himself. In my mind, they are both losers.
Comment by makingitreal | June 21, 2008 | Edit
It was his memoir and there is strong evidence now that he wrote this book to forge his desire to become “Black” for political reasons. Of course, it is his privilege to write what he wants to write but it puts a shadow on his credibility. If indeed, he was looking for his roots, shouldn’t he be looking in Hawaii? His mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1994 and died in 1995, the same year that “Dreams from my Father” was published. In his book, he said that his mother would review sections of the book with him, He also said that if he had known that his mother would succumbed to cancer, he would have written the book about her instead of the father he never knew. Duh! Not that his mother suddenly died. She returned to Hawaii to spend the rest of her days with her mother, probably to be near her son, too. Yet, Barack could not be at her side when she died because he was in the midst of a high stakes campaign. I checked. 1995 was not an election year.
He believes Palin should stay with her family. Is this indicative of his own feelings abandonment by both his parents? His white grandparents were there with him when he graduated from from Columbia University. Yet, he talks about them with a tinge of sarcasm when he tells stories about them. There were times when I felt like he was going to call them white trash, but he didn’t. I did not think he would not go that far.
I believe this book was written as a backdrop to his metamorphosis from being the White Barry to Black Obama. The book draws definite lines between his two races: black and white. Regarding his job as a community organier, he describes himself more as an observer, learning hands-on techniques in organizing which is very important in politics.
There were times when I felt I was reading fiction when he describes his mother’s thoughts, or when he wrote: “She looked out the window and saw that Lolo and I had moved on…The sight had made her shudder slightly, and she rose to her feet, filled with sudden panic.”
Obama describes the hatred of the community which he was supposed to organize: “the hate hadn’t gone away, it formed a counternarrative buried deep within each person and at the center of which stood white people – some cruel, some ignorant, sometimes a single face, sometimes just a faceless image of a system claiming power over our lives. I had to ask myself whether the bonds of community could be restored without collectively exorcising that ghostly figure that haunted black dream.”
I shuddered when I read these lines. Three years ago, Obama recalled “I couldn’t tell whether I got more out of it than this neighborhood.
When he returned to Chicago after he graduated from Harvard, organizing remained his central theme. He continued to forge his path to greater political goals. I see the pattern. Obama has shown his skills in organizing. The organizer has the tools to agitate and pinpoint the source of their misery and anger. In this case, it is very clear that Bush has been “identified” as the demon who needs to be exorcised in order to fulfill black dreams. That is why, they have to focused on Bush, not McCain or Palin. They just have to keep the three of them in a box. I hope his supporters will take time to read this book.
I did a post on this sometime ago. My take is the same as yours exemployee.
Good post.
Articles like this show how far some reach in denouncing Obama and exposes that America still has a long way to go in coming to grips with race. Considering that his mother was still alive at the time that he wrote his book it is understandable that he could lament the fact that he truly did not know his father in its writing. The fact that he might be the 1st black president has exposed the fact that this is still a very racist nation.
Walter,
Hello. Well, let me tell you your biasness was practically unnoticed in your comment. First, Barack Obama knew his mother was dying of ovarian cancer while writing this book. His book was published in June of 1995. His mother returned to Hawaii and died in Hawaii (like she planned, and everyone close to her knew) in November of 1995. But alas, he wasn’t even there for her then.
So, Walt, take your biased little, Obama loving attitude and denounce someone elses work on a site that cares what you think. If he cared for his mother at all, he would have been on the first plane to Hawaii when she needed him most. Sort of like his “ill” grandma. Would you wait for two to three days to leave if you received an urgent call concerning one of your loved ones health? Makes you wonder why he really is going to Hawaii…to see grandma or to make sure his public birth record is safely hidden away somewhere. hummmm