Who was Obama’s mother?
The NY Times features an article by Janny Scott, who’s written a book about Obama’s mother Stanley Ann Dunham. The article focuses on her sojourn with her son in Indonesia, occurring when Obama was 6 to 10 years old, and it paints a very curious although incomplete picture.
Many of the facts were previously known, but there were several details of this rather long article that struck me as odd and/or of possible psychological significance. It seems the very young Obama had to learn more equanimity and emotional stoicism than most kids of his age, because in Indonesia he was somewhat of a social pariah, incessantly taunted for his race. That stoicism would come in handy when he was sent to Hawaii by himself at the age of 10 in order to further his education, knowing he wouldn’t be seeing much of his beloved mother again.
To me, this is one of the most telling quotes from Obama, from a recent interview with Scott:
“I think that [the return to Hawaii] was harder on a 10-year-old boy than he’d care to admit at the time,” Obama said, sitting in a chair in the Oval Office and speaking about his mother with a mix of affection and critical distance. “When we were separated again during high school, at that point I was old enough to say, ”˜This is my choice, my decision.’ But being a parent now and looking back at that, I could see ”” you know what? ”” that would be hard on a kid.”
Note in particular the pronouns Obama uses. When he speaks of the pain of the separation, he—who usually has no trouble using the word “I” in almost any context—cannot even bring himself to use the first person to describe this event. He distances himself in the first sentence (“harder on a 10-year-old boy than he’d care to admit at the time”); comes back to the first person to describe the later high school years, when he was older and less emotionally vulnerable; and then returns to the third person again to look back and say “that would be hard on a kid.”
A kid. A 10-year-old boy. Not this particular 10-year-old boy, Barack Obama, the one who was also told by his mother that he was brilliant and could be president some day. The mother who also taught him a great many other things, including “to disdain the blend of ignorance and arrogance that too often characterized Americans abroad.”
Dunham’s biggest lesson for her son may have been stoicism and putting a good face on things despite his pain and anger. Here is a reminiscence of that time from an acquaintance of the family in Indonesia, Elizabeth Bryant:
After lunch, the group took a walk, with Barry running ahead. A flock of Indonesian children began lobbing rocks in his direction. They ducked behind a wall and shouted racial epithets. He seemed unfazed, dancing around as though playing dodge ball “with unseen players,” Bryant said. Ann did not react. Assuming she must not have understood the words, Bryant offered to intervene. “No, he’s O.K.,” Ann said. “He’s used to it.”
“We were floored that she’d bring a half-black child to Indonesia, knowing the disrespect they have for blacks,” Bryant said. At the same time, she admired Ann for teaching her boy to be fearless.
Those who perceive Obama as an outwardly calm but inwardly angry man with a chip on his shoulder about race would do well to ponder these formative years and the lessons they taught. If he appears emotionally cold, it helped him to survive at an age when some very volatile emotions must have been roiling within him.
Obama’s mother was certainly neither a conventional person nor a conventional mother. But the truth about her remains elusive, despite tantalizing psychological glimpses. Towards the beginning of the Times article, Scott describes some supposed misconceptions about her:
…[I]in the fevered imaginings of supermarket tabloids and the Internet, she is the atheist, the Marxist, the flower child, the mother who abandoned her son or duped the newspapers of Hawaii into printing a birth announcement for her Kenyan-born baby, on the off chance that he might want to be president someday.
Scott goes on to say that Obama’s mother “did not fit any of those [descriptions], as I learned over the course of two and a half years of research, travel and nearly 200 interviews.” But, despite this disclaimer, the 6000-plus-word article never even addresses whether Dunham was an atheist or a Marxist. And other information the article contains most definitely substantiates the idea that she abandoned her son—and even the fact that she thought he could be president one day.
Spengler’s essay from early 2008, Obama’s women reveal his secret would be an interesting counterpoint to Ms. Scott’s article.
He may be “emotionally cold,” but the thin skin and suppressed rage is often on view, as in the case of the “Texas Republican” interview recently. I have no doubt that his unorthodox upbringing created the angry, nearly sociopathic personality that we’re seeing today.
I remember the Spengler article, because I read it, during the 2008 campaign, and it crystalized a lot of my own unease about him.
But, despite this disclaimer, the 6000-plus-word article never even addresses whether Dunham was an atheist or a Marxist.
Classic misdirection on Spengler’s part.
Heap scorn on the notion, then change the subject without addressing the substance of the notion.
In the context of this article, I’d say Spengler has just validated those “fevered imaginings,” if she in fact studied her subject and yet has no substantive rebuttal to those assertions, which should be easily refutable.
Oh mother.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110419/us_yblog_thelookout/tiger-mom-daughter-starts-a-blog-heads-to-ivies
Probably, the best way to win the culture war is let time and the 10 to 1 rule marginalize the educated idiots.
Whatever else she was, Stanley Ann Dunham was one hell of a selfish and self-centered human being. My heart aches for “that little boy” who’s earliest and probably most formative years were not the result of a loving nurturing mother putting her child’s welfare first, but rather a drag-along possession that went where she chose to go. I’m not questioning that she loved her son, but it seems her connection with him was quite separate from the real world in which she chose to live.
Elizabeth Bryant said, “We were floored that she’d bring a half-black child to Indonesia, knowing the disrespect they have for blacks.” Apparently, the animosity of Indonesians toward blacks was common knowledge yet it doesn’t seem that Dunham let that interfere with what she wanted to do. In the years during which a child develops his sense of self-esteem, he was surrounded by people who either shunned him, or attacked him – either verbally or physically (i.e.stone throwing). As a bright child, I think it would be natural that he would weigh the value of what his mother told him — but then, she was his Mom–she has to love him (doesn’t she?) — against the many people who surrounded him and regularly derided him. Who is right?
I have no admiration for Obama — neither personally (frankly I can’t figure out how his personal likeability nos. stay so high), nor ideologically. But I find myself empathitic to that child who found himself in an unwelcoming Indonesia and then again when shipped off to Hawaii – this time without Mom. I don’t know that stoicism is really what he learned. Stoicism would imply that he had the ability to discern the source of the dislike and derision he faced everyday in Indonesia and was able to know that it was a result of shallow ignorance. I don’t know of many 6-yr. olds or 8-yr. olds who have the ability to comprehend the sophistication of this thinking. Instead, I think he learned to hide what he was thinking, what he was feeling — in order to please his mother. Kids depend on their parents for virtually everything from basic nourishment, shelter, and positive reinforcement which form the basis of that child’s ego.
I agree that what Obama learned early on was to become adept at masking what he was feeling inside. That was really the only thing he could do because it’s not like he had anywhere else to go where things would be different.
What is really interesting, is how and why the radical teachings of his grandparents’ neighbor Frank had such an effect on his belief system and formed the core of what would become an immutable ideology that he would believe to be the answer to everything. Further, what was it that built the arrogance that is one of Obama’s greatest flaws (in my opinion; I’m guessing the far Left would disagree) which maintains that he knows better than everyone else what is right, what is best for them, what will result in a “fair” society — even in an age when this now grown man — said to be exceedingly bright — is witness to so many examples of societal failures and resulting chaos around the world resulting from the very ideas he wants to impose. (and seems to be willing to do by fiat if he cannot find a legally acceptable way to accomplish his goals).
Was the arrogance and immense ego a developed reaction to the lack of respect he received when very young? Was it born of the way in which this Frank interacted with him — manipulating him and building an ego where there was only a fragile one at best, while teaching him extreme Left precepts. Did he appeal to the anger in the child who was growing up and use that to give more credence to those beliefs?
I’ve often seen Obama’s thin-skinned reactions as part of a great anger that has not dissipated at all, but is the very bedrock upon which his beliefs have been built. This may also be the reason Obama is consistently so out of touch with the people of this country. So much of what he believes comes from inside himself, powered by anger, and it is what has propelled him to where he is. He clings to these beliefs fiercely. I don’t know if he is even able to consider others ideas; if he has the ability to cede to his opponents that they may have a point and maybe compromise is an option. On the rare occasions when he speaks of public civility, or the need for compromise (as when he took credit for the budget agreement which was reached recently), it seems to me that he is just repeating talking points which he has been convinced to say. I never find him convincing on such occasions and my disbelief is often confirmed when he returns to his petulant and arrogant ways almost immediately.
I have no formal background in psychology as Neo does. I just watch — alot — and do much thinking. It occurs to me, that if Obama were ever to allow even a doubt to enter his mind, that if he were to allow even the notion that he might possibly be wrong about any part of his virulent convictions, it would be like water slipping through a small whole in the dike which would only grow ever stronger as pressure built until eventually it gave way. If this happened, then everything he is, is nothing. The public face he has so carefully built and maintained has been torn away. And what would everyone than think of him? And that surely is key to who he is — what people think of him. He becomes that little boy again, vulnerable and with no relevance to the world in which he finds himself.
Many of us might agree that latter is the point — Obama does not have relevance in our world today (that is, here in the U.S). But he fights everyday, desperately, to prove that he does. Because if he doesn’t, then who is he? If the facade is shown to be just that — nothing more than a facade built on unacceptable ideas — then it just might be….that he’s really nobody. Certainly nobody as important as he thinks he is.
Occam’s Beard: Spengler wrote the article that Soviet of Washington links to in the comments section.
The Times article about Obama’s mother was written by Janny Scott.
Csimon,
I think you have touched upon the essence of BHO. I too feel empathy for that little boy. He was twisted by circumstance. His father was merely a sperm donor. His mother was, for lack of a better word, weird. His grandmother, trying to compensate for the injustice done by his parents, was an enabler.
Our collective problem is that he is still that little boy and he gets to fly on AF1 and make decisions that are not just above his pay scale, but above his maturity level. We all, including the next generation, will have to pay for his extreme, defensive, narcissistic personality disorder.
His one saving grace is that he truly seems to love his daughters. If that impression is true, good for him. Its a start. And then, come January, 2013 get back to Chicago and retire with a comfortable pension, book deals, and $500,000 (inflation adjusted) speaking fees.
The depiction of President Obama’s mother disturbs me. I’m reminded of a classic stereotype — Neo, perhaps there’s a name for it — of the single mother who insists on her son growing up independent, who therefore does not attend to his needs most of the time… but who demands complete control, instantly, when some line is crossed for her. (Yes, this is personal. I have a hard time watching the beginning of The Karate Kid for this reason; the actress who plays Ralph Macchio’s mother fits this model to a T.)
The idea of a mother who watches as her boy (age between six and ten?) has rocks thrown at him, does not intervene, and indicates in her response that she’s watched this happen before — well, that’s absentee parenting taken to an extreme. I can only wonder what it would have taken to spur her to action.
I think we can agree, though — our President had a very troubling childhood. I’m not at all surprised that he pursued power, to the point of becoming one of our youngest Presidents; he spent far too much of his childhood, it seems, feeling powerless.
Whether or not he should work out his problems, using our country’s future as his occupational therapy, is another issue altogether.
But what is really disturbing is that such a psychologically damaged individual could never have risen to the Presidency all on his own.
He had lots and lots of help every step of the way. It even appears that his path was smoothed for him; by whom, I don’t know. It’s hard not to see that as a conspiracy against the United States.
rickl…
He FOUNDED the Marxist students club at Occidental.
NO WAY the First Directorate did not know of him.
Bezmenov has said for the record that tracking the Obama’s of the world was his full time job — and he was but one of the crew.
NO ONE in a Marxist club would go ‘unfiled.’
—–
Stanley, herself, had the strangest mother — my immediate upcondo neighbor in Hawaii.
With a personality like Lee Emory — of Full Metal Jacket — it is impossible for me to overstate just how loud and raging she was with Barry every time I met the pair.
He NEVER said a peep.
Her rage was so incoherent that I could not make any sense of her anger. Perhaps Barry pulled some passive-aggressive on her head.
And, yes, I thought he was destined for Hollywood or politics. He was just so handsome and poised. His ultra-calm demeanor stood in absolute contrast to her rage.
That she was obviously his grand-mother — where were the parents?
Csimon: It is my firm belief that Frank is his biological father — Frank Marshall Davis, Black Communist ( card-carrying ) out of Chicago.
Stanley sent Barry to be raised as a teen by his FATHER.
Hence, the endless hours of ‘Frank’ discussing politics with what would otherwise be just a neighborhood kid.
But Frank never did such with anyone else.
And, of course, Frank wrote of having a three-way with his White wife and a White minor. NOT a coincidence.
Barry was born a legal bastard. Whether Davis or Obama, Sr. neither could marry Stanley — bigamy issues!
So Barry HAD to be born out of wedlock.
Shakespeare — King Lear — illustrated the familial hazards of bastards: Edmund. Pray that you see BEFORE you are blinded.
IMHO, bastards should be prohibited from the Presidency simply because of the emotional baggage. Clinton should have been out, too.
One does NOT want a President to have a Hitlerian childhood or one of bastardy. Too many emotional scars.
For another example of terrible childhoods: Kaiser Wilhelm. Mother hatred warped him and made him fall in love with the regiment. That was BAD news for all of Europe.
From Hitler to Stalin to Castro to Alexander to Caligula — the price of childhood can rise to entire peoples.
Some vetting on this front should be mandatory.
Neo — your thoughts…?
“From Hitler to Stalin to Castro to Alexander to Caligula – the price of childhood can rise to entire peoples.”
You can take this ruined-by-childhood thing too far. My understanding of Hitler, for instance, is that while his family life wasn’t Leave it to Beaver it was not horribly broken or dysfunctional. I suspect there have been at least a few people who had much more childhood travail who did not grow up to be genocidal mass murderers.
But BO’s upbringing was really strange. I am from the not-quite-birther camp who thinks that he was born in the USA but is hiding his birth certificate because it contains some unsettling information about his background.
I am confused. Blert, are you saying that you were a neighbor, or are you quoting someone else?
Obviously, you cannot disqualify someone from the Presidency due to a troubled childhood. You can do due diligence on the individual’s development, and record, and report the results. We know there were enough troubling holes in BOH’s resume to raise alarms. Serious ones. The Media didn’t do their jobs; but then again neither did the opposition party/candidate. Let’s hope that hard lessons were learned.
Neoneo, have you ever considered writing a book about Obama? Your insights into him are always fascinating (your posting on his relationship with Frank Davis was another really good one) and I’d love to get a chance to read a long-form analysis of him by you. It would be a chance to shed some much-needed light on what I think someone else here called “the strangest man ever to hold the presidency.”
Neoneo, have you ever considered writing a book about Obama? Your insights into him are always fascinating (your posting on his relationship with Frank Davis was another really good one) and I’d love to get a chance to read a long-form analysis of him by you. It would be a chance to shed some much-needed light on what I think someone else here called “the strangest man ever to hold the presidency.”
Gary Rosen…
Hitler, as a child, was beaten so heavy and often that he needed professional medical care — which in his case was provided by the Jewish family doctor.
We’re talking broken bones, bleeding … on and on it goes.
It’s one of his key drivers towards a black heart. He was conditioned to cruelty by his maniac father.
Such abuse was a scandal — and was buried at the time.
To say that Hitler was rejected by his father is an understatement.
In his turn, Hitler never wanted children — especially a son — which would shame him by inferiority. This line of thought obviously came straight from his father.
———
Oldflyer…
The testimony is first person direct: Obama’s grandmother lived right above me in 1983 and I encountered them three times in the elevator.
And all three times his grandmother was absolutely losing it, raging incoherently about something to do with Barry.
And yes, she addresses him as Barry.
The condo was, and is, just one block from Punahou.
As a mulatto Barry REALLY stood out in multiracial Honolulu. The neighborhood was Japanese, Haole, Chinese… with lots of multiracial marriages. It was also very low in crime and very pricy.
Anyone trying to figure out Stanley has to understand that her immediate family was massively dominated by her mother. Daddy was just a beta tag-along.
Further, not withstanding her career in banking, the grandmother held a rage against White men. Hence the Leftism/ hyper Feminism three decades ahead of the mass womens liberation movement.
Since Stanley couldn’t marry either Obama, Sr. or Davis it is entirely logical that the grandmother would hide the scandal — which directly reflected upon her judgement — lest she be kicked out of the industry.
Since abortions were illegal and very risky to attempt in a back alley room — the standard option for a new born bastardy of a single mother is to have the birth OUT OF TOWN. The way Honolulu is a city-state ( and its famous coconut wireless ) Barry would have to meet the world out of state. Instead of using a mainland hospital — plan A — it appears that Kenya was selected.
Knowing that Stanley was going to give birth to a mulatto child grandma understood that the birth would be evidence of a possible crime. Any delivering physician would want to know of the father — and whether they were a witness to a rape. Cross racial hook-ups were most uncommon in 1961, particularly with a girl not yet out of the house.
The shame of rape caused many, many girls to hide their situation.
I suspect that grandma studied all options and realized that if Stanley gave birth in an American hospital the risk of blow-back was too high.
By comparison, a British hospital in Kenya solves everything. A birth certificate is issued by Hawaii just upon parental say-so. Polygamous marriage is accepted in Kenya, so the whole marriage license issue goes away.
There are no marriage ceremonial pictures posted to the web. I suspect there never was a ceremony. Obviously, a license would be flatly impossible for Obama, Sr. to get. His documents are stamped married all over the place.
Others have tried… but no one can find any records of Barry popping up in any Honolulu hospital. That’s just another indication of the shame surrounding Barry’s arrival.
Oldflyer…
I absolutely WOULD disqualify any candidate that had serious child abuse issues.
History has shown time and again that such suffering results in a crippled psyche.
Hitler’s attitude towards ‘sub-humans’ was ENTIRELY driven by his dynamic with his father.
Hitler had only one visible testicle. So his father considered him half a man and totally rejected him as in completely beat the hell out of him.
Hitler super-compensated with visions of inner toughness and ultimate vindication by grandiose achievements.
Caligula famously had a brutal childhood. From there it went all downhill. By the end he made Hitler and Stalin look rational.
Stalin had a very, very harsh up bringing. This left him with a heart of stone and like Caligula paranoid in the extreme.
The Presidency is too important to suffer a damaged psyche.
That Obama has a wounded mind is obvious. He’s overrun with defense mechanisms.
He’s a Gonnabee of the first water.
Read Wareham: ISBN 0-689-11756-6
Gonnabees in executive positions always melt down.
What I’ve repeatedly witnessed through the years you will now see on a national scale.
The MSM is sweeping his follies under the sofa — which at this time is elevated up past the second floor.
Blago’s got stuff on him that can blow him sky high. Not surprisingly, the Obama machine is shutting him up – -and obviously a Presidential pardon is being dangled about.
he probably had it easier in indonesia than he had it in hawaii… hawaians from many friends who have lived there and come back, can be very nasty to non natives. haole is said not to be a negative term (by travel agents), but that and others actually are…
hawaiirama.com/2007/03/racial-tensions-in-hawaii-haol
we like to think of the native Hawaiians as nice people who are happy happy joy joy, but that is basically lolo (stupid). many are disgruntled at everyone that is not from there. they have the feeling of its our land, get out of here, and can be pretty short tempered about things.
while Indonesia is still full of Indonesians (though the Chinese are kind of disliked for much the same reason that successful Jewish people were disliked in Europe, smart, work hard, etc), and they have been used to western travelers from the dutch, to the Jesuits. their land is full of stuff from other lands and many cultures…
children everywhere can be mean
and to tell you the truth, there really isn’t a more mean mean. each tailors the point to the target, so them picking on him for race would mean that that was his sensitive spot. if not, then they would find another place to do things.
though not everyone who runs into mean people growing up become monsters or detached, etc. many just keep moving as the past is past…
Art…
There is such a thing as:”Kill Haole Day” every year in Hawaii.
The kids pick it out.
ANY White kid — especially male — is violently attacked if he attends school that day.
The government looks the other way.
This has gone on for DECADES AND DECADES.
Haole in Hawiian = filthy rich pale nigger.
Hated like the kafir in MENA.
Previously, there have been crimes against European tourists who didn’t know that Samoans in particular rage against Whites.
BTW, virtually certain the guy was attack by Samoans — key word: LEEWARD SIDE. It’s a euphemism for the Waianae Coast — famously the back drop for “South Pacific.”
DO NOT get caught there after dark.
Most Japanese/ Chinese/ locals NEVER venture there.
It is impossible to reside there and purchase a vehicle on credit. Why? NO REPO MEN will go there — ever.
It’s tribal.
You’re not fighting one on one. It’s you against 60 to 150 adult males — loaded with race rage against modernity.
Basically, it’s al Queda from Polynesia.
In both cases you’re dealing with Paleolithic genes and rules-sets. Modern living: they can’t deal with it.
In both cases, IQs norm in the low 80’s.
Hence, they are completely uncompetitive in the labor market — and unknown as professionals at any level.
PS — They hate Orientals even more than Whites.
They are ALWAYS insanely over represented on the crime blotter.
My ex-bouncer of Waikiki related that HPD would not move until an entire platoon of 30+ cops assembled against drunken Samoans.
Obviously, Samoans should just stay in Samoa. They’d be happier and we’d be safer.